13 April 2009 | Uncategorized | bob

Did you realize you can actually cut printing costs just by choosing another font? Even with everyone looking for new ways to save money, it’s doubtful most people have considered the font they use for letters, reports, and notices, but you can actually save 31% on your ink cartridge costs just by picking the right font.

Printer.com recently put this notion to the test using two popular printers. The Canon Pixma MP 210 was picked to simulate the printing of private users while the Brother HL-2140 laser printer was used to test business use. Both printers were left at their default settings (600 by 600 dpi). Changing only the font resulted in saving between $20 and $80 per year.

Arial, reigning as the most popular font, was used as the “zero” measurement, against which nine other fonts were tested. The clear winner was Century Gothic, which returned 31% savings in both printers. For the average private user, printing approximately 25 pages per week, this will easily generate a net reduction of $20 in a year. A business-user, printing approximately 250 pages per week, could save $80. If your organization uses multiple printers, you can save hundreds of dollars per year doing nothing more than picking a more economical font.

Century Gothic is a modern font that comes standard with MS Windows. Surprisingly, it even beat Ecofont which was specifically designed with efficiency and cost in mind. For those who require a more “traditional” look, Times New Roman provides a good balance between style and savings.

Details of the research:

• 10 frequently used fonts were selected.

• The font size (10 or 11) is relative. Font size was chosen in such a way that the page filling for all fonts in the model letter was virtually the same.

• To determine the coverage, the model letter is saved as PDF file. This PDF is calculated by the software Apfill, which calculates the coverage of the specific font.

• To determine the cost of a private user per year, the inkjet printer “Canon Pixma MP 210” was used with 25 printed pages per week.

• To determine the cost of a small-business user per year, the laser printer “Brother HL-2140” was used with 250 printed pages per week.

• Both Canon and Brother publish the number of printed pages with a coverage of 5%. Through interpolation, the costs have been calculated for other coverage rates if the sample letter would be printed with other fonts.

• For the Canon printer, calculations are based upon a black cartridge PG-40 with a retail value of roughly $17 In case of the Brother printer calculations are based upon a black cartridge with a retail value of $30.

Photo credit: borman818

>> Listen to an NPR report about the U of Wisconsin’s switch to Century Schoolbook (2 minutes)

Disclaimer.
The values of the Printer.com research are approximate values that are based on the model letter. Actual situations can be different. Printer.com makes no warranties or representations whatsoever with regard to any product, information or calculation provided or offered by any manufacturer, e-store or merchant; and you hereby expressly acknowledge that any reliance on any representations and warranties, whether provided in writing or otherwise, provided by any e-Store, merchant, vendor or manufacturer will be at your own risk.

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06 April 2009 | Uncategorized | bob

It continues to astound us how expensive it can be to own a printer. Over the life of a printer, the owner can expect to pay many times the original purchase price to keep it supplied with ink or toner cartridges. This isn’t news to anyone—we have long known that the ink and toner printer supply business was extremely profitable for printer manufacturers like HP, Epson and Canon. Most people just assume that’s the way it is, was and will be forever.

That is, until now. With their line of ESP printers, Kodak claims to tackle the costs of ownership head-on. Beginning this week, the company is rolling out a new advertising campaign that attacks the high price of printer ink. We thought it would be interesting to see if those claims hold up to closer scrutiny.

Printer.com just happens to have an excellent tool for checking. Using our extensive printer and cartridge database, our test compared costs assuming an expected black and white output of 50 pages and 25 color pages per week on photo quality printers over a span of five years. This is fairly standard usage for at home.

The cost of ownership is clearly less expensive for the Kodak line of printers by a significant margin. We found the average cost of ownership over five years for Kodak printers to be only $616, a mere 550% of the purchase price of the ESP 3. That might seem like a lot– until you look at the competition. The first non-Kodak printer on our list, the Canon Pixma MP 530, will cost $779 in ink cartridges over five years, which is a whopping 842% of the purchase price of the printer. Brother’s MFC 5890 CN does a bit better, with ink costing only a bit over 500% of the purchase price of the printer. On the surface, that appears more affordable than the Kodak products, but the Brother ink and printer costs combined over five years still cost 23% more than the Kodak printer and cartridges.

All these comparisons assume the usage of the printer we mentioned earlier. If you do a lot more color printing, the efficiencies of the Kodak printers start to pull even further ahead of the competition. From Printer.com’s perspective, Kodak steals the show on ownership costs, and their bold claims seem to be confirmed. The gauntlet has been tossed down, and it will be interesting to see how the competition responds.

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30 March 2009 | Uncategorized | bob

Modern printing is generally believed to have begun in the 15^th century with Gutenberg’s moveable type press. Moveable type simply means that each letter used in the press is an individual piece, which allowed the printer to rearrange letters to make different pages. This meant that they didn’t have to carve entire pages as a single piece– they could just rearrange letters and start printing a new page.

However, none of this was really new. The Chinese and Koreans had been using moveable type for hundreds of years before the time of Gutenberg. Gutenberg, however, did include an advance never before seen in printing. Using his skills as a goldsmith, he created his type from an alloy of lead, tin, and antimony. This new type was far more durable than the wood and porcelain materials favored in East Asia. His letters were not only clearer, print after print, but could also be placed with greater precision, making it far easier to read Roman-style lettering across the page.

Technology alone doesn’t a killer app make, though. Like all madly successful entrepreneurs, Gutenberg’s new press was the right tool in the right place at the right time. The flexibility of Roman type, coupled with the rise of a more educated European middle class which was eager for reading material, allowed the new press to ignite a firestorm across Europe. Suddenly, people could easily share and disseminate information across the continent. What a scientist discovered in Rome could be read about and studied by colleagues in London–and potentially fought over, disproved or built upon. A social revolution, most heavily felt in the Protestant Reformation, followed. Nothing was the same after Gutenberg’s press made it easy for people to share and disseminate information across Europe. Sound familiar?

After that, printing didn’t change much for 300 years. Printing remained a primarily muscle-powered business until 1811, when German printer Friedrich Koenig harnessed the power of steam to run his presses. One of the first buyers was The Times of London, which started the rise of cheap, ubiquitous newspapers. Nearly twenty years later, an American invented the rotary press, which used giant spools of paper for a continuous feed.

Bigger and faster, however, meant that the printing process and printing presses pretty much stayed in the hands of the wealthy. It would be the electronic revolution of the 20^th century that would change that. The big break would come in 1938, when Chester Carlson invented electrophotography. This dry printing process was the precursor of photocopying and laser printers. As time went on, it became easier for people to make copies of almost any document they wanted and as the clarity of photocopiers improved, the machines added the ability to reproduce colors beyond just black and white.

But it was the personal computer that really put printing into the hands of everyday people. Instead of just being able to copy what others had written, which was the primary use of the photocopier, a computer hooked to a printer allowed you to publish your own documents. Early printers were large machines, and most were literally clunky, being very noisy when operating. This, of course, led people to make music with these noisy printers!

Eventually, though, the technology behind photocopying merged with computer printing, and the old, loud machines were replaced with the quieter, swifter laser and inkjet printers we enjoy today. With today’s high quality printers, people in their own homes can produce full-color documents of a quality far surpassing the most expensive printing machines of a mere fifty years ago. Gutenberg would probably think it was miraculous.

Photo credits: wyzik, takomabibelot, and schoschie.

7 Comments

03 March 2009 | Uncategorized | admin

It’s like a technology from Star Trek.  The ability to “print” a 3D object is now available, and can even be done in color. Although not quite ready for the home, industrial 3D printers for rapid prototyping have made spectacular advances over the past few years.  Speed and cost are the primary concerns with 3D printing, but recent advances in the technology enable relatively complex models to be made affordably in less than 24 hours.  These “printed” models can even contain moving parts!

Photo Credit Oskay

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How does 3D printing Work?

