The Wonderful World of Monochrome Laser Printers
It is hard to look at the world that once was only 30 years ago before the first monochrome laser printer hit the commercial market. The first laser printer was produced in 1976 by IBM and its model number was 3800. The 3800 was so large that most companies had to devote an entire room just to its operation. This printer is still in use today and typically does tasks such as printing labels and invoices for large companies.
In 1981, that changed when the Xerox Star arrived for business use. As with most technology in those 5 years the unit got smaller and more price effective. The original price of the Xerox Star was $17,000. Three years later when home and office computers became more common the HP Laserjet fell to just $3,500. Now with the Internet and all the different ways technology has become entwined with our lives a common household printer is under $100.
As technology companies combined so did the number of choices people have for purchasing. Currently there are major companies that offer monochrome laser printers. These companies are: Hewlett Packard (HP), Dell, Brother, Kyocera and Lexmark. HP is typically referred to as the benchmark for all laser printers, as it is neither expensive nor the best in quality of print.
On one popular review website, the top 12 monochrome laser printers that are now in production are discussed. The HP Laserjet 1022 can be found for around $170 and is known for its ability to print text at approximately 18 pages per minute (ppm). However this printer is typically not known for it ability to print pictures as they sometimes come out “blotchy” Dell is know for the Laser printer 1110 which is marketed towards home use.
It can typically be found for around $100 and does text printing without problems at a comparable speed to the HP and most reviews rate it at slightly better picture printing quality then HP.
Brother is known for its speed of printing, compact size and low cost as compared to other major makers. The model HL2040 is marketed towards home and small business use with it primary goal being text printing. This printer prints about 20ppm and can be found for under $100 at most retailers. When it comes to printing pictures its quality tends to be below most other printers but not horrible.
The Kyocera Minolta PagePro 1350W has the same target market as the Brother. It tends to cost under $100 at most retailers, prints 21ppm and has comparable quality of print. The Kyocera; however, lacks in some areas, such as paper holding capacity and printed paper holding capacity – it only holds 150 pages and the printed paper section can hold 100 as compared to an average of 200 for both HP and Brother.
Lexmark enters the laser printer competition with its e120n. This printer tends to not bring favorable views from professionals seeking quality over quantity. This printer costs around $150 and prints at a speed of 19ppm. The quality of the pages are noted to be good enough for internal use but not something that would be presentable to the outside public if needed. The printer also holds 150 pages of unprinted paper and 165 pages of printed paper.
While shopping for a printer it is very important to know what you need in one. If it is a small business that needs a good all around printer for a decent price then a Dell or a Brother would probably suffice. If the printer is for home use and is used for printing out directions from the Internet and recipes from emails then a Kyocera or a Lexmark would work best. It your money, decide what you want it to do for you. Visit monochrome laser printer or portable printers for laptops for further information.
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