Specialty
True Cost of a Cheap Printer
The bargain printer usually loses over a few years.
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The $80 printer is a trap when its cartridges yield a few hundred pages at a high price. Over even a couple of years at office volume, the cheap machine's running cost overtakes a pricier printer with efficient, high-yield toner.
How it works
For each printer we add the purchase price to its lifetime toner cost, pages per month × 12 × years × cartridge cost per page (cartridge price ÷ yield). The reversal shows up once volume is high enough for toner to dominate.
Further reading How to Cut Office Printing Costs — Find the waste and remove it, in the order that pays off fastest.
Common questions
When does the cheap printer actually win?
Only at very low volume, a few pages a week. Once you print regularly, cost per page decides, and budget cartridges lose.