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Not related to photo-printing, for which I use an Epson R3000.
But I use a mono laser for "ordinary" printing and was using an HP Laserjet 4 which cost me about £800 in 1994. Then, last week, it finally copped its whack (after, I reckon, about 140,000 A4 copies) and I had to look for a replacement.
I was staggered to find that I could buy a roughly similar laser printer, in terms of output speed and print resolution, for £60. It is much lighter in weight (therefore maybe not as durable) and has a smaller paper tray capacity but it does the same job.
We constantly complain about rising prices but it is nice, once in a while, to discover that prices of some items are really tumbling.
Ah the Great Oil Conundrum, drop the price people go crazy and start 'driving' around in their motors , then there's a shortage so you have to put the prices back up ... then when people stop using their cars and you cant afford this months Dubai vacation , drop the prices again ..... Oh to be an Oil Exec ....
Printer prices may have tumbled but ink and toner prices have gone up like a rocket. Many manufacturers now supply "fun-size" cartridges with a new printer. These contain enough ink to test the printer.
I was surprised by the service life of the fun-size carts that came with our new HP Z3200. After five 100 foot rolls of 24 inch wide paper, only one has been changed.
With one of my printers its approx £200 for a full set of inks. I eventually moved to a system feed that for the same ink volume costs around £20, or for high quality dyes at around £30.
Yeah, the initial set up is around the same amount as a new set of inks (but that includes around 8x the volume), and the quality (with a few tweaks) is every bit as good or better in the finished print. If it wasnt for that, printing my own work wouldnt be feasable
Whether its a £60 or £600 printer, the ink costs for originals is waaaaay too high
....which is why I use a laser for "ordinary" printing rather than an expensive (to run) inkjet.
In 1994 a toner cartridge for the Laserjet 4 cost about £85. The last one I bought (last year) was about half that price (for 8000 copy size).
I was sorry when the machine finally gave up the ghost last week but can't really complain at 18 years service. I reckon that taking capital depreciation plus toner costs over that period, it averaged out at about 1.5p per copy. Mind you, according the the market comparisons, my new replacement is going to be nearer 2.5p per copy!
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