Hewlett Packard LaserJet M5035x

[logan1978]

Hi:

I am looking at Hewlett Packard LaserJet M5035x to replace our xerox copier and HP5100DTN in our Engineering office. Our copy needs have dropped significantly since we moved to a electronic drawing system and we no longer have to make duplicates for drawings. So we are looking for a solution in the $1000-$6000 range that can met our 100pages/day needs and allow us to scan and make the odd copy. Our xerox sites turned off most days.
So is this a good machine is it a dog and can you recommend something better?

Requirements are:
2 tray
letter and 11x17
duplexing
Scanning/copy
Network wired.
Color is an option but if it puts it out of our price range it can be sacrificed.

Thanks.

[prntrfxr]

This machine is too new for me to give you any info. Only had 1 call on one and it was a stapler/sorter issue. My suggestion is to go to an online rating site where customers rate their own stuff for quality and problem ratings or CNET and some of the other commercial comparison sites to see a comparison verses other equipment.

Other than that, anyone can give you an opinion, but thats what it is, an opinion. They don't know what kind of usage or types of jobs you'd be running or your needs. So that would be up to you.

The rest of your decision should be based on the following:

cost per page
power usage & requirements (should have its own outlet - people never think about circuit breakers and how many other electronic devices are on it.)
environmental impact
Footprint (space required)

If you're going to pay the money for any big machine, you need to do the research. There are no easy fast answers, unfortunately. Make sure once you have it that there is a person who has been trained in its use and supplies replacement. Otherwise, it won't matter how good a machine it is, you'll always be calling a tech to fix something someone in the office did to it. I know this is just my 2 cents, but I hope it helps you. I'm sure lots of techs on this site can tell you of customers who think their old machines are junk and the majority of the service calls are end-user related (paper clips in the machine, paper still in the wrapper, & ramming the wrong cartridges in incorrectly).

[logan1978]

I get what your saying and I have done some research but it is hard to find reviews on commercial equipment sometimes and it never hurts to get a general idea of what some people are saying about it. I post to forums like this as part of my research into buying equipment. Afterall if I all I did was trust the salesman I would probably end up with a machine way to big for our means that I would have to babysit all the time.

I do know that the machine has problems with color printing but that is not my major requirement for it. I am looking for a machine that can fullfile the role that my 5100dtn does (check), smaller than our xerox copier (check), uses less power than our xerorx (welll somedays it's not even turned on anymore so how do you beat that?), environmental impact ???? never looked into it, and as to cost per page well nothing can be more expensive than my xerox.

The main reason I posted here was to see if anyone had any problems with them or if they did they could recommend something better that I might not have researched already. I want to buy something that is reasonably inexpensive and is almost as durable as my 5100dtn was. I want to avoid maintenance contracts if possible as getting techs out to where I am is expensive even with a maintenance contract. Unfortunatly I live in an area that doesn't have many if any printer techs unless I stict with a couple of certain brands and I am trying to find something better.

[prntrfxr]

I love HP products. Having said that I dont think I'd be looking at an HP unit with a scanner. (Remember this is an opinion). Reasons:

1. Many of HP's scanner machines have issues and a lot of people have had to replace the entire flatbed, because its sealed in such away to discourage repairing. Even if the problem is just a dirty home position sensor.

2. Anytime you get an all-in-one or multi-function machine you dont want to make that the only machine you have in the office. If the copier part of the unit doesn't work or goes down, you wont be able to print either.

3. My opinion, go with a refurbished 5100 or a 5200 and get yourself a small copier.

You could buy the M5035x and never have a single problem with it, so there's no guarantee. Why buy a colorlaserjet if you dont need to. Toner and supplies are very expensive with those units. Just my 2 cents. Someone else may have better ideas than mine.

[fixthecopier]

What prntrfxr said is true. I think the HP makes a kick ass printer, but the scanner on the all in one units can ruin your day. The other point about putting all of your eggs in one printing basket is also true. If you had all of your office equipment in one unit, you would want to buy something that is worth getting repaired and that you can get service and parts real quick. You can get a separate scanner of good quality from HP for $400 to $700, with a document feeder. A quality printer like the 5100 will outlive the scanner, then you replace it in few years if you need to, maybe with an upgrade.