best printer for a small office of macs

[berbes]

the client has a brother hl-l5200dwt, but doesn't like that they have to choose what trays to print from by using the printer's onboard menu. they want to be able to choose trays through the office software when they go to print. amazingly, this is not possible with this printer! what are the choices out there for a b/w laser in the same price range as their hl-l5200dwt, please?

thanks!
berbes

 

[pigoo3]

Thread moved to better area. Not a "Switcher Hangout" topic.

Thanks,

- Nick

 

[pm-r]

the client has a brother hl-l5200dwt, but doesn't like that they have to choose what trays to print from by using the printer's onboard menu.

From a quick look, it seems to me one only has to do that setup when first filling or changing the paper size:
http://support.brother.com/g/b/faqend.aspx?c=us&lang=en&prod=hll6200dw_us_as&faqid=faq00002542_500

After the paper has been loaded, then the tray choice should be available from the Mc and the software being used if the printer has been setup correctly:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uKVfe0c2ho&ab_channel=BrotherOffice

Unless I missed something…



- Patrick
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[chscag]

You can do some checking for your client by going to the various printer manufacturer's sites and looking over what they have available. Also, it's not the Office software which would control or select the trays that can be used. That's usually controlled by the printer driver. Make sure anything you select for your client is fully supported and has specific drivers for macOS.

 

[pm-r]

best printer for a small office of macs

BTW: I just thought I'd mention the Canon MX922 AIO that's often recommended for office work has two trays as you seem to prefer, and easily chosen with the Mac, but a big heads-up warning for it and any others like it, the top tray is only for smaller photo size paper, NOT for regular or legal size paper. Rather a stupid design decision to me for an "office printer" IMHO.

I recently got one and can manage with just regular paper normally in the lower tray, especially when I was able to purchase the printer for less than 1/3 its regular price.



EDIT:
No the Canon MX922 is NOT a laser printer but an inkjet model. Just in case it wasn't noticed.


And as chscag mentioned, make sure the proper software for Mac is installed and Brother is usually excellent when supporting Macs.



- Patrick
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[chscag]

I was just in Staples doing some other shopping and noticed they have a full two aisles of various printers from very expensive to el cheapo. The larger and more expensive lasers by Brother and HP all have several trays. Normally one tray for standard paper the other for large size paper. All seem to support envelopes in addition. However, (and here's the catch) those type printers have selectible menus. I have no idea if any of them come with Mac drivers that will allow for software control of the trays. Normally both Brother and HP provide fairly good support for Macs.

 

[pm-r]

Just to add a note, it seems that using a basic Gutenprint driver for printing does not support choosing multiple trays.

So hopefully the printer brand can supply their own driver as chscag mentioned above, that should work when downloaded, installed and setup which is sorta in line with what I also posted previously.





- Patrick
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[Randy B. Singer]

the client has a brother hl-l5200dwt, but doesn't like that they have to choose what trays to print from by using the printer's onboard menu. they want to be able to choose trays through the office software when they go to print. amazingly, this is not possible with this printer! what are the choices out there for a b/w laser in the same price range as their hl-l5200dwt, please?

The ability to choose which tray the printer prints from is determined, not by the model of printer you are using, or by the application you are printing from, but by the (software) printer driver you have installed to use with your model of printer.

So the first thing that I would do would be to delete the setup that you have for your 5200 (in System Preferences --> Print and Scan). Choose Apple menu --> System Preferences --> Printers & Scanners --> select your printer in the list --> click the Remove button

Next download the latest version of the driver for the 5200 directly from Brother and install it:

http://support.brother.com/g/b/downloadtop.aspx?c=us&lang=en&prod=hll5200dw_us_eu_as

I strongly suspect that you will then have a choice of trays to print from.

I have a Brother laser printer sitting right here next to me, and even though it only has one tray, it still has a (greyed out) choice of trays to use in the Print dialog window. It may even be that you already have this choice and you haven't found it as it is a bit hidden:

Within the application you want to print from, go to:
File menu --> Print --> under Printer choose your printer model --> there is a drop down menu in the middle of this dialog box that normally has the name of the application you are printing from, click on it --> choose Print Settings --> Paper Source --> Tray 1 or Tray2 etc.

If none of that works, the next option is to go with a commercial printer driver that has expanded features and which supports your model of printer. I can suggest one or two if you like. But I very strongly suspect that this won't be necessary.