The Printer Guru Knows All!

Come one, come all! If you have a printer problem, the Printer Guru has an answer!

Who is the Printer Guru?

The Printer Guru is an expert on printers, who likes to help poor souls in need from time to time. She only has time to solve a printer problem once a week, because Printer Gurus have lives too! Send in your problems to the Printer Guru, and who knows? If your situation is dire enough, or if the Printer Guru feels like it, she may find some time to help you.

This Week’s Problem

Background Information

The Magic Comparison Table

The Sensible Solution

This Week’s Problem

This week, a teenaged girl from Toronto, Canada has been chosen for the divine intervention of the Printer Guru! Read the letter she sent me below to find out more about her circumstances.

Dear Printer Guru,
I am a first year highschool student, who is looking for the perfect printer! My family wants to find a good quality printer that will at last at least four years, until I finish highschool. I currently take 8 subjects a year, and due to the many reports and projects I have, I print an average of about 2 printouts a day. Most of my printouts are black-and-white, but I do like to make the occasional colour printout to add a splash of colour to assignments. I have a younger brother in 7th grade, who has the same printing needs to complete his homework. Our father often works at home, and he prints out his work documents at home in large loads. Lastly, our mother is a Scout leader, and she needs to print out many copies of notices and permission forms for special events. Our grandparents rarely use the printer. However, we like to be eco-friendly, so any kind of energy conserving we can do, we do. What kind of printer would be the best for us? We do not mind paying more for good quality, but we would like to keep the initial budget at about $300. Please help!
G.L.

Background Information

This week’s problem is quite a common one. With the ever-improving technology of today, more things are becoming technologically integrated. Whether in business or education, there is a lot more that we do on the computer today, and therefore more printing we have to do! Before we compare some printers, let’s have a quick lesson. There are 3 main types of printers: inkjet, laser, and colour laser printers. There are pros and cons to each. For the inkjet printers, photo printing quality tends to be higher, while it tends to be lower for laser printers. However, printing speed for laser printers (either monochrome or colour) is almost always faser, and doesn't take time to dry, or get runny when exposed to water. When buying printers, the first thing most people will notice is that inkjet printers are relatively cheaper. Do not be fooled! Ink cartridges run out a lot quicker than laser toners, and the cost of replacing cartridges does build up. Laser printers tend to be more pricey at first, but the time between replacing toners is longer, even though toners are more expensive. Also, inkjet printers tend to be smaller and more convenient, whereas laser printers can be quite big and heavy.

When comparing printers, it is important to look at a few key factors:

the total cost of ownership (the price of the printer, accessories, and consumables (ink, toner, paper, etc.) needed over the printer's expected life, with all other taxes and applicable fees)
output quality
printing volume
printing speed (measured in pages per minute, or ppm)
cost per page (roughly, the cost of the ink/toner divided by amount of rendered pages)
duty cycle (the amount of pages a printer can handle each month without breaking down)

For this week’s problem, let’s do a bit of analysing. G.L.’s family looks like they do a lot of printing. If she, her mother, father, and brother print about 2 pages a day, then that equals to 248 pages a month, 2920 pages a year, and 11 680 pages over four years. It seems G.L.’s family mainly prints black-and-white documents, but have an occasional need for colour printing. The printing out of large loads needed by G.L.’s mother and father means that the printer speed shouldn't be too slow. The family would like to be eco-friendly by saving paper. They don't mind investing a bit more for the prnter, but their budget is $300. Okay, now that we understand the situation, let the Printer Guru work her magic!

