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Most economical color laser printer

E

ejoech

Member
I work in a design firm which means we are often printing out color designs. I purchased the HP color laserjet 2550 6 months ago. This past week the printer stopped working, I found out it was because the yellow toner was out of ink, while the cyan and magenta were at 3%. I don't see how I could have used this much ink, so I have been trying to reach HP to no avail. Anyway, it is going to be almost $500 to replace all the cartridges and the drum(which is at 35%). It seems to me that I would be better off getting a new printer. I need the most economical color laser for under $1000 with extra cartridges. I'd like to keep the cost down as much as possible. Don't care about speed. Just need the most economical color laser, both short term, and long term.

Any reccomendations? am I right in buying a whole new printer?

thanks..
 
Really depends on what you are looking for. Are you looking for built in duplexing? What size media do you need to print to? There is a big difference when making a jump from a printer that supports letter to one that can print tabloid.

If you just need letter sized color, I've been very happy with my Dell 3100CN:

Pros:
great blacks, excellent color reproduction, relatively cheap toner, built in print server.

Cons:
Relatively big and bulky~80lbs!
Tends to crush envelopes
You have to manually specify paper type in both the printer and driver configs.
You need to buy extra memory to print a letter sized graphic

Oh, and if you keep a eye on Dell deals, this printer often hits $300-350
 
I was facing somewhat the same problem over a year ago when I needed to replace a color printer.
It was a question of color laser vs. a decent quality inkjet. I did in the reserach process learn that
many cheaper color Lasers were short shotting their toner cartridges--so that a purchaser of such a unit would be soon facing a printer replacement sized cost in replacing both toner and drums. The bright side was that the replacement toner would not be short shotted---but then the color laser was going to cost about $300 to buy and another $300 to get replacement consumables.

If you do go to Toms hardware guides, you can find cost breakdowns on cheap colr Laser printing per page consumable costs------while monochrome black is quite decent at about a cent and a half a page, color comes in at about eight cents.---exactly on a par with better inkjets such as the Canon ip4000 and ip5000 using Canon OEM ink cartridges.

So I bought an inkjet for $110.------------I later spent another $50.00 on an ample supply of high quality refill ink. When I cost things out I print monochrome black way under a half cent a page consumable costs, mixed color text that costs a laser eight cents at about a cent, and at much better color quality -----when it comes to a color Laser, inkjets run rings around color lasers for photoprinting.

I can sure see some advantages to a monochrome Laser, but color Lasers don't make good economic sence to me. Of course, in the year since I did this digging, new chips on inkjets tip the balance more towards Lasers, many inkjets make poor consumer choices, but I still feel some better inkjets make more economic sence than a color Laser.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I was looking at the 3100CN and would probably go with that if it was up to me. Makes the most sense to me. I just don't know how much more economic it would be in the long run over the 2550.

Lemon - thanks for the toms hardware idea..didn't know they had that. Will definitely check it out..

any other reccomendations, let me know..thanks.
 
Most people do not know this & the printer companies will not admit it, but when you buy
a printer wether it is Laser or Inkjet, most times you will find the Factory Shipped with it
cartridges are Not Fully Filled .. since they make most of their money on INK & TONER Sales
 
Most that do that do reveal it somehow, one just has to be aware. Verbiage like "Comes with starter cartridge" is a clue. I won't buy any such.

OP,
. Samsung/Brother are probably the most economical. They are based on the Samsung print engines.

.bh.
 
Ejoech,

I just went through costing for color lasers, and my research was suprising.

First thing that should be said is ignore they guy ranting about ink-jets. I'll use an ink-jet printer making a fine art print, but the price for consumables with ink-jet is absurd. Refill kits are nasty, Chinese bulk inks have quality issues, and decent ink-jet paper can cost 10-100x per sheet as laser. While no color laser exists I would call 'photographic quality', they are certainly far more logical for general office graphics than ink-jets, and radically faster at printing. Good luck dumping a 60page PowerPage document to a ink-jet printer networked with a $40 cheap print server as well. They build Network ports into even small office lasers and not inkjets for a reason.

