Community Newsletter: Q&A: Photo inkjet printers vs. color laser printers
- 11/9/07 8:26 AM
Price of toner vs. ink
by laceyk - 10/21/07 12:10 PM In reply to: Photo inkjet printers vs. color laser printers by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi Edward, I don't have any experience with the photo part of your question. However I do have information on your cost of operation. Please check out the cost of toner cartidges for any laser printer you are considering. You mentioned you use a ton of ink. We have 4 machines that use ink cartridges and one laser printer where I work. I can buy three ink cartridges for 40 - 50 some dollars in a three pack at Sam's club for the ink cartridge machines. (three printers and a plain paper fax all HP)The toner for the laser printer (also an HP) is usually around $69 for one. I don't keep track of how many copies I'm getting out of each and they are all used very differently so it is hard to tell how many pages I get for my money, but one toner cartridge is quite a bit more expensive than one ink cartridge. I hope you get some feedback on the photo quality...I'd be interested to see that too! Lacey
ink jets Vs. Laserjets
by blyons41 - 10/27/07 5:18 PM In reply to: Price of toner vs. ink by laceykThere is a Huge difference between how many pages you get out of an inkjet vs. a color laserjet. You can on average get 400 to 600 sheets out of inkjet cartridges. Laserjet toner cartridges produce 2000 to 5000 sheets from each toner cartridge. My HP businessjet 1100dtn cartridges (separate color cartridges) cost approx. $35.00 per color times four cartridges. My HP colorlaserjet 2600n toner cartridges cost 70.00 for the black and $82.00 for each color toner cartridge. (3 Colors).
Producing photos on either is outrageously expensive because your putting out 100% coverage on an 8 by 10 Glossy or a 4x6 Glossy. For Photos, SEND THEM OUT for printing.
color laser
by wjaycox - 10/21/07 1:11 PM In reply to: Photo inkjet printers vs. color laser printers by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
My Minolta 2300dl does as well if not better than my hp photo capable 5100 series with a photo cartridge. I always dread printing photo with the hp because if I do many photos it means a $70 plus cartridge bill
$70 cost for photo cartridges
by ronmac60 - 11/7/07 8:59 AM In reply to: color laser by wjaycoxWJAY, I don't understand why you just don't refill the catridges yourself. I do all four colors in about 15 minutes. Ink is about $39 a pint in each color. Syringes cost a quarter. I got my glue gun at a dollar store and when it heats up I can seal those drill holes in about a second.
I guess it all depends on how much printing a person does. I write these book digests for people with low vision and since I don't charge for the books I like to keep the costs down to about 20˘ a
book. In that way I can give away 100 books to each retirement home and not feel any great financial loss.
I couldn't do it if I had to buy cartidges at $35. Mine cost $4.95 to start with and they seem to last about a year.
Refilling my own cartridges
by Gramby - 11/24/07 11:51 AM In reply to: $70 cost for photo cartridges by ronmac60A couple of years ago I refilled my own cartridgesfor my Lexmark jetrinter and had printing problems, when I contacted Lexmark, they said that refilling your own caused problems and they couldn't guarantee the printer if I continued to refill. So I quit, but was stuck with pigment and the refill kit for Lexmark and Samsung Printers. Did they just sell me a line or are refilled ink tanks lesser quality? I now have a new Canon color printer/copier but the ink is expensive. Do I dare refill? Gramby
Have you checked out the price of ink online?
by gzwalker - 10/22/07 7:56 AM In reply to: Photo inkjet printers vs. color laser printers by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi Edward,
I can't really give you a comparison between inkjet and laser printers, but I can tell you that I was able to find a very cheap source for ink cartridges. I was using a printer where the cartridges were around $7 for black and $16 for color at local office supply chains. I was even buying refill kits and going through the pain of doing it myself to try to save some money. Then I came across a site (inkquik.com)where I could get both black and color for $1.50 each if I ordered in quantities of 10. Since I was using a lot of ink, that was a no-brainer for me (10 color cartridges online for the price of 1 at the local store). I have a friend that found cartridges even cheaper on ebay. So I would advise you to consider that option if you haven't checked online yet. NOTE: I have been very satisfied with the quality and life of the cartridges I have gotten online - YMMV.
