HP Color Laser Printer question

[DebAmstutz]

HP color LaserJet printer has a default to print in color, even when printing TAM reports and other black and white print jobs.  Does one need to change the print to grayscale before printing a black and white item?  In other words, will the color toner be used on a black and white print job if the color default is not changed to grayscale before printing? 

[Jeff Golas]

It depends on the printer honestly, but I think most have a black cartridge. You have to watch because depending on how the job is sent, sometimes they can eat up color toner "trying" to make black.

I default all our printers to b&w so that unless they actually need color, it uses pure black. If you have a print server, you can do this globally, otherwise you can do it individually under each printer's properties by going into the "Defaults" area.

[Jim Jensen]

I do the same, plus I usually set printers to default to 2-sided printing.

[Mark]

I serve 2:1 printers from my print server.  Meaning, I share out the printer twice - one defaulted color and one black and white.

Seems to work ok for us.

[Jim Jensen]

I serve 2:1 printers from my print server.  Meaning, I share out the printer twice - one defaulted color and one black and white.

Seems to work ok for us.

I did the same for 2-sided and 1-sided setups on even a monochrome printer.

[DebAmstutz]

Thank you for your replies!  I found the default setting for the printer and B/W is now the default.  I'm not sure why a color printer was purchased in the first place.  I can't think of much printing for the office that requires color...and both CSRs have color printers!

[Jim Jensen]

I serve 2:1 printers from my print server.  Meaning, I share out the printer twice - one defaulted color and one black and white.

Seems to work ok for us.

I did the same for 2-sided and 1-sided setups on even a monochrome printer.

I've been looking to replace our copier/printer and, honestly, there aren't a ton of black-only choices now. Went in one store and almost every unit was color and most of them were inkjet (puke) too. The salesperson asked why I wouldn't want color inkjet. Color units are pretty much the same price now too, with the exception of needing to buy 4 toner cartridges. So, if there wasn't one before, I'd probably buy a color one for the few times we could use it. (I have my own color printer in my office, so the copier likely won't be one).

[Jeff Golas]

Another thing to be aware of, even color lasers come with "starter" toners (almost all printers do this scam now) - the printer itself is $500 (for say a color brother MFP), and after 1000 pages you need a toner at $100. Funny how those economics work.

[Billy Welsh]

If your volume is high enough, it isn't hard to justify a Ricoh/Canon (and others - these are my personal experiences) all-in-one.  Copy/print/scan/fax/scrambled eggs/coffee.  In the past it was easy to get one coming off a lease, a requirement of which is a monthly maintenance contract.  So if you are dealing with a trustworthy outfit, the machine has been maintained throughout the lease.  The network scanning on these is SWEET for any large job - hard to beat the feeder on these.

You do have to be careful about the maintenance agreement they will want YOU to sign, but when I last did this with a Canon it was very reasonable for low volume use and included supplies.  Before that with Ricoh's, I did have to negotiate a bit on this (higher volume and different dealer) to make it good.  And you typically do not have to buy the maintenance contract given that you own the machine.

I have not shopped lasers recently.  My boss supposedly purchased one or has one in mind to purchase for our new office, but I have no details.  I am pretty sure he said it's an HP laser.  I did recently get an Epson Eco-tank for the house.  Long past tired of purchasing inkjet cartridges seemingly every other month.  I rarely used it so didn't keep an eye on ink levels, and the wife/kids would not say anything until it was out which then required a scramble to get more gold ink.  The Eco-tank seems fine so far performance-wise, and I have not had it long enough to evaluate ink life.  The tanks are at least double the capacity of my old 4-cartridge HP, and when I glanced at prices when shopping the Epson refills are less than the HP's with half the ink of the Epson.

[Jeff Golas]

I would do bad things for a printer that makes scrambled eggs and coffee - just sayin.

But yeah what Billy said - we have mostly leased printers now, I replaced a bunch of high mileage HPs with 2-3 large Canon MFPs, and likely replacing 2 more now.

[DebAmstutz]

I'm not sure who actually does the purchasing of the hardware here, but I'm not sure they look for good deals.  One thing that bugs the heck out of me is that the large freestanding printer/scanner shared by the three of us in the upstairs portion of the office cannot hold an entire ream of paper in the tray.  That should be a given.  But I'm of the opinion that all printers should hold a ream of paper in the tray.   

[Jeff Zylstra]

I'm not sure who actually does the purchasing of the hardware here, but I'm not sure they look for good deals.  One thing that bugs the heck out of me is that the large freestanding printer/scanner shared by the three of us in the upstairs portion of the office cannot hold an entire ream of paper in the tray.  That should be a given.  But I'm of the opinion that all printers should hold a ream of paper in the tray.   

The default paper tray is often designed for letterhead and/or short run printing.  Look up the model number of the copier/scanner and see if they sell an additional paper tray.  Many times, it's $200 or under for a new additional paper tray or you can find them on EBay for $50 or so.  Almost all printers are designed so that you can stack multiple papers trays under the printer. 

[Jeff Golas]

Yep thats a good idea - usually they're called a large capacity tray and hold 3+ reams instead of one.

[DebAmstutz]

Thanks, guys!