Looking for a colour 'laser' printer

After just under 20 years it looks as if I will have to buy a replacement colour 'laser' printer to replace my OKI C5200n for which drivers are unavailable. (Struggled today to even find one for Win7 64-bit)

Besides duplex printing, I need the ability to occasionally print on 200gsm A4 card, so ideally a printer with a straight through paper path would be ideal. My old OKI had this as does my mono Brother.

Grateful for any recommendations. Cheap to run and a good size initial toner obviously a bonus!

Thanks.

Cheers!

I had a quick look and the only laser printers I can see that can cope with 200gsm paper are Oki or Xerox, but you are looking at a very high price in the £900 mark. I have a brother LED printer, which is great but can't cope with the weight of paper/card you require. Is there a Linux driver available for your printer? If so, then maybe you can dual boot, not ideal, but a way to keep using your printer
I know how you feel, I had the same problem with my scanner when I changed to a Mac, I had to spend money to buy Vuscan to keep my old scanner working. Well my brother LED printer can't cope with heavy card it is still a great printer, cheap, quick and pretty good quality. I may at some point buy a cheap inkjet for card,

I make the mistake of getting a colour laser printer. It was a nightmare. I love my ancient Brother laser but that is mono so I tried an Epson EcoTank a few years ago and that has been fantastic. Reliable and very cheap to run.

In reply to a post by spile:

I make the mistake of getting a colour laser printer. It was a nightmare. I love my ancient Brother laser but that is mono so I tried an Epson EcoTank a few years ago and that has been fantastic. Reliable and very cheap to run.

As I said above, I have a brother LED printer, which is colour, it is a good printer, may not print as fast mono as laser printers, around 18 pages a minute, but is faster with colour, just about. No spinning mirrors, so less to go wrong. Cheaper than lasers as well. It is not perfect, the one thing I don't like is the LCD display, a single line and not back lit, no scanner, I wish in some ways I did buy one with a scanner, but saying that my old scanner is still better than what is put on Printers these days, for a start it has a paper feeder and is auto duplex.

Inkjets are better at photos than lasers, but they have the problem of blocking up if left for any amount of time and the high price of ink, two reasons why I decided to go for the one i did.
I know Epson and other manufactures have printers that have tanks that you can fill, like your Ecotank, but you pay a fair bit of money for a basic printer. Epson's lowest price ecotank is around £150 and, no scanner, which most inkjets have these days, even the dead cheap ones, no duplex printing and the ink is still a tenner a bottle, which while cheaper than cartridges is still not great. But at least you do get more for your tenner, I think.

I have been thinking about getting a inkjet, but not sure if I will use it much, so will get the same old problem of blocked nozzles, I only want it for photos and for stuff that will not go into the Brother. I did look at canon's Megatanks, but like Epson you pay a fair bit for a basic machine, the basic one is around £170, again no scanner, but you do get duplex printing. I will have a look at some point what Brother has in inkjets, I am not a fan of Epson.

I did notice while looking around that you have to look carefully at the specs as a few of them can't handle the heavier weights of paper/card.

That’s why paying for the EcoTank was a good investment for me. The two x3 bottles of ink supplied have lasted me four years and I’ve only had to run the head clean procedure two or three times a year.

In reply to a post by spile:

That’s why paying for the EcoTank was a good investment for me. The two x3 bottles of ink supplied have lasted me four years and I’ve only had to run the head clean procedure two or three times a year.

if it works for you then that is good,

What i see with printers i have looked at the is the inability to cope with heavy card, like my old canon could, I suppose more expesnive ones will.
I have some magnetic printable paper which was fine on the old canon I had, but I would not dare put it in the Brother., which is another reason why I am looking at an Inket, but i certainly don't want to spend a fortune.

I had actually got to the stage of thinking of getting a colour laser for normal paper and an Eco-tank for printing on card. But I wanted something where the ink/toner would not run if it got wet.

So went looking for a laser that would take card.

My old colour laser printer was an OKI 5200n bought in 2005 besides driver issues ie not available for Win10 and no real work-around, there was also likely a roller issue where it would go into "stubborn mode" and refuse to auto feed paper. This when using a WinXP and a memory stick of PDFs to print. A right pain.

I spoke to the supplier of my OKI and they gave me a list of a few colour laser printers which would handle 200 gsm card, but whilst reasonable in cost, they were supplied with not a lot of toner and toner was somewhat expensive. So looked further and came across a Brother HL-L9430cdn which will take 200 gsm (and thicker) in the main tray and comes with 9K Black and 6.5K CYM Toner.

I ordered it from Printerbase Monday lunchtime and it arrived at 7:45am this morning!

It is fast and certainly handles the 200 gsm card. Very pleased.

Cheers!

I spoke to the supplier of my OKI (Printerbase) on Monday morning and they gave me a list of a few colour laser printers which would handle 200 gsm card, but whilst reasonable in cost, they were supplied with not a lot of toner and toner was somewhat expensive. So looked further and came across a Brother HL-L9430cdn which will take 200 gsm (and thicker) in the main tray and comes with 9K Black and 6.5K CYM Toner. Subsequent toner is better priced as well.

I ordered it from Printerbase Monday lunchtime and it arrived at 7:45am this morning!

It is fast and certainly handles the 200 gsm card. Very pleased.

Cheers!

In reply to a post by Ancient_Mariner:

I spoke to the supplier of my OKI (Printerbase) on Monday morning and they gave me a list of a few colour laser printers which would handle 200 gsm card, but whilst reasonable in cost, they were supplied with not a lot of toner and toner was somewhat expensive. So looked further and came across a Brother HL-L9430cdn which will take 200 gsm (and thicker) in the main tray and comes with 9K Black and 6.5K CYM Toner. Subsequent toner is better priced as well.

I ordered it from Printerbase Monday lunchtime and it arrived at 7:45am this morning!

It is fast and certainly handles the 200 gsm card. Very pleased.

Cheers!

oki printers are very expensive, but they do last for years, as you have found out. That brother printer you got is a bit chunky in price and size, but then it is a proper laser, I had a look at toners for it, just to be nosy and the prices are high and don't seem to be any compatibles.
I have the Brother HL-3150CDW, it is not produced any more, the HL-L3230CDW may be the replacement. toners are cheap enough, I can buy a set of four compatible ones for £83 and they are fine, proper brother ones are £104, I I use Stinky ink for all my ink and have done for a few years.

the only problems I have with the printer is the silly screen it has, and it can't cope with heavy card , not that i use it often, but it would be nice. Oh yeah and the UI on the computer looks like it is something from the 90's, i expect yours is the same as well, that is on the mac and Windows

For you to buy a printer for that price, you must be making good use of it