The good news a little too late for me.
by Michael Tsark - 10/22/07 11:17 PM In reply to: Have you checked out the price of ink online? by gzwalkerI wish I had heard about inkquik.com when I used to have a Canon Multipass MP360 and would've taken advantage of such a good deal. Canon MP360 brand cartridges went for around $10 and I was only able to find alternative ones for $3. Then my MP360 broke and Canon discontinued the model and so they gave me a free upgrade to the PIXMA MP180 printer but problem is near every where I look the cartridges are still expensive between $20 to $25 for Black. Even inkquik.com doesn't offer that much of a savings for the PIXMA MP180 cartridges. 1 to 4 cartridges still cost $20 each at inkquik.com while buying 5 or more will only save me a dollar on each cartridge. No matter where I've searched and searched I still can't find reasonably priced cartridges for the PIXMA MP180. The cheapest thus far is $16 for a refurbished cartridge. These things are massed produced like all the rest and I know it doesn't cost the manufacturers a leg and an arm to mass produce these cartridges. Meanwhile, I'm devoted to using a refill kit plus buying ink in bulk quantity from The Printer Ink Warehouse but right now I'm still unprepared and don't have a spare cartridge on the side incase something goes wrong with the original cartridge because I'm still waiting for someone to NOT be so ill-greedy about the PIXMA MP180 cartridges. But thanks for the info, I'll keep it in mind the next time I get another printer.
Refillable ink cartartiages
by fergusbp - 10/23/07 6:40 AM In reply to: The good news a little too late for me. by Michael TsarkCheck out www.echostore.com. They have cartiages made for refilling for different printers, they have continious ink systems and bulk ink. 3oz. is $8.99. The refillable cartiages and continious ink systems come with ink or with out. You can use bulk ink from other suppliers in them.
Automatic cartridge refilling systems.
by Michael Tsark - 10/23/07 11:19 AM In reply to: Refillable ink cartartiages by fergusbpWOW! What an idea, I wish I had invented it,...an automatic cartridge refilling system where I don't need to remove any of the cartridges from the printer anymore as long as the attached outer refillable 100ml tank bottles don't go below an ink level of 2 inches. I wish I could get me one but echostore.com doesn't have one designed for the PIXMA MP180. As of yet “MP180” isn't even in their vocabulary but sooner or later I'll get around to asking them if perhaps one of the other refilling systems might be adaptable for the MP180. I noticed the echostore.com 100ml ink for the Canon brand is slightly cheaper than The Printer Ink Warehouse whereas the 500ml and 1gal are still cheaper at The Printer Ink Warehouse and the 1000ml are the same price at both places.
Thanks, fergusbp, for the info.
Canon Pixma Cartridges Can Be Refilled
by zcfda08 - 10/26/07 6:01 PM In reply to: The good news a little too late for me. by Michael TsarkCanon Pixma Printers series 400-900 also have a sensitive electronic chip attached to the ink cartridge that monitors the ink level. It is considered “proprietary.”
Then Canon (The greedy scoundrels) priced the cartridges at an astronomical price of $17 each and currently they are still high at $14 each totaling at least $70 for a full set! Canon thought they could get away with these prices because there is no generic cartridge that has this “chip” available.
Well thank God people figured out how to refill the cartridges and posted the information on the web, or consumers would be paying for their printers 10 times over the actual cost. Using bulk refills, I now save plenty money using my MP600 printer.
Forget printing at home all together
by cybler - 10/22/07 2:48 PM In reply to: Photo inkjet printers vs. color laser printers by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Forget printing at home and starting sending your print jobs to Walgreens or Target, or some other mail-order company. Through Flickr you can order your pictures to be mailed to you for $0.15 + $1.50 shipping, so order a handful to make it worth the shipping. Flickr also allows you to pick up at Target for no shipping, but $0.20 each. So if you order is less than 30, use Target, 31 or more, it's cheaper to do mail order.
Walgreens also does pickup in store for $0.19 each, sometimes even with only an hour processing and almost always same day processing if you send the pictures in early enough in the day.
Photo printing aside, the color laser I used to use was a bit of work. You have a toner cartridge for Yellow, Magenta, Cyan and Black. The color toners don't get used evenly and based on what size the cartridges are, each one can run $50 - $100 each.
Unless you just hate the ink jet, stick with it for color, it will be easier and cheaper to maintain. I have a BW laser and a color Ink Jet MFD. Years ago I swore off Ink Jets, but now that HP has nice ones with flat bed scanners built in, I'm back on board. You can get ink cartridges for a fairly good price at Costco.
Hope this helps.
David
Kodak EasyShare All-in-One Inkjet Printers
by jcisney - 10/24/07 1:11 PM In reply to: Photo inkjet printers vs. color laser printers by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Have you seen the articles about the health issues around laser printers?
http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/31/laser-printer-particles-as-dangerous-as-cigarette-smoke/
Apparently the particles are worse than cigarette smoke.
Check out the Kodak EasyShare All-in-One Inkjet Printers. The prints are great and they use inexpensive ink. $14.99 for a color cartridge and $9.99 for black. For some nitty gritty details on the price per page for these printers you can look here... http://www.kodak.com/go/inkdata
As for the printers, I work at Kodak and print a lot for scrapbooking and crafts. The color prints are lab quality... they come out dry and last a lifetime.