The Dell is a very nice color laser. It's huge, but the consumable price is decent, and it's reliable. I have a couple at a remote site and have no complaints. My Oki color laser here in the office prints a far more glossy and vivid image than all the other color lasers I tested, but it's toner is expensive, and it's not very efficient.

Ricoh in my research turned up the lowest cost for color toner and hence price per page in the long run followed by Lexmark. Dell was mid pack. HP is too busy trying to figure out how to milk you for ink-jet printer profits to put enough R&D into their printers.
 
To spikespiegal,

Being the guy ranting about inkjet printers, I still ask you what costs you came up with---comparing apple to apples.
Yes good photopaper costs a bunch--but since a color laser can't compete in this area--thats irrelevant.

So to do a apples to apples comparison of run of the mill color---I am using the same paper as your laser.--so paper costs drop from the comparison.--we are talking consumables costs--ink vs. toner.

And no I don't use chinese inks or just any old inkjet printer. I am talking a top quality refill ink where your eye can tell no difference between that and OEM ink. I am using two different non-chipped Canons using the BCI-3&6 cartridge line.

I claim less than a third of a cent consumable costs for monochrome text and less than a cent for mixed color---in terms of per page consmable costs. CAN ANY OF YOUR COLOR LASERS EVEN COME CLOSE TO THAT?--or have you really costed things out to a point where you can put a number on it and back that number?

You do have a valid point on speed and networking. Things unimportant to me, things that may or may not be important to
someone else, but a consideration none the less for some. But if you expect me to consider you credable---I want to hear facts and figures--not just your vague value judgements like decent--or expensive--or nice.--or nasty.

I have been there and done that. What I am saying is that my inkjet beats a color Laser by a wide margin on initial purchase price---and now the only way a Laser can come back even is to have lower consumable costs-----and when it can't do that either----My arguement is complete.------until you can rebut it with facts and figures you are the fool and his money are soon parted.
 
Originally posted by: Lemon law
To spikespiegal,

Being the guy ranting about inkjet printers, I still ask you what costs you came up with---comparing apple to apples.
Yes good photopaper costs a bunch--but since a color laser can't compete in this area--thats irrelevant.

So to do a apples to apples comparison of run of the mill color---I am using the same paper as your laser.--so paper costs drop from the comparison.--we are talking consumables costs--ink vs. toner.

And no I don't use chinese inks or just any old inkjet printer. I am talking a top quality refill ink where your eye can tell no difference between that and OEM ink. I am using two different non-chipped Canons using the BCI-3&6 cartridge line.

I claim less than a third of a cent consumable costs for monochrome text and less than a cent for mixed color---in terms of per page consmable costs. CAN ANY OF YOUR COLOR LASERS EVEN COME CLOSE TO THAT?--or have you really costed things out to a point where you can put a number on it and back that number?

You do have a valid point on speed and networking. Things unimportant to me, things that may or may not be important to
someone else, but a consideration none the less for some. But if you expect me to consider you credable---I want to hear facts and figures--not just your vague value judgements like decent--or expensive--or nice.--or nasty.

I have been there and done that. What I am saying is that my inkjet beats a color Laser by a wide margin on initial purchase price---and now the only way a Laser can come back even is to have lower consumable costs-----and when it can't do that either----My arguement is complete.------until you can rebut it with facts and figures you are the fool and his money are soon parted.
Click to expand...

You're not entitled to be dickhead in the Peripherals section. Please take that to P&N or OT, where the mods dont care as much.
You provided some decent info, but your points were all lost in a wave of flames.

In my continuing effort to provide some useful info, I'll let you guys know what I'm doing right now. My HP LJ1000 is Mono. I can buy an HP cartridge online for 40-50 bucks. It gets 4500 sheets with an average coverage of 5%. That averages out to a penny a page. ($0.01) I've gone through 2 already. Not because of home use. I had to bring it into work a few times. Ya know why folks? Because we couldnt afford ink for the damn inkjets! The bean counters were sick of paying 30 dollars for a black cartridge that only gets about 150 pages. The so-called Hi Capacity ones werent much better. I was getting tired of not being able to print. As were my coworkers. When we did use lasers, (briefly) the bean counters were most impressed by my ability to remain functional and not pester them for new cartidges every week.

