philip@pescadero.Stanford.EDU (Philip Machanick) (07/02/90)
I'm interested in the relative costs of various printer technologies if I need to print around 50,000 pages a year. Imagewriter is out (would be good enough for draft, but too slow). PostScript would be nice, but with ATM (and System 7...) not vital. How do per page costs for cheaper printers, like HP Deskwriter compare? What differences are there between per-page costs of the common laser engines? What is the breakeven for a more expensive laser printer? Any hints, ideas, etc. will be useful. Please e-mail; I'll summarize. Philip Machanick philip@pescadero.stanford.edu
neff@hpvcfs1.HP.COM (Dave Neff) (07/04/90)
If you want to print 50,000 pages per year the DeskWriter is not for you. The printer has a lifetime rating of 60,000 pages and at about 1 to 2 minutes per page for the DeskWriter you would be doing a lot of waiting for printouts. As for cost per page, with current pricing, DeskWriter in LQ mode is about 1 cent per page more than a laser printer, but a DeskWriter in Draft mode is about 1 cent per page less than a laser printer. So you can see if you do half your documents in draft and half in LQ the cost per page of DeskWriter and most laser printers are similar. If you refill toner cartridges or ink cartridges (not recommended by HP) the pricing is totally different. An HP LaserJet IIP toner cartridge is about $100 and good for 3500 page, giving a cost per page of $.028 and a DeskWriter cartridge is about $19 for 500 pages (LQ) and 1000 pages (draft) giving cost per pages of $.038 in LQ and $.019 in draft. Of course different laser printers have different toner cartridges. When I did the math for the above comparison, I used the retail prices of HP consumables. Other laser printers have different prices of toner cartridges. Given the volumes you are describing, I would think a laser printer is the only way to go. All the quickdraw laser printers I have seen are in the same 1 to 2 minute per page range as the DeskWriter (speed limit is imaging the page and transmitting the data not the actual printer mechanism in most cases). I would suggest you get a PostScript laser printer due to your volume. Of course, I just design printers, I don't buy them :-). I do use them occasionally ... Dave Neff neff@hpvcfs1.HP.COM