for home use? the only choice

Ok, maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but...

I've dinked around with various "home" printers for years, including lesser HP laserjets, Okidata and Lexmark, Canon bubblejet printers, etc.

I don't know how other people use their printers, but when I want to print a document out it's usually pretty big. Big enough that 4-6ppm just doesn't cut it, especially when the printer decides to start smearing pages, runs out of ink, jams, whatever.

I recently quit my regular job and started a business out of my home, and now that I don't have access to printers at work I felt I could justify the expense of a "real" printer for business and personal use. I'm very happy I chose the Laserjet 4050--it's worked absolutely flawlessly. I originally chose it because of the speed (I'll never come close to meeting the stated pages per month rating of the printer, so it was overkill, but that just means it'll last all the longer...)

The speed of the printer is amazing. It's rated at 12-14ppm, but it seems faster on the typical documents I print out (I've never timed it, but I don't particularly mind the wait on a 350-page duplexed document.)

Oh yeah, the duplexer. I originally bought it without, but I was sufficiently impressed with the printer that I bought one; I'd almost call it a "must have" accessory, it cuts down on paper use and makes the printer a lot more versatile. I had originally hesitated on getting it because of the extra cost--and to be honest, it is obviously overpriced after you see what it actually consists of... The duplexer is easy to install and works great (except when the cats decide to use it as a perch for watching the paper come out, which will cause a paper jam).

I use the printer from a PC running Linux, and just attached it via a parallel cable to one of my servers. (I couldn't justify spending the extra money on the ethernet interface, tho it would speed up printing in some cases--it's not unusual for complex documents to spend more time downloading Postscript than actually printing.) I originally tried a serial port but I wouldn't recommend it--it's far slower and substantially accounts for time spent printing.

Sometimes I feel like I really buy something that is worth every penny, and the 4050 is definitely worth it. It's a solid printer that I will be using for years to come. If you're thinking about buying one, don't hesitate--you'll be glad you did. While none of the other printers I've owned over the years actually did a poor job, they were never all that useful, and often just plain frustrating. The 4050 is fast enough that it'll handle just about anything you want to print out with ease, and will keep on printing for a lot longer than any "home" printer.

My only regret is that I'm printing out a lot of stuff, so buying paper in bulk has been one of my less exciting hobbies... and I really wish I'd bought it earlier, instead of wasting money on other printers.