I was going to kick in my 2 cents on this ...
I've been buying Samsung printers for about two years now. The most
recent batch was model ML-1740, at $150 each. Frequently they are
available for $100, after a rebate (Best Buy or CompUSA). Toner is the
only supply, at about $80 each, good for maybe 4000 pages. Sounds like
about $10 per 500 sheets for toner, or two cents per page.
I had a bad experience with HP 1100 printers a few years back. We
bought about thirty of them, they all started failing right after the
warranty period. There was a fix-it kit, but that was a one-time repair
that just extended them for another six months. There was a class
action suit against HP, the settlement was $10/printer, applied to
another HP product. (back then, these printers were $400 including a
scanner attachment). I tried to quit buying HP at that point, but two
mid-range printers (2200 & 2300) were ordered in a moment of weakness.
They both failed at month 13.
I still have a few HP Laserjet 4 printers running (moved into
individual offices now), those must be over ten years old. And a
networked Laserjet 8000, six(?) years old and more than half a million
pages is almost always working. Frequently at least one of our three
networked Xerox copiers is down - service contracts on those.
Anyway, I'm pretty happy with the Samsung printers. Given the cost
analysis below I should probably look at Dell again, but on the other
hand, we already have to stock a half dozen different toners here.
On Mar 22, 2005, at 12:32 PM, Peter J Murray wrote:
> A follow up on the printer issue.
>
> I did a printing cost analysis in a spreadsheet, and here are my
> numbers. These are based on the following assumptions: Using the best
> yield cartridges (usually the most expensive ones for a better price
> per
> page), Dell requires a drum change every 30,000 pages.
>
> HP1300 costs $9.62 per 500 sheets for toner. (Yield 4000 pages)
> Dell 1700 costs $8.16 per 500 sheets for toner and drum. (Toner Yield
> 6000 pages, Drum 30,000)
> HP 1012 costs $17.50 per 500 sheets for toner. (Yield 2000 pages,
> $69.99)
>
> Given the Dell 1700 is not that much more than the 1012, and is less
> than the 1300, the decision is pretty easy to make. (includes 3 year
> warranty).
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