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Thread ID: 73284	2006-10-14 04:21:00	Printing Costs	Happy Harry (321)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
491294	2006-10-14 04:21:00	Hi one and all. Is anyone able to inform me or point me in the right direction for costings per printed page between Inkjet, mono and colour laser. I'm sure there was an article about a year ago in PC world, but I have passed my mags on to other readersso can not check that avenue. I have searched within F1 with no results. Google has been not helpfull either. here's hoping Cheers HH	Happy Harry (321)
491295	2006-10-14 10:09:00	Short answer. I have no data to support my findings. I have a old HP 6L printer and it says a toner last 2500 pages on a 5% ink ie.. business letter. If save toner mode is used it uses half as much. The HP toner is like $130, while some of the other brands like Canon is like $105 I think or abouts. Laser is better quality and cheaper toner than inkjets. For text I have been happy with 300dpi unless one is doing photo's or graytones ie .. graphs. However saying that the ink is not cheap be it whatever printer, sometimes it may not cost much more when you can get a new printer. Well there are some top ended inkjets for photo's that may still cost more than the ink but by in large, if ya just printing a typical page there are printers that is v cheap vs the ink cartridge. Re: photo printers. If one is to source them in NZ for paper and ink. You won't save much if any than going to a lab to do them. This obviously does not incl the cheapest but somewhere decent and it does not incl the professional labs catered to pro's doing wedding proofs and stuff. If one is to source all paper and ink overseas, it is cheaper around 33% but the bigger you print the bigger savings you make. Just check the prices of an A4, a A4 size is really just 8x 6x4 inch. If a 6x4 inch is 60c a print, I doubt the lab only charge you $2.40 for a A4 print, likely they charge you $8 or else up to $20 or $25 for the pro stores. Also you have to buy a decent photo printer, its not just black text and you have to print enof to breakeven for the cost of printer and any calibration if you need perfection of ICC profiles. But being able to print at home is nice even if it cost more. For photo printer think of a 6x4 inch is around 30-40c a print if one is to source high quality paper and ink overseas. If in NZ think of such as 50-60c I think. Intl or national freight not included. Put it this way, I will either get laser printer for my work unless if I wanna print photo's then I get 2x printers, each for each's own strenghs. Cost aside I do not like inkjets but I think toner overtime is cheaper. If ya want photo prints that rival some professional labs such as those for wedding pro's at a 6x4 inch at say $1.50 ea., get a high end photo inkjet at $1000 or $2000 each and you can beat it with good software and ICC hardware calibrators for printer and monitor, good quality paper and ink, think of Canon or Epson such as the 1800 or 2400 models. For photo's don't even think of a laser color. If you want a color photo laser type buy a Fuji Fronteir minilab processing machine, it even has a computer attached I think with a touch screen, unsure of the O.S thou :D	Nomad (952)
491296	2006-10-14 10:19:00	For photo if ya cheap, then get frogprints.co.nz to print them get them to print a test chart out in A4 and you can scan it with the calibrator, you should buy your own monitor calibrator which is cheaper than a type which can also scan prints, for prints you can send them out to a place and they can scan and make you a tailored ICC file for that printer of that "sample" so its not just using a "manufactuer XX" ICC file off its CD. Other than that get a laser mono or get a laser color if ya want to print business color graphics.	Nomad (952)
491297	2006-10-14 11:01:00	Correctiion in NZ ink and paper you may look at 80c per 6x4 inch. I did some maths before about how many pages the inks produce etc etc .. this was off a Epson 2200 or 2100 in the NZ market A3 printer, quite a high ended one. Epson Ultrachrome ink of course and Epson premium paper be it matt or glossy.	Nomad (952)
491298	2006-10-14 20:22:00	Thanks for the replies guys. What i was looking for, is an approximate comparison on pricing per page to operate the various types of printers. I have a customer that is using 6 inkjet printers and one mono laser. I am trying to save him money by converting them to one networked colour laser and several mono lasers. I need to be able to show them some sort of costings, even though I have pointed out that they are spending the best part of $5000.00 on cartidges for the inkjets. I'll talk to the sales people at HP on monday, but any extra info will be handy. Cheers HH	Happy Harry (321)
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