Looking for a printer to print a book

Euphitone97

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Hello all! I’m new, and I am an ignoramus of the printing world, so I have come to the experts here for advice.

Background: I have recently written and published a book, and I want to offer an option for spiral-bound copies. The publisher does not offer this as an option, so I decided to pursure it independently. I contacted local print shops, and they quoted me prices that would force the price point of the book 75% above where I want it to be. I started looking into manufacturing the spiral-bound copies myself, and price-wise the numbers work out.

Requirements: This book is 95 sheets, front and back, 8 1/2” x 11”, color, and heavily image-based. I expect an average of 10-20 orders per week, so that is roughly 4000-8000 sheets / month. (I may be optimistic with that number, but we’ll see.) My budget for the printer itself is around $1000, though less than that would be welcomed with open arms. Ink/toner costs don’t really matter as they are worked into the price of the book. I would desire a printing speed of over 20 ppm for color dublex printing with images. Since the images are the main aspect of the book, I can’t have any noticeable banding or other issues in the images. 1200x1200 DPI is probably a good resolution requirement. Scanning/copying capabilities are not required, nor is WiFi capability.

Main question: What printers would you recommend that would fit these requirements? I posted this in the Laser printer forum, but I am open to inkjet suggestions. I have no clue which would be better for my needs.

The Xerox VersaLink C500/DN seems very promising, but some reviews call into question image print quality (slightly noticeable color banding) and durability issues. There are just so many options that I got lost in the weeds and barely found my way out.

As an aside, in the proof copy I received from the publisher, I noticed that high-resolution images were blurrier than lower-resolution images when both were made to be exact same size. What caused this, and how can it be avoided?
 

Ink stained Fingers

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I thank that's more a job for a laser printer. You may have a local shop for office equipment, supplies, consumables and printers which sell used and refurbished printers. You may be able to get there some printouts to compare the colors, image quality etc.
 
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