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The cost of printer cartridges
Thread poster: Tom in London
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
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Interesting Mar 23, 2018

Jack Doughty wrote:

See https://www.ijtdirect.co.uk/ for offers of free good quality printers if you spend a certain amount on ink cartridges for them.


Thanks Jack. I'll look into this. Presumably if you buy a printer from them, