Printer.com Study Shows More Expensive Printers Have Lower Ownership Costs
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Printer.com carried out a study into the top ten printers that will give the most economic benefit to small businesses.
San Jose, CA – February 18, 2009 — With one of the largest independent databases of printer, ink and toner cartridge information currently available, Printer.com recently conducted a study of popular printer models for small businesses. This study was conducted across its database of printer vendors, and took into account product pricing from partner merchants in both the U.S. and Europe.
The study shows that the spread in the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) between similar small business printer models can exceed $10,000 over five years. Printer.com has published a list of the top 10 small business printers, based on TCO, so small business owners can see how the selection of a printer can impact their overall operational costs.
In this Top 10 list, the difference in TCO is $1288 between the model with the lowest TCO (Xerox Phaser 8560 MFP N) and the one with the highest TCO (HP Color LaserJet 2820). It is interesting to note that, in general, the most expensive printers have the lowest overall ink and toner costs. This is a case where spending more for a printer initially can save money in the long run, based on the costs of ink and toner cartridges.
For example, the average price of $1451 for the Xerox Phaser 8560 MFP N printer is $828 more than the HP Color LaserJet 2820, yet the toner cartridge costs for the HP over five years exceeds that of the Xerox by $2116. In our current economy, small business owners should consider overall operational costs when considering a printer purchase. They need to determine if the purchase price of a less expensive printer is offset by the generally higher operational costs.
According to Bob Crum, Director of U.S. Operations for Printer.com, “Business owners need to be aware of the long term cost implications of buying less expensive printers. The ownership costs of these printers are generally higher because of more expensive toner replacement costs.” He added, “It’s another example of ‘you get what you pay for’. But, as our study shows, there are models that have a nice combination of low initial cost and decent long term ownership costs.”
In addition to the costs of ink and toner replacement for both black-and-white and color printers for small businesses, Printer.com also accounted for costs of service and maintenance. For some models of printers, the service and maintenance costs alone can exceed the initial price of the printer itself.
About Printer.com
Printer.com is operated by Printer.com, Inc. in San Jose, CA, and owned by Treasuron International, an independent resource in the online marketplace for printers and cartridges. Launched in 2008 with the aim of providing unbiased information on a wide range of printers and cartridges and presenting them in an objective way which enables accurate comparisons, Printer.com currently features more than 4,500 printers and 1,600 cartridges in its database connected to authorized online retailers.
For more information please visit the website at http://www.printer.com.
Printer.com, Xerox Phaser 8560 MFP N, HP Color LaserJet 2820, Konica-Minolta Magicolor 4690 MF, Xerox Phaser 8860 MFP D, Xerox Phaser 8560 MFP D, Brother DCP 9040 CN, Brother MFC 9440 CN, Brother DCP 9045 CDN, Brother MFC 9840 CDW, Samsung CLX-6200 FN, HP Color Laserjet 2820
| Manufacturer and Type | Average Price |
Cartridge Costs 5 Years |
Total Costs |
| Xerox Phaser 8560 MFP N | $1,451 | $6,193 | $7,644 |
| Konica-Minolta Magicolor 4690 MF | $1,000 | $6,894 | $7,894 |
| Xerox Phaser 8860 MFP D | $3,653 | $4,384 | $8,037 |
| Xerox Phaser 8560 MFP D | $1,858 | $6,193 | $8,051 |
| Brother DCP 9040 CN | $516 | $8,147 | $8,663 |
| Brother MFC 9440 CN | $577 | $8,147 | $8,724 |
| Brother DCP 9045 CDN | $608 | $8,147 | $8,755 |
| Brother MFC 9840 CDW | $645 | $8,147 | $8,792 |
| Samsung CLX-6200 FN | $700 | $8,179 | $8,879 |
| HP Color Laserjet 2820 | $623 | $8,309 | $8,932 |
Niels
February 18th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Good work. It’s good that finally this information is available because nobody really knows this and that is not fair.
Ryan Perry
February 19th, 2009 at 2:50 am
I have been telling my clients this for years. Glad to see a company has started to create a database regarding printer cost. Most people don’t realize that a 2 cent savings per page is $1,440 over 3 years based on 2,000 prints a month. That is a lot of money to be throwing away by buying a “cheaper” printer that has a higher cost per page.
jai
February 19th, 2009 at 5:59 am
Nice work. It’s good information for all….
Jake
February 19th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
This article fails to mention if they are figuring the cost of ink and toner using OEM cartidges or Re manufactured compatible refills. Offices can actually cut the cost of cartridges by half by switching to guaranteed remanufactured cartridges, so in essence, the TCO is equal or less.
I buy my refills from PicInk.com. They seem to be quick and less expensive than OEM or going into my local office store.
Bob Crum
February 20th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Jake, you make a good point. All of the cartridge data we use at Printer.com is based on OEM cartridges at this point. The main reason is that we feel a TCO calculation really has to compare apples-to-apples, and the only reliable cross-manufacturer data we have about print/toner cartridge data (ink volume, pages printed per cartridge, etc.) is for the OEM cartridges. Therefore, we use OEM cartridges to calculate our TCO, but you are correct in saying that remanufactured cartridges can provide a lower ink/toner replacement cost.
Taylor
March 6th, 2009 at 3:08 am
thanks !! very helpful post!
Multifunction printer
June 11th, 2009 at 5:33 am
Hi, interesting post! I work as a part-time employee at a store that dealing in multi function printers. We receive many orders for multi function printers especially the ones with the fax machine compatibility.
cheap cartridges
September 1st, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Its really a very helpful information for one who wishing to buying a new printer
inks toner
June 2nd, 2010 at 3:22 am
excellent report! Research shows that the more costly a printer is up front, the more likely that toner and ink prices will cost less, than that of less expensive printers.
toner lexmark
June 2nd, 2010 at 3:58 am
Printer.com Study Shows More Expensive Printers Have Lower Ownership Costs! interesting to note that the most expensive printers have the lowest overall ink and toner costs.
tess amos
August 22nd, 2010 at 4:55 pm
do you have this type of info for home printers?
I probably only print 10- 20 pgs per month, yet I feel that ink is wasted and expensive never the less.