Cost per page colour lasers

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ken
  • Start date Start date
In my local Staples it said 6.5p for a page with 20% coverage.

Does this sound right?
Click to expand...

Perhaps for "a" laser, but not for all lasers.
A bit like saying "cars, 37 mpg, does it sound right"
 
pete said:
Perhaps for "a" laser, but not for all lasers.
A bit like saying "cars, 37 mpg, does it sound right"
Click to expand...

It was a Konica Minolta 2400 for which I always thought the cost per page
figures quoted were for 5% coverage - a quarter of the Staples statement.

Ken
 
It was a Konica Minolta 2400 for which I always thought the cost per page
figures quoted were for 5% coverage - a quarter of the Staples statement.

Ken
Click to expand...
For peace of mind, you can ask Minolta direct
(e-mail address removed)
or phone them 01784 442255
 
It was a Konica Minolta 2400 for which I always thought the cost per page
figures quoted were for 5% coverage - a quarter of the Staples statement.
Click to expand...

They probably mean 5% of black, cyan, magenta and yellow which makes 20%.

The figure of 6.5p seems quite low, I just did a quick calculation and got
it to around 7.8p + VAT.

These calculations are never very accurate because they are based on the
manufacturers stated life of the consumables which always achieved in
optimum conditions not in real life.

Peter
http://www.printerbase.co.uk/
 
I suspect Staples is using 5% per color and coming up with 20% coverage.
Usually, the manufacturers use 5% per color as a basis. However, most
colors are made up of several overlayed toner colors, so the cverage of
the paper surface is not defined quite as simply.

Art
 
Ken said:
Base for cost comparisosn

It was a Konica Minolta 2400 for which I always thought the cost per page
figures quoted were for 5% coverage - a quarter of the Staples statement.

Ken
Click to expand...

Staples gave you the 5% coverage figure at 5% for each colour, and since
there are four colours, quoted 20% coverage. This is nonsense IMO, but
common. The correct quote IMO should be "at 5% coverage, using all four
colours." But what that means in terms of coverage for each colour is
another question. 5% coverage is 12 pt text double spaced with approx.
2cm margin on an A4 or 8-1/2x11 page -- or so it was described to me
once, when I asked. If you use coloured text, obviously you still have
5% coverage, just a different combination of inks.

For black (single colour) printing the 5% coverage standard is well
established, and works if accompanied by qualifiers such as "at letter
quality printing." It's also related to the real world, since a typical
business letter with letterhead amounts to about 5% coverage. (Note that
this standard refers to the amount of space taken up by each character,
_not_ to the amount of space taken by the ink dots, which is another
issue, see below.)

20% coverage would be a strip about 12cm wide from one edge of the page
to the other. What this means in terms of % coverage in terms of ink is
something else again. It depends on whether the inks are layered, or
printed next to each other (like the pixels on a screen), or partly
overlapping, or spaced apart. That's a matter of printer technology and
printing quality. I've been told that different printers lay down the
ink or toner differently.

Then there is the issue of draft vs high-quality printing. Draft
printing will use as little as one quarter of the ink used by HQ
printing - which means than "coverage" is less for the same size image
or typeface. These considerations make "x% coverage" a term with little
relation to the real world use when it comes to colour printing.

IMO, colour printing costs should be based on full colour, HQ 4" x 6"
(10cm x 15cm) prints. Not that I insist on this size - I just want a
common base of comparison. "x% coverage" is not good enough for colour
printing.

HTH
 
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