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Issue #0437/1 - MFPs from Hewlett-Packard break the MFP mould and fill a market gap.

Four new products from Hewlett-Packard thoroughly cement the company’s entry into the business MFP market and as the only all-round hard copy hardware supplier.

With products ranging from entry-level inkjet printers; through photo inkjet printers and inkjet All-in-One devices; personal mono laser printers and All-in-Ones; business oriented mono and colour laser printers; mono and colour multifunction peripherals; to high-end copiers and production level machines, Hewlett-Packard has the widest ranging hardware and hard copy expertise in the market.

Hewlett-Packard might not be able to offer the most comprehensive range of hardware in certain specific individual areas – for instance, Xerox is still very much king of the production print environment – but the company can address the needs of almost every business/office print requirement.

Where previously Hewlett-Packard’s existence in the MFP segment had been scant and born largely out of a need to be able to provide copy functionality, the company’s core products were of the relatively low-end AiO style. However, in the last year, Hewlett-Packard has moved into the departmental copy segment with its Konica engined LaserJet 9055/9065/9085 series, with the LaserJet 9000mfp as the only mid-range product.

These new MFPs not only complete the range, adding fully capable A4 workgroup devices and wider-ranging A3 departmental devices, but also start to bring new dynamics to the MFP segment.

LaserJet 4345mfp

Hewlett-Packard has described the LaserJet 4345mfp as a ‘breakthrough product’. Normally one receives such a message with a healthy degree of scepticism. However, in the case of the 4345mfp, the description is relevant and accurate.

With pricing starting at only £1,800 / €2,650 / $2,599, the LaserJet 4345mfp is true high speed digital MFP at a truly non-high speed digital MFP price point.

Part of the reason that this product breaks new ground is that it is one of relatively few products that address the fast A4 MFP requirement. Not all printer manufacturers have laser MFPs (as opposed to low-end AiOs) in their product range. Most products at that print speed, especially those from the historical copier manufacturers, are A3 format, tending to push them up in price to the extent that they largely target the departmental segment rather than the general office segment.

For instance, the only other traditional printer manufacturer to have an A4 copy/print MFP above the low-end AiO style of device is Lexmark, while the highest speeds available from copier manufacturers are:

• Ricoh 15ppm
• Sharp 15ppm
• Xerox 21ppm

Essentially, manufactures producing hardware for fast copy print MFP requirements assume that A3 is a requirement. As A3 format printing/copying is limited to somewhere around 3-5% of office paper volumes, one has to ask the question, ‘is the A3 format necessary in the majority of machines considering the high additional purchase costs involved’?

Hewlett-Packard has recognised a major hole in the market here, with the rather ugly 40ppm Lexmark X632 as the only close competitor, and has filled it very effectively with the LaserJet 4345mfp.

At its basic level, the 4345mfp is a print/scan/copy device offering 43ppm print and copy speeds. However, ‘basic’ is anything but what this machine is all about.

Breaking away from what has become the norm in copier/mfp type devices, Hewlett-Packard has designed the LaserJet 4345mfp (and the other new products discussed here) with the more traditional analogue photocopier style of side paper collection tray. Although this might be considered to be a retrograde step, it is actually a very practical solution for a machine of this type where finishing functionality is in integral part of the design goal. It does not in any way detract from the immensely sleek and good-looking lines of this new machine. In fact, it probably enhances it.

Not only is the LaserJet 4345mfp an attractive machine but also it is exceptionally versatile and flexible, providing just about any combination of features that could be required in the workgroup.

For instance, all models are fitted with the 45ppm Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) and embedded network print server as standard. Standard configurations include:

• base model with 20GB hard disk
• x model adds automatic duplex unit and fax function
• xs model also adds mfp stand/storage cabinet and stapler/stacker
• xm model adds 3-bin mailbox instead of the stapler/stacker

	Currency	Purchase	Toner CPP	Long term CPP
Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4345mfp	UK	£1,800	0.75 pence	1.16 pence
Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4345x mfp	UK	£2,330	0.75 pence	1.26 pence
Lexmark X632	UK	£2,489	0.79 pence	1.27 pence
Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4345mfp	Euro	€2,650	1.21 c€	1.81 c€
Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4345x mfp	Euro	€3,450	1.21 c€	1.96 c€

In addition, optional accessories include: additional paper input trays (to max 2,100-sheet capacity); 700-sheet 3-bin mailbox; stapler/stacker; 75-sheet envelope feeder; automatic duplex unit; stand/storage cabinet; fax accessory; wireless print server; Bluetooth wireless printer adapter; Digital Sending capability; and HP AutoStore software (for sending to Document Management systems).

Purchase price and features/functionality is not where this product stops in its ground-breaking characteristics. Toner only Cost Per Page is just 0.75 pence / 1.21c€, which is very attractive in itself. When the purchase price and long term maintenance is included as well, over a three year period printing 15,000 pages per month, the Cost Per Page works out at 1.16 pence / 1.81c€.

Although Lexmark’s X632 has duplex and fax functionality as standard features on even the base model, at £2,489 the customer is paying for these as additional features.

With duplex and fax function (x model), to provide a like-for-like comparison, the LaserJet 4345x is priced at £2,330 – strategically just below the X632. Strategic pricing becomes even closer in the long term! While the toner only CPP on the X632 is slightly higher than the LaserJet 4345mfp at 0.79 pence, the difference in total spend on the two machines over a three year period is only £50 – LaserJet 4345mfp = £6793 – meaning that the long term CPP is 1.26 pence, just 9.2 hundredths of a penny lower than the X632.

