Cheaper to buy new color laser printer than to replace toner
Ten years ago, I bought an HP LaserJet 2100 black and white laser printer for over $800. I haven’t changed the toner yet because I don’t print that often but I have a feeling that the time to buy new toner is drawing near. Unfortunately, the cost of the toner is $224 for the real thing $104 on HP’s website and even imitation cartridges are around $40.
I’ve seen actual laser printers sell for less than that and it makes me wonder if I should just replace the printer with a new one although the HP 2100 is a well built high output quality printer. Remanufactured cartridges are around $16 and that might be the best way to go without resorting to any do-it-yourself refills.
On Black Friday, I bought a brand new Samsung CLP-315 at Fry’s Electronics for $99. A quick search on the web revealed that new toner for all four colors will cost about $300 list price and $92 remanufactured. Again, it makes me wonder if I should just buy the next color laser printer I spot for $100 and sell the old printer on eBay or Amazon for $100 when I get low. Hopefully, the color laser printers won’t employ the inkjet tactic of shipping new printers with mostly empty ink cartridges.
Laser toner can last 10 years?? That’s amazing! I’ve always had inkjet printers so that’s something new to me.
Some laser printers ship with nearly empty cartridges. My Brother 2070N got exactly 1275 (or maybe it was 1250?) pages out of its starter cartridge before it refused to print due to low toner. To make it more odd, the low toner light came on precisely 50 pages before that, which leads me to beleive that it has a software item somewhere that makes it shut off, even if it is not truly low. If you get on the manufacturer’s case about this stuff (HP loves to do this with their inkjets, by the way), they say it’s because their concern is making sure you always get good looking output… but in reality, it’s to ensure that you buy cartridges before you truly need to. For my printer, the cartridge is less expensive than the printer, but not by too much. I’m hoping that the replacement cartridge lasts longer than 1275 pages.
J.Ja
It lasted 10 years because it can do a few thousand pages, and I haven’t printed thousands of pages.
1250 pages ain’t bad since I don’t print that much. I figure I might go through 1 page a day on average
. Once in a while I might print out a big report.
I’m not sure about the theory that you can’t squeeze more out of the cartridge. I think if HP wanted you to have more or less ink, they’d simply adjust the amount of ink. There’s no reason for them to deliberately give you 2000 pages of ink or toner and only let you use 1000 pages of it. It’s possible that on average you might be able to squeeze an extra 10% out of it but they don’t like pushing it that close because a few people will have problems. It’s the same reason Intel or AMD doesn’t give you an extra few hundred MHz on the CPUs even though 90% of the processors support it.
I don’t disagree that they give you way too little ink but it’s the razor blade business model they’ve adopted. They want to minimize the initial entry cost for their products and that’s the fight they’re fighting. I think Kodak is actually trying something different by giving you more ink life as a way to differentiate their product. This effectively creates a war on consumable pricing if consumers start buying Kodak printers. http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9025966&pageNumber=4
I don’t think you should replace the printer in place of the toner, but if your other consumables go bad, such as the print head, the drum, the laser unit.
This was a recent experience with a Brother C4040. Granted, this was a much higher volume usage printer verses your experience, but the same rule applies, to a certain degree.
We also have to consider that every time we toss a printer, we spend that much more on recycling, as well as those of us who fill up the local landfill with this garbage.
George -
With HP, they software "expire" their ink cartridges based on time, not usage. Here’s the details on it:
http://www.hp.com/pageyield/articles/us/en/InkExpiration.html
Nasty, eh? How many users do you think will be savvy enough to figure out how to override that?
J.Ja
What if I don’t install their software and I only install the raw drivers?
nuCrash, I’m not throwing the printer away, just selling it used. It’s not going in to a land fill.
George – you spend months researching and writing about your build-up of an energy effecient, low-power "green" PC and then consider junking a perfectly working printer in exchange for some cheaper toner cartridges…
Think about it:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2002/02/25/computer-waste.htm
Who said anything about junking? I said I was going to SELL it. I doubt that the person who buys it is going to toss it in the junk yard.
It’s easy to override the timed expiration of HP inkjet cartridges. Inside the printer there will be a CMOS type battery. Just pop it out. It’s only purpose is to keep the date to prevent printing of expired cartridges. I have done it to my HP Business Inkjet 2000. Still prints perfectly on several expired cartridges.
It’s an older printer. HP may have changed things on the newer models, so do some research on your model.
George, I have a 2100tn, and your $224 toner price didn’t sound right, as I just replaced mine a few months ago. HP’s website shows a price of around $104 with free shipping. Perhaps you can sign up for the HP customer specials & watch for a price break.
This is my 3rd toner cartridge, the 2nd started mis-printing before it ran out, which is why I replaced it.
But, the cost per page is still pretty good, and I like a networked printer that is reliable and fast, so I don’t intend to replace my 2100tn until it’s done for.
I have a separate, networked HP Photosmart 8450 for color printing, including photos.
FWIW.
–
Dave
George,
In 1998, I was gifted an old HP II by former employer – 180,000 prints on it’s counter, 2 boxed toner cartridges and nearly full one installed. I replaced that original installed toner last year (2007) and opened the first of the boxed cartridges for it’s long run. I print maybe 2 reams a year – max 3…
I put a power supply in this unit in 2000 ($170) – which was cheaper than a new printer at the time.
I keep it off – except when I need it.
I would like the 600 dpi with grayscale, but this one is a tank, still chugging and all 300 dpi is just fine for home prints.
If it has mechanical failure – repair would be costly – so only then will I replace. I dread that day…
John, get a new 600 DPI color laser for $100 if you can. It’s much nicer and you won’t draw 1000+ watts when you print.
I found it for $104 on HP’s website.
George – to your comment about the Kodak printers: I’m buying.
Kodak should double their advertising right now. I saw their commercial for "$10 black cartridges" and knew I’d be giving them a shot.
I really think we could see a revolution here. Ask anyone what they think about the cost of ink cartridges and you’ll probably get a very disgusted look.
I think Kodak might be a little more expensive up front and you have to do enough printing to offset the costs. I saw some output samples of the Kodak printers from 2007 and I’m not sure I’m satisfied yet. I generally prefer paying $.13 per professional grade 4×6 prints from the store which are higher quality. I don’t mind waiting 30-60 minutes and I can pick it up after I finish shopping.
That’s the reason I bought a color laser is because I don’t intend to print photos; just color documents.