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Are old HP color LaserJets (8550) as trouble-free as their black & white counterparts (like the 8150)?

We need a couple of heavy-duty printers and thanks to answers here, have seen that the LaserJet 8150 is probably the best black & white printer for the money for our needs. Toner is reasonable and parts are easy to get. Most importantly it seems to be very trouble-free and dependable. Considering color now for a few hundred pages per month and wondering if the same series of color printers (8550) is as rugged and trouble-free. If it isn't, what should we look at? Thanks emcade, To answer your questions: We have plenty of space, not a factor. We would use a different printer for photo-quality output so that's not necessary on this unit. The color on the high-volume unit would just give us the ability to print meaningful line-charts, etc.. We might be looking at about 600 copies per month. Cost of consumables and having a low maintenance/trouble-free unit are the major factors. We would want to be able to start it and leave without having to babysit it. I have had very good experiences with HP commercial units and terrible experience with their home units and with Lexmark, so that would tend to affect the decision. If there is no such thing as a dependable color laser, and I realize that may be the case, then we'll just go with B&W.

Public Comments

1. They take a lot of tech knowledge to maintain and to keep copies clear. The consumables are expensive. How many copies a month? How photo like do you want the copies? How much space do you have? Are you partial to a given OEM? HP has anice one in the LJ 4650. I like the Lexmark line myself. Maybe the 550. If print quality is a major issue, the Xerox line id very nice.