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Estimating the Cost of Printing on your Inkjet Printer
Photography Travel TipsWhether you're embarking on a family vacation or your family reunion, it's going to be a special time. When we ..... To view website on Cost of Printing click here
Printing costs are probably the major item when it comes to running a computer.
The give-away-the-printer-charge-a-bomb-for-the-cartridges business model adopted by HP, Epson - and even more so by Lexmark has created a situation where people are keen to buy a printer and overlook the cost of printing.
It's a bit like running a car! But at least with a car 'miles per gallon' - or 'litres per 100km' are well known. What isn't is 'cost per page' when it comes to home or small office printing.
The cost per page will vary:
1. What type of printing you do - straightforward text, rough mixed stuff - e.g. downloads from the internet, photographs, speciality cards (such as the OPUS Photo Accordion).
2. The quality of the paper (ordinary copier, inkjet, photo glossy or specialist digital photographic).
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3. Whether you use the printer manufacturer's inkjet or toner cartridge or a remanufactured/compatible one.
4. The printer used (cost and service) - and of course its technology (inkjet, laser, thermal etc).
Cost might be important for a job - especially when it is charged for - or to make a decision (e.g. is going compatible a false economy?)
There are not many models around to help you make this decision - some are provided by the printer manufacturer. These of course reflect only the printers and supplies from that manufacturer.
There are large scale commercial ones for IT departments wanting to control the costs of 1000 printers in the organisation. But that is not for the home user.
So - having been in the inkjet cartridge business for many years - and therefore knowing a thing or two about print costs, which cartridges etc I put together my own model. It's on my commercial website - OPUSalbums.com so that people can get it.
The example shown is for an Epson R300. The model has to be primed with typical printer duty cycle (no of sheets printed during lifetime) and cartridge usage. This can be obtained from the OEM's website - but are sometimes difficult to find. It also took the prices for cartridges and paper from Viking direct - which was relatively expensive on compatibles.
The results show how much the cost can vary - and what is the most important cost.
You will see that the type of printing (and the paper used) has the biggest bearing on cost of printing.
Reducing the cost of ink reduces the cost of printing - of course - but not by as much as one might have thought - why because as you use more ink you are using more expensive paper. (Assuming that you use good photo-glossy paper to print photos).
An £130 printer typically ended up costing its user £2000 over its life - printing about 25% of its output on photos and specialities - i.e. about 250 out of 1000 sheets a month.
Here are summary figures - and a print-out from the model (slightly modified)
Cost per page Text Photo A4 Photo 4x6 Speciality Average
Using OEM cartridge ___ ___ 3.4 p __ 20.1 p __ 44.5 p __147.5 p__ 13.5 p
Using compatible cartridges __2.5 p __ 23.5 p __ 29.9 p__ 137.7 p__ 10.7 p
Using refill kits ___ ___ ___ _ 2.7 p __ 24.2 p __ 32.4 p__ 139.4 p __11.2 p
I wanted to print a copy of the model. It's too long and too messy to display.
The model is available - price £8.99 plus VAT or $17.99 from OPUSalbums.com
To order this go to www.opusalbums.com/costofprinting
To see more about incartek's model click here
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