Cost of Printing

Consider a very reasonable cost of printing of Re.1 per page, and an average print run of 500 pages a month. In a year you would have spent Rs. 6,000 (cost of a basic laser printer) and in two years, Rs. 12,000, as much as a well-featured printer would cost. In reality, the cost per print is higher than the Re.1 ballpark figure we have assumed -- you can now realize just how important cost of printing can be, especially for offices where print runs are higher.

We tabulated vendor specified yields at 4 - 5 percent ink coverage on paper (which is typical of most office print jobs that don't involve graphics). The most economical printer to run is the one that is costliest (no surprise here, more expensive printers are usually easier on the pocket in the long run). The Samsung ML-2751N, with an MRP of Rs.12, 499 churns out 3,000 pages from a toner costing Rs.3, 800, given an economy of Rs.1.27, followed by the Xerox Phaser 3117 at Rs.1.33 per print.

The two Brothers are next, at Rs.1.47 per page, closely followed by the less expensive Canon, the LBP2900B which costs you Rs.1.58 per page. What's strange here is that the more expensive model amongst the Canon pair, the LBP 3108B actually costs about 55 percent more to run, at Rs. 2.46 per page, thus not convincingly justifying its higher price tag. The HP Laserjet P1505 and the P1007 will cost you Rs. 1.80 and Rs.2.09 respectively.

Verdict