Is cost a crucial consideration in your choice of an inkjet printer?
Often consumers tend to simply compare the prices of the machines to the exclusion of one important expenditure - the ink cost.
Substantial variations, however, do exist in the ink cost in the usage of inkjet printers as revealed in a Consumer Council test on 24 models (among them 22 models are multi-function all-in-one with features such as scanning, copying, and faxing) priced from about $500 to $2,500.
The test unveiled an enormous range of ink costs per A4 size page of document, graphic or photo:
- black and white document at 17 cents to 63 cents, a difference of 46 cents or 271%.
- colour graphic at 85 cents to $2.1, a difference of $1.25 or 147%.
- colour photo at $3.4 to $23, a difference of $19.6 or 576%.
The difference in total expenditures in ink cost between the best and worst performers could represent huge savings or otherwise over the years of usage of the printer.
Assuming that the printing involved 3 B&W documents, 2 colour graphs and 1 colour photo per week, the ink cost of the test samples was estimated to range from as much as $1,453 to only $318 per year.
In the case of the printer with the highest ink cost of $1,453, the printer itself was priced at a relatively low $850. So, the cost of ink far exceeded that of the machine in just a matter of one year of usage.
Consumers who need to produce a large quantity of printing, are advised to buy ink cartridges in big size to reduce the ink cost.
By and large, the printers in the test were rated satisfactorily, scoring between 3 and 4 stars (5 stars being the maximum).
The models were rated on the basis of: printing (35%), convenience (20%), scanning (15%), copying (15%), versatility (5%), power consumption (5%), direct photo printing (3%), and networking (2%).
Some models are designed with additional functions including: memory card support, WiFi, fax without computer, automatic document feeder.
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