Best one thousand bucks color laser for photo prints

Must have tried every ink printer the last twenty years, sick and tired of all that mess....

What would you recommend as THE color laser for print from Photoshop on MacPro (mac mini) ?

I have kind of narrowed it down to these;

HP LaserJer M553 N
Samsung CLP 680 DW
HP Lj M 452 DN

I dont want a Brother (?)

Xerox migt be an option, i dont know these

What other brands/ models shouuld i look into?

This is for my private at home use, no need for extras as duplex print or large volumr trays --

the print quality on good q laserpaper matter first.

Thnks!

There is no way you, "must have tried every ink printer the last twenty years", that being said, you want an inkjet printer that uses a reservoir.

See here, https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photography/buying-guide/professional-printers-photographers

One important note about color laser printers: While they do a bang up job with color printing, the consumables are something you need to consider. A typical color laser printer uses 4 toner cartridges which are expensive to replace - like anywhere from $75 to $90 each (depending on the printer). Also, some color laser printers require a drum change after a certain amount of copies have been run through. Another expense. As long as you're aware of all that, a color laser printer that I recommend is the HP. The HP does not require a drum change as it's built into the toner cartridges. And they do terrific color work.

@Charlie

Have you done any photo printing from color laser printers? The last time I looked at that I was not impressedwith the quality of graphic printing. Admittedly that was several years ago and I'm sure it has improved since then. I don't print photos a lot but do need to print color graphics (line art and sometimes photos) up to about 4x^ from time to time.

Hmmm, I didn't notice what the OP is wanting really or why all the apparent dissatisfaction with all the printer they tried, but for good quality graphic printing, I don't really recall reading about any color laser being an exceptional standout choice, especially compared to inkjet printers.

Also, paper quality and inks can make quite a difference as well as proper calibration.

Or maybe consider just sending out the critical print jobs to a local GOOD printshop.



I know of several critical users who finally ended up doing just that and they're all still happy they did.

EDIT:
I'm also a bit surprised by the OP's comment on not wanting any Brother, one of the highly recommended color laser printers.

In my case none of the print jobs are critical enough to be sent out. The bulk of my printing is B&W. Most of the color printing would be picture / word cards used for communication. For these color is sometimes good and while photo quality would be nice it's not necessary. I don't do a lot of photo printing these days. I'm thinking about laser printing just because of the amount of ink wasted by most inkjets.

Laser is not really critical but since I may be looking at a new printer soon it can't hurt to start thinking now.

Have you done any photo printing from color laser printers? The last time I looked at that I was not impressed with the quality of graphic printing.

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Most inexpensive color laser printers are not designed for photo printing. At least the ones that you and I can afford. Color lasers work best for things like banners, flyers, and general color printing. Photo printing is just not worth the extra cost of ink and paper in my opinion. I can get my occasional color photos printed at Walgreens or Wal-Mart for a lot less than spending $$ on a good ink jet and special papers.

chscag said:

Most inexpensive color laser printers are not designed for photo printing. At least the ones that you and I can afford. Color lasers work best for things like banners, flyers, and general color printing. Photo printing is just not worth the extra cost of ink and paper in my opinion. I can get my occasional color photos printed at Walgreens or Wal-Mart for a lot less than spending $$ on a good ink jet and special papers.

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That was my impression the last time I looked at this issue. Given that the OP expressed an interest in printing from Photoshop I thought that question might be worth asking.

I absolutely HATE inkjet printers, but doubt there is any real good alternative. For photos I either view them on my screen or send them out to a commercial printer.

chscag said:

… … … I can get my occasional color photos printed at Walgreens or Wal-Mart for a lot less than spending $$ on a good ink jet and special papers.

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And just for the same reason I mentioned using just such a service, especially for any critical jobs, even though the OP mentioned they were willing to spend a $1,000.00±, I dare say such services probably spend many x times that price for the equipment they use.

You normally get what you pay for and for such critical print jobs it's probably a darn good value and with excellent results.

I especially like Walgreens (don't know if you have them in Canada) since I can email them my photos and specify how I want them printed - copies, size, etc. Some of their stores are open 24 hours which is convenient for a late night pickup.

chscag said:

I especially like Walgreens (don't know if you have them in Canada) since I can email them my photos and specify how I want them printed - copies, size, etc. Some of their stores are open 24 hours which is convenient for a late night pickup.

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We don't in Canada, but for those I know who use local print services, and some need large good photo quality 36" or larger prints, have several folders setup for each service and they just drop or save the print job to the particular print service's folder and make any needed adjustments there, and then, poof, off goes their print job for them to pickup when convenient.

And yes there is a $ delivery option available but I don't know any that use it.

PS: Some sell their prints from such a service commercially, so I gather the results must be pretty good and satisfactory to both seller and buyer.




- Patrick
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chscag said:

I especially like Walgreens (don't know if you have them in Canada) since I can email them my photos and specify how I want them printed - copies, size, etc. Some of their stores are open 24 hours which is convenient for a late night pickup.

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I have to agree. I haven't used them personally but I have a co-worker who has used them. They were able to take a cell phone photo and turn it into a pretty nice looking poster size print. It probably would have looked better starting with a higher quality photo but I was pretty impressed given the starting point.