If you do the math on those, we were paying about 20 cents per page. ($0.20). Now I acknowledge that the companies choice of Lexmarks was poor. I know Lexmarks stink all around, at least in the ink world. My problem is that no one has ever actually pointed me to a link that shows any brand of inkjet printer working at an efficiency of 1 cent per page. I hear guys raving all the time about how they can get carts for 9 bucks a pop. Problem is, I never see them get close to 900 prints. Same with the 30 dollar jobs. I know darn well they dont last for 300 sheets. My issue at work is the management types see it as more cost-effective to buy a box of $30 units every week, instead of $45 items every month and a half.

So I ask you, Mr Law of the Lemon, exactly where online can I purchase ink for a penny a page?
And it cant be generic either. I get brand name toner so I dont have to deal with problems. I know darn well inkjets are even less tolerant of imperfection.
 
To shortylickens,

If you want to purchase OEM ink for an inkjet that will come in at a penny a page or less---forget it---you can't. Nor do I say that an monochrome laser is not a good idea. Oem toner will come in at around a penny a page.--with most makes--use non Oem toner and costs can drop.

My point is and remains---while low cost color lasers coming onto the marker at around $300.00 or so is a development to be welcomed and only a year old----they still do not make good economic sence over a good inkjet----initial purchase price wise or consumable cost wise. And I was faced with exactly this same question one year ago---my old printer had crapped out---I needed color--which way to go--color laser or color inkjet?

I did my research--its not easy--its well hidden---but the answer was clear to me--get one of the canon inkjet printers using the BCI-3&6 cartridge line and refill your own cartridges with a top quality non-oem ink--which is what I am doing. Now if you take your monochrome laser and use non-oem toner, you can print monochrome test for about what I do---1/3 of a cent consumable costs------but if you buy a color lasser can you even find decent non-oem color toner? With Oem toner a color laser prints color for about what I print color for using Oem cartridges in my inkjet---when I refill I cut those costs by a factor of 10x or more.--up to 45x for high volume users. Note also something else----I did my inkjet research---I did not buy just any old inkjet---Unlike most consumers--who do just buy anything and that is why inkjets have such a bad rap--because they can be perfect ploys for manufacters to rip the consumer off.--and they do sell--because consumers are too lasy to research---and buy those rip off machines.

Now you may or may not be down on refilling---but the acid test is still showing you two pieces of output---same image--one done with a top quality refill ink and another piece of output done with Oem cartridges---if asked which you like better--can you tell?--suprisingly most people will prefer the refill ink output.--or they won't be able to tell the difference.

Now compare either color inkjet with the output of a color laser---on plain paper--chances are the inkjet output will look better---and OEM toner to OEM cartridges in something like a Canon ip4000--the cost will be about the same --the color laser vs. inkjet.---but with refilling I output that same page at under 10% of the lasers cost.

If I compare my plain text monochrome output to your lasers monochrome output--my inkjet output may look better in some ways---but the lasers output may look sharper especially on small fonts. Oem cartridges to OEM toner you will beat me on consumable costs also--by a factor of two or three. But my refill ink will tip the advantage back to my inkjet by a factor of three.---but I would still say you are slightly better off with a laser--if you want just monochrome output. Add color and all bets are off.

Now to a certain extent you can restrict the arguement and say the test must be OEM ink to OEM toners---or say I am saying this is true for all inkjets. I am not trying to flame anyone but I am defending my facts and figures. At the end of the day its your money and your decision---I made my decision and I bet I would save money with the inkjet I choose vs. any color Laser on the market. Now over a year later, I am more convinced than ever.

But there is another lesson to be learned---for a short period of time Canon showed what inkjet technology could do when placed in the hands of a frugal consumer---now Canon is trying to take this back by adding chips--- but I see no reason to assume that the new generations of color Lasers will not be subject to equal abuse---already you see short shotting toner cartridges and who knows what else will come---worse yet, a third party market has yet to develop in the color laser area.
 
