Issue #0714/1 - Hewlett-Packard has announced the revamping of its inkjet supplies with the intention of giving users the choice to print as they wish with the greatest of ease using RGB colour coding.
Choosing and buying the right supplies for an inkjet printer has never seemed to be a pleasant experience but if Hewlett-Packard has got this new strategy right, the process could soon become a whole lot easier and offer users of any printer a choice that will suit their pocket and printing habits.
Current situation
Buyers of some (but only some) Hewlett-Packard laser printers have benefited from a choice between standard replacement toner cartridges (with an A suffix in the product number) or a high capacity cartridge (with an X suffix in the product number). But, buyers of inkjet printers have tended to be hamstrung with little or no choice. In fact, even though cartridges of different capacities have existed within the same cartridge families, if users wanted to be able to use high capacity cartridges in their machine, they had to be sure to have bought the correct machine in the first place.
Essentially – the cheaper the printer, the less the choice. Users currently cannot buy the cheapest inkjet printer, which must use the lowest capacity cartridges (and therefore suffer the highest Cost of Printing) and then use the higher capacity cartridges that are compatible with other, more expensive, members of the same printer family.
On the other hand, users buying the top-end model in a printer family are able to purchase either the high capacity (with the lowest Cost of Printing) or the low capacity (with the lowest price tag) cartridges as they wish.
For instance, Hewlett-Packard’s cheapest inkjet device is the DeskJet F380 All-in-One, three-function, printer/copier/scanner. This device costs £35 / ~€70 / $80 ex. tax and accepts only the HP 21 black cartridge, the HP 22 tri-colour cartridge and the HP 58 photo cartridge.
Sticking just with the black and tri-colour cartridges for document printing, both HP 21 black and HP 22 tri-colour cartridges contain only 5ml of ink.
However, because the printer uses the HP 58 photo cartridge, it belongs to a family of printers that could be allowed to use the HP 27 and HP 28 cartridges, containing 10ml and 8ml respectively or even the HP 56 and HP 57 cartridges that contain 19ml and 17ml of ink respectively – more than 3x, and nearly 4x, the quantity of ink. But it cannot use these cartridges.
To use the HP 56 and HP 57 cartridges, it would be necessary to move to the PSC 1315, at more than double the cost of the F380. But, this machine allows the use of the mid-capacity HP 27 and HP 28 as well as the high capacity HP 56 and HP 57 but NOT the low capacity HP 21 and HP 22.
By taking a slightly different direction and paying just £9 / €10 / $20 more than the F380, it is possible to buy the Photosmart C3180 All-in-One. This printer uses a different cartridge family that gives the user access to HP Vivera inks - but still using low capacity cartridges.
In fact, the C3180 allows the user access to two cartridges each of black and tri-colour. These are the HP 336 and HP 338 black (5ml and 11ml capacity respectively) and the HP 342 and HP 343 tri-colour cartridges (5ml and 7ml capacity respectively). But, at least there is the potential for 7ml and 11ml on this printer when the F380 is restricted to 5ml!
But what of the other cartridges in that cartridge family? Why should the C3180 not be able to use the HP 339 black (a massive 21ml capacity) or the HP 344 colour (double the capacity at 14ml)?
Move upwards to the Photosmart C4180 (with a fairly hefty further price increase of £22 / €20 / $20) and we find the HP 337 black on its own – still providing 11ml of ink but rated at slightly fewer pages than the HP 338. It uses the same colour cartridges as the C3180 though.
In point of fact, we have to move to yet another printer family to find a Photosmart AiO that will accept the high capacity HP 339 black and HP 344 tri-colour cartridges in the family – Photosmart 2575. This machine costs the same as the C4180 in the UK but is positioned half way between the C4180 and the high-level C5180 (with different cartridge set – independent ink tanks) over most of Europe.
We actually have to step back several generations, to something like the PSC2175 (discontinued in August 2005), to find a 6-ink capable AiO that uses both HP 56 black and HP 57 tri-colour cartridges. As a high capacity combination, and the founding members of that cartridge family, this is a great cartridge set. It’s only downside is that it is not Vivera ink (though Hewlett-Packard is experimenting with a Vivera version in several European countries).
