JET AND TONER PRINTER COST COMPARISON

Which printer is the least cost system for me, including printer cartridge usage, over three years?

We are looking at a situation such as a small office or a large family, with usage of say 300 to 500 pages per month (average 400). Say 300 pages of black & 100 pages of colours

We are talking low entry cost, including colour , and Multi function i.e. copies, scans, and of course, prints from memory.

For comparison purposes we have selected an inkjet printer and toner printer from the same brand, Brother. Both printers have rated well in reviews.

The inkjet is the MFC-J430W, with a rated speed of 4.3 pages per minute, and an average cost of approx $100.00. Genuine print cartridges (Brother LC40BK cost approx. $25.00 each, and colours $17.00 each). Their yield is approx. 300 pages, black, or each colour.

The toner printer is the DCP-9010CN, printing at 16 pages per minute, and has a cost of approx. $350.00. Genuine toner cartridges cost approx. $80 each and  the colours $75 each. The black has a yield of 2,200 pages and the colours 1,400 pages each.

PRINTER	PRICE	COST PER PAGE		RUNNING COSTS PER MONTH		TOTAL COST PER MONTH	3-YEAR RUNNING COSTS	TOTAL 3-YEAR COST
		BLACK	COLOUR	MONO	COLOUR
MFC-J430W	$100	8.3c	5.7c	$24.90	$5.70	$30.60	$1101.60	$1201.60
DCP-9010CN	$350	3.6c	5.6c	$10.80	$5.60	$16.40	$590.40	$940.40

Based on a three year life period, the toner printer is a better return for your investment than the inkjet.

We thank our sponsor, ABC Print Supplies, for their support for this blog article

THE REAL COST OF YOUR PRINTER PURCHASE

You're buying a new printer and you want to know what gives you the best bang for your buck.

 

 

Taking away factors such as print speed, and quality of print ( for genuine recognized brands, are nearly always high ), which can otherwise be important considerations for you, the most important consideration in purchasing a printer is its total cost i.e. price plus running costs over a period of its lifetime, say 3 years. 

Running costs do matter, and a printer with a lower cost per page isn't necessarily going to be cheaper in the longer term. To find out which printer is the best buy, you need to compute the total cost of printing over the printer's lifetime.

In undertaking your comparisons, make sure that the printer cartridge usage yields you use are from reliable suppliers where the yields are measured in terms of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

Remember that cartridge prices are irrelevant unless you also know how many pages the cartridge will print. Focus on the cost per page, not the cost per cartridge. Estimate the number of pages you print per month, both in monochrome (black), and in colour. In printer usage colour also uses the black cartridge.  

Following is a table that will assist you in determining what total printer costa are to you:

 

PRINTER	PRICE	COST PER PAGE		RUNNING COSTS PER MONTH		TOTAL COST PER MONTH	3-YEAR RUNNING COSTS	TOTAL 3-YEAR COST
		MONO	COLOUR	MONO	COLOUR

We thank our sponsers at ABC Printsupplies along with other suppliers for providing this information. 

WHAT PRINTER IS BEST FOR ME?

              
Deciding what printer you need is a hard choice.

The question we all ask when the time comes to purchase a new printer is which one to get.

Well there is no easy answer to this question because there are so many options, but there is one very important factor which most of us overlook, beside the price of the printer, and what its features are.

All sorts of things effect our decision as to what to buy - brand, output, colour print, paper size capability, dual sided capability.

Seems to about cover it, except for the most overlooked factor of all.

How much do replacement printer cartridges cost?

The reason the Brand names retail ink & toner printers at low prices is that the profit is not in the hardware, its in the cartridge sales that go on into the future.

We can't advise you all with your individual requirements as to what computer to buy. But we can say to you to check out the cartridge prices of your short list, it could save you big time.

To look at competitive printer cartridge prices for either genuine, remanufactured, or compatible, go to  ABC Printsupplies