Dear Bargain Hunters:

I recently received some e-mail inquiring about the Minolta color laser printers so aggressively marketed by office supply stores.

My advice? Stay away! As far as I can tell, almost all the Minoltas are "host-based" printers, meaning your (Windows-only) PC must create the whole page before sending it to the printer. That saves about a nickel on the manufacturing cost, but it makes the printer unsuitable for use with eComStation, OS/2 Warp, Linux, or DOS, among other operating systems. It also imposes extra workload on your PC, taking horsepower from other applications. And it limits your networking options if you want to share the printer. Even if you run Windows, you'll be at the mercy of the printer vendor for a driver when the latest-and-supposedly-greatest Windows
version comes out. (There are plenty of horror stories about not-so-old "Winprinters" inoperable with Windows 2000, ME, and/or XP.)

Instead, check out the Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 2500L, as I mentioned previously. That printer has true PCL and Postscript capability right in the printer, so it'll work with much more software, including your trusty DOS applications. It has both USB and parallel ports. (If you need an ethernet or wireless connection, third party print server boxes are really inexpensive.) There are also some extra paper bin options if you need them. Avoid the "dumb" HP 1500L model, though.

Many places have refurbished LaserJet 2500L printers available at prices reaching below $600 now. I'm a big fan of factory refurbished laser printers for consumers on a budget. I bought a factory refurbished IBM Network Printer 17 years ago, and the darn thing is indestructible.

Shop aggressively, search all the price scan sites (like dealtime.com, streetprices.com, etc.), check out the shopping forums (like techbargains.com and fatwallet.com), and don't forget coupons, rebates,
etc. (like fatcash.com) and ebay.com. And don't fall for the "fly by night" mail order vendors. Many of the price scan web sites have vendor ratings, and you can also check out places like bizrate.com. Do all that
and you'll have yourself a real bargain.

Worst you can do is probably HPShopping.com, where the HP 2500L is listed at $899 brand new, no rebates. Fatcash.com will trim 2% off even that price. So treat that as your price ceiling.

Oh, don't forget to factor in the cost of consumables, like toner cartridges. And be aware that some refurbished printers may come with used consumables unless indicated otherwise.

By the way, I'm still looking for an affordable duplexing color laser printer. Doesn't seem to exist yet.

I have no affiliation with any of these companies.

- - - - -
Timothy F. Sipples
PGP Public Key:
http://wwwkeys.pgp.net:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x45D3DE3E

Source: Timothy F. Sipples

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From: "Matthew J. Walsh"

Actually I got the Minolta 2350-EN for $924 delivered and it has both PCL6 PostScript and is fully networkable. I've got it on my home network with 3 OS/2 machines, 2 Win machines and a Linux box. So it is highly recommended.

Matt Walsh

[Moderator Note: Tim did say "almost all the Minoltas are 'host-based' printers". Glad to hear there is another option for OS/2 to use. ]

Source: OS2VOICE

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