I think that laser printers are much more predictable, and I believe that its worth paying more.

Some times cartredges will dry up or crust over. Some times they leek and you need to clean them. Some times they clog. When replacing cartredges, you need to align the print head. Inkjet printers aren't post script, so often print outs look nothing like what they did on screen because the printer cant rasterise the input. It's hard to predict the speed of a print on an inkject and print speeds are very inconsistent based on the application and the content of the page.

These all happen with my mid-range Canon printer with OEM inks. This Canon printer is the best inkject printer I have ever had experience with. Inkjets are garbage unless your printing photos, and usually its cheaper and more convienet to get those printed at Walmart or CVS or something.

Also, when a laser warms up, it sounds like a fan. When an inkjet warms up, it whirs and crunches. I prefer the sound of a fan. =P
 
You make many valid points cosmotic,

And its your money and your decision. I post my answer on the basis that I do not use OEM ink and therefore I print photos alot cheaper than CVS or Walmart or any commercial service. But that not an area where a color laser is even in the same arena---photoprinting is something a color laser can't really do so the inkjet become more a versatile color printer.

Nor do I deny that a color Laser has certain advantages over a inkjet.---because one must maintain
your cartridges and printhead---and a six month period of non use is asking for trouble in any inkjet.
Or that a Laser printer can sometimes be sharper.

But I still go back to the original poster on this thread---who spent $300 on a color Laser and now is going to have to spend at least $300.00 more. And my spending is still stuck on $160.00----and I still have a bunch of ink left before I will have to spend a dime more. And that my consumable costs are way lower.

Which is why I posted to this thread suggesting an inkjet is a better option-----but at the end of the day---each user will have to pay their money and make their choice. But its better you go into that choice an informed consumer----as only the end user bets their own money. If you are happy I am happy for you.

And the person who does not print at all saves the most money.
 
Laser:
===Pro===
good text
good graphics
45,000 page monthly duty cycle
network card built in

===Con===
expensive to buy
Bigger and heavier
poor photos
1500 and 4500 page carts is marketing flop, real number is about half that.
toner carts are outrageously expensive and drums will cost you too.
Paper will curl up sometimes.
need smooth paper to avoid jams.


Inkjet:
===Pro===
Lower cost to buy
Lighter and smaller
good text
fair graphics
Excellent photos
500 page cart can be refilled for $1 {Hobbicolors, Formulabs, MIS} <<------ not junk ink !!!

===Con===
Lower duty cycle
usually no network card but some have wireless
annoying wait time before first print


inkjets are mainly marketed to home and small office users while Lasers are push towards corporate users with deep pockets.







 
To 13Gigatons,

Very good post.

But your ending sentence more or less says it all---"Inkjets are mainly marketed to home and small office users while Lasers are pushed towards corporate users with deep pockets."

Got a few comments--(1) No rational business could survive---with a monthly output of 45,000 pages--paying OEM cartridge inkjet prices per page (2) No one ever accused most consumers of being rational--or researching best cost options---so the inkjet has become the perfect rip -off platform for printer manufacters. (3) The afforable color Lasers under $500.00 are relatively new.
But blurr the line between business and home use---and seem built and manufactered to become
new profit centers---rather than being designed to be as economical as possible on consumable costs.

I also note you cite hobbicolors, formulalabs, and MIS as excellent inks---I agree and I do use one on that list.------you also note a Canon BCI-3ebk text cartridge is good for about 500 pages.
At $14.00 OEM list that works out to be 2.8 cents per page ink consumable costs. But only 20 of the 27 ml of ink in a cartridge is usable.---which works out to Canon charges the consumer about
$2600 a gallon when bought this way---yet MIS ink can be had at $85.00 a gallon retail when bought in
gallon lots-----and a gallon of ink would refill a BCI-3ebk cartridge 189 times.--which prorates to under a tenth of a cent a page in consumable costs. Since I don't buy my ink in gallon lots I ciite the more conservative---.3 cents per page cost.--but cost it out in bulk and a refill is more on the order of fifty cents rather than a buck.--and by the way, that $2600 figure is really cheap compared to other makers--who often charge over $10,000
a gallon in certain cartridges.

