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  #1  
01-22-2015, 11:06 AM
SkinnerSweet SkinnerSweet is offline
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Hi Everyone,

I'm looking to buy a laser jet printer for personal home use only. Specifically to print custom DVD covers.

It's between the "Konica Minolta Magicolor 1600W" OR "HP LaserJet Pro 200 M251nw" Laser Jet Printer

The Konica Minolta Magicolor 1600W is selling for $120 and the HP LaserJet Pro 200 M251nw is selling around $150 online with free shipping. I know HP printers have had a bad reputation in the past for not being as accurate as Konica Minolta printers. But this HP model has a lot of great reviews online from what I've seen, especially on Amazon and "PC MAG" (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2414902,00.asp) (http://www.amazon.com/HP-LaserJet-M2..._cd_ql_qh_dp_t). They are more favorable then the reviews on the Konica Minolta Magicolor 1600W (http://www.amazon.com/Konica-Minolta...pr_product_top)

The HP LaserJet Pro 200 M251nw is a 2013 model printer and the Konica Minolta is a 2009 model so i was wondering if HP has stepped up their game with laser printers? Basically I want to know if the HP LaserJet Pro 200 M251nw is as good as the Konica Minolta Magicolor 1600W LOL. It's sometimes hard to go by amazon reviews.


Any help or input would be gladly appreciated!!

P.S - If you are reading this Lordsmurf I'd like to thank you for helping me out in the years and years ago when I use to bug you and email you when I was a 14-15 year old kid about video restoration and on TBC vcr's projects. I'm 28 years old now so it's been about 12-13 years ago that you helped me out with my Life with Louie, and Garfield and Friends project and helped me out with an awesome Talespin set! . You've always been a kind and giving person. I wanted to give you a big THANK YOU and I'm really glad to see that you have your site still up and running

Last edited by SkinnerSweet; 01-22-2015 at 11:56 AM.
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  #2  
01-22-2015, 09:29 PM
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lordsmurf lordsmurf is offline
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Still here.

I remember those DVD sets from eons ago. I wish I'd have known then what I know now. Or that methods that exist now would have existed there. Garfield was thankfully replaced with a release (aside from that terrible replacement intro music), but Life With Louie will probably never see release. My Talespin is still every bit as good as the release, as are most of my Disney cartoon sets.

Anyway, to answer your question, Minolta is always better than HP for color accuracy AND for price (including refills!). So it's win-win. I got my 1600W for under $100 at Adorama back in 2012.

I'll admit, the 1600W is not quite as good as the older 2300W, but it may just be my copy. The toner spread is not quite as tight. It may also be my Photoshop print settings.

I have an HP CP1215, and it's blah. Better than HP of the past, but still blah.

PCMag sucks at reviewing things, and their review policies require so-called "fair" reviewing. They end up glossing over bad aspects, and being overly glowing about decent-but-not-great aspects. Beware. If you read it carefully, the "photo quality" is a mere "good enough" to lousy. And "photo quality" is the same as "DVD cover quality" that I need it for.

I've not tried this exact model HP color printer, but after 15+ years of crappy color quality, I don't have any expectations of HP. Remember, it's the toner that does it, not the mechanics of the print. I highly doubt HP has changed their toner recipes. So if you do get it, realize it's a gamble. If you're fine with that, then go for it.

At least the 1600W is a known quality printer.

Some of those Amazon reviews for the Minolta were left by idiots -- mostly people not reading the documentation for drivers, changing supplies (paper/toner), etc. FYI: As you said, it's a 2009 printer, so it clearly doesn't come with Windows 8 drivers on the disk -- go online for those. That's common sense that's not very common to some of the Amazon users.

Most of the glowing HP reviews make zero mention of image quality. Like you said, sometimes it's hard to get useless reviews from Amazon these days.

So:
- Gamble on the HP.
- Or buy the known-good Minolta.

Either way, you'll always be curious how the other looks. The grass is always greener....

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  #3  
01-27-2015, 10:48 PM
SkinnerSweet SkinnerSweet is offline
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It's so awesome hearing from you Lordsmurf!! Thank you so much for helping me out!!! I took your advice and went with the Konica Minolta printer rather then gambling on the HP printer.

I bought the legal size Hammermill 28 lb color copy paper recommended on the site as well. I finally tested out my printer today, but for some reason the text on the DVD covers I'm printing out aren't crisp and clear and seem blurred a bit. On my computer screen the text is crystal clear and I'm printing crystal clear incredibly high quality DVD covers that are 3240x1750 resolution and 300 dpi.

Are there specific printing settings on my Konica Minolta I should have for printing out dvd covers? What are your settings? I was using Photoshop to print I'm not sure if I should be using a different program. I have landscape set and paper size set to legal size.

I guess the term for it is "Ghost Printing" from what I've read online. Also the colors seemed a tad lighter and not as vivid compared to what I see on my computer screen on home and work computer. I'm sure it has to be me doing something wrong lol

I linked the DVD cover I was printing below.

http://dvdca.com/download/19027-1/DC...-_Custom_f.jpg

-- merged --

I guess this should be moved to the Premium Members section. I just upgraded my membership

Sorry I also forgot to mention it's the smaller text/font that are mainly "blurry/fuzzy". Starting with the text on the back cover on the bottom where it says "Not Authorized For Sale..." and the Warner Bros. logo on the back cover and spine isn't as clear as well and noticed jagged edges. Even though it's crystal clear on my screen.
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01-28-2015, 09:48 AM
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lordsmurf lordsmurf is offline
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Let me print the image, and see what I see on mine.

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  #5  
01-28-2015, 09:58 AM
SkinnerSweet SkinnerSweet is offline
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Thanks Lorsmurf! I hope it's not an internal hardware issue with the printer I recieved and just me being an idiot and just printing with the wrong settings. I've been using Photoshop to print.
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