Should I go with color or mono with my laser printer?

Question

I'm a classroom teacher and have some funds to buy a new printer. I'm finding lots of inexpensive color laser printers, but I'm wondering if my long-range cost is going to be significantly higher. I'm seeing that if I buy all the cartridges for the printer, it'll cost about $350-$400. We'll probably do practically all black and white, maybe a little color, and at most 20 pages a day. How soon will I run out of toner? Once a schoolyear or once a month?

Answer 1

Hi I am a printer technician with 13 years repairing and selling printers. Here's a little info for your consideration. It is impossible for anyone to figure when you would run out of toner as we would need to know which printer you are looking at as the yields very greatly depending on the model. To complicate the issue we would have to know what you plan to print.

First color is a little more expensive when your using it. If your printing in black with a color laser the cost is comparable to a monochrome printer. It really depends on your need and how much color your using. Usually the impact and recognition factor that color has on the reader more than justifies the additional expense. There is research data out that shows a 38% higher recognition level when the document incorporates and uses color. If you want it to be read "put it in color". As for when your toner would run out depends on how you use your printer. Yield is usually based on 5% coverage on the page (considered a standard business letter) Keep in mind if you print photos or solid filled pages you just printed equivalent to 20 regular pages all on 1 page. Kind of like how many swallows are in a glass of water. Depends on if your sipping or gulping. Also remember that each cartridge has a stated yield. Example: My HP Color Laser 4600 prints 8,000 black and 6,000 (3) each color before empty. In this case, yield on standard 5% pages would be 26,000 pages. When you replace a cartidge you are only replacing the one color you are out of not all. If I were going to recommend a brand of color laser for you it would be HP without a doubt. Steer clear of Okidata, Brother and Lexmarks. There are a ton of reasons depending on which model your talking about but as a rule, HP builds solid color lasers with the best bang for the buck running. HP printers usually last longer, are easier and less expensive to repair and therefore in the end you'll end up more satisfied. If it helps any, our company repairs printers for 11 different manufacturers however our company and my home runs on HP printers! Hope the above helps.

Answer 2

Your best bet would be to go to Office Max, Office Depot, or Best Buy and buy a laser printer since the printers there all come full of ink/toner, despite what a sells person will tell you. If you are a teacher, a color printer would be very helpful since color illustrations/photos/etc increase understanding and awareness by 30%.

I recommend a color laser printer if you don't mind paying around $300 for toner. This sounds like a lot, but a toner cartridge will last around 2000 or more pages whereas an ink cartridge will last you at most 600 or 700 pages. Cost per page therefore is much lower with laser printers. Printing 20 pages a day, a toner cartridge should last you around 4 months (if you aren't printing on weekends).

A low cost color laser printer that produces beautiful prints is the HP 1600. It runs $299. You may also look into the HP 2600N ($399) if you would like to network more than one PC to your printer. If you want all those things, plus automoatic double sided printing see the HP 2605DN ($499).

Great monochrome (black and white only) laser printers are the HP 1018 or the 1020 ($179).

I am recommending HP laserjets because the drums are built into the cartridges. With other printers, you have to replace the drums with every 3rd cartridge you buy. Besides, HP is renown for the longevity of their printers and their ease of use. HP.com also has free shipping on all toner and ink. And it ships the next day.

Happy looking!

Answer 3

I would recommend a monochrome laser printer in terms of economy. With an entry level model you will be looking at about a 3,500 page yield for a little under 100/cartridge. The cost of cartridges increases with page yield. Always price out consumables before purchase.

With a colour laser printer, there are cartridges. Again entry level models at about a 3,500 page yield. There are 4 toners, the black being the same or similar in price to a monochrome, however the colour toners are a premium. There are very few that I have seen below $150/cartridge. Multiply that by 3 every year and you have a very high cost on consumables.

Answer 4

Low budget, long term, low volume of printing: go for LASER.
Regular toner cartridge is good for 2000 - 4000 prints at 5% toner coverage per Letter size.

Note: - LASER color prints quality : average. For same money you can have a color inkjet printer (expensive for an inkjet printer) high/photo quality but is not for long term use. The ink can dry out and ruin the print head if you not printing too much and is good for maybe 100 color letter size prints.

Answer 5

You get about 3000-3500 pages with a cartridge. I would go with color. If you only use the color a few times a day, it will last a long time and you can only replace the black.

Answer 6

I just bought a xerox 6505 color laser mfp for $500. It uses usb for printing and scanning or networked. I use it mainly for mono on occasion for colour.

Answer 7

color

Answer 8

Your printer has MONO!? Don't let it kiss dirty girls anymore.