TCPglobal - news, views and issues on total cost of printing

Issue #0719/1 - With the growing popularity and reducing purchase cost of colour laser printers in the small office, and the accompanying continued rise in popularity of multifunction devices over the last six months or so, the face of the entry-level colour multifunction market for small office and micro office has changed significantly.

Xerox Phaser 6110MFP

We have seen Xerox introduce the Phaser 6110MFP and Samsung introduce its CLX-3160N version of the same engine; Hewlett-Packard launch its first Officejet Pro inkjet All-in-One, the L7600 series; and Lexmark come along with its X9350 inkjet and X502 laser devices. These add to devices already available from Brother, Canon, Dell, Epson and Hewlett-Packard.

These introductions consolidate the availability of business specific colour AiO functionality in the small and micro office for the first time. Each manufacturer makes affordability claims for the segment but which one offers the highest levels of functionality and performance with the best cost structure – and should users be drawn automatically to laser products or would they be better served by inkjet devices?

Brother MFC-9420CN

To have laser devices at this level now is certainly a welcome sight. Many small businesses have been craving them for years but have had to make do with inkjet devices that are not really office specific, although offering the basic functionality. The result has tended to be that the businesses have had the tools they needed to project their businesses as professional entities.

With these new introductions, we are seeing quite a high level of MFP functionality provided with the devices, such that small businesses can begin to operate in a manner akin to their larger counterparts.

For instance, several manufacturers offer PaperPort from ScanSoft/Nuance with the package, allowing users to introduce document management principles to their work and integrate analogue documents into the digital workflow rather more easily than was previously possible.

Duplex printing (manual in most cases) is now getting much easier, allowing users to produce double sided documents and booklets relatively quickly and hassle free (with the right machine).

Samsung CLX-3160FN

Another area of improvement is print speed. Although there is now a wide range of speed capabilities (taking correspondence quality as the benchmark), from 4ppm in colour up to 10ppm and from around 10ppm in mono up to 31ppm, users used to be lucky if their printer would achieve 6ppm in colour and 8ppm in mono with previous inkjet models. Note that correspondence print speed for the Brother and Lexmark inkjet devices has been estimated from the maximum print speed provided and does not represent a definitive quoted figure.

Then there is the cost issue. We have known for some time that the Hewlett-Packard Officejet Pro K550 single function business inkjet printer is some 50% cheaper to own than a low-end colour laser printer. However, comparing Hewlett-Packard’s recently introduced OfficeJet Pro L7680 MFP with colour laser MFPs, although the average difference now is still in the same ballpark, at 52% on average, it can be as high as 63%.

Even comparing the OfficeJet Pro L7680 with other similar inkjet devices, there is a 42% advantage to be gained by buying the OfficeJet.

For these comparisons, we have deliberately chosen a competent business oriented model from each available manufacturer – meaning four-function (print, copy, scan and fax) with both ADF (Automatic Document Feeder) for the scan unit and integrated network interface.

Lexmark X9350

Several manufacturers do not have models that meet those requirements. Canon, Dell and Epson do not offer an inkjet AiO with integrated network interface and Epson does not offer ADF or Fax functionality either in an inkjet AiO. Note that Lexmark’s X9350 is WIFI enabled only – there is no wired network interface.

On the other hand, there are also several models that offer extra functionality within the costs quoted here. These include: Brother, Epson, Hewlett-Packard inkjet, Samsung and Xerox all offering colour Fax capability; while Epson, Samsung and Xerox all offer manual duplexing; and Brother and Xerox offer ScanSoft/Nuance PaperPort.

Cost of Printing

Hewlett-Packard
Officejet Pro 7680

Most significantly though, two of the inkjet models offer automatic duplexing as a standard feature right out of the box. These are the Hewlett-Packard OfficeJet Pro L7680 and Lexmark’s X9350. Dell’s 3115cn does offer duplex as an option but this is the only laser device in the group to offer even the potential for automatic duplexing.

What this means then, is that one cannot even argue that laser devices offer higher levels of functionality or capability than the inkjet devices. The only area where there is a notable advantage is in mono print speed – not a whole lot to hang a purchase argument on, unless it is the only differentiating factor.