You can read more about the printers here... http://www.kodak.com/go/aio
or even win one here!
http://www.brickfish.com/Lifestyles/KodakPrinter?tab=1&=HP101207kdk
Inkjet vs. Laser
by marmard - 10/24/07 7:02 PM In reply to: Photo inkjet printers vs. color laser printers by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have an Inkjet color and a Black/White Laser. The only thing I can say I don't like about Inkjet is "water". If you want to print on regular paper or Greeting Cards, water is the worst enemy, unlike Laser. Photo paper with inkjet is also at risk, but not as quickly, especially if high quality photo paper.
Inkjet or Laser
by waytron - 10/26/07 3:54 AM In reply to: Photo inkjet printers vs. color laser printers by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Isn’t technology wonderful, inkjet printers are truly amazing examples of what can be accomplished when there is a buck to be made. And what is even more amazing is that manufacturers have come up with ways to package ink into small plastic containers that we are willing to pay up to $40 a piece for. If my calculations are correct, that $35.99 ink cartridge I purchased just yesterday with 21ml of ink in it, would come out to about $6,487 per gallon. Some cartridges work out to more that $11,000 per gallon of ink. And you thought gasoline prices were ridiculous. This is why they can afford to give you some printers for free when you purchase a computer. Ok, you get the idea that replacement Ink is expensive. I understand your dilemma, but a color laser may not be the answer especially when it comes to printing color photos. Yes, Color Laser printers can be less expensive, per page. But the print quality is just not there when it comes to photographs. Don’t get me wrong, Color Lasers are great for printing color documents, spec sheets and brochures but not for high quality photos. Don’t be fooled by the lowering prices of these units. A set of replacement toner cartridges for my color laser is almost $400. So, with that said, how do you lower your overall printing costs? In many cases the least expensive way to go is to have more than one printer but the first thing to do is step back and evaluate your total printing needs.
1. How much total printing do you do?
2. How much of it needs to be printed in color?
3. What kind of color printing? Are these Photos or just general purpose printing?
4. Are you printing a lot of letters and other black and white documents to an inkjet printer?
If you divide up your printing so that you use the most economical printer for that specific type of job, you will save a fortune in the long run. Here is a look at the different types of print jobs and which printers to use for what.
* Photographs *
Printing high quality photos is the most difficult and costly type of printing. Not only do you have the high cost of ink, film or cartridges but high quality photo paper can also be very expensive.
1. LIGHTJET – This is one of the processes that the big guys use and is as close to real photographic printing that you can get. It actually is the same developing process as normal photographs accept for the way that the photo paper is exposed. You are not likely to be purchasing any of this technology for home use, but you can certainly take advantage of it by simply sending your digital images out to be printed. Many people believe that this type of process produces renders the best quality images and will not fade with time as much as inkjet and other processes.
2. DYE-SUBLIMATION – This type of printer probably produces the best quality photographic prints out of the printers that are normally available for home or small business use and is one of the few printers that can actually print true continuous tones. The cost per print is a little higher and you are locked into special paper and supplies. You would not normally use this printer for anything other than printing photographs. Both Sony and Kodak makes a nice little units for printing 3x5 and 4x6 prints. These units typically run about 29 to 50 cents per 4x6 photo, so double check the price of the supplies before deciding on a specific model.
3. INKJET - Inkjet printers have become very popular mainly because of their excellent color printing capability as well as there low initial cost. Even though you may even get one for free, the cost of ownership is very high due to high ink replacement costs. In many cases just purchasing a NEWER model printer can save you a bundle. Printer manufacturers are constantly improving the print quality and lowering the cost per page to keep their printers competitive with sending your photos out to be printed. For the best photo reproduction, select a 6 color version.
4. OUTSOURCING - In the long run after you add up the cost of ink, photo paper and factor in for waste, printing errors and paper jams and if you are printing mostly standard 4x6 and 5x7 photos then your best bet may be to send them out to be printed. You can get standard 4x6 prints for under 20 cents each just about anywhere and I have seen them advertised as low as 6 cents (with a coupon) delivered to your door. That is less than the price of the photo paper alone. If you would like to see some reviews and prices for off-site photo printing, check out http://www.printrates.com/ . The nice thing about outsourcing your photo printing is you don’t even have to leave home. Just sign up online, download your photos and they are delivered to your door. If you prefer, you can take you camera memory card down to Walgreens, Walmart or your local photo store and get them printing, usually in less than an hour.
* General Purpose Color Documents *
This category of printing includes any color documents such as newsletters, brochures, spec sheets or even just printing a web page in color. These documents may include photos but is not the main focus and photo quality is not the most important requirement.
