Top Five Laser Printers For A Home Office

When setting up a SOHO (small office, home office) and deciding to buy a printer, it is important that you keep the following points in mind:

- Printer size: SOHOs have to be extra efficient in utilizing space. You cannot pick up a bulky printer that you will not only have a tough time shifting across the room but will also take up space that you could have used for an extra desk and chair!

- Quality & Price: Modern technology allows you not to compromise on quality just because your budget is low. With a little survey of what laser printers are available in a particular range of prices, you can go for added goodies and discounts that can make the overall purchase pretty cheap.

Considering these factors, here are the top five laser printers in the less-than-$400 range you could pick up for your home office:

- The Konica Minolta 1600W Laser Printer available at $180.12 with a discount on the product price of $229.00 is one hot-selling item. If what you’ll be printing is basically letters on your own letterhead, mailers and emails, this is just the right printer. It offers 1200x600 dpi, USB support-PC connectivity facility with 20ppm in monochrome and 5ppm in color. It’s ultra compact and lightweight at 28.66 lb.

- But, possibly, you don’t have any color print needs at all in your SOHO. In that case, the Brother HL-2170W Laser Printer is a steal at $140.56. With a print speed of 23ppm and a max print resolution of 2400 x 600 dpi is great for network laser printing too because it includes a built-in Ethernet and wireless Ethernet and wireless 802.11b/g network interfaces. At 15 lb, you don’t even need to station it permanently outside of a cupboard. You need to fetch the Brother HL-2170W only when you need it.

- But if you do need a color laser printer, just a tad higher is the Samsung CLP-315 Network Color Laser Printer at $145.27. The resolution is same as the Brother’s at 2400x600 dpi though it prints a bit slower at 17ppm in mono and 4ppm in color. You get sharp laser text from a printer that’s specifically ‘quiet’ with its ‘No Nois’ print engine technology. Its elegant black look matches with any SOHO decor!

- The HP LaserJet P1006 Monochrome Laser Printers 17PPM at $176.35 is worth every cent if compactness, low noise, low energy usage, quick cancellation and start-up are your priorities. The printer uses a wee bit more toner than usual but has no background nose, is stylish, ultra-compact and specially certified for use with Windows Vista, Mac OS X v10.3, v10.4 and v10.5. It’s HP’s smallest laser printer though a monochrome one. The speed is 17 ppm with the first page zipping out in less than 8.5 seconds in Power Save Mode.

- If you can compromise a bit on resolution and want more speed, there’s nothing quite like the Samsung ML-2571N Laser Printer. It’s monochrome with max res at 1200x1200 dpi with a blazing 25ppm speed. This stylish network-ready printer works well with Windows, Mac and Linux. For $176.35 and 19.6 lb, this Samsung printer is efficient for transparency printing as well.