I operate in a small family business office. I am a family member, and we have been in construction since 1984. I manage the office and serve as IT.
Over a decade ago, a local corporation downsized, eliminating some personnel and also liquidating some equipment. They eliminated some nice office equipment. We acquired some of it, including an HP LaserJet 4100N. The network card was pulled out of it, so I went to the HP IT Resource Forum and inquired about the card and how to order one. I found the Ethernet card on eBay, ordered it, and installed it with no problems. The printer is a great late-90s workgroup machine. Definitely overkill for us, but it still runs inexpensively. (NOTE: HP's ITRF was closed down years ago; I'm bummed out.)
I am concerned, though, as to how long this machine will last. When we acquired it a decade ago, it had over three-quarters of a million pages on its config readout. I understand these things are built to last, but it isn't getting any younger. I'm concerned that someday it may be obsoleted by software incompatibility. It's a greyscale printer with no duplexing, no color and it occasionally paper-jams. It's paper feed options are limited.
If we ever had to replace it, either because of obsolescence or it just wore out, I'd like to know what kind of landscape is out there insofar as newer printers.
We also have an Epson inkjet (Stylus Photo R200), at least 13 years old, that very seldom is used. Occasionally (rarely) we use the Epson to print hardcopy photos onto card stock, as well as printable DVDs. I'm concerned the ink dries out before it sees use. We also bought 2 Dymo LabelWriter 320 label printers about 10-13 years ago; one is currently hooked up to our Airport Extreme base station and used occasionally for hardcopy snail-mail envelope labels. We buy rolls of large mailing labels off eBay for the Dymos. The Dymo software does still work with Apple's Contacts and MacOS Sierra.
In the event we moved on to newer equipment, I might settle for another greyscale laser, but I was wondering about color lasers. Do any of them do good photos? What about newsletters with photos and graphics?
Our current arrangement is low-cost and requires negligible maintenance (except for replenishing ink cartridges in the Epson; the R200's ink is not the newer non-fading kind, either). We love the setup, but if we ever have to replace the Airport, we are concerned about loosing USB connectivity. There's also the obsolescence issue with the Epson and the Dymos. We love the idea of getting every last print job that we can out of this old equipment. But we are concerned (especially me) about it either wearing out or not being compatible in the future.
I have no idea what newer HPs are like, other than having modern ports, WiFi and greater specs. (And much higher price tags!) I am not ruling out used and/or refurbished equipment. I was wondering about color lasers and how practical they are.
Over a decade ago, a local corporation downsized, eliminating some personnel and also liquidating some equipment. They eliminated some nice office equipment. We acquired some of it, including an HP LaserJet 4100N. The network card was pulled out of it, so I went to the HP IT Resource Forum and inquired about the card and how to order one. I found the Ethernet card on eBay, ordered it, and installed it with no problems. The printer is a great late-90s workgroup machine. Definitely overkill for us, but it still runs inexpensively. (NOTE: HP's ITRF was closed down years ago; I'm bummed out.)
I am concerned, though, as to how long this machine will last. When we acquired it a decade ago, it had over three-quarters of a million pages on its config readout. I understand these things are built to last, but it isn't getting any younger. I'm concerned that someday it may be obsoleted by software incompatibility. It's a greyscale printer with no duplexing, no color and it occasionally paper-jams. It's paper feed options are limited.
If we ever had to replace it, either because of obsolescence or it just wore out, I'd like to know what kind of landscape is out there insofar as newer printers.
We also have an Epson inkjet (Stylus Photo R200), at least 13 years old, that very seldom is used. Occasionally (rarely) we use the Epson to print hardcopy photos onto card stock, as well as printable DVDs. I'm concerned the ink dries out before it sees use. We also bought 2 Dymo LabelWriter 320 label printers about 10-13 years ago; one is currently hooked up to our Airport Extreme base station and used occasionally for hardcopy snail-mail envelope labels. We buy rolls of large mailing labels off eBay for the Dymos. The Dymo software does still work with Apple's Contacts and MacOS Sierra.
In the event we moved on to newer equipment, I might settle for another greyscale laser, but I was wondering about color lasers. Do any of them do good photos? What about newsletters with photos and graphics?
Our current arrangement is low-cost and requires negligible maintenance (except for replenishing ink cartridges in the Epson; the R200's ink is not the newer non-fading kind, either). We love the setup, but if we ever have to replace the Airport, we are concerned about loosing USB connectivity. There's also the obsolescence issue with the Epson and the Dymos. We love the idea of getting every last print job that we can out of this old equipment. But we are concerned (especially me) about it either wearing out or not being compatible in the future.
I have no idea what newer HPs are like, other than having modern ports, WiFi and greater specs. (And much higher price tags!) I am not ruling out used and/or refurbished equipment. I was wondering about color lasers and how practical they are.