04-07-2007, 05:21 PM
[quote LaserKun]I might be a real "Run You Fools"® fool if I ran to get this one, but interestingly, I really need a new printer - and have been looking at color lasers.
I think elmo3 is right, the ink jet cartridges are what makes color printing so expensive. I am going right now to get a new cartridge for one of my ink jets... might just stop by somewhere and check out color lasers again.
pdq, does the 7,000 pages at $160 per cartridge come to about $.04 per page? If so, it sure beats ink jet costs... Unless all the colors ran out at the same time. What I want is a color laser that will print in black even if one or more colors are empty, and I don't think there is such a thing...
Yes, there is, at least close enough. Currently my yellow toner is low, "replace soon," and it happily prints K only all day long. The key is never to let the toners go completely out, and to make sure you're printing using K only. If you have to, run your first set of toners almost all the way out, then replace them and hang onto them. When you need to do a bunch of K only printing and you're out of other inks, stick the original toner carts back in so the controller shuts up and prints.
Do the math. 160 per cart, 4 carts, that's $640, or 64,000 cents. If the yield is 7000 pages, then it's 64,000 cents per 7,000 pages or--doing the math--9.14 cents/page.
At the specified coverage.
If you want to do a flat rate per page, covering all ink and parts and service calls, you'll have to pony up a bit more for a Xerox color copier or similar. Still and all, who'da thunk it 20 years ago that you could spend under $10K and get 12x18 full color printing at a straight 9 or so cents per page for everything? I remember a friend buying a LaserWriter II NTX for, how much? $6K? Something like that.
I think elmo3 is right, the ink jet cartridges are what makes color printing so expensive. I am going right now to get a new cartridge for one of my ink jets... might just stop by somewhere and check out color lasers again.
pdq, does the 7,000 pages at $160 per cartridge come to about $.04 per page? If so, it sure beats ink jet costs... Unless all the colors ran out at the same time. What I want is a color laser that will print in black even if one or more colors are empty, and I don't think there is such a thing...
Yes, there is, at least close enough. Currently my yellow toner is low, "replace soon," and it happily prints K only all day long. The key is never to let the toners go completely out, and to make sure you're printing using K only. If you have to, run your first set of toners almost all the way out, then replace them and hang onto them. When you need to do a bunch of K only printing and you're out of other inks, stick the original toner carts back in so the controller shuts up and prints.
Do the math. 160 per cart, 4 carts, that's $640, or 64,000 cents. If the yield is 7000 pages, then it's 64,000 cents per 7,000 pages or--doing the math--9.14 cents/page.
At the specified coverage.
If you want to do a flat rate per page, covering all ink and parts and service calls, you'll have to pony up a bit more for a Xerox color copier or similar. Still and all, who'da thunk it 20 years ago that you could spend under $10K and get 12x18 full color printing at a straight 9 or so cents per page for everything? I remember a friend buying a LaserWriter II NTX for, how much? $6K? Something like that.