The answer to the question, “How much does a printer cost?” depends on what you need. This guide was assembled to help break down all the “depends on” factors to help you understand what you need and what you can expect that device to cost.
Table of Contents
Determining Your Needs
How much does a printer cost? The choice is depending on yourself. Making a choice about the type of printer you require will help you focus your search because there are many different types of printers available. Will you mostly be printing black-and-white documents like contracts, or do you prefer to print colorful images? Are you printing frequently or do you really need a workhorse? Do you need just a standalone printer, or would you prefer a device that can perform several tasks at once? The first step in selecting the best printer is determining its intended use.
Here are three types of printer costs as follows:
Inkjet Printers
Although ink for inkjet printers is typically inexpensive, the expense of ink over time makes them expensive. Ink wells on some models can be refilled from bottles. An average ink cartridge should print about 200 pages before it needs to be changed, depending on the brand and capacity. Despite having an initial investment as low as $40, inkjet printers are best used only occasionally due to their high operating costs. This may answer the question of how much does a printer cost.
However, there are some applications where inkjet printers excel. Heat-sensitive paper cannot be printed on by laser printers, and they are unable to produce vivid, rich colors. On virtually any type of paper, including glossy photo paper and vinyl, inkjet printers can produce vivid colors. The best choice for printing vibrant, high-quality images is an inkjet printer.
Some modern inkjet printers use refillable ink tanks. These printers are a bit more expensive, but they can print more pages between cartridge replacements.
Laser Printers
Compared to inkjet printers, laser printers are more expensive up front, but their running costs are much lower. Instead of sprinkling ink drops, they operate by melting toner onto the page. Toner cartridges can print thousands of pages before needing to be changed because they don’t dry out. Students in college and home offices should use laser printers because they are quicker than inkjet printers.
Only capable of producing black-and-white prints, monochrome laser printers are significantly less expensive than color laser printers. They make the best printing paper for essays and research papers. There is no automatic duplexing or printing on both sides of the page in basic laser printers. Even without this feature, printing on both sides of the page is possible, but the process is tricky. This introduction is another answer to the question of how much does a printer cost.
All-in-one
All-in-one printers can be laser or inkjet printers, but they offer a variety of features to boost productivity. The most useful gadgets can fax, scan, and copy, which frees up a lot of space in home offices.
Double-sided scanning and automatic document feeding are features found on the majority of multi-purpose devices. Scan pages for copying or faxing with the help of the automatic document-feeding feature. Make sure to purchase a device with duplex automatic document feeding if you need to scan double-sided documents.
Other Features
Any of these printers can come with extra features that work well with various office setups. Bluetooth or wireless communication is supported by the majority of modern printers. You can print wirelessly from virtually anywhere, including your phone, using printers that support Apple AirPrint or Google Cloud Print. Some of these features could be pricey, but they may be necessary for you. These all are contained in how much does a printer cost.
The Difference Between Inkjet And Laser Printers
Before understanding how much does a printer cost, you also need to know the differences between inkjet and laser printers. You’ve probably noticed the wide range of prices if you’ve ever had to purchase a printer cartridge in-person or online. Recently, I found an HP inkjet cartridge, branded for “economy printing.” The cost of the cartridge was only $15.29. That seems like a good offer! Sadly, the cartridge has a limited capacity of 180 pages (at 5% coverage).
As you can imagine, this won’t work for any regular printing that you do at home or at the office. There are options to buy an ink tank and refill your cartridge if you’re bound and determined to save money.
A Canon black ink tank costs just 69 cents. However, who really has the time to sit there and manually refill ink cartridges (not to mention the potential for a mess)?
At first glance, ink cartridges are less expensive than laserjet printers, but the latter has a higher value over time. Additionally, unlike inkjet printing, laserjet printing doesn’t run the risk of smearing. Consider the $7.85 price tag for a 2,000-page HP 12A black toner cartridge. Only 420 pages can be produced by a $4.89 (retail) HP 98 black ink cartridge.
You will pay a retail price of $23.29 for the number of pages one toner cartridge will produce. And that is before taxes. Toner cartridges are in fact more effective than ink cartridges, and effectiveness adds value. Now, do you know how much does a printer cost?
What Is The Most Affordable Printer?
After understanding the answer of how much does a printer cost, advice on buying is as follows. Let’s first come to an understanding regarding what value is. Many individuals believe that value merely refers to price. But value is much more than just making a small upfront financial saving. If I buy a car for $10 and it gets seven mpg, I’m not getting as good of a deal if I drive 12,000 miles annually, which is the national average. In the event that my car had a 14-gallon tank, that would require filling it up 123 times annually.
The annual cost rises to $4,924.92 when you take into account the national average of $2.86 per gallon at the time this article was written. That would be a difference of $3,683.68 per year if I compared it to a car that got 28 mpg (or $1,241.24 per year). If I keep my car for five years, the difference rises to $18,418.40! That means the more expensive car with better gas mileage is the better choice if I didn’t want to buy a car for more than $18,407.40.
The point is, on the surface, anything can seem like a great deal if you only think about the sticker price. The cost of running your purchase has the potential to completely alter the situation. I’ll do the same thing I did with the car’s operating costs breakdown later in the article for a printer.
Which printer offers the best value, then? To be able to decide that, we must look at the following considerations:
- Cost of a Printer
- Cost of the cartridges/refills
- Page per minute (ppm)
- Approximate volume printed per month or year
- Print coverage
- Cost of printer maintenance
How Much Does A Printer Cost?
Despite the fact that there are less expensive options, you should budget about $200 for an all-in-one or tank printer and about $120 for a trustworthy inkjet printer. There are some all-in-one printers that cost up to $1,500, but that is not the norm.
Although color laser printers are initially more expensive than inkjet printers, toner replacement costs are significantly lower per page than ink cartridges. You’ll have to shell out $250 for a color laser printer. Color laser all-in-one printers cost around $300.
For those who don’t need to print in color, monochrome laser printers are a cost-effective option. Even all-in-one gadgets can be purchased for under $150.
After reading this article, do you know how much does a printer cost? And how to buy it?
