Laser Printer

[karlskorner]

Looking to replace my Epson Dot-Matrix which is getting long in the tooth, the only reason I like it is that you can put more than 1 piece of information on a page by scrolling down (something I believe you cannot do with ink jet or laser) Local store advertising HP 1020 Monochrome Laser Printer for $129.99, cartridge $69.99. I am going to check this one out. Problem is when you ask a sales clerk "does it do DOS", they all answer yes, found out the hard way they don't. Any suggestions on a Laser Printer that does DOS ?

[qhrick]

Many of the newer laser jets don't do Dos, including some HP

Comsumable costs on the really cheap lasers tend to be much higher than other lasers


HP's ongoing line that started with Series 3,4,4+, 4000,4100, 4200/50, 4300/50 all do Dos. You can find these workhorses all over Ebay in used condition. Just look for lower page counts and good feedback

Also check connectivity, if it's only USB, that's a tipoff that Dos is out
Look for parallel connectivity

The 1020 you looked at is USB only

I believe HP has a 1320 model that will probably work. I have a friend with one and as I recall it does Dos?

[traveler]

Good tip on the USb port. I have 2 HP 4100's at work - 5 yrs and 1000's of pages real workhorses. Good idea to find used one. HP 4250's are great but expensive - cartridges are about $200 I think. I bought a refurbished Konica/Minolta cheapie with extended wty for less than a new one online at Quill
The cartridges are as much almost as the printer on the cheapies, just trash em and get a new printer every yr. or two when the toner runs out depending on your usage.

[qhrick]

Good tip on the USb port. I have 2 HP 4100's at work - 5 yrs and 1000's of pages real workhorses. Good idea to find used one. HP 4250's are great but expensive - cartridges are about $200 I think. I bought a refurbished Konica/Minolta cheapie with extended wty for less than a new one online at Quill
The cartridges are as much almost as the printer on the cheapies, just trash em and get a new printer every yr. or two when the toner runs out depending on your usage.

I have a 4250 and yes, the cartridges are expensive, but I have had good luck w/ some 3rd party toners at about half the cost of the overpriced HP's. I get the high capcity cartridge for the 4250 for about $100. If you print a lot, don't think you'll beat the HP's, they usually print forever. I have some older backup models that still work and have over 200k pages on em