What I am working up to---is that an inkjet could be marketed to business---but instead printer makers have hi-jacketed the technology to ensure their own profits---not the way the free enterprise system is supposed to work---but this won't change in inkjet printers--in cell phone costs--or other areas until consumers demand better. Which we most decidedly are not.
 
What I am working up to---is that an inkjet could be marketed to business
Click to expand...

BS.

I have spent a large amount of resources the past several years ripping ink-jet printers out of small businesses,. throwing them in a dumpster, and replacing them with workgroup lasers. The net result is a improvement in productivity, a 100x improvement in speed, and 90% reduction in long term cost. I use a dedicated Epson at home for fine art printing, and another epson with modified pigment monochrome inks from MIS for dedicated B&W. Neither of these contraptions belong inside of a business, and I'm sick of jerk-off computer techs who think a "network printer" is one you have shared on Windows 98.

A workgroup class color laser has a significantly lower cost per page, and often uses standardized drivers. Color ink-jets require paper that costs $.50+ a sheet by itself to produce psuedo quality Photos, and the drivers often exceed 100meg with all the garbage utilities required just to run the stupid thing. Postscript engine drivers for most lasers can fit on a floppy.

I don't care where you buy bulk ink for ink-jets. The cost per page is higher than a workgroup class color laser once you add in the speciality ink-jet paper, but the ink-jet fanatics here won't admit that.
 
I know I'm a little bitch and I know everyone is probably sick of me but I have to make one more statement.

I am not lying simply to defend my position. I am not pulling numbers out of my poo hole. I am telling the truth.
Based on the reams of paper I used up:
I ACTUALLY got about 4250 prints from one toner cart in my Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 1000.

True, it is extremely difficult to do such a thing at home. The only way I could see that much paper fly was by bringing it to work for a project.

I'm not sure about the other brands. I've never used them for long periods of time. We have a LaserJet 4M in another section of the building and it also gets about 4000 prints per cartridge (again if we count boxes of paper).

If you guys think I'm full of shiat then fine.
BUT, I already know your viewpoint and there is no reason to crap on me.
We already know you dont believe it. Understood. Great. Thanks. Gotcha.
 
Originally posted by: shortylickens
I know I'm a little bitch and I know everyone is probably sick of me but I have to make one more statement.

I am not lying simply to defend my position. I am not pulling numbers out of my poo hole. I am telling the truth.
Based on the reams of paper I used up:
I ACTUALLY got about 4250 prints from one toner cart in my Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 1000.

True, it is extremely difficult to do such a thing at home. The only way I could see that much paper fly was by bringing it to work for a project.

I'm not sure about the other brands. I've never used them for long periods of time. We have a LaserJet 4M in another section of the building and it also gets about 4000 prints per cartridge (again if we count boxes of paper).

If you guys think I'm full of shiat then fine.
BUT, I already know your viewpoint and there is no reason to crap on me.
We already know you dont believe it. Understood. Great. Thanks. Gotcha.
Click to expand...


I get similar results on our color laser at school, for B/W the text printouts are excellent and the color prints are very satisfactory. For everyday usage and with the cost of inkjet replacement cartridges, the Laser printer is definitely cost effective. You talk about bean counters, try to get replacement cartridges on the college level.
 
I note the last three posts spend much time comparing apples to oranges. Hardly productive. First take spikespiegal--who well may be doing God's work when he tosses real rip off model ink jet printers into the dumpster. Next he extols the virtues of workgroup class clolor laser printers----without even bothering to tell us how many thousands of dollars one of those cost. And exactly how many consumers can afford one of those printers for home use. The he cites the 50 cents it costs for photopaper when decent photopaper can be had for twenty cents--but thats real apples to oranges--the bulk of my color printing is done on the same paper a Laser uses--except my color output is better and cheaper than a prosumer Laser printer--when I do photoprinting--thats just something a Laser can't do and an added bonus.

