Inkjet Printers: How Much Do They Really Cost?
by Larry Andrew
There are inkjet printers for every budget. At the
low end, you can pay less than $50. At the high-end,
you can pay several hundred dollars. However, the
purchase price of an inkjet printer is not the best
way to determine how good of a bargain you are
getting.
The truth of the matter is, printer ink is not
cheap. An inkjet cartridge for your $50 printer can
cost you $30. That means that the cost of two inkjet
cartridges will be more than the cost of your
purchase price.
A much better way to determine if you are getting a
bargain on your inkjet printer is to try to figure
out what it will cost you over the period of one
year. That means you have to add the cost of your
inkjet cartridges to the purchase price of your
printer. To give you an idea of your cost, here’s a
simple way to estimate your cost.
First, look up how many pages you inkjet cartridge
will print. Then, make a rough estimate of how many
pages of print you print each week. Multiply your
weekly estimate by 52 to get the total pages for the
year. Finally, divide the total number of pages per
year by the number of cartridges your printer is
rated to print. This will tell you how many inkjet
cartridges you will need to purchase in a year.
For example, suppose your ink cartridge prints 200
pages and you estimate you print 20 pages per week.
That means you’d print 1040 pages in one year. If
you divide 1040 pages by 200 pages, you’d have to
buy 6 cartridges to cover your printing for one
year.
Now, how much does each cartridge cost? Multiply
that by the number of cartridges you’ll need for one
year and you have your answer. This simple exercise
may surprise you. If an ink cartridge cost $30 each,
you’ll spend $180 in one year on ink. If you only
paid $50 for the printer, that’s over three times
the cost of the printer.
If it cost you $180 to print 1040 pages and the
printer costs $50, you’ll pay $230 for your one-year
printer cost. That comes to 22.1 cents per page. Now
do the same thing for a different printer and
compare. You just might be surprised.
One more thing… go online and look at some reputable
printer companies. There are several recommended on
this site. Check out the cost of their discount
inkjet cartridges. These are brand new ink
cartridges that are guaranteed to be as good as the
original ink cartridge. They just don’t have the
“brand name” on the box. You’ll probably be able to
cut your printing cost in half. Now, you can make an
informed decision on your next inkjet printer.
You’ll at least have an idea on how much it really
costs.
About the Author
Larry Andrew is an educational consultant, author
and publisher of
www.ez-printer-ink.com
. Purchasing printer ink, toner and inkjet
cartridges on line should be fast, convenient and
cost-effective.
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