Line printing (DOT Matrix) vs Laser printing: Which is cheaper

Alan wrote:
On Sun, 13 Apr 2008 10:29:38 -0500, Warren Block
wrote:

In most cases, you're better off buying a spare printer. Cost will be
the same or less than a service contract. Much less if you have several
printers since only one spare is needed.

If the active printer breaks, you can swap in the spare and be printing
again with very little downtime. The broken printer can be repaired or
replaced at your convenience, depending on what's most practical.

I suppose with printers getting cheaper ands service getting more
expensive, it might be cheaper just to run them until they die and
replace them. I don't like the philosophy of that though.

Except with lasers, particularly HP business-class lasers, repairs are
easy and parts are readily available. Most repairs only need a
screwdriver, some not even that.

With lasers the problems always seem to be paper pickup. Either
grabbing too many pages or none at all.

Paper feed quality is somewhat proportional to printer price; low-end
HPs were terrible (5L and 6L in particular). In addition to better
design, business-class units tend to have easily replaceable rollers and
separation pads.

The printing itself is pretty much down to the cartridge, which can
easily be replaced.

On HP, yes, although fusers also wear out.

--
Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota * USA

On 19 Apr 2008 17:36:29 GMT, Warren Block wrote:

Except with lasers, particularly HP business-class lasers, repairs are
easy and parts are readily available. Most repairs only need a
screwdriver, some not even that.

"Repairs are easy"?

I've had to throw away several "business class" lasers over the years
for what you might have called trivial problems that I couldn't
diagnose. To have them repaired professionally would have cost more
than to replace the machine.

Currently I've spent two weeks trying to fix my 5MP, and I've had a 4M
collecting dust for the last year since it started giving accordion
jams.

With lasers the problems always seem to be paper pickup. Either
grabbing too many pages or none at all.

Paper feed quality is somewhat proportional to printer price; low-end
HPs were terrible (5L and 6L in particular). In addition to better
design, business-class units tend to have easily replaceable rollers and
separation pads.

If you know WHICH rollers and pads to replace.

I'm not whining here, I bought these machines for about 5% of their
original retail price and got a year or so use out of them. But fixing
them for the uninitiated is not trivial.

I can fix PCs. I can do simple plumbing and electrical work. I've
tried fixing laser printers and 90% of the time ended up having to
throw them away.

The manual tell you how to take them apart. Not how to diagnose
errors.

If you've seen the laser execution scene in "Office Space"; that's
where I've been more than once.


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On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 21:08:12 -0400, "Elmo P. Shagnasty"
wrote:

In article ,
Alan wrote:

"Repairs are easy"?

I've had to throw away several "business class" lasers over the years
for what you might have called trivial problems that I couldn't
diagnose. To have them repaired professionally would have cost more
than to replace the machine.

Currently I've spent two weeks trying to fix my 5MP, and I've had a 4M
collecting dust for the last year since it started giving accordion
jams.

http://www.fixyourownprinter.com


I know the site. I've posted there, searched through the forum. Moe is
a nice guy, but couldn't guess what was wrong with my printer -- if it
was in front of him, he probably could, but we're on different
continents.

Paper feed quality is somewhat proportional to printer price; low-end
HPs were terrible (5L and 6L in particular). In addition to better
design, business-class units tend to have easily replaceable rollers and
separation pads.

If you know WHICH rollers and pads to replace.

http://www.fixyourownprinter.com

I'm not whining here, I bought these machines for about 5% of their
original retail price and got a year or so use out of them. But fixing
them for the uninitiated is not trivial.

Crapola. Business class HPs are well known and documented, the parts
are cheap and easy to get, and you can replace those rollers yourself.

As I said, if you know WHICH rollers and pads to replace.
And they're not cheap and easy to get here.
And "well-documented"? Where is there a document telling me how to
work out which part to replace?

No, don't tell me, http://www.fixyourownprinter.com ?




I can fix PCs. I can do simple plumbing and electrical work. I've
tried fixing laser printers and 90% of the time ended up having to
throw them away.

The manual tell you how to take them apart. Not how to diagnose
errors.

http://www.fixyourownprinter.com


Let me reiterate: my problem is diagnosis.

If I could be sure what was wrong, I can use a screwdriver. But I
can't afford to replace every part in the printer until it works.


** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **