How much will a $50 dollar printer really cost you? If you factor in the cost of replacement ink cartridges, it could be a lot more.
These days, if you go down the printer isle at your local office store, you may see a few printers hovering around the $50 mark. You might think "Wow! What a great deal", but is it all it's cracked up to be?
Lexmark was first manufacturer selling $50 printers. The printer was a loss-leader and the sales of replacement cartridges subsidized the low initial cost. The cost of 1 set of replacement cartridges exceeded the value of the machine itself.
Many people who never owned a printer before didn't realize Lexmark's strategy. They were so excited by the printer price that they never thought about the cost of the printer cartridges themselves. As time went on Lexmark continued their strategy and also began to decrease the size of their ink cartridges. Their cartridges got smaller and smaller and required more frequent replacing.
Consider this:
One Lexmark 10N0016 OEM Black cartridge retails for about $30 and will yield 410 pages at 5% coverage
One Lexmark 10N0026 OEM Color cartridge retails for about $32.00 and will yield 275 pages at 5% coverage
It was commonplace to buy Lexmark printer for $50 just for the ink cartridges, and throw the printer in the garbage and just buy another one. Hewlett-Packard has now followed suit and is using the same strategy to takeover market share.
Several new printers will enter the market in July 2006. Many of which are cheap to buy (starting at around $25.00), but can be expensive to operate. Many of these new cheap printers do not come with connection cables or both ink cartridges which entices users by lowering the initial price.
Over the course of a few years however, the low cost of the machine will be overshadowed by the large amount spent on replacement inkjet cartridges
The inkjet cartridges that most of the new HP printers use contain only 5 Milliliters of ink. In comparison, about 4 years ago the most common HP black cartridges contained 42 milliliters of ink. That's almost 8 times more printing at about 1/3rd the cost (per milliliter of ink).
A lot of people who owned printers in the past, are shocked when they see how fast their new printer goes through ink.
Not very many people realize the actual operating costs of these printers until they gone through a few sets of replacement cartridges.
HP's goal now is too own the market and squeeze competitors out of the picture by taking over retail shelf space with as many models as possible. Most have the same basic features, but the machines they have on the shelf, the less space for competition. Hewlett Packard hopes to captivate people in with their reputation, and a low-priced machine.
If they can get the customer to buy their printer, they can rely on a continuous stream of supplies for the life of that printer.
So here's what you need to know… It is critical that you investigate the price of replacement ink cartridges before you purchase a new printer. Comparison-shop both the printer and cartridges at the same time.
A short list of printers to avoid are printers using the HP 21 and HP 22 ink cartridges. (these contain only 5 milliliters of ink)
PSC 1410 Series, Officejet 4315, Deskjet F340, F380, HP Fax 1250, HP Deskjet 3910, Deskjet 3940 Series, Deskjet 3915, Deskjet 3930 Series
Printers Using HP 92 and HP 93 ink cartridges (5 milliliters of ink)
PSC 1510 Series, PSC 1507, Officejet 6310, Deskjet 5440 Series, Photosmart 7850, Deskjet 5440 Series
The only customers who should consider these particular new HP printers, are those who print infrequently (less than 3 cartridges per year).
HP makes quality printers, however we recommend simply seeking out a model that does not use the #21 and #22 or #92 and #93 cartridges. Many more of these new HP printers will be released this month.
Another good option is to investigate other printer manufacturers such as Canon, Brother, or Epson. Many times their inkjet printers will give reviews that are as good or better than HP.
The key point to remember, is to always take into account the operating costs of the machine you are considering -- not just the initial price.
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