The technical term for 3D printing is ’stereo lithography’, and is accomplished through the layer by layer construction of a 3D object.  In one method, a layer of liquid resin is “printed”, and the resin is then cured by a laser in the exact pattern for that layer. The object is slowly built in this manner, and the non-cured resin is then removed, leaving only the portions of the object that were cured by the laser. Wikipedia offers a better technical explanation for those so inclined.

Photo Credit Diaper

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3D Printing in Action

Below are links to some videos which demonstrate the abilities of 3D printing. Some are company promotional videos, but they give good insight into the state of these particular technologies.

Future of 3D Printing

Will we see 3D printing in the home? Quite probably, but the technology will have to advance beyond its current prototyping role to the point that it can create usable objects for a consumer at an affordable price.  It is doubtful we will see it in the home any time soon, but once the technology matures, consumer applications are found, and there is a dollar to be made–there is no reason to not expect it.

25 Comments

18 February 2009 | Uncategorized | kimm

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

10 Comments

05 February 2009 | Uncategorized | kimm

Printer.com released its annual study of consumer and small to medium-sized business printers finding that printing in color can be 3 times as expensive.

San Jose, CA – February 5, 2009 — Printer.com announced today that it has completed its 2008 study of consumer and small to medium-sized business printers sold in the United States. With the largest independent database of printers, ink and toner cartridges across nearly every major printer brand, Printer.com was in a unique position to analyze total ownership costs to spot overall general trends.

“Not only does it cost about three times as much to print pages in color,” said Bob Crum, Director of U.S. Operations for Printer.com, “but for larger printers used in medium-sized businesses, the cost can be five times as high.”

Printer.com’s annual study analyzed the ink and toner replacement costs for printers for home, small and medium business uses. The study was conducted across 11 major manufacturer brands, and was based on the costs of printing 1,000 pages.

As “the independent printer comparison site,” Printer.com generated a great deal of interest in the online domain-name community when a team of Dutch entrepreneurs paid $800,000 in 2007 for the domain name and subsequently launched the printer cost comparison site in The Netherlands in 2008.

Since then, the company has steadily grown its business in The Netherlands, and made the strategic decision to enter the U.S. market in 2008. Since the U.S. launch in December 2008, Printer.com has begun to attract thousands of unique visitors a day, and has registered more than 35 vendors as printer, ink and toner reselling partners.

“By offering more transparency into actual printer ownership costs for consumers and small businesses,” said Crum, “we hope to be able to win the trust of our users. It’s all about the user experience, and studies like this one help highlight the kinds of information we’d like our audience to know, especially in these tough economic times.”

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 www.printer.com.

3 Comments

08 January 2009 | Uncategorized | kimm

Ink and toner cartridges have shown an increase in price over the past 6 months.

San Francisco, CA – January 8, 2009 — Printer.com, the largest proprietary database of printer ink and toner prices, announced their price indices show most major manufacturers are increasing their retail pricing anywhere from 3% to 6%.

This affects not just one or two manufacturers, but appears to affect all manufacturers. As of September 2008, HP increased the list prices on all Mono and Color LaserJet Print Cartridges by 5%, as well as approximately 5-6% on Inkjet Cartridges. Lexmark and Xerox also raised their pricing on printer supplies in November 2008 with 5% across the board for Lexmark and 3% to 6% for Xerox, Brother, Canon and Oki soon followed suit.

Printer.com’s Director of U.S. Operations Bob Crum, says, “Expect the ink and toner cartridge price increases to remain until several months after the recession has been put to bed. No one likes increasing prices, but ink and toner are often very profitable revenue streams for printer manufacturers, and incremental price increases just make business sense for a lot of organizations looking to increase profit margins in tougher financial conditions.”

About Printer.com

Websites such as Printer.com have created an online marketplace for consumers to find and compare TCO (total cost of ownership) on more than 1,650 ink and toner cartridges. Their large database does the testing and evaluating for the consumer helping them to make better selections and money saving choices. Free services such as these could be a lifesaver for those who have a large print output each month.

8 Comments