Update on Color Laser Printer deal from Staples

If you've been keeping up, you read about my purchase of a new Brother Color Laser Printer 4040CN from Staples on this previous post. To summarize, the final price was aroud $175 (plus taxes on the original price).

It arrived last Friday and I installed it today. Here's the predicament:

• The printer came with regular toner cartridges which should be good for 1,500 pages for color and 2,500 for black/white (typical yield). Based on prices on my original post, it would cost me about $293 to replace all 4 cartridges.

So what to do in 1 or 2 years (depending on actual usage), keeping in mind that I use my black and white all-in-one for greater than 98 percent of printing "jobs." Find another deal for a color laser similar to this at $175 for the printer with new cartridges or pay $293 to replace them over time?

If the "new" one is faster and better resolution and it is cheaper overall, the answer will likely be an easy one.

Here is my initial output review after printing three pages. I can tell it is 2400x600 dpi when looked at closely. I took it off of draft print (prints at 600x600 dpi) and put it on "Vivid" output. The baseline, normal settings are a little dull.

I haven't needed to gift or use the free digital camera. If anything comes up, I'll keep you posted.

Ordered my Color Laser Printer for $174.00 plus free camera - Here's how it went

Okay. Here's what I did. On this previous post, the Staples circular listed a color laser printer for $199.

I ordered it online and here the breakdown:

• Instant coupon so it was original price of $349 now down to $199. No rebate needed.
• Used Coupon 7671-3339-3847-2840 (without hyphens) to get an additional $25 off (purchases of $100 or more excluding computers)
• Used Coupon 71236 to get a free 3.1 MP camera
• Got free shipping or pickup at local Staples store
• Had to pay sales taxes on the $89.99 MSRP on the camera and $349 original price of the printer
• Also got 1% of purchase towards kids 529 accounts

Again, you have to "need" or really rationalize the cost:benefit of any purchase. Around $174 is a really good price for the features. I didn't think another $120 was worth Wi-Fi (the next model up).

Staples deal this weekend: $199 Color laser printer

Staples starts their school supply sale this weekend.

In the Staple's "Sneak Peek" at this weekend's circular there's the following deal that I am considering:

This Brother 4040CN laser printer will be only $199 down from regular price of $349. Prints up to 21 ppm in both Color and B&W (read draft mode, the better resolution is slower) and wait time is 17 second to first page printing. The cartridges are still what you really pay for and are listed at $65 to $76 depending on B&W (2,500 pages yield) or Color (1,500 pages yield).

If you prefer HP there's a reasonably priced "All-in-one" color laser with much slower technical specifications for only about $349. It prints only up to 12 ppm B&W and 8 ppm in Color. The cartridges are listed at around $72 for color to $77 for B&W.