Also leaping out are extolers of the virtues of monochrome Lasers---actually a group of happy people who do acheive good economy---were my printing resricted to only B/w printing--I would say by all means get a Laser--long term you will probably be better off.--or at least more hassle free. But if you want BOTH color and b/w output, want to buy one and only one printer, are a consumer with less than business class printing needs, and the choice is basically between a color inkjet or a prosumer class color laser in the under $500.00 class.---I indicated I was faced with that decision over a year ago--did my research--I now post my decision factors and cost analysis---and a year later I am still happy with the choices I made.

How this now morfs into a perceived attack on all laser printers, all Laser printers users, and all classes of Laser printers is beyond me. I am happy with my choices--if you are happy with your choices I am happy for you.

When I said that a inkjet printer could be marketed to business---I did not mean to implie that any existing models would have market appeal at present---although I am somewhat convinced that the Canon printers using BCI-3&6 cartridges--when placed in the hands of a informed consumer--does go a long way to showing the potential.
 
Originally posted by: Lemon law
I note the last three posts spend much time comparing apples to oranges. Hardly productive. First take spikespiegal--who well may be doing God's work when he tosses real rip off model ink jet printers into the dumpster. Next he extols the virtues of workgroup class clolor laser printers----without even bothering to tell us how many thousands of dollars one of those cost. And exactly how many consumers can afford one of those printers for home use. The he cites the 50 cents it costs for photopaper when decent photopaper can be had for twenty cents--but thats real apples to oranges--the bulk of my color printing is done on the same paper a Laser uses--except my color output is better and cheaper than a prosumer Laser printer--when I do photoprinting--thats just something a Laser can't do and an added bonus.

Also leaping out are extolers of the virtues of monochrome Lasers---actually a group of happy people who do acheive good economy---were my printing resricted to only B/w printing--I would say by all means get a Laser--long term you will probably be better off.--or at least more hassle free. But if you want BOTH color and b/w output, want to buy one and only one printer, are a consumer with less than business class printing needs, and the choice is basically between a color inkjet or a prosumer class color laser in the under $500.00 class.---I indicated I was faced with that decision over a year ago--did my research--I now post my decision factors and cost analysis---and a year later I am still happy with the choices I made.

How this now morfs into a perceived attack on all laser printers, all Laser printers users, and all classes of Laser printers is beyond me. I am happy with my choices--if you are happy with your choices I am happy for you.

When I said that a inkjet printer could be marketed to business---I did not mean to implie that any existing models would have market appeal at present---although I am somewhat convinced that the Canon printers using BCI-3&6 cartridges--when placed in the hands of a informed consumer--does go a long way to showing the potential.
Click to expand...

I've used color inkjets for quite some time because they were inexpensive for my needs, a small home business.
When it comes to quantity and quality, I use a Laser printer and if it happens to be a color laser, so be it. Since you favor Inkjets strongly, (everyone here knows what your preferences lay), so how about giving us the benefit of the doubt, that we have our preferences too.
 
To pkme2,

Like I said, if you are happy I am happy---but your post would still be more credable if you could cite facts and quantify costs.

Because the value of this post is not really for you or me--we have already paid our money and made our choices--but rather for the set of users who now sit on a fence--undecided if they wish to go inkjet printer or inexpensive prosumer laser. Regardless of which way they go--some models are bad choices and other select models are far better choices.
 
To Lemon Law,

Since you have the floor, how about telling us what you believe the printers are best suited for us. We don't have your expertise, so list the printers that will solve all our printing costs. Let us decide whether you're right or otherwise.
 
OK pkme2,

I can tell you what I bought to fill my needs---but that applied to existing market a year ago. Other jokers in the deck are where you are in the world, how much effort you are willing to put into learning how to save money on consumable costs, how many printers you are willing to buy, and how your printing volume distrutes. In short, your needs might not be my needs. But what I have learned has been done from the comfort of my own home with nothing more than a PC and a search engine like google. If you google inkjet printer you get about 24 million hits--if you google ink jet printer you get about 28 million.---from experience I can basically guess about 99.999% of those hits yield little useful information in terms of deducing per page costs.

