Ken; For starters...all Printer, Copiers, come with a partially filled Toner Cartridge, or Ink Cartridge. With laser printers, copiers, you will usually be able to buy "Recharged Toner Cartridges" at about 1/2 the price of a new one. They will usually not be available until a year after the Model has been in production. I have a Laser B&W printer I use in the shop, I have found out how to recharge it, since it has a plastic plug that can be removed, filled, and re-inserted. I bought a bottle of Toner (Powder) that has the same chemical compound as the old toner, I can refill my Toner cartridge about 12 times, each refill being good for about 60,000 pages. Toner cost me $17. So unless the printer breaks down electronically, I should be good for life. I use this printer for Invoices and other shop functions. The NEC printer was actually a "freebe" since someone bought it used, and could not find the drivers for it, so it owes me nothing. -Ed- Ed Gaidies Tel-Tek Electronics Ontario-Canada teltek3@xxxxxxxxxxxx ----- Original Message ----- From: <gulftech@xxxxxxxx> To: <techassist@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, August 04, 2003 8:27 PM Subject: [TechAssist] Sharp AL-1540C Digital Copier/Printer/Scanner > Friends, > > Hopefully, this will be informative to all of you. > > I have a large, commercial copier that had finally reached the end of the > line. Takes up an enormous amount of space in my home office and have > made over a million copies, I think. > > Anyway, I replaced it last week with the Sharp equipment mentioned in the > subject line. It is a beauty. It is a B&W laser copier printer, at 15 > copies per minute. Reduce/enlarge 25% to 400%. Has automatic document > feeder--30 sheets. Will do invoice, letter, legal, envelopes, > transparency, or card stock. > > I'm not trying to push this thing, just enough to give you the idea. I > am well satisfied with this equipment. Cost at Office Depot was $450.00. > > Here is the kicker. It comes with, as the manual says, a "starter" toner > cartridge. Have found no mention of the expected number of copies this > "starter cartridge" will make. Of course I realize that would depend on > the black density per copy. I was back at Office Depot today for another > item. Out of curiosity, I ask for the cost of the replacement toner > cartridge, Sharp # AL-110TD. I think he told he $119.00. I was so > shocked, I didn't write it down. > > I suppose I should not be shocked. I had an ink-jet printer whose > replacement ink cost was nearly equal to the price I paid for the printer > with ink cartridge. > > I know that some firms recharge (refill) toner cartridges. I tried that > once myself with an Epson AL-1500 laser printer, but it didn't work. I > took toner from my Sharp commercial copier and put some in the cartridge. > That cartridge cost was over $150.00, if my memory is correct. > > One more thing. I found (after buying the AL-1540C) that color scanning > was not possible with the normal parallel printer cable, only with a USB > cable. That cost me an additional $30. That is only found by reading > the manual (or maybe it was on the install disk). Glad my computers > have the USB port! > > Final words--I promise. This is a fine addition for the office and at a > great cost. Laser printers are a much better buy for most of the things > I need, but this one (and probably all) have hidden costs that need to be > examined and factored in. > > Regards, > > > Ken Smith > Gulf Technical Services > 3034 Gulf Breeze Parkway > Gulf Breeze, FL 32563 > 850-934-8324 (Voice) 850-932-0819 (Fax) > > > ________________________________________________________________ > The best thing to hit the internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! > Surf the web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! > Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! > **************************************************************************** * > Classifieds! Buy or Sell! > http://sell.tech-assist.org > The Tech Address Book: > http://www.tech-assist.org/secure/tip/contact.htm > Add a Repair Tip Here, or Change/Remove your Email Address: > http://www.tech-assist.org/secure/tip/main.htm > Lost Password: > http://www.tech-assist.org and select "Lost your Login Info?". > Email Archives: > //www.freelists.org/archives/techassist/ > ***************************************************************************** Classifieds! Buy or Sell! http://sell.tech-assist.org The Tech Address Book: http://www.tech-assist.org/secure/tip/contact.htm Add a Repair Tip Here, or Change/Remove your Email Address: http://www.tech-assist.org/secure/tip/main.htm Lost Password: http://www.tech-assist.org and select "Lost your Login Info?". Email Archives: //www.freelists.org/archives/techassist/