Low-cost color printers have previously been found only in the ranks of inkjet printers, but two recent arrivals have brought that distinction to laser printers.

The Konica Minolta magicolor 2500W and the HP Color LaserJet 1600 couldn’t be more different. The former is a five-page-per-minute printer (in color), the latter is an eight-page-per-minute-printer. However, when printing in black-only mode, the magicolor 2600W blows away the LaserJet 1600 at 20 pages per minute compared to eight pages per minute.

Don’t let that sway you, however: if you’re buying a printer to print mostly text, you want that text to be readable. PC Magazine reports that the quality of the text on the 2600W is sub-par and the color output is such that the reviewer “wouldn’t hand the output to a client I want to impress.”

The cost per page is slightly lower for the 2600W at $0.11/0.022 (color/mono), but that’s based on purchasing the “Value Kit” of three, high-capacity color toners; most users will find spending $70 at a time on the color they need is preferable to buying the package deal at $349, so the cost per page for color printing will jump to $0.172. (The 1600’s cost per page is $0.154/0.03.) Keep in mind, too, that manufacturers don’t base their stated page yields on real-world examples of usage (or a consistent standard) and your cost per page for both machines will likely be higher.

Neither printer offers network printing at this price, but I wouldn’t be using either printer in a multiple-user environment, anyway. Either printer can accept an external network interface and the 1600 also accepts a second 250-sheet paper tray. (The 2600W is limited to a single, 200-sheet tray.)

Given their low cost and the fact that the machines ship with $162–$444 worth of initial supplies, these printers are essentially disposable when they break down. It’s not worth repairing either printer when the effective cost of a replacement is less than $200. My own personal experience in servicing printers leads me to believe that the Hewlett-Packard will perform better over time.

All of these factors cause me to concur with PC Magazine’s designation of “Editor’s Choice” for the HP Color LaserJet 1600.

Well, apparently the bar on disposable printers has been raised. After talking to Hewlett-Packard today, I found that a $500 printer is now not worth being fixed. My customer’s OfficeJet 7410—still a currently-shipping model—would be replaced by HP if it was still under warranty, but as it is not, HP will not even repair the printer at my customer’s expense.

I would, of course, repair the printer for my customer if parts were available, but HP doesn’t make them available. This is odd, since the ADF (automatic document feeder) pickup assembly and separation pad are similar to those available for the OfficeJet 7210—a $300 printer!

HP’s suggestion was, of course, “upgrade to a new printer.” The technician’s suggested upgrades (with the “discount” prices he offered) were the Photosmart 3210 ($160), the Photosmart 3310 ($313), and the Photosmart C6180 ($265). Umm, the first two are discontinued and the third can be purchased from shopping.hp.com for $240. Of course, there are other product options, but, in the end, my customer must buy a new machine.

It used to be that fixing your equipment was an attractive alternative to buying new. In this case, neither option is appealing. In a rare departure for me, I blame HP, who should have made these parts—common failure items—available.

(BTW, it’s been my long-held opinion that an ADF on a low-end machine is a repair waiting to happen. If you’re attracted to an inexpensive copier because it has an ADF, consider buying a more-expensive machine with an ADF that will withstand the rigors of regular use.)

The day has finally arrived, and Microsoft’s first operating system in five years has been released, although only to business customers. (The consumer version of Windows Vista will be released on January 30, 2007.) In addition, the latest version of Microsoft’s productivity suite, Office 2007, was released, replacing Office 2003.

With five different versions of Vista, you may be wondering, as I did, which one is right for you. While Microsoft has a breakdown of your choices, you may want to read this Extremetech.com review that makes a lot more sense. While many business owners will be able to get along with Vista Home Premium, Vista Business offers additional features like Volume Shadow Copy (keeping multiple versions of a file) and built-in faxing and scanning support, as well as the ability to use up to 128BG of RAM (for the 64-bit version), that may induce you to spend an additional $100.

However, you need to make sure your PC is ready for the upgrade. The OS will favor newer and relatively powerful machines, and a recent study   shows that 50% of existing business PCs are unable to meet the minimum requirements for Vista. “Generally speaking, any computer older than 24 months will be unlikely to support the Vista OS,” due to insufficient processing power, memory, or hard drive space.

Microsoft’s Vista Upgrade Advisor will help you determine not only if your current equipment will need an upgrade (or replacement), but also if your connected devices and installed programs will work with Vista. If you’re considering making the jump to Vista, be sure to run this tool to assess your computer’s state, then add up the costs for upgrading versus a new machine.

OfficeMedic can add memory to your existing system and we can also transfer your existing data to a new hard drive in preparation for upgrading to Vista. If your CPU is fast enough to support Vista, this could be a less-expensive alternative to buying a new computer.