The costs of using an inkjet printer usually
run between .50 - 3.00 per page, depending on how much color is being used, how large the
area being printed is and how much the replacements cost. Some inkjets support
generic replacements while others don't. When buying a printer, you have to decide
what your needs are. If you are going to print mostly black and white documents and
do a fair amount of printing (more than 250 pages a month) then a laser printer is more
economical in the long run (costing between 1-3 cents per page, depending on brand and
cost of toner/drums). If you have to print mostly color, then it's recommended that
you get a printer with multiple, refillable color wells (Epson is the leader in selling
these, with the Stylus Photo and C-8X being the kind you'd need). The ink can be
refilled (decreasing costs) rather than replacing the whole head/ink assemble (as most HP
and Lexmark printers do). This will bring the cost of color printing down to about
.50 per page or less. Just be aware that there is a thriving industry
selling bad ink replacements, so always try to get the branded ink for best
printing performance.
Printer manufacturers don't make any money
selling the printer. They make their money soaking you for the ink they sell.
Sometimes, you can use generic ink cartridges, but manufacturers tend to build traps to
detect generic ink cartridges and mess them up, forcing you to buy the more expensive
brand name to be able to print properly (Lexmark is especially bad about this). By
carefully reviewing your printer needs before buying, and checking the actual costs of
running the printer (toner, drum costs, duty cycles - which means how many pages you can
reasonably expect to get out of what you buy - ink replacements and whether the printer
can take generics or must have the brand name) you can look around for the best
printing fit for your needs and budget.
Today, the cost of a color laser
printer is becoming much more affordable. A cost analysis based on the
standard printing of 5000 pages using a color ink-jet printer and a color
laser printer was rather eye opening.
First of all, assume that the
color and black are used in equal amounts (many times they are not, however
for the sake of a cost analysis we are assuming they are - black costs less in
general.for an ink-jet printer.) Next, assume the average cost for an
inkjet replacement cartridge is $30.00 (Black and color - in general, the cost
of the color cartridge is much more - up to $55.00 for an HP cartridge) and
the average cost of a toner cartridge for a color laser printer is $120.00
each (To replace them all, you need four colors) Finally, tally the cost
of an ink-jet printer ($50.00) and the color laser printer ($500.00).
Now, we print. Our initial
cost for the inkjet printer is $50.00 which contains one half full ink
cartridges initially (able to print about 50 pages in color and 75 pages in
black and white on average for a 3-5% paper coverage) and we have the laser
printer cost of $500.00 with toner that will produce 1000-2000 pages (at the
same 3-5% paper coverage rate depending on the model).
Already, the color laser printer
has proven superior for the number of pages it can print for the cost. The
ink-jet printer will produce up to 75 pages for about $50 - or about $0.67 a
page - and the last twenty five pages have no color. At WORST, the laser
printer produces color pages at $0.50 a page, and you don't spend anything
more.
As time goes on, the cost benefits
of the laser printer clearly outpace the benefits of an ink-jet printer.
By the time you have printed 1000 pages (150 pages for a color cartridge, and
100 pages for color - which is an exceedingly generous number of pages for
color in most inkjet printers), you will have spent $200.00 on black ink and
$300.00 on color ink. You have now paid for a color laser printer
($500.00 total in ink alone) and have NO MORE PAGES YOU CAN PRINT. In
some models of color laser printers, the initial cartridges can last up to
2000 pages.
The cost of replacing a laser
toner is much higher than that of an ink-jet cartridge, however the capacity
of a color laser replacement toner cartridge can be from 5000 to 7000
pages. Even considering the cost, if you do a lot of printing, in the
long run, you will be MUCH better off buying a color laser printer. For
5000 pages in color and black and white, you will spend an average of $2500.00
in ink for your inkjet printer ALONE. For the same number of pages in a
color laser printer, you will spend about $1000 - an average of about $0.20 a
page and still have more pages you can print.
The trick is to check the cost of
a replacement toner cartridge versus its capacity then divide the cost by the
number of pages it will normally print to get your cost per page.
A color laser printer will cost
you more up front. There's no getting around that. But their
prices are dropping. Many models start well below the $500.00 mark and can
last for years without ink cartridges drying out or having the headache of
buying the wrong brand and having an inky mess on your hands. The toner
is more durable than ink in picture production and the quality can be the same
(depending on model) or better.
The cost of an ink-jet printer is
prohibitive in the long run simply because of the lack of decent capacity in
the cartridges and the general cost of the individual cartridges. The
numbers presented here were LOWERED by about 25% for the ink-jet costs and
RAISED about 30% for the color laser costs just for ease of comparison.
(The costs were based on a Xerox Phaser 6100 color laser printer and an Epson
Stylus C80 printer purchasing the branded replacement cartridges). In
the overall, a color laser printer is a much more economical buy.
