Issue #0734/1 - Offering users printing at half the cost, the new XL cartridges, launched by Hewlett-Packard in May of this year, offer stunning value for money when compared with the standard cartridges that are shipped with the printer. Not however, designed to be exceptionally cost-cutting when compared to competitive printers, the XL cartridges are best suited to higher volume printing environments.
Created as part of its strategy to provide users with a choice of cartridges, see article "It’s the RGB revolution! You choose, Hewlett-Packard supplies.", Hewlett-Packard’s XL inkjet cartridges contain a high volume of ink, and are sold at a high price, while the standard cartridges cost a lot less but contain a low volume of ink.
To emphasise this, we need to look in more detail at the HP350 black (HP74 - US) and HP351 tricolour (HP75 - US) cartridges with their XL versions.
Ink volume is dramatically different between the two sets of cartridges – the HP350XL contains 4x the volume of ink of the standard HP350 and the HP351XL contains 3.4x the ink of the standard HP351.
However, so is the price!
| Cartridge | Ink Capacity | Yield |
|---|---|---|
| HP 350 Black | 4.5 ml | 175 pages |
| HP 350XL Black | 18 ml | 860 pages |
| HP 351 Tricolour | 3.5 ml | 170 pages |
| HP 351XL Tricolour | 12 ml | 580 pages |
Yes, the XL versions are expensive in comparison to the standard versions – at €26.70 for the black and €30.20 for the tricolour (average street price), the expenditure represents 75% of the cost of the DeskJet D4260 printer that uses the cartridges. However, compared to prices of €13.17 and €16.45 respectively for the standard cartridges – the added value is enormous.
Although the prices of the XL cartridges are just about double the prices of the standard cartridges, remember that they contain 4x and 3.4x the quantity of ink, which means 5x the page yield for black and 4x for colour.
Put these together and what this means is a basic Cost Per Page for the XL cartridges that is less than half that of the standard black cartridge and almost half that of the standard colour cartridge.
Taken a step further, combining these costs for the DeskJet D4260 over a period of three years sees the long-term Cost of Printing using the XL cartridges at well below half the cost of using the standard cartridges, whatever the page volumes printed.
| Cartridge | Av Street Price (Euro) | Yield | Basic CPP |
|---|---|---|---|
| HP 350 Black | €13.17 | 175 pages | 7.53 cents |
| HP 350XL Black | €26.70 | 860 pages | 3.10 cents |
| HP 351 Tricolour | €16.45 | 170 pages | 9.68 cents |
| HP 351XL Tricolour | €30.20 | 580 pages | 5.21 cents |
Although the Cost of Printing on the D4260 with the XL cartridges is significantly lower than printing with almost any of the ultra low-end colour laser printers (up to about 30%), it is low volume users (who prefer not to spend too much money at one time) who lose out from not buying the XL cartridges as opposed to XL cartridge users gaining a massive advantage.
Paying almost 20 cents per page at lower print volumes (50 pages per month), it would actually cost a user less over three years to run the most costly of the ultra low-end colour laser printers – a bizarre turnaround and providing a strong case for NOT relying on standard ink cartridges!!
Cost of Printing - Low Capacity vs High Capacity Supplies
Hewlett-Packard DeskJet D4260
These new XL cartridges do, however, ensure that inkjet remains a serious contender for the small office in terms of Cost of Printing, even at relatively high print volumes.
If we take the usage of XL cartridges running in the D4260 and run a comparison with other inkjet competitors, with high capacity cartridges also available for the Lexmark machine, we see that Lexmark’s high capacity configuration offers users nothing in terms of competitivity against other models. It is right up at the top end of the cost scale for all but the lowest level users (printing only a few pages a month) where its exceptionally low purchase price and virtually no need to buy replacement cartridges carries it through at a Cost of Printing that dips below even the D4260.
Not surprisingly perhaps, the D4260 is more expensive to run at these very low print volumes, mainly because it is a more expensive printer in the first place. But, one also has to consider that users would only buy one replacement set of cartridges in the three-year period on any of the printers when printing only 50 pages per month and the XL cartridge set is the most expensive set in the group.
It is as monthly print volume increases that the D4260 with its XL cartridges really comes into its own. At 250 pages per month, it is the least costly of these machines to run and, from that point on, the gap only widens as volumes increase to 500 pages per month and beyond.
Only the very least costly colour laser printers (Konica Minolta and Canon) will beat this Cost of Printing at 500 pages per month and upwards. However, for the very ultimate in low Cost of Printing in colour, Hewlett-Packard’s business inkjet (Officejet Pro K5400) with its HP88XL cartridges, remains unbeaten at virtually any print volume – including 50 pages per month!
Cost of Printing - Low Capacity vs High Capacity Supplies
Hewlett-Packard DeskJet D4260
So, the advice for any small business user (or home user) has to be to steer well clear of the low capacity Hewlett-Packard cartridges, even though they are relatively easy on the pocket, and to bite the bullet with the purchase of XL cartridges even though they cost twice as much to buy because they last four times as long.
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