Don’t forget the hidden costs when buying a new printer

At some time or another, most of us will have to buy a new printer, either for use in the office or at home.

When choosing a new printer, the specification of the printer itself and its price are obvious points to consider, but one issue that is often overlooked is the cost of printer consumables.

This can be a costly mistake.  Owners of new printers often find that they are replacing cartridges more frequently than before and that the cartridges are more expensive than anticipated.  This can be an overlooked, but hidden cost that can impact on the value of a printer deal, but there are ways of avoiding this.

When choosing a new printer, it’s important to look at the whole picture – don’t just look at the machine itself.  You have to consider the volume of pages you will print, and therefore the number of cartridges you will use, when assessing the value of a printer deal.  The capacity of printer cartridges is usually expressed as a number of pages and listed in the printer user guide, and the manufacturer’s web site or the wholesaler should also have this information. 

Next, make sure the consumables can be easily sourced from your usual supplier and find out what the cost will be.  Then work out an estimated annual cost of the consumables based on usage and unit price and add this to the printer price. 

This will give you the real cost of buying the printer, and we suggest you use this method to compare different types of printer.  The results may surprise you - an attractively priced printer may not be as attractive as it first appeared!!

One way around the issue of expensive printer cartridges is to use refilled or non-branded compatible versions.  These will usually cheaper than the manufacturer’s recommended cartridge, but if a like-for-like replacement is found there is always a slight risk that these will not produce the same print quality. 

More significantly, in the event of printer problems a manufacturer is likely to suggest that problems have arisen as a result of using “rogue” cartridges and not their own recommended item.  This may not be a major issue with an inexpensive “bottom of the range” model, but could be a problem if the machine in question is heavily used and expensive to replace. 

If you are on the lookout for a new printer, Spiral has a number of stationery and IT Hardware suppliers who will be only too happy to advise you.  If you would like more information, then contact us.