Which type of printer turns out the best quality for your money? I’m not interested in color printers here–I’m just wondering about black-and-white text. I recently bought an Epson inkjet, and if I’m right and the ink is being used up as fast as it is, it costs me over 25 cents to print ONE page of B&W text! (This estimation may be wrong.) Yet my Dad’s printer, a Canon laser printer, seems to cost only about 5 cents (or less) per page.
Anyone know which printer type is best in terms of cost per page? I’m not asking about brands, just about types.
in general laser is better quality, cheeper per page, more expensive to buy, quiter, faster then ink jet. but there are crossovers - here’s where brand and model come in. check out cnet.com, search for printers, laser printers and ink jet printers and see what comes up
Per K2dave’s reply lasers cost more initially but are much less expensive per page, faster and have better quality. HP 1100 series are nice, inexpensive personal lasers around
$ 400.00 or so.
As an ex professional printer salesman, I suppose I should chime in.
You say you’re not doing color now. But, is there any possibility of needing color in the future? Any? If not, go with a laser. If so, swallow it and go with an inkjet.
Lasers and inkjets are about the same for speed, for black quality, etc. but in an inkjet and a laser that cost the same, say, $400, an inkjet will do true photo quality, at a faster speed than a laser that costs the same.
Lasers have a much much higher initial cost, can only do black, cost about $.05 per page, and go about 15k prints between toner changes. Toner cartridge costs are between $60 and $140.
Inkjets have a lower initial cost, a higher print quality, can do stunning color, cost about .25 to .50 per page, and only go about 1k before an ink cartridge change. Ink cartridges cost between $10 (Canon) to $30 (HP) to $40 (Lexmark). Epsons are kind of random, but usually around $25 or so.
Thanks, guys. I kinda figured I bought the wrong type of printer for my needs. 25 cents a page just is not what I’m looking for. But I’m stuck with it. Oh well. Thanks for the info, anyway.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Homer *
**Lasers and inkjets are about the same for speed, for black quality, etc. but in an inkjet and a laser that cost the same, say, $400, an inkjet will do true photo quality, at a faster speed than a laser that costs the same.–Tim **
Hmmmm…surprising. I’d would have thought to give the speed edge to most lasers in the 400. range vs 400. inkjets at grayscale “photo quality” mode but even in grayscale “photo quality” mode the inkjet will (no surprise) have better tonal range than the laser. Which inkjet units are you thinking of that can do photo quality grayscale faster than a $ 400. laser?
**Lasers have a much much higher initial cost, can only do black, cost about $.05 per page, and go about 15k prints between toner changes. Toner cartridge costs are between $60 and $140.–Tim **
While true for larger office lasers I think the page count estimate for a standard toner cartridge for lasers in the
$ 400. range typically ranges from 3,000 to 6,000. pages per cartridge.
]
Just why are ink jet cartridges so damned expensive anyway? I just can’t see how putting a couple of ounces of water-based ink into a plastic container ends up being $25-50 retail. Or is it the cost of cutting all them tiny holes in a bit of foil to make the print head?
A Bic pen, in my view, requires about the same level of tech in the manufacturing process as an inkjet cartridge, and somehow they can make a profit at 99 cents a pop…
My suspicion is it’s the old Gillette Principle: Sell the razors cheap, get 'em on the blades…
Yes and no is the answer. In HP units at least the majority of the technology is in the cartridge. THE R&D to engineer the cartridge and the ink, and the manufacturing process are much, much more complex than making a ballpoint pen. Where in the world do you get the idea they are even equivalent? This engineering allows for extremely fine control over the very complex physics of the ink delivery process and tonal quality of the color layers.
Low power microscopy around the home- Inkjet ingenuity - a tour around an inkjet cartridge by Dave Walker…and this is for the winzened, old 550 cartridges
See also http://www.cppfaq.com/02/0202.htm for basic review of different inkjet technologies
Having said all that I agree with you that $35 - 38 bucks a pop for the HP cartridges is highway robbery. In a more perfect world I think they should cost 20 -$ 25 at best but if wishes were horses then beggars would ride.
Er, well, molded plastic, bits of formed metal, tolerances…seems the same to me (sulk)
Actually, I’ll admit it, I made the ballpoint pen analogy in a blatant attempt to provoke someone into responding. I do realize that control of the ink takes some rather careful engineering, and will check the links you provided. Thanks. Also, granted that R & D costs are amortized through the sale of the cartdriges, but (again using HP as an example), the basic construction of the cartridges has remained the same for several years. Has the tech changed that much, would you say, to go from 300 to 600 dpi resolution?
epson cart’s I belive have no metal at all, the print head is in the printer. the ink cart’s as far as I know only are plastic and a ‘wax’ substance that breaks and forms a seal over the printhead.
Hewlett Packard 970CSE does 12ppm black, 10 ppm color, at 5% coverage, at 1200x2400 dpi (estimated). The Hewlett Packard 2100 does 10 ppm black at 5% coverage, at 1200x2400 dpi. The 2100 cartridge is $119 (?) with a 15000 page estimated output. The cartridge for the 970 is $29, with a 1000 page estimated output, both at 5% coverage. I may have these numbers slightly off, because it’s been at least a month since I’ve even though about printers.
As for the prices of cartridges? That’s how much Best Buy wants to sell them for. They could easily be $10 less.
You know, I think that is exactly what is going on here, at least with my printer. I was so gratified to find a very affordable printer at $99.00 that I didn’t even worry about checking out how much the ink cartridges were. Buyer beware, cause those babies cost 1/4 the price of the printer itself for each cartridge! Grrr…
Also, the reason lots of computers come with free printers is because the manf of the printer charges a ton for carts, so they make the money for the printer that way.
Two other pluses about laser no one’s mentioned yet:
If an inkjet printout gets wet, the ink will run. Not so with laser.
If you go for long periods without printing anything, the ink in your inkjet can dry out, costing you the price of a new cartridge. Because laser toner is already dry, it can sit around darn near forever without a problem.