Black Cartridges
| Black | Ink Capacity | Yield (Pages) | Price (inc. Tax) | Nominal CPP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HP 21 | 5ml | 150 pages | £9.99 | 6.66 pence |
| HP 27 | 10ml | 220 pages | £12.99 | 5.90 pence |
| HP 56 | 19ml | 450 pages | £14.99 | 3.33 pence |
| HP 336 | 5ml | 210 pages | £11.99 | 5.71 pence |
| HP 337 | 11ml | 400 pages | £13.99 | 3.49 pence |
| HP 338 | 11ml | 450 pages | £13.99 | 3.11 pence |
| HP 339 | 21ml | 800 pages | £20.99 | 2.62 pence |
Tri-colour Cartridges
| Tri-colour | Ink Capacity | Yield (Pages) | Price (inc. Tax) | Nominal CPP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HP 22 | 5ml | 138 pages | £11.99 | 8.69 pence |
| HP 28 | 8ml | 190 pages | £15.99 | 8.42 pence |
| HP 57 | 17ml | 400 pages | £24.99 | 6.24 pence |
| HP 342 | 5ml | 175 pages | £13.99 | 7.99 pence |
| HP 343 | 7ml | 260 pages | £16.99 | 6.53 pence |
| HP 344 | 14ml | 450 pages | £24.99 | 5.55 pence |
OK. Have you started getting the message about how complicated, confusing and restricting this whole thing is? And we’ve only touched a few of the AiOs – there are also the Deskjet and Photosmart printers!
One of the aspects that makes this most confusing is that there are no less than four black cartridges with the same basic form factor and ink – HP 336/7/8/9 – the only real difference is the quantity of ink supplied in each version.
What we have seen Hewlett-Packard doing over the last few years is steadily reducing ink volumes provided for new generations of printer (both inkjet and laser).
Let’s complete the picture by adding some pricing to the illustration.
What we see emphasised here is that cartridges within each family have different ID numbers. This means that the manufacturer can create artificial cost centres more easily and reduce the likelihood that users will even realise that other cartridges could, potentially, be used in their printer.
Most extraordinary is the HP 33x series (black cartridges), mentioned above, where there are no less than four different versions with ink capacity ranging from 5ml to 21ml and page yields from just 210 pages to 800 pages. Each of the other families represented here have three members, also with a high range of ink capacities and page yields.
Otherwise, the most significant point to note is that we can effectively halve our long-term Cost of Printing, even without altering the number of pages printed per month, just by careful selection of printer. Even purchasing a printer at the relatively high cost of the PSC 2175 two years ago allows a reduction of 26% to be achieved. If a current printer were able to use the HP 56 and HP 57 cartridge set, and priced at about £66 (the same as the current Photosmart 2575), then the long-term CPP would come down to 6.40 pence – a saving of 35%.
Maximum economy is gained by using a product like the Photosmart 2575 because the hardware is available at a competitive price but the HP 339 cartridge, with its impressive 800-page yield, can be used along with the 450-page HP 344 tri-colour cartridge.
Other cartridge families within the 275 members of the Hewlett-Packard inkjet supplies range do also offer different capacity and yield options. These tend to be differentiated by a different suffix on the part number – such as 51626GE for a standard cartridge and 51626AE for a high capacity cartridge – as their only differentiating mark. Other variations on the theme, apart from the standard ‘A’ suffix, include: ME (for a black cartridge not magenta); CE; NE; DE; and EE – but precisely what they all mean is not at all clear.
In some instances it has proved extremely difficult even for a relatively experienced user to be sure of exactly what was being purchased because retailers often do not carry enough information, or have enough product knowledge, for clear advice to be given (or, indeed, they don’t carry both cartridge variants!).
|
Printer (150 pages per month over 3 years) |
Purchase Price |
Black cartridge |
Tri-colour cartridge |
Mixed mono/colour CPP over 3 years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deskjet F380 | £35 | HP 21 | HP 22 | 9.75 pence |
| PSC 1315 | £72 | HP 27 | HP 28 | 9.48 pence |
| PSC 2175 (July 05) | £111 | HP 56 | HP 57 | 7.24 pence |
| Photosmart C3180 | £44 | HP 336 | HP 342 | 8.70 pence |
| Photosmart C4180 | £66 | HP 337 | HP 343 | 6.48 pence |
| Photosmart C3180 | £44 | HP 338 | HP 343 | 5.81 pence |
| Photosmart 2575 | £66 | HP 339 | HP 344 | 4.94 pence |
What is Hewlett-Packard trying to achieve and how?
Three primary types of inkjet user have been identified – with three types of print cartridge offering to provide each group with maximum choice and a different implementation of ‘affordability’.- Infrequent and low volume printing
- Frequent and higher volume printing
- Photo (specialist) printing
Obviously, there are overlap zones between these groups. A user falling into either frequency/volume group (Groups 1 and 2) can also be a Photo user (Group 3). But, in addition, there is blurring of the transition between groups 1 and 2 where normally infrequent print users (Group 1) might have a seasonal higher volume requirement that would place them in group 2 if it were consistent.
Hewlett-Packard’s response has been to introduce a system that is claimed will bring greater flexibility and easier understanding to the buying process with more rapid product recognition and location.
Essentially, there will be a print cartridge to suit each user group for each printer in the inkjet hardware printer and AiO range. Colour coding (Red, Green and Blue) has been introduced to help differentiate between the three types of cartridge when buyers are searching in store for the right cartridge for their printer.
