"Rodney Pont" ) writes:
I've got a laserjet 4M and there has always been a slight delay between
switching it on and it powering up. Now the delay can be a couple of
minutes if it's not been switched on for a couple of weeks.

I haven't pulled it apart yet but I was wondering if it's a known
common problem. It's not worth me getting a new power supply with
injets being so cheap these days.

I believe the proper last sentence is "It's not worth me getting a new
power supply with laser printers being so cheap these days".

I had an inkjet, an Apple Stylewriter bought used for twenty dollars
in 2001. When I filled up the ink cartridge, I was really disappointed
by how little I could print before I had to refill. And I realized
early on that the ink so easily smears when it gets wet.

A few months later, I got an old TI laser printer for $25 at a school
rummage. That lasted a while, but when it ran out of ink, I was
uncertain about it's state so I simply replaced it with another used
laser printer. The second one cost me only $15, but it was an HP Laserjet
4P. It had fewer pages on it than the TI, and had no problem from the start
(unlike the TI that had some slight printing problem that might have simply
been the lack of toner). It's lasted longer than the TI in my hands,
and I don't foresee it going bad.

But if it does, I'll simply buy another used laser printer for about
the same amount. And if those run out, I can buy a laser printer new
for under a hundred dollars, which is far less than I paid for my first
dot matrix printer in 1982, or my first daisywheel printer in 1984.

Michael