HP Lasers Beat Ink Jet on Cost per Page

HP Lasers Beat Ink Jet on Cost per Page

(UXBRIDGE, MA) April 12, 1999—The cost of printing graphics-rich pages with an ink jet printer is at least 50% more than the cost of printing the same page on a color laser printer, according to the Color Business Report newsletter. The newsletter has tested the cost of printing with 23 color ink jet and laser printers since 1994. The most economical printer to operate, on a cost-per-page basis, is the Hewlett-Packard Color LaserJet 4500DN, which produces the Color Business Report test page for 11 cents per page, including toner consumed plus amortization for drum, fuser kit, and transfer kit. HP has had a lock on the low-cost-to-operate end of the color laser business. The second and third most economical models the Color Business Report has worked with are previous HP models. The least expensive non-HP color laser printer tested is the Xerox DocuColor 5799, which printed the test page for 21.1 cents. A full cost comparison is available in the April 1999 issue of the Color Business Report.

The Color Business Report’s test page costs 15.7 cents to print on the HP 2000C. The HP 2000C ink jet printer represents a new configuration for HP, since the printer’s four print heads and four ink supplies are independently replaceable. In comparison, that same page printed an the HP 890C, an earlier ink jet product in which the print head and ink supply are contained in the same replaceable cartridge, costs 19.8 cents to print.

The Color Business Report’s cost-of-printing tests have covered the industry’s landmark color printers—solid ink from Tektronix, liquid ink from Canon, Epson, HP, Lexmark, Olivetti, and Xerox, as well as toner-based color printers from Apple, HP, Tek, and Xerox. In addition to hands-on evaluation of breakthrough products, the Color Business Report includes case write-ups about color issues, meant to inform product managers and strategic planners in the vendor community about end-user issues. Other topics includes product introductions, vendor strategy analysis, distribution issues, and trade show and conference coverage. The Color Business Report is published by Blackstone Research Associates, and is edited by Michael Zeis and Allen Avery. pFor more information, please contact Michael Zeis at 508-278-3449

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