I am looking for a B&W personal laser printer for home use on a mac.

Not much volume but would still like decent paper handling, cost per
page, small footprint and low noise (it would sit right on my desk).

Is duplex a useful feature or just a gimmick?

A recent thread appeared to recommend Brother 5240 (basic) and 5250DN
(duplex and networking). The price difference between them is not huge,
I think $20, so no big deal. How do they compare against the offerings
from HP and Samsung?

Thanks for all the input.

BTW, I posted another question about which online price comparison
services are best. That reminds me, Brother 5250DN shows up as 'ships
next day' on Shopzilla, 'not yet released' on Amazon, and does not even
show up on Pricegrabber as of this morning. What is your expereince
with these sites?

In message <041120051308376112%ajanta@null.void>, Ajanta
<ajanta@null.void> writes

That depends entirely on you.

I used to print a lot of multi page documents for postage. Duplex saved
paper cost, environmental impact and postal cost.

If on the other hand, you mostly print simple single sided letters...


Cheers, J/.
--
John Beardmore

I wish my first laser had duplexing. I can do the duplexing manually,
but it is not convenient. For $20, I'd buy it. For my second laser
printer, duplexing was a "must have".

Paul

Ajanta wrote:

Ajanta wrote:

IT IS A MUST HAVE

"Ajanta" <ajanta@null.void> wrote in message
news:041120051308376112%ajanta@null.void...
What an bizarre question. Like saying 'Is colour printing a gimmick?' Do you
want duplexing or don't you?

Caitlin <caitlin_online_nospam@hotmail.com> wrote:

: What an bizarre question. Like saying 'Is colour printing a gimmick?'
: Do you want duplexing or don't you?

It could be considered a gimicky feature in the following sense: If you
flip the pages yourself, you got 2 sided printing. However, with a BW
printer, you can't get color by any such simple trick.

"Caitlin" <caitlin_online_nospam@hotmail.com> wrote in news:436c2bf4$0
$44197$c30e37c6@ken-reader.news.telstra.net:

No, it can save paper and labour if properly used.

Gary Tait <classicsat@yahoo.com> wrote:

: >> Is duplex a useful feature or just a gimmick
:
: No, it can save paper and labour if properly used.

I should have said "auto duplex". One can achieve the same effect
by turning the pages over oneself.

"Elmo P. Shagnasty" <elmop@nastydesigns.com> wrote in message
news:elmop-382284.11573205112005@nntp1.usenetserver.com...
No, set up and print all odd pages, Then turn the whole stack over and print
even pages, Voila, double sided book and all in order.
works like a charm on my OKI C5150n Color led printer. I print all my
manuals this way.

Regards, Rene

In message <051120050151590769%ajanta@null.void>, Ajanta
<ajanta@null.void> writes

Then again, you could always write stuff out by hand !

But seriously, I think there are two issues to consider.

One is that duplexing by hand tends to result in a greater rate of jams
for me.

The other is the time taken to do significant amounts of duplex printing
by hand.


Cheers, J/.
--
John Beardmore

In article <051120051010486322%ajanta@null.void>, Nobody wrote:

Ajanta-

One problem I have had with manual duplex, is that IF there is a paper jam
halfway through a document, my printer will reprint the jammed page, but
on the next sheet. In other words, the remaining portion of the print job
would be ruined if I didn't abort.

Of course this might be a problem with a duplex printer as well, depending
on how smart it is.

If you are even considering getting duplex, either choose a printer that
can be upgraded or go ahead and get the duplex version now. HP says my
printer can't be upgraded. I suspect it can, but it would be cheaper to
buy a refurbished duplex printer on eBay!

Fred

"Elmo P. Shagnasty" <elmop@nastydesigns.com> wrote in
news:elmop-782D55.12212205112005@nntp1.usenetserver.com:

I've had problems with manual duplexing, inasmuch getting pages in order
and things. I haven't printed much, if anything, out with the auto
duplexer in my Canon IP5000.

In message <qE5bf.410880$1i.212040@pd7tw2no>, Rene Lamontagne
<rlamont@shaw.ca> writes

Great until it picks up two sheets at a time.


Cheers, J/.
--
John Beardmore

anyone dealt with this lot?
www.tallygenicom.co.uk

--
I am dislexia of borg your ass will be laminated
http://www.ian-lincoln.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
"Elmo P. Shagnasty" <elmop@nastydesigns.com> wrote in message
news:elmop-1C4B52.14273905112005@nntp1.usenetserver.com...

Fred McKenzie <fmmck@aol.com> wrote:

Interesting angle. My own experience and emphasis have been different.
I never use duplex printing for any of my formal documents, but my
writing style is such that I may go through ten drafts before I have
the final version. That is 100 pages for a ten page paper. It is on
these draft versions that I use duplex printing. It really wouldn't
matter of one of them got ruined.

I do agree that if the price differentce is not outrageous, it is
better to get a printer that duplexes automatically.

Julia

If you print a lot of long documents like user manuals, etc, then
automatic duplex printing can be a real time saver. If it is just
manual duplex, try to find out what they mean by that. FOr some it is
just software that allows you to match up the pages during printing, but
if one page gets skipped, all the rest will be off, and make a real mess
of things.

Art

Ajanta wrote:

You could just use some colored pencils or crayons, however ;-)

Art

Ajanta wrote:

I assume you never get a misfeed or a double feed then. You are lucky.
I tend to get occasional double feeds where two pages go through at
once, and then every page after that is off by one page.

Art

Rene Lamontagne wrote:

"Arthur Entlich" <e-printerhelp@mvps.org> wrote in message
news:BkGbf.427857$oW2.136902@pd7tw1no...

No double feeds yet, But we all know that it will happen sooner or later,
Murphy is just bidding his time till I do a really important or Huge manual,
Then he will STRIKE.

Yes I would prefer the mechanical duplexer that is available but it is over
$400.00 CDN and for my limited home use not really justifiable.


Regards, Rene Lamontagne

Rene Lamontagne <rlamont@shaw.ca> wrote:

: Yes I would prefer the mechanical duplexer that is available but it is over
: $400.00 CDN and for my limited home use not really justifiable.

Check out the just released Brother 5250DN with street price around
US$230. Pretty soon, there should be refurbished, open box stock,
returned items, rebates, etc. Good luck.