Fast personal laser printer (B&W would be fine)

[Dunepilot]

One of the staff at my dad's school is having a problem printing out some reports from Excel (they don't print properly from Excel, so she's started outputting them as pdfs and then printing these, which then print fine).

In order to conquer the problem quickly, my dad's thinking of just buying a fast personal laser printer to be used by that member of the admin staff.

I guess it'll need a decent amount of RAM to handle the pdfs adequately, and overally it's important that it's fast (I'm thinking 15 pages per minute, real-world) and that you can buy it in the UK.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

 

[jdechko]

http://www.brother.co.uk/g3.cfm/s_page/50660/s_level/16940

I'd suggest either the HL-2030 or the HL-2040. We just got a refurb. 2040 at my office and it's does pretty well.

USB and Parallel ports

2030 : 16ppm, 104.58 GBP
2040 : 20ppm, 139.82 GBP

I'd suggest looking for a refurb one, and you can save some money that way.

 

[fatties]

http://www.brother.co.uk/g3.cfm/s_page/50660/s_level/16940

I'd suggest either the HL-2030 or the HL-2040. We just got a refurb. 2040 at my office and it's does pretty well.

USB and Parallel ports

2030 : 16ppm, 104.58 GBP
2040 : 20ppm, 139.82 GBP

I'd suggest looking for a refurb one, and you can save some money that way.

yeh i just got a 2030. brillient! get it from staples. mine was 80something pounds including an extra toner cartridge.

 

[jtown]

Okay, I'll try again. I know I replied to this post because I got a notice that there was new activity in the thread. Mods, if you're going to delete something, please be courteous enough to explain.

I don't understand why your dad wants to buy a new printer. The root of the problem seems to be the fact that a user can't print from excel. Buying a new printer doesn't solve the problem. And I don't see how it helps at all since the user is clearly able to print PDFs now. What difference would having a local printer make?

Your dad needs to get IT in there to fix the printing problem in excel. If, once that is fixed, there is still a need for a local printer, by all means, go for it. But solve the problem first.

 

[netdog]

I really like my HP LaserJet 1320NW. It's fast and it is WiFi 802.11G. A real workhorse.

 

[Makosuke]

For a fast, compact, inexpensive, hassle-free, reliable printer, you totally want a Brother. Pick whichever model is fast enough for your needs--their listed print speeds are actually pretty close to what you get if you're printing a bunch of text, anyway.

Though I agree with jtown that it sounds like trying to fix the software issue makes a lot more sense than throwing a new printer at it.

 

[SuperSnake2012]

I have a Samsung ML-2010. Got it for $50 after the rebate and it prints like a dream! It prints something like 22ppm so my reports and essays fly out insanely fast

 

[Dunepilot]

Thanks for the helpful advice, everyone, I'll pass it on.

Jtown- I understand why you're posting that he should 'get IT in there'. The reality is that many schools don't have the resources for a full-time dedicated IT person, so it's just not that simple. That's part of the reason why the school bases its admin on Macs - there are fewer problems on a day to day basis.

However, when something unexplained like this happens, there's no member of staff to try and overcome the problem, and quick-and-dirty fixes (like replacing the printer) sometimes become the order of the day in order to get the job done within the necessary time frame.

What I'm saying is that you're correct, but it's not as simple as you'd think.