Inkjet V Laser Printer: Dawn of Cost Reduction

We have all been there – decisions, decisions. Choosing the right type of printer, either for home or work, has never been a walk in the park. One tricky part of buying a printer is undoubtedly deciding whether to get a laser printer or an inkjet printer. And for good reason.

The two types of printers employ different approaches, with each suitable for different printing needs. As you might expect, each printing technology has its own pros and cons. But when it comes to buying a printer, the cost -both initial and ongoing – is paramount. Which begs the question: which is cost-effective, an inkjet printer or a laser printer?

This blog post looks to give you a succinct guide on the pricing of both laser and inkjet printers. It will look at the initial price tag as well as the cost in the long haul. Read on; you will be glad you did.

But first, let’s delve into a few rudiments.

What are Inkjet and Laser Printing?

Back in 1969, a luminary Xerox worker named Gary Starkweather had an ingenious idea that marked the birth of laser printing. Simply put, Laser printers render a digital image by scanning a laser beam across photoreceptors. In essence, a laser printer utilizes a toner cartridge and a thermal fuse. On its part, inkjet printers do the same by spraying liquid ink through a raft of minute nozzles onto the paper.

Price Tag

I’ll admit right from the outset that you can garner a basic inkjet or laser printer for practically the same price tag. Quite unexpected, right? If you are looking for a basic printer that can print as well scan and photocopy, there is simply not much difference in pricing. There’s little or no difference in the prices of a budget all-in-one printer.

What’s the most noticeable difference? A budget laser printer is only capable of churning out black and white prints. Conversely, an inkjet version can print color documents.

If you crunch numbers, a laser printer is a little more expensive. You can garner a basic laser printer for something like Ksh 12,000/-. An inkjet alternative will set you back around Ksh 4,000/-. There is a catch, though: they typically come complete with a starter cartridge that is almost spent, implying that a refill is inevitable.

Ongoing Cost

With time, printers require consumables like toner, ink, and paper. You can quote the running cost of a printer using a standard cent per A4 page. A budget laser printer capable of producing only black and white documents has an average cost per page of around 6 shillings/page. But the rate drops drastically if you go for a higher price tag.

An inkjet printer typically rakes around 30 Shillings/page for both color and black & white prints. For black and white pages, the cost drops to around 8 or 10 shillings/page. What’s more, laser printers have extra maintenance costs if pit against inkjet printers. You will require regular replacement of components like fuser cartridge.

Parting Shot

Pound for pound, inkjet printers are more economical than laser printers for low-turn printing. In case you do large printing, you’d be much better off with a laser printer.

 

Just what is 5% coverage?

I often hear that customers can’t believe their ink or toner cartridge is empty.  Yet, when I check them, they are in fact empty. I know the perception is that cartridges don’t last as long as they should.  That is because of the page count on the box! These numbers really don’t mean much to the average user and don’t reflect the reality based on what people normally print.

The reality is that all page yields are based on 5% coverage of ink or toner.  This is a mandate from Organization for Standardization (ISO). Most people regularly print more than the 5% average.

5% represents a small invoice or memo (covering around half the page) and not a full page of larger text with logos and other print. For example this newsletter will end up representing more like 10%-12% coverage if it was printed out.

So your actual page yield will most likely be less than the advertised yield, no matter where you buy the cartridge-as everyone’s yields are all based on only 5% coverage- everyone has to place the same amount of ink or toner in cartridges.  Starter cartridges that come with new printers often have half or less toner or ink in them than a normal cartridge.  In fact, we fill some ink cartridges with more ink than the originals had in them.

Over the years, I have performed enough research and development to find these facts to be true on several of the same cartridges from different vendors, including our own products, against the OEM (name brand cartridge).  Using our compatible toners will make sure that all you do is save lots of money with products from ColourSoft!

 

Benefits of using Compatible Toners.

The market for compatible toners is very large, due to the need for affordable toner cartridges. However, not all compatible toner cartridges are made equal, and care should be taken when selecting the right product to purchase. There are many benefits to using compatible toner cartridges rather than brand name products. Here are some of the main advantages that you can enjoy if you decide to use an alternative option instead.

  • Firstly, the most significant advantage of using Coloursoft products is the fact that they are significantly cheaper. OEM toners can be very expensive, and therefore with coloursoft toners you can save up to 70%, especially with our exclusive range of High Yield and Jumbo range of toners, which is not offered by any other supplier.
  • Coloursoft toners have very good customer testimonials. Positive customer feedback will tell you whether the company’s products are actually worth the money they are asking for. A great deal of authentic, positive feedback is a good sign that you will be getting value for money.

Another advantage of buying these compatible toners is that there is often far more choice on the market. When you buy a brand name product there is often only one key choice for your particular kind of printer. This is not the case when you buy the compatible toners.

What this means is that there are many different companies who are selling compatible cartridges. This means that you have a range of choice in colour, texture and appearance of ink on the page compared to the original product. This may or may not be a positive thing for you.

It could be a positive thing if you are not satisfied with the original quality of the brand name products. Sometimes, the quality and colour that is provided by compatible brands is as good as or even better than the original product. This is of course, entirely subjective.

However, this does mean that there is ultimately more choice on the market. If you are not satisfied with your original brand name product, you might as well try a compatible toner cartridge, and see what the results are like. If you like the product you can continue with it, if you don’t you can try another brand and see if you get better results the next time.

Being smart about where you spend your money is important as a business owner. If you buy compatible toner or compatible cartridges this is one very smart way of getting the ink and toner you need, without spending a lot of money on those things. You can still get the quality you need while not spending a lot.

Smart business owners know where they can save money on some of the little things, and that is a great thing to keep in mind. Office supplies can run up a huge expenses bill and if you can save some money in areas such as compatible toner, this is a great way to start. Get out and start making smart choices today with COULORSOFT TONERS.

Compatible Ink and Toner – High Quality, Low Cost Alternatives to OEM.

Total Office Solutions is proud to offer its customers high quality, low cost on toner cartridges as reliable alternatives to over-priced OEM brand supplies.

OEM’s like Hewlett Packard, Lexmark, Canon, Brother and Epson will often market printers at very low prices. Their objective is to then sell very high cost, high profit margin supplies to the printer buyer. It just like the old razor and blade business model – give away the razor to make incredible profits on the blades. You would be amazed to know just how much money the OEM’s make from OEM-brand supplies sometimes they sell for prices ten times the cost of the cartridge – all at your expense.

That’s why Total Office Solutions gives you the opportunity to Print More for less by offering high quality, low cost compatible cartridges for your ink jet and laser printers. Our compatible cartridges are produced in manufacturing facilities that are ISO 9001 and ISO 14000 certified – the highest quality standards in the world. We also do further incoming inspections and testing at our own facility to be certain we are offering our customers outstanding products that produce superior print quality, extended yield plus savings up to 60% compared to OEM.

With our ColourSoft Brand, which has been perfected since the Year 2005, you can have the confidence of buying knowing you are completely safe, with our Money Back Guarantee, our 100% Quality Guarantee, and our 3 year Warranty. The reason we offer such guarantees is because we are that confident with our laser toners. If you’re not satisfied, we are not satisfied. If you ever have a problem with a product purchased from Total Office Solutions just let us know and we’ll repair, replace the product so you can get your printer running again.

 

Just as important, buying from Total Office Solutions helps protect the environment. Many of the products we sell contain carefully selected recycled components, keeping them out of the waste stream. Save money and protect the environment – it’s a winning combination and to everyone’s best advantage.v