In reverse order, group 3 users will look for red coded packaging for ‘specialist’ cartridges to fulfil their photo printing needs. This product group will include all tri-colour photo cartridges, whether traditional Pc/Pm/black, tri-grey or Pc/Pm/Blue.
Secondly, for group 2 users, there will be a ‘value’ cartridge containing up to five times the volume of ink and so offering a high page yield. Selling price for these cartridges will be higher and packaging is not only colour coded green but is also physically larger and the product identification will include the ‘XL’ notation.
Finally, for group 1 users, there will be a ‘standard’ cartridge containing a low volume of ink and thus offering a low page yield. These cartridges will sell at a correspondingly low ticket price and packaging is colour coded with HP blue.
No longer should users have to choose their printer in order to gain access to the cartridges of choice (always assuming they know what that choice should be at the time of hardware purchase).
Instead, flexibility is introduced by allowing users to select whichever of the two primary cartridges they wish (standard or value), regardless of the specific model of printer they have purchased.
So, for instance, users who print infrequently and in very low volumes can reduce their ‘on-the-spot’ expenditure by buying the blue standard cartridges. Frequent print users, where ‘ticket shock’ is less of an issue, may prefer to pay more out of their pocket in order to reduce their long-term print costs by taking advantage of high page yields with the green value, or ‘XL’, cartridges.
In the middle, there is scope for users who normally print low volumes on an infrequent basis to purchase the blue standard cartridges most of the time but to purchase a green value cartridge for that special occasion - for instance, Christmas newsletters or birthday stationery.
Let’s just consider what this will mean for users, taking an example.
Because the existing HP 56 black cartridge is a high capacity (19ml) cartridge already, it has been necessary to introduce a blue HP 56 ‘Small’ cartridge rather than a green value, or XL, cartridge because the existing 19ml HP 56 becomes the value cartridge. This new HP 56 Small cartridge contains 5ml of ink.
Page yields have not been published for the new cartridges yet but simple assumptions would suggest that the yield for the HP 56 Small cartridge will probably be around 115 pages. On this basis, the Cost Per Page will be about 9.56 pence – not far short of a 3x increase. Note that the new HP 56 Small and HP 57 Small cartridges will work with ANY printer that is designed for the HP 56 and HP 57 cartridges – but, can we expect them to work in printers designated for the HP 21 and HP 22 cartridges and what of allowing these printers to use full capacity HP 56 and HP 57 cartridges?
There do not, as yet, appear to be any HP 21, HP 22, HP 27 or HP 28 cartridges in the XL format and I see no evidence yet that suggests any printer designed to use these cartridges alone (e.g. Deskjet 2360 or F380 and Deskjet 3320) will be given access to the high yield HP 56 or HP 57.
There are, however, some machines that are shipped with the HP 27 black cartridge but designed to allow use of the HP 56 cartridge instead - such as the Officejet 4100 or 5610.
Therefore, it would not be an impossibility for all machines using this format of cartridge to be allowed access to the new ‘RGB’ HP 56 and HP 57 cartridges. And, similarly with the HP 33x/34x series. We do not have enough information at this stage to know whether this will be a reality or not.
Like the HP 56 Small and HP 57 Small, in order to achieve its goal, Hewlett-Packard has had to introduce other new cartridges to the line-up. The new HP 350 and HP 351 cartridges, extending the HP33x/34x family, are black and tri-colour respectively but come in low capacity and XL versions (Xtra Large or high capacity).
When we say ‘low capacity’ in this respect we really mean ‘low capacity’. The HP 350 contains only 4.5ml of black ink whereas the HP 350XL contains a huge 25ml – more than 5x the ink and, therefore, more than 5x the number of pages but at only a little more than double the price. Similarly, the HP 351 contains a total of just 3.5ml of CMY when the HP 351XL contains a total of 14ml.
Where the new green HP 350XL is concerned, Hewlett-Packard claims that cost savings will be 55% (5x the yield, 1.9x the price) over using the blue HP 350 cartridge.
In addition, Hewlett-Packard users will be able to benefit from the availability of a wider range of multi-packs than has been available up to now. Previously, there has only been a small selection of twin-packs – 2x black or 1x black and 1x tri-colour – but no multi-packs containing all the colours for individual ink series such as the HP 363 or HP 88.
By contrast, Epson is particularly good at offering multi-packs for its single colour cartridge sets and Canon and Brother each also offer some multi-packs.
Now, Hewlett-Packard will now offer a multi-pack containing one each of the HP 363 Cyan, Magenta and Yellow ink tanks. However, current plans are that the company will stop short of offering a complete five- or six-pack containing the whole set! There also appears to be no multi-pack for the HP 88 cartridge set (for Business Inkjet printers) although the HP Best Choice program definitely includes HP 88XL variants.