1. INKJET PRINTER – Virtually any model inkjet printer can print general purpose color documents on standard paper. However, the cost of the ink can be very costly if you print a lot of pages. NOTE: If your specific printing needs consists of printing more of one color than another such as a color logo on every page, then purchasing a color printer that has individual ink tanks for each color can save you money in the long run.
2. COLOR LASER – The color laser printer is ideally suited for general purpose color printing and typically has a lower cost per page then the inkjet printers. Color Toner cartridges generally last between 2500 and 5000 pages instead of a few hundred pages for an inkjet cartridge. NOTE: Some color laser printers can be rather noisy and may take up to a few minutes to warm up to print the first page. Keep in mind that even though you can purchase a new color laser printer for under $400, replacement toner can run you another $300 or more.
* Black and White Documents *
This is just your normal black and white printed page such as a document from Microsoft Word, spread sheet or could even be printed pages from the internet or other sources that are actually in color but do not need to be printed in color.
1. BLACK AND WHITE LASER – The Black and White (monochrome) laser printer is one of the best deals you can get when it comes to printing. The cost per page is roughly 1/10 that of an inkjet printer and the printing speed is equally impressive. You can get a monochrome laser for under $200 now and I have seen some units on sale for under $100.
2. INKJET – Any inkjet printer will print black and white documents, well, accept maybe the small dedicated 4x6 photo printers. Although, if you don’t mind your documents on a 4x6 inch piece of glossy paper, I suppose you could even use one of these. If you print a lot of documents, inkjet is not the most economical way to do this and you will find that you are constantly replacing ink cartridges.
3. DOT MATRIX –These are not used that much anymore, especially in the home, but still have a place where impact printing is required. Applications that require printing multi-part forms or printing through special mailing envelopes still use this type of printer. Some business users still prefer printing reports on a dot matrix or line printers.
**Notes on AOI (All-IN-ONE) Printers** – Both Laser and InkJet printing technology come in the very popular All-In-One format. These units combine Printing, Copying, Scanning and sometimes Faxing in one unit. If you have the need for any of these features you may want to include one of these in your printer wish list. Due to common conflict problems, avoid installing more than one All-In-One printer on a single computer.
**Notes on Networked Printers** – Many printers are now available with built-in networking and some even with built-in wireless networking capabilities. This feature can add anywhere from $50 to $100 to the price of the printer, but may be well worth the investment. If you have a network, either wired or wireless, a printer with networking would allow any user in the home or office to print to this printer without having to connect to it directly. Great for those of you who are roaming around with that wireless laptop.
SUMMARY
No one printer is ideal for all types of printing and there are many other types of printers that were not discussed here such as thermal label printers and solid ink printers. In most cases, the most cost effective way to handle all your printing needs is to have multiple printers installed on your computer or network. For example: I personally have 8 different printers on my Network.
1. Black and White Laser for Documents and spread sheets.
2. Color Laser for color Spec sheets, flyers and printing color letterheads.
3. All-In-One Inkjet for scanning, copying and the occasional color photo.
4. Large WIDE Format Inkjet Printer for printing large items.
5. 2nd Inkjet printer preset with roll stock photo paper (Just for 4x6 photos)
6. Thermal Label Printer for printing rolls of labels only
7. 2nd Black and White laser for backup printer.
8. Thermal CD/DVD Printer for printing directly onto disks.
Now most of you will not need this many printers but probably the most cost effective thing you can do is purchase one black and white laser printer to be used for all your general printing needs for when you can get away without color. Many of you might ask, why not use the color laser for the black and white printing too? And the answer is you could, but if you ever looked at the inner workings of a color laser printer, you would quickly come to the conclusion that it is amazing that this thing even works at all. I would prefer to wear out the cheaper B&W laser and if you happen to like to print labels or on other unusual paper stocks, the paper path on a color laser is just too complex. Save it for the color jobs.
Dana
Wayland Computer
HP's new engines run cheaper
by slyde1 - 10/26/07 6:03 PM In reply to: Inkjet or Laser by waytronA month or so ago I went in to buy a replacement cartridge for my HP inkjet which was over 1 yr old. I found an in store sale for an HP 5400 series printer for less than $40. The sales person tried to sell me extra cartridges, because the ones in the printer were about 1/2 the size of the older model replacement, but I decided to wait. Turns out that the new cartridges were less than 1/2 the price of the older model and were listed to give the same # of pages. It's worth looking at the newer models from HP. I'm seeing all in ones for $79 with good performance and reasonable cartridge cost. After 15 yrs of supporting HP printers and having owned several, I find that they are reliable and can be purchased at very competitive prices.
Good luck.
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