Date: Mon, 08 Mar 2004 16:25:42 -0500 From: "Mark Dodel" Subject: [VOICENWS] HW: Tim's Warped Bargains: Brother Color Laser Printer From: Timothy Sipples Dear Bargain Hunters, If you've been reading Tim's Warped Bargains, you probably know by now that I keep a close eye on prices for color laser printers. My idea of the perfect printer starts with eComStation and OS/2 Warp compatibility (of course), then compatibility with other operating systems (especially Linux), then low consumables costs, then features/functions/capabilities, and finally the price of the printer itself. On the feature/function front I like having both USB and parallel connectors (with bonus points for ethernet) and an automatic duplexer. I also like having a small printer that handles at least a half package of paper (250 sheets), preferably a full package. Well, I've found a pretty good deal to pass along which hits just about all of these marks with the exception of the automatic duplexer. It's the Brother HL-2600CN. - Color laser printer - 250 sheet paper input capacity - Optional automatic duplexer (costs extra) - Postscript, PCL, Epson FX, and HPGL print languages (wow!) - parallel, USB, and ethernet connectors - reasonable consumables costs (but do your own math!) - reasonable size/weight as these printers go This model is not explicitly listed at the OS/2 Device Driver Pak web site, but no worries. Just pick something close from the LaserJet or Postscript driver. Heck, you can even print from your old DOS application that outputs Epson FX protocol! TheNerds.Net has this printer listed for $665.91 plus $28.97 shipping. No rebates or coupons to worry about. Here are some other models I like, although their prices don't look quite as attractive at the moment: Panasonic KX-CL500 Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 2500L (or any 2500 series) Minolta-QMS Magicolor 2350EN Okidata C5300n almost anything from IBM (but I'm biased :-)) The Panasonic and Minolta have rebates right now, but even that doesn't get the price competitive with the Brother model. There are some cheaper printers, notably the Minolta-QMS 2200 and 2300 series. Please avoid those (as well as the Okidata C5100n and HP 1500L). They don't support industry-standard printer datastreams like PCL and Postscript. Kudos to Brother for doing such a great job in that department. I'd much rather have a factory refurbished HP LaserJet 2500L than a new Minolta 2200 or 2300. (And rotten eggs to PC Magazine, PC World, CNet, Ziff-Davis, etc. for totally ignoring the printer datastreams in its reviews. Guys/gals, what are you smoking? It matters, even for Windows-only. What happens when the printer manufacturer decides they're not going to write a driver for, say, Windows 2005? The proprietary drivers are also more likely to be buggy and hog CPU. I thought you guys/gals are supposed to be pro-consumer? That's not the only problem with your printer reviews, but it's a big one.) If you do find a laser printer you like that doesn't have an ethernet port, I wouldn't worry too much. You can find lots of parallel-to-ethernet (and even some USB-to-ethernet) print servers at fairly reasonable prices. The former fall below $50 right now, while the latter start below $100. Finally, when you do shop, here are some places I like to check for prices: eBay (hard to find deals, but sometimes you can), FatWallet.com (and FatCash.com), rebateshq.com (great source for current rebates), linuxprinting.org (pretty good information on Postscript and PCL capabilities for many printers), Froogle (froogle.google.com) and other price comparison web sites such as shopping.yahoo.com, and the manufacturer web sites of course. Happy shopping! P.S. Please don't e-mail for support. I'm not very good at it. The comp.os.os2.* newsgroups are much better. Thanks. -- Warpstock 2003 - San Francisco, California, October 18-19 See the video and presentations: http://www.warpstock.org [Moderator's note: All posts are sent without guarantee to the accuracy of the content. We try to verify details and URLs but this is an entirely volunteer run list, so 100% fact checking and the quality/useability of products announced here is impossible. If you respond to this post please remove the DESPAM from the poster's email addresses. Please do not send requests for information about a specific post to the moderator unless it is an update or I sent it.] -- To unsubscribe yourself from this list, send the following message to majormajor at os2voice.org unsubscribe news end If you have an announcement you would like posted to the VOICE News list, please send it to submit at os2voice.org. Please include a valid reply address and a real contact name. If you wish to comment on this post, please reply to feedback at os2voice.org