Three New—And Inexpensive—Laser Printers Go Head To Head

As printer manufacturers compete to see who can build the best, but most inexpensive, color laser printer, the CRN Test Center took a look at three of these new units: Hewlett-Packard’s CLJ 3600n, Lexmark’s C524n and Xerox’s Phaser 6120. All start at a price of less than $1,000 and offer SMB users good performance and value, and solution providers easily can create comprehensive SMB infrastructures around any one of these units.

HEWLETT-PACKARD COLOR LASERJET 3600n
Hewlett-Packard’s Color LaserJet 3600n is a single-pass unit that includes networking at a list price of just $699. The CLJ 3600n is a 600 x 600-dpi printer with HP’s ImageREt 3600 image-enhancement technology offering brilliant high-gloss output. It offers this output at speeds up to 17 pages per minute in color and monochrome, with the first page finished in less than 14 seconds. USB 2.0 and Ethernet connectivity are standard.

Easy to set up, the CLJ 3600n’s print cartridges come pre-installed. There are only four print cartridges to manage—because the toner and imaging drum are integrated units—which means that the entire imaging system is refreshed when toner cartridges are replaced. The printer has a 250-sheet input tray and a 100-sheet multipurpose tray that allows the printing of labels, envelopes and other various media. A 500-sheet input tray and duplex printing are optional. Powered by a 360MHz processor and 128 Mbytes of memory, the CLJ 3600n has maximum monthly duty cycle of 50,000 pages. The printer measures 15.7 inches by 15.7 inches by 17.7 inches and weighs 60 pounds.

In the sub-$1,000 color laser printer category, the CLJ 3600n offers the best performance of the three units examined in this review. It prints monochrome and color text at the same speed as the Lexmark C524n but tends to process graphics slightly faster. While output is not as brilliant as HP claims, it is quite sharp. In summary, this is a great printer for the money and one that’s easily capable of supporting small workgroups.

HP’s PartnerOne channel program is broken into three tiers: Platinum, Gold and Business. Partner levels are assigned based on sales goals or special certifications. Margins can range from 10 percent to 18 percent depending on level and product line sold. Partners also have access to market development fund rebates (from 1 percent to 1.5 percent), membership rebates (from 0.2 percent to 0.45 percent) and System Builder Program rebates (from 2 percent to 4 percent). The vendor offers significant demo unit discounts, along with free training and several support options.

LEXMARK C524n
Lexmark recently introduced its new C520 family of color laser printers. The series offers single-pass color printing rated at speeds of up to 20 ppm in color and monochrome—a bit faster than HP’s CLJ 3600n. The C520 family of printers also offers true 1,200 x 1,200-dpi resolution—and it offers this performance in base models that cost less than $500. All models are network-ready, but the C524n includes networking and lists for $699, exactly what HP asks for its CLJ 3600n.

The Lexmark C524n is easy to set up and service, and just like the HP unit, Lexmark’s C524n has a 250-sheet input tray and a 100-sheet multipurpose tray. Additional paper drawers are optional. Powered by a 500MHz processor and a minimum of 128 Mbytes of memory, the C542n prints the first page in as little as 13 seconds. USB and Ethernet connectivity are standard, while duplex printing is optional. Slightly larger than the HP printer, the C524n measures 17.3 inches by 19 inches by 16.1 inches and weighs 64 pounds. It has a monthly duty cycle of up to 65,000 pages.