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Member Since 1987 |
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Letters to the Editor
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I found your web site to be very informative. One question that I still have is the total cost of ownership on the various business class color laser printers you offer. This information is very important since I have learned that the cost of the printer is really not as critical as the usage cost.
We currently have a Minolta-QMS magicolor 2200 that we are looking to replace. The output is fine but the cost per print is ridiculously high. The estimates of "pages per consumable part" were highly exaggerated. We've only printed 35K pages on it and we've gone through 3 fuser units ($500 each) that are claimed to last 100K each, not to mention thousands of dollars spent on toner and the other consumables.
We are a low volume (1-2K pages/month) user that prints color sales sheets about half the time and B&W letters and contracts the other half. Typical coverage is around 15-20%. I've already decided we need a single pass printer and have looked at the HP 4600, Xerox 6200 or the OKI 7300. Your printer suggestions along with realistic usage costs estimates would be greatly appreciated.
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Thanks for the kind words about our site. We work hard every day to be accurate and maintain the most up to date printer dedicated web site.
The Minolta 2200 that you currently have was actually a very good engine. We estimate the actual cost per page for the average customer to be approx. 14 cents per color page and about 2 cents per page for black only. Naturally, cost per page goes up proportionately with total coverage. Unless there is something uniquely harmful in the printer's environment, we feel that the probable reason you are going through the fuser units prematurely is due to the use of unsupported media. One example would be the use of card stock outside the printers limit of 60lb cover (163 g/m2).
Having said all of the above, you will find that the current best selling printers like the Xerox 6200dp have fusers that sell for about $200 and an overall cost of 9 cents per color page @20% coverage. In addition to better performance and auto-duplex, printers like the 6200dp and the Minolta 3100 also support stock up to 80lb cover ( 216 g/m2).
Always make sure that the media you are printing on is ok for laser printers. Feeding ink-jet paper stock or other heat sensitive material will not only damage the printer but also shorten the life of many printer components and supplies.
As for the three printers you asked about, the OKI 7300 and Xerox 6200dp are both just under 10 cents per color page @ 20% coverage (using high-capacity toners). The HP 4600 is more complicated due to the imaging drum and toner being in the same cartridge. This leads to the waste of unused toner or OPC life if one or the other runs out first. In some real life applications the 4600 is as much as 400% higher per page than most color laser printers. If you could somehow use all of the supplies evenly and completely, the cost per page @ 20% coverage would be about 11 cents.
We hope you find this helpful. Please contact us if you need additional information.
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