LaserJet 9040mfp and 9050mfp

Moving up a notch, the A3 format LaserJet 9040mfp and 9050mfp are new 40 and 50ppm variants on the LaserJet 9000mfp, targeted at providing fast, flexible and cost effective printing, copying and scanning (optional fax) for large and complex environments, especially where high levels of monitoring and management are required.

	Currency	Purchase	Toner CPP	Long term CPP
Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 9000Lmfp	UK	£6,596	0.55 pence	1.90 pence
Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 9040mfp	UK	£6,000	0.44 pence	1.66 pence
Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 9050mfp	UK	£8,400	0.44 pence	2.11 pence
Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 9000Lmfp	Euro	€10,700	0.83 c€	3.03 c€
Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 9040mfp	Euro	€8,900	0.66 c€	2.52 c€
Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 9050mfp	Euro	€12,600	0.66 c€	3.20 c€

Perhaps the most interesting new characteristic of these new devices is a new technology in the firmware that allows the same toner cartridge that is used in the previous generation LaserJet 9000 products to yield 27% more pages. Thus the CPP reduces by 20% for the new generation – a valuable saving!

It will be very interesting to see which other models the new technology will be applied to in the coming months/years. An educated guess would be that it will be applied to high-end, high-volume machines, specifically those that compete for the traditional copier market where click charges are competitive, but not to the lower volume and personal devices, especially personal printers.

Priced at £6,000/€8,900 and £8,400/€12,600 respectively, toner only Cost Per Page is a nice low 0.44 pence / 0.66c€. After printing 15,000 pages per month over three years, the customer will have spent £8,973 on the LaserJet 9040mfp, a CPP of 1.66 pence – including purchase, toner and maintenance kits. For other costs on the LaserJet 9040mfp and 9050mfp and a comparison with the LaserJet 9000mfp, please see the accompanying table.

One interesting comparison is seen between the two tables for the LaserJet 4345mfp and the LaserJet 9040/9050mfp. The long term CPP for the 9050mfp is 44% higher than the long term CPP for the LaserJet 4345mfp, emphasising that it is critical to consider carefully the level/speed and format of machine that is required for a particular environment.

As a principle, A3 format MFPs tend to be so much more expensive than their A4 equivalents that, unless A3 printing and copying is a specific requirement to the environment, to buy the A3 model may be a clear money-waster. In reality, the solution is to place one A3 machine at a strategic location in the organisation so that the format is available but with a much larger number of users per machine than with the A4 devices – all A4 printing should be directed to the A4 machines.

Colour LaserJet 9500mfp

On the colour side, Hewlett-Packard has also introduced an MFP version of its 24ppm single-pass A3 Colour LaserJet 9500 printer.

Again targeting high volume print environments, with light; short-run; colour production in mind, the LaserJet 9500mfp is a print/scan/copy/fax device with all the benefits of network monitoring and management through Web JetAdmin and its integrated web server.

Versatile paper options are available for the LaserJet 9500mfp, ensuring that it is a suitable device for demanding environments. These include: 8-bin mailbox, stacker with job offset capability; stapler/stacker; and multifunction finisher offering stapling, stacking and booklet making with folding and saddle stitching.

Flexibility is further enhanced with a standard paper input capacity of 3,100 sheets from a total of four sources – 2,000-sheet high capacity input tray (A4 only) is included as standard, as is automatic duplexer and 100-sheet automatic document feeder.

With a long term CPP of 4.78 pence per page printing 10,000 pages per month over three years (70% mono and 30% colour), and a nominal mono CPP of 1.25 pence, this is perhaps a machine that should be reserved for colour only printing and copying as mono printing can be bought at a very much lower cost. Colour only printing of the same volume would cost 8.28 pence per copy (nominal colour CPP is 6.01 pence).

Cost comparisons with other colour MFPs of this level (mostly coming from traditional copier manufacturers) is not easy as many are sold on a contract only basis – e.g. the new Xerox WorkCentre C2636 (see - "Xerox releases wide ranging (in the extreme) office laser products").

Against the 29ppm Lexmark C912mfp however, where comparison is possible, the Hewlett-Packard comes out predictably well, although there is clear evidence of strategic pricing in the purchase price set for the LaserJet 9500mfp. The Lexmark is more expensive all round and is an ungainly, space-gobbling modular package.

UK	Purchase	Nominal CPP		Mixed Mono/Colour CPP over 3 years
				10,000 pages per month	15,000 pages per month
Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 9500mfp	£8,750	Mono Colour	1.25 pence 6.01 pence	4.87 pence	4.16 pence
Kyocera Mita KM-C2630	£12,995	Mono Colour	0.51 pence 3.68 pence	4.91 pence	3.70 pence
Lexmark X912e MFP	£8,789	Mono Colour	1.37 pence 6.25 pence	5.12 pence	4.35 pence

Note that for this level of machine, the mixed mono/colour CPP over three years shown in the accompanying table is calculated on the basis of 15,000 pages per month using maximum capacity toners, takes into account any standard, or starter, toner cartridges shipped with the printer and includes the purchase price.

Comparison with the KM-C2630 from Kyocera Mita is also possible. Offering 2ppm higher speed than the LaserJet 9500mfp, the nominal CPP for both mono and colour are very much lower, as expected. The surprise comes with the long term CPP. These machines are clearly intended to be capable of high throughput, with duty cycles quoted at 100,000 and 200,000 pages per month.

If the three-year volume is based on 10,000 pages per month, then the Hewlett-Packard machine actually works out as less expensive than the Kyocera. However, push monthly throughput up by 50% to 15,000 pages, and the long term CPPs reverse, making the Kyocera KM-C2630 the more economic offering even though it is almost 50% more expensive to purchase in the first place.

~End~

This entry was posted on Friday, November 12th, 2004 at 2:03 am and is filed under Print Technology, Hardware, New Products, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.