Staples Oct 26 - Nov 1 flyer:

HP 3600n color laser printer (sku 619770) $250 INSTANT reg $500.

Staples MAILMATE™ M3 Shredder (sku 704450) $30 AR reg $80.

500 pc box of self-sticking pull & seal #10 envelopes (sku 381912) $15 INSTANT (half off)

3-pk Staples invisable tape (sku 729450) $2 INSTANT reg $6.75

FYI: Looking at this week's sales at Staples (ending Oct 18), next week's, and the week after that, except for the above items there are much better bargains this week than in the following two sale periods. Chairs, printers, paper... catch the deals ending tomorrow with free shipping on everything and 50% paper Rewards.

For the items that never go on sale, wait and buy them next week and stack the 10% Appreciation Discount with competitor's coupons if your local Staples is friendly.

Other than that, wait for November 2nd.

RIP

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green for your post, but i'm not sure how good it is to post so far ahead anymore. in this case, since it's obvious that companies like Staples are monitoring the activity here, they're going to have time to get their ducks in a row.

we'll see, but after some of the deals recently that last about 3 minutes, and i'm not exaggerating, make it similar to winning the lottery as far as your chances of getting in on it.

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titewad said:The 3600n is $249.99 this week, too. Plenty left in my area.

We can use 10% off coupon next week, right?

Dont see the 3600n on Staples.com anymore... Dead already?

akshatp said:Dont see the 3600n on Staples.com anymore... Dead already?
The 3600n is a B&M only deal. They are clearing them out to make room for the $799 3600dn model which is the same as the 3600n, except it also can print duplex. The 3600n is long gone from the .com.

jjfat said:We can use 10% off coupon next week, right?
Yes, if you want to pay $499 next week -10%, since the OP said the deal starts the 26th which is not next week, but the week after next, not the 19th which is next week. Or, you can use the Office Depot $40 off $200 this week for an additional $40 off the $249.99 price.

hkteaman said:$250 seems to be the normal sale price now every other week bet Staples and Office Depot. It's a great printer for everyday use. Just wish I got another one couple of months ago when it was cheaper for the extra toners.
how is the consumption of toner in these machines? is it inexpensive by comparison with inkjets?

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hkteaman said:Here's a review on the 3600n and breakdown on cost/page:

cnet review
Based on this review, it a nice printer. The reviewer paid $500. Although he mentions duplexing, which the 3600n can do manually, but the 3600dn does automatically, so there's some doubt about which model he reviewed, this one or its more expensive cousin.

"Great printer - after firmware update!"

Pros: Crisp color, good photo quality, great business features

Cons: Noisy fan, occasional banding, no native PS (but emulated PS in driver kit)

Summary: So - I got this printer with some hesitation after reading some internet user reviews - but I got it at a price I just couldn't refuse for a good business class printer (with duplexing, networking etc. etc.).

First of all - NO - you don't have to use the GIANT toolkit for the printer. Instead just download the 10MB "direct host" drivers from HP (and unzip it), and when you plug in the printer - just search for the drivers - and you are good to go.

Second - with the printer out of the box my initial impression was that the color reproduction - in particular black levels - was misreable. After looking more into the issue - it turns out that HP actually fixed it - but it required a quite complicated firmware update.

The firmware that came with the printer (presumably all the printers HP ships out of the factory) was "20060203 3.002.4" The update on HPs site is called "03.003.1 27 Sep 2006" - and after you apply it updates the internal firmware to "20060828 3.003.1" (note that even with a direct-connected printer - the only way I could get the firmware update to take place - was to share the printer with myself [i.e. \\MYCOMPUTER\HPCOLOR] and then apply the copy command that HP has in the ReadMe file. The "port" suggested method just doesn't work correctly).

So - after the tweaks - we now have a FANTASTIC color business printer - and it spits out 40-page Power Points speedily, that beat the output quality of our Dell and earlier HP color lasers.

Keep in mind that since it has no PS - you should connect it to a powerfull computer that will use the driver set to perform the native image conversion. And - other than being a tad noisy, it's feature set makes it a pleasure to work with. Also - the supplies are significantly cheaper than all the other color lasers in the office - so (while I haven't fully done the math) it looks like this will be the cheapest printer by far in the long run.

GREAT one if you can find it for $500 or so (and given HP's current promotion of $549 - you might be able to find a dealer who can give it to you for around $500 easily)