But, is this new approach really new and really unique?
Clearer colouring of cartridge packaging was introduced by Epson a number of years ago to simplify product recognition and selection and both Brother and Canon use clear colour identification on their packaging.But, in each of those instances, colour coding is only to identify the colour of the ink within the package.
No manufacturer has used colour coding to differentiate between user categories before and to help users differentiate between the choice of products available to them.
However, Hewlett-Packard is not the only manufacturer to offer ink cartridges with different ink volumes. But, the only other major inkjet manufacturer to do so is Lexmark and Lexmark definitely suffers from the confusion ailment.
Here we find cartridges labelled as ‘Moderate Yield’ or ‘High Yield’ if they differ from standard. However, like Hewlett-Packard’s HP 33x/34x series, the product number is different for each of the yield options. Hence we have a #71 cartridge that is ‘Moderate Yield’ and a #70 cartridge that is ‘High Yield’ – both for the same printer. But at least they are both available for printers using that cartridge family rather than either being restricted to particular models.
We do note a downside here though. Never does Lexmark label both cartridges in the series with the moderate or high yield annotation. For instance, it is the #70 that is the standard cartridge and the #71 that is ‘Moderate Yield’, whereas the #32 is standard and the #34 is ‘High Yield’. So, users must have clear knowledge of their product, or the product they wish to buy, in order to be sure that they are using the cartridge that suits their printing patterns.
So, as an implementation, Hewlett-Packard’s ‘Best Choice’ program (or RGB supplies strategy!) is unique for the clarity of its packaging and the transparency of its structure and choice, even if Lexmark has also been running what is probably a more comprehensive multi-yield cartridge arrangement for some years.
What to expect and when
Needless to say, for a program of this size, affecting a number of inkjet cartridge families in some way or other, time is needed for the full implementation to be achieved. Hewlett-Packard plans for the entire in-store image to be changed with more assistance available to help buyers find the correct cartridge. The outworking of that element of the program will depend very much on the retailer and the shelf space they are prepared to devote to Hewlett-Packard.As a first step, new style HP 56 cartridges are already finding their way into stores because they required only the newly designed packaging with green colour coding. This cartridge is in its transition phase with a mixture of old and new packaging to be found in-store.
It is expected that a more visible implementation will begin sometime around mid-summer but that the whole program roll-out will take until early 2008 to accomplish.
Summary
In a market where the only straightforward choice has been to purchase the exact cartridge originally supplied with the printer, for users not only to be offered a choice but to be offered a choice based on a reasonably clear and transparent product line-up, represents a significantly greater level of customer orientation.Anyone printing more than very occasional, one-off, photographs would be well-advised to ensure that they are able to utilise the largest tri-colour cartridges available to them, and avoid the 3.5ml, 4.5ml and 5ml cartridges like the plague, because of the quantity of ink used in printing photographs.
For document printing, the choice of cartridge can then be based purely on the user’s desired out-of-pocket spend. For any user not overly concerned about out-of-pocket expenditure, the knowledge that the XL cartridge will last a lot longer and cost a lot less overall, should go a long way.
Perhaps the claims of “Radical” and “History in the making” are rather over-enthusiastic statements for Hewlett-Packard to make regarding the new product strategy but it cannot be denied that the changes are for the good. They should go some way towards clarifying an otherwise complicated situation, introduce a significant degree of flexibility and choice for users and perhaps cause some prospective Hewlett-Packard customers to warm to the HP brand.
At the end if the day, the scale of the success will depend on effective education to be sure that users know what the different colour coding means and understand its significance. That job should be made easier by the inclusion of either ‘Small’ or ‘XL’ on the packaging as well as the colour coding.
However, can we really say that this is an advancement in any significant sense if machines designated for use with current low yield cartridges (e.g. HP 21/22/27/28, HP 336/7/8 and HP 342/3) will still be forbidden from using high yield cartridges?
No - As far as we can tell at the moment, either Hewlett-Packard will still be requiring buyers to make their choice at the hardware purchase stage or the new arrangements will apply only to printers newly launched from this time on. Whether backwards compatibility will allow the new cartridges to work in older machines of HP 21/22, etc, designs, is not known.
Hewlett-Packard says that all users will benefit from this new strategy but, from the products that have been announced so far, this is not entirely clear. Certainly the new HP 350 and HP 351 cartridges are for new products only (see below).
Because Hewlett-Packard believes that its analysis of the user base is correct, and that many users will prefer to buy the low yield cartridges to minimise out-of-pocket expenditure, there should be no reason for the company to fear a massive reduction in revenue by allowing all users access to high yield cartridges - which, after all, is the reason for having small cartridges in the first place.
Perhaps we could even see a swing in Hewlett-Packard’s favour when users recognise the additional flexibility that can be achieved from ‘buying HP’?
~End~
