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