» HP Color LaserJet 2600n Printer (Q6455A#ABA)

HP Color LaserJet 2600n Printer (Q6455A#ABA) Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: HP 2605dn vs HP 2600n - Features vs Toner Consumption
Comment: When it comes to purchasing a printer, I look for three things: reliability, features and toner consumption. I have had both 2605dn and 2600n for a year now and I can say that when it comes down to features and memory, the 2605dn comes out shining, but in toner consumption, the 2600n is the king. Both printers have Toner Limit Override, which allows you to keep printing after the cartridge reaches its "limit" giving you hundreds of extra prints. But only the 2600n has the option of printing color in 600dpi and true black without using some color in the prints. The 2605dn prints color only in 2400dpi and always uses a bit of color on its black prints even for you set it for 600dpi (600dpi applies only for black prints in the 2605n). I can honestly tell you that the difference in toner consumption is INSANE. I can print FOUR TIMES more color prints with the 2600n than with the 2605dn, and you cannot tell the deference in quality between the two. Yes the 2605dn is faster, has more memory, can print both sides of the paper automatically and handle heavy paper better, but for me toner consumption is too much of a deference to not notice it. Oh, and my 2605dn burned down on its first birthday. Here are some more details if you are interested:

2605dn -
Pros: Fast, excellent quality. The automatic two-side printing feature is awesome and saves you a lot of time. Can print on transparencies, and cardboard paper. Easy to load toners. Can upgrade memory. It is HP Solution Center compatible, which gives you a run down on how many prints are left, etc. without the need of accessing the internet.

Cons - Costs $200 more that its 2600n sister. No low quality color printing option available. Black prints will always use color. When printing pictures this printer will burn even the HP Photo Color Laser quality papers, believe me, it's a mess.

2600n -
Pros - Cheaper than the 2605dn. Excellent quality. Fast and reliable. Over the top toner consumption when using the low quality color option, which in fact prints as good as the higher quality option. This option has given me over two thousand more prints per cartridge which is incredible. Can also print on transparencies and cardboard. Just be sure to set the printer correctly or it will smudge. It can print both sides of the paper manually.

Cons - A bit slower than its sister and less memory. After using the automatic two-side printing feature this printer seems outdated. It's not HP Solution Center compatible, so you get no nice software with it. Will also burn photo quality paper even if it is made from HP.

Bottom line - The features on 2605dn may be cool but when it comes to saving 75% more toner on the 2600n, I go with the underdog. Too bad the 2605dn does not have the option to print low res in color. Both are bad for photo printing. Well there it is; the table is set and you as the customer must make your move.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Nice, but expensive in the long run
Comment: First, the good news. The HP 2600n works well. Setup over the network was simple and it produces nice looking documents.

But, there's not so nice news.

First of all, it's slow. Really really slow, slowest laser printer I've ever owned.

Second, it has problems with handling stiff cardstock. It appears to bump the paper against some internal mechanism so that a horizontal line of text will appear smeared. Not every card, but about half of them.

Finally, it's expensive. Not the printer itself, I caught it at 50% off one day, so I only paid two hundred. The toner costs look like they'll be hefty. So far, my printing with very little "color" is using all four toners cartriges evenly, which works out to 10 cents per page (about five times the cost of my normal lasers).

According to HP's documentation, the printer uses all four toners even when producing black (to control a color cast in the black toner?). I've been told that the "grayscale only" option only affects the color rendering, not the toner use. There is another "neutrals greys, black only" option, I'm going to try that and see if it effects usage.

I've also been told that the other three toner carts spin no matter if they're being used or not, so there's wear from wiping the drums and the printer counts pages evenly across all four toners.

I only use it for limited items that need color, for the speed issue alone I'd prefer using my other lasers instead. It's great for occasional use, but I can't imagine having it as my primary printer.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: good value for the price
Comment: This is probably the cheapest color laser jet you can find. and it does its job well!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Wake up inkjet users!
Comment: For the past few years inkjet users have been paying dearly for color printing capability. Two or three years ago a color laserjet printer that uses dry toner was very expensive (commonly $1000). Then prices on these machines began to crash. Other manufacturers were first to market with less expensive printers. When HP, which always produces best of class hardware entered the fray with this beauty it was time to move. It has commonly been available for about $250-$300. While the full retail price of 4 dry toner cartridges is about $300, the cost per print is less than 3 cents. A new machine comes with a full set of cartridges (so the machine is actually free!).

Inkjet cartridges are very expensive by comparison, about 12-13 cents per print (thousands of dollars per gallon). If you go on vacation for a few weeks you are at risk of having liquid inks dry out in feed lines.

I've never been able to keep an inkjet working for more than 2 years. I retired a HP laserjet that was still functioning well after a decade opting for a faster machine.

The only downside is that this is a fairly large machine better suited to an office than home environment (depending on the size of our home, I guess).

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Customer Rating:
Summary: HP Color LaserJet 2600n
Comment: i don't like this printer as much as i liked my 2500 laser printer. there are times when it doesn't print, and i have to go to the software and pause the printing and then resume it. i also don't like the tray for paper underneath. it slides out and takes up a lot of room which i don't have. i also have to make adjustments for envelopes. the 2500 had an open tray which was easier to deal with. of course, this printer was far less expensive than the 2500. basically, it's a nice printer. i have nothing negative to say about the printing itself.

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