August 3, 2005

InkJets Challenge Laser Jets

Although traditional B&W laser printers print faster and cheaper than ink jets, many businesses want color printing. Color Laser printers are coming down in price $500 range, but this is still a steap price for many, hence color ink jets are an option.

Finally BUSINESSES, however, still rely on black and white laser printers for their speed and print quality.

PC World writes Hewlett-Packard evidently thinks some businesses can be swayed to join the inkjet camp. Its new $199 Officejet Pro K550 is an inkjet printer--though notice that the word "inkjet" isn't part of the name, as it is in previous Business Inkjet models.

The new Officejet has a number of specs that challenge the dominance of laser printer technology for small workgroups. The most important preconception HP must dismiss is that the cost per page with laser toner cartridges is less than that of ink cartridges. Nils Miller, ink/media senior scientist at HP, says that the K550's ink costs are 30 percent cheaper than the toner costs of a personal color laser in the same class (under-$500 printers). If you use high-yield cartridges, HP says ink costs per page could be as low as 1.5 cents for text and 7.7 cents for color and black. These estimates are based on 20 percent coverage: 5 percent for each color plus black.

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