**The Magic Comparison Table**
Printer	Factors		Calculations
Brother Wireless All-In-One Laser Printer (MFC-7840W) Image from bestbuy.ca, retrieved 2010-11-20.	Total Cost (over four years)	$836.81	Paper: Paper needed over 4 years (11 680) / Pages per box (5000) = 3 boxes of paper needed Toners: Paper needed over 4 years (11 680) / Rendered pages (1500) = 8 toners needed for four years, 1 comes with printer, so 7 are needed. -------------------------------------- Initial cost: $249.99 Environmental fee: $5.40 Toner price (for all 7): $349.93 Paper price (for all 3): $137.88 Tax: $96.61 -------------------------------------- Total: $836.81
	Cost per year	About $209.20	Total cost / 4
	Speed	23 (pages per minute)	N/A
	Cost Per Page	About 3 cents	Price Of Toner / Pages rendered $ 49.99 / 1500 = about $0.03
	Duty Cycle	Up to 10 000 pages monthly	N/A
	Dimensions	42.8(W) x 30.4(H) x 39.6(D) cm	N/A
	2-sided printing		N/A
	Wireless	✓	N/A
	1 Year Warranty	✓	N/A
	Auto on-off technology	✓	N/A
Canon Pixma Wireless All-In-One Inkjet Printer (MX350) Image from bestbuy.ca, retrieved 2010-11-20.	Total Cost (over four years)	$2421.12	Paper: Paper needed over 4 years (11 680) / Pages per box (5000) = 3 boxes of paper needed Ink: 11 680 / Rendered pages for black and colour (334) = about 70 cartridges needed for four years. 1 of each comes with printer, so 34 of each are needed. -------------------------------------- Initial cost: $199.99 Environmental fee: $5.40 Ink price (for 34 black and 34 colour): $969.32 Paper price (for all 3): $137.88 Tax: $278.53 -------------------------------------- Total: $2421.12
	Cost per year	About About $605.28	Total cost / 4
	Speed	Black: 4.8 (Images Per Minute) Colour: 4.8 (Images Per Minute)	N/A
	Cost Per Page	Black: 12 cents Colour: 22 cents	Black Ink cartridge price ($24.99) / Rendered pages (200) = about $0.12 Colour Ink cartridge price ($29.99) / Rendered pages (134) = about $0.22
	Duty Cycle	Not provided by company	N/A
	Dimensions	45.8(W) x 41.5(H) x 19.8(D) cm	N/A
	2-sided printing	✓	N/A
	Wireless	✓	N/A
	1 Year Warranty	✓	N/A
	Auto on-off technology	✓	N/A
HP Laserjet Pro Colour Laser Printer (CP1025NW) Image from bestbuy.ca, retrieved 2010-11-20.	Total Cost (over four years)	$864.85	Paper: Paper needed over 4 years (11 680) / Pages per box (5000) = 3 boxes of paper needed Toners (Only available through online order) : Toner bundles (black, cyan, magenta, yellow) yield 4200 pages in total. Toner bundle x 2 = 8400 pages, plus 2 more black toners = 12 000 pages (11 680 needed for four years) -------------------------------------- Initial cost: $199.99 Environmental fee: $5.40 Toner price (for 2 bundles and 1 black cartridge, tax included): $449.96 Shipment for toner: $27 Paper price (for all 3): $137.88 Tax: $44.62 -------------------------------------- Total: $$864.85
	Cost per year	About About $216.21	Total cost / 4
	Speed	Black: Black: 17 (Pages Per Minute) Colour: 4 (Pages Per Minute)	N/A
	Cost Per Page	Black: 4 cents Colour: 5 cents	Black Cartridge price ($43.99) / Rendered pages (1200) = about $0.04 Colour Cartridge price ($45.99) / Rendered pages (1000) = about $0.05
	Duty Cycle	Up to 15 000 pages monthly	N/A
	Dimensions	39.88(W) x 39.88(H) x 22.35(D) cm	N/A
	2-sided printing		N/A
	Wireless	✓	N/A
	1 Year Warranty	✓	N/A
	Auto on-off technology	✓	N/A

The Sensible Solution

The time has come for the unveiling of the truth! After looking at the factors for each printer, and a lot of thinking, the Printer Guru has made her choice. She recommends (drumroll) ... the Brother Wireless All-In-One Laser Printer! Why? Keep reading for the explaination! First of all, let's look at the price factor. One look at the magic comparison table, and we can see that the printer with the most expensive total cost is the inkjet printer, even though it was the cheapest to buy initially. The printing speeds were the quickest for the black laser printer, and the cost per page was also the cheapest for the black laser printer.

Some factors that weren’t included in the table were imporatant as well. All three printers met the energy star standards, but only the colour laser printer had auto on-off technology. The inkjet printer had the best LCD sceen display, the black laser printer had a black and white display, and the colour laser printer didn’t have a display. The black laser printer is the best choice for G.L., because on a whole, it is the best printer economically, and in terms of print speed. Her family needs to print large volumes, and this printer can handle that. It isn’t too fancy, but its all-in-one functions allow her mother to easily make copies of permission forms, her dad to print large amounts, and her and her brother to print homework at quick speeds.

The Printer Guru knows what you are thinking. She has not forgotten about G.L.’s occasional use of colour printing. She would like to say that as you can see, it is not the best idea to buy an inkjet printer if you do large volumes of printing, but buying a colour laser printer isn’t worth it either if you only occasionally print in colour. In that case, what should G.L. do? Well, she has a couple of choices. When she wants to print in colour, she can borrow a friend’s printer, or go to a store that offers printing services. If her family makes colour prints more more often, they can look into buying one good quality black laser printer, and a cheaper inkjet printer. The Guru recommends the Lexmark X4650 Color Inkjet Printer, which is a pretty good inkjet printer that is worth its price. Seeing as G.L. lives in Toronto, the recommended printers are available at all Best Buy locations in Toronto. As for the paper, one can purchase the letter sized “Staples FSC-Certified Eco-Responsible Copy Paper” at most Staples locations in Canada. Yes, it is FSC certified (endorsed by the Rainforest Alliance and World Wildlife Fund), eco-friendly paper!

Well, the Guru hopes she has helped. Remember: There is no perfect printer for everyone, because everyone’s situation is different. Use the factors to compare printers, and find one that fits your situation well. Whether you are a business person, a student, or a grandma that likes photoshopping Christmas cards, you can find the best printer! And if if you can’t, then send in an email to the Printer Guru, who will always be happy to help ... when she feels like it.

This page is actually my Printer Comparison assignment for Computer Studies class, so unfortunately, there is no such person as the Printer Guru.

Background image from http://www.getcliparts.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/candle_light_1440x900.jpg, retrieved 2010-11-21.

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