Toner
Toner is a lot more economical than using ink or inkjet
in the home office because the toner lasts much longer. Toner cartridges
last anywhere from 2000 pages to 30000 pages. However, it is unlikely
the home office user will need a printer to print up to 30000 pages
due to the volumes of paper involved.
The typical home user will buy a low to medium end laser printer,
which prints 2000 to 6000 copies per cartridge. There is not a huge
printer investment in this market price space. A laser printer that
costs between $500 and $1000 can easily fulfill this requirement.
Higher price point printers may increase investment costs, maintenance
costs, and purchase risk to the small business or home office user.
The key to buying cheap office toner supplies, and keeping printing
costs to a minimum is to evaluate your cost per page. You need to
work out how much each page is going to cost. This is fairly easy
to do, providing the cartridge manufacturer publishes accurate page
yield specifications.
Let’s say the brand new OEM original cartridges costs $100.
If the cartridge is rated for a 5000 page yield, each page will
cost 2 cents to print, also known as cost per page. This usually
assumes 5% page coverage of toner. If you printed out a large graphic
it might cover 50% of the page. Where essay type text does not cover
much paper at all, tax return print information might cover 20%
of the page.
Let’s compare that with an ink cartridge, which costs $30.
If the cartridge rated for 600 pages of text at 5% coverage, each
page would cost 5 cents to print out. This is over double the amount
of the ink cartridge.
So to save costs by 50% it is a good idea to invest in a laser
printer. There is a catch, the laser printer costs more when bought
new. Well, you have to do the math and see what works for you, but
consider buying a good used printer on Ebay for $60 to $150.
It is more risky to buy a used product on Ebay than say the local
big box store, but you might get a good deal too. Many home office
users purchase their equipment on Ebay. For plain text laser printers
look for the HP 2100 printer. It is a very durable printer with
excellent 1200 dpi resolution and 10 pages per minute.
Finally, when buying cartridges, unless it is an OEM cartridge,
you must be very careful about which compatible cartridge supplier you use.
If you are going to use a compatible cartridge first
try compatible "factory branded cartridges" as a source for home office
toner.
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