Brother MFC-5460CN

Looking at the costs of inkjet versus laser, the first point to note is that the inkjet machines are much less costly to buy than the laser devices and yet, laser tends to be seen as so desirable that many users are prepared to pay the high premium.

Note that pricing of both hardware and supplies for this comparison is average typical street pricing, including tax and delivery, using a panel of major suppliers in the UK.

Hardware purchase tends to be the only place that a high premium must be paid for laser technology though. As soon as supplies are required, there is no direct relationship between cost of supplies and technology.

In two of the three inkjet cases, ink costs are actually higher than toner costs for some of the lasers. This is particularly prevalent with the Lexmark inkjet machine where black ink is more expensive than toner for ALL of the laser printers! Thankfully, Lexmark’s colour ink is more expensive only than the Dell 3115cn but the combination means that the X9350 falls well down the field for overall Cost of Printing.

Most alarming is the cost of running the Samsung and Xerox devices. With their very low toner capacity, the Cost Per Page in mono is on the high side but in colour is horrendous. The overall result is that they are the most costly devices to run despite falling in the mid-field on purchase.

Canon MF-8180c

This leaves us with the cost winner by a large margin – at least 38% and as much as the 63% mentioned earlier – in the form of the Hewlett-Packard OfficeJet Pro 7680.

To emphasis this fact, let’s consider a real-life example. I recently had to print a batch of A5 photographic collages. Because they were going to be laminated, I opted to print them on a laser device – BIG mistake. The device in question was the Xerox Phaser 6110MFP. This was chosen because the colour balance of the collage when printed on the Hewlett-Packard Colour LaserJet 2820 was not quite as pleasing as it was using the Phaser.

Purchase Price

Hewlett-Packard
Colour LaserJet 2840

A supplies status page was printed before and after the print run. A total of 30 A4 pages were printed, each containing two of the A5 images. The Phaser 6110MFP used a massive 30% Cyan, 29% Yellow and 10% Black toner and a staggering 39% of the Magenta toner! This means that a total of £26.39 (based on the pricing used here) was spent on those 30 pages – 88 pence per page or 44 pence per A5 collage.

Using the cost ratios found here (adjusting the calculations for printing 100% in colour), I would expect to have been able to print the collages at a cost of approximately 26 pence each on the Officejet Pro 7680 – a 41% saving.

Dell 3115cn

One consideration we should perhaps also throw into the equation at this point is that of paper. Although these business inkjet printers operate very adequately on plain paper for many applications, there may be some applications where the user would be more comfortable with a higher print quality from either a laser printer or the inkjet printer using a higher quality of paper. There is also, of course, the opportunity to use higher quality paper on the laser devices as well for specialist, customer critical documents (perhaps including reports and marketing collateral).

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 1,250 pages per month; 70% pages in mono and 30% pages in colour; is based on the use of maximum capacity supplies; takes into account any standard, or starter, supplies shipped with the device; and also includes the cost of purchase. All prices are average typical street price including tax and delivery.

In the particular example given, the cost of printing on coated paper (better than glossy paper for laminating) would have gobbled up about 4.5 pence of the saving but still leaving a 31% cost advantage in favour of inkjet.

Epson CX11NF

As we draw to a close then, we see that the main benefit of two of the inkjet offerings is the low purchase cost. When comparing Total Cost of Printing though, users will pay about the same as for one of the laser devices that sit at the lower end of the cost scale (Brother, Dell and Hewlett-Packard in particular).

In the long run however, the OfficeJet Pro L7680 stands out head and shoulders from the crowd. Not only is it a low cost option at purchase but: users can save 50% on their printing; the device offers automatic duplexing as standard; users can fax in colour; and the enhanced photo capabilities of an inkjet device, with borderless printing, are available for professional marketing collateral. And, there is a second paper tray option and it is PCL based – both unusual in an inkjet printer.

Lexmark X502n

On the downside, we really only find that the Officejet Pro L7680 does not come bundled with document management software and its mono correspondence print speed is lower than any of the laser devices. However, for small businesses requiring printing of general office, customer correspondence and marketing collateral materials, the Officejet Pro L7680 is far and away the most cost-effective, feature-rich and flexible printing device available on the market today.

~End~

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 6th, 2007 at 12:03 am and is filed under Hardware, Pricing, Comparisons, Total Cost of Printing. 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.