But in this search, my holy grail was per page consumable costs. And in a parallel search, per page consumable costs for sub $500 prosumer color Lasers. Three web sites with very good information are the nifty stuff forums, steves digicams, and Toms hardware guide---sadly the latter was fairly good a year ago but has since degraded in quality.--in MHO. But in terms of most independent reviews---the cnets--the PCmags--its mostly worthless and subjective information almost totally devoid of any consumable costs figures.

But it possible to find sites that do rate consumable costs and various Laser and inkjet technologies. Ignoring photoprinting ---and using just OEM cartridge or Toner consumable costs--the standard 5% coverage text monochrome text page comes in at about a penny and a half in most prosumer color lasers---vs. a low of about three cents on the best inkjets--ranging up to 30 cents per page on some of the very worst inkjets. When you talk color on plain paper--its about eight cents per page on most prosumer lasers---vs about eight cents on the very best inkjets and again ranging up to thirty cents on the worst. Add that to the fact that many of the cheap prosumer lasers short shot their cartridges means that the prosumer laser purchaser will soon be facing an initial purchase price size toner and drums replacement cost--later confirmed by the original poster on this thread.

But going back--all the sub $500 prosumer lasesr were close to the figures I cited---but the term best I used on inkjet did not corralate at all with initial purchase price---but rather clustered by make and technology-------HP and Lexmarks trailed the pack--with their cheapest offerings in terms of initial purchase price being the worst on consumable costs--and their best could not come in by a factor of two with the best. Canon and Epson with their printhead not on the cartridge consistantly led the pack--with the Canons slightly in the lead. More interesting to me,
I could purchase a model that offered the best inkjet economy for a third of the cost of the cheapest prosumer Laser--so I got a canon pixma ip4000.--which I could also share across my small home network.

But the other thing I knew is that I could then readily purchase very good third party prefilled cartridges at about a seventh of Canon OEM--and now I have something that blows the prosumer Laser away in both consumable costs and initial purchase price.

Later on I needeed a incoming fax machine and lucked out---I was able to get a Canon MP730
used for $26.00---took basically the same cartridges. And now I refill for even greater savings.

Sadly almost all inkjets are now chipped---but something like the Canon ip4200 can still be refilled--third party cartidges are not an option--but refilling is somewhat of a greater hassle on a
chipped canon. Non chipped Canons can still be found on line and on ebay---virtually anything using the BCI-3&6 cartridge lines are good bets.--but as the model numbers get to and above 6000--you are buying more of a specialised photoprinter less good for text.

Hope that answers your what was I thinking questions.

 
To Lemon Law:

While giving us a whole bunch of data, and supplying us with two economy inkjet printers, you still miss my original question.

We thought with your expertise in consumable cpp, we might avail of your seemingly vast knowledge to get a recommendation from you to help ejoech find the most economical laser printer.

So far, I agree on his choice for a Dell 3100cn color laser printer. The cost per page is about $.10 so if you got something verifiable, I would be interested in what it might be.
 
To Pkme2,

You seem to miss the point------there is presently no low cost prosumer color Laser than can compete with my choice of color inkjets on consumable costs, initial purchase price, or total cost of ownership. Period.

Now you expect me to pick the best model prosumer laser---why should I pick a model among the runners who finished far back in the pack?-once I established to my satisfaction that they were non-competitive by a factor of three--I quit studying them in detail. But if you do wish some cost breakdowns--go to TOM hardware guide---peripherials--and the color Laser review for pp consumable cost breakdowns from an independent reviewer.---or get opinions from users on the nifty stuff forums or steves digicams.

And you seem even think that a dime a page consumable costs are even remotely acceptable?????????????--my only reaction is that you are willing to spend big bucks to have low expectations.But when I start hearing of
prosumer lasers that can print monochrome pages at a third of a cent and color under a penny--I will let you know that better prosumer lasers are on the market.

But if you want to get a dell Laser--get a dell Laser. Pardon me if I don't think its a good option--even if the dell might be the best of a bad lot.
 
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