CLJ 2605 vs CLJ 3800

I'm in the market for a new color laser printer for a home network and have
narrowed down the choices to the above two. The 3800 is only $80 more than
the 2605 and would be the obvious choice except for the difference in
drivers. The 2605 is PCL/PS while the 3800 is host based.

My question: is host based all that evil. After all aren't ink printers
host based?...Dean

In article <>,
"Dean-MN" <> wrote:

> I'm in the market for a new color laser printer for a home network and have
> narrowed down the choices to the above two. The 3800 is only $80 more than
> the 2605 and would be the obvious choice except for the difference in
> drivers. The 2605 is PCL/PS while the 3800 is host based.
>
> My question: is host based all that evil. After all aren't ink printers
> host based?...Dean

Dean-

I do not like the idea of a host-based Laser printer, since drivers are
usually not available for my Macintosh. However, I don't think the HP
CLJ 3800 is host based.

I selected the HP CLJ 2605DN several months ago, based on the lower
price and smaller size. I would have preferred the HP CLJ 3800DN, but
it cost about twice as much and weighs almost twice as much!

Unless we are not talking about the same 3800, the one I considered had
a full 500 sheet paper tray and had both Postscript and PCL capability.
With the DN options, it had duplex and Ethernet capability.

Although the HP 2605DN has worked perfectly, it only has a 250 sheet
paper tray, and you can only feed one sheet into the hand-feed slot.
The toner cartridges are smaller but print fewer pages, so you end up
paying more per page than with the 3800's larger cartridges.

I wonder if you are thinking of the less-expensive HP 3600?

Fred

"Fred McKenzie" <> wrote in message
news:fmmck-...
> In article <>,
> "Dean-MN" <> wrote:
>
>> I'm in the market for a new color laser printer for a home network and
>> have
>> narrowed down the choices to the above two. The 3800 is only $80 more
>> than
>> the 2605 and would be the obvious choice except for the difference in
>> drivers. The 2605 is PCL/PS while the 3800 is host based.
>>
>> My question: is host based all that evil. After all aren't ink printers
>> host based?...Dean
>
> Dean-
>
> I do not like the idea of a host-based Laser printer, since drivers are
> usually not available for my Macintosh. However, I don't think the HP
> CLJ 3800 is host based.
>
> I selected the HP CLJ 2605DN several months ago, based on the lower
> price and smaller size. I would have preferred the HP CLJ 3800DN, but
> it cost about twice as much and weighs almost twice as much!
>
> Unless we are not talking about the same 3800, the one I considered had
> a full 500 sheet paper tray and had both Postscript and PCL capability.
> With the DN options, it had duplex and Ethernet capability.
>
> Although the HP 2605DN has worked perfectly, it only has a 250 sheet
> paper tray, and you can only feed one sheet into the hand-feed slot.
> The toner cartridges are smaller but print fewer pages, so you end up
> paying more per page than with the 3800's larger cartridges.
>
> I wonder if you are thinking of the less-expensive HP 3600?
>
> Fred


My apologies, Fred and group. You are correct. I am thinking about the
3600 and not the 3800. I have researched so many models, I got confused.
The 3800 is indeed a PCL/PS model but way out of my price and use range.
Way to large to fit under my desk too.

I was at an Office Depot the other day and printed a test page from a 2605
and a 3600. The 3600 was so much quicker and quieter. The 3600 toner
cartridges are twice the capacity of the 2605 and that alone is worth more
than the $80 initial price difference (on the Web, not Office Depot). I
would choose the 3600 in a flash except for the host based drivers. I have
a Color LaserJet 2550 now that would have been useless with my Vista OS had
it been host based. Recently, HP doesn't do much of anything to upgrade
their printers unless the model is current... Dean

Host-based printers suck big-time, because you are totally out of luck if the
manufacturer decides not to do drivers for the next big release of whatever
operating system you are using, in other words, Windows Vista+ or some other
stupid Windows name. Read this as HPs lame attempt to screw its customers by
blaming the new operating system for being incompatible with the host-based
printer when the new OS is released. Or read this as blatant collusion between
HP and Microsoft to screw over customers by forcing early obsolescence of
hardware due to operating system changes. The industry has been there before,
too many times.

Give me PostScript or give me death! Didn't Patrick Henry say that? The
LJ2605 gives you full Postscript Level 2, compatible with any future version of
Windows, any Mac OS, any Linux variant. Paying more for a PostScript printer is
an investment in the long term.

If you have a CompUSA store closing near you, quick! Get over there and buy a
2600N or 3605N or whatever at 15% off the old sticker price. I got a 2600N the
other day for $340, which is about $100 less than I could get one from my
hardware distributor. DO NOT buy a demo unit though. In their typical
pig-headed way, which why they are going out of business, CompUSA won't sell off
a demo unit for less than the price of a new unit, even if the toner is 50%
depleted! CompUSA are truly turkeys, but take advantage of their sales if you
can actually get real value... Ben Myers

On Mon, 7 Jan 2008 10:42:30 -0600, "Dean-MN" <> wrote:

> I'm in the market for a new color laser printer for a home network and have
>narrowed down the choices to the above two. The 3800 is only $80 more than
>the 2605 and would be the obvious choice except for the difference in
>drivers. The 2605 is PCL/PS while the 3800 is host based.
>
>My question: is host based all that evil. After all aren't ink printers
>host based?...Dean

Hi Ben,
Let's see. Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, and CompUSA. That's a hat trick. I
like the word collusion. The first time I threw it out during negotiations
with my employer, it got a reaction I didn't expect. After that I kept that
word on the top of my pile of barbs and threw it out at every opportunity.
I love the sound of it. I'm sure if I hadn't been covered by the
International Brotherhood of Teamsters I'd have not made it to pension...
Dean


Ben Myers wrote:
> Host-based printers suck big-time, because you are totally out of luck if
> the manufacturer decides not to do drivers for the next big release of
> whatever operating system you are using, in other words, Windows Vista+ or
> some other stupid Windows name. Read this as HPs lame attempt to screw
> its
> customers by blaming the new operating system for being incompatible with
> the host-based printer when the new OS is released. Or read this as
> blatant collusion between HP and Microsoft to screw over customers by
> forcing early obsolescence of hardware due to operating system changes.
> The industry has been there before, too many times.
>
> Give me PostScript or give me death! Didn't Patrick Henry say that? The
> LJ2605 gives you full Postscript Level 2, compatible with any future
> version of Windows, any Mac OS, any Linux variant. Paying more for a
> PostScript printer is an investment in the long term.
>
> If you have a CompUSA store closing near you, quick! Get over there and
> buy
> a 2600N or 3605N or whatever at 15% off the old sticker price. I got a
> 2600N the other day for $340, which is about $100 less than I could get
> one
> from my hardware distributor. DO NOT buy a demo unit though. In their
> typical pig-headed way, which why they are going out of business, CompUSA
> won't sell off a demo unit for less than the price of a new unit, even if
> the toner is 50% depleted! CompUSA are truly turkeys, but take advantage
> of their sales if you can actually get real value... Ben Myers
>
> On Mon, 7 Jan 2008 10:42:30 -0600, "Dean-MN" <> wrote:

Dean-MN <> wrote:
> I'm in the market for a new color laser printer for a home network and have
> narrowed down the choices to the above two. The 3800 is only $80 more than
> the 2605 and would be the obvious choice except for the difference in
> drivers. The 2605 is PCL/PS while the 3800 is host based.
>
> My question: is host based all that evil.

It's even more evil than that.

> After all aren't ink printers host based?

Some are. The nastier ones, generally.

If you must go host-based, at least check openprinting.org first and
make sure that it's not proprietary. You can drive the LJ3600 with
Ghostscript. (Not the LJ3800, as mentioned in the followup post; it's
PostScript already.)

From looking at that, I'm not sure I'd call the LJ3600 a host-based
printer. It can print plain text. If you can print to it over the
network from non-Windows computers, it doesn't seem any worse than a
PCL-only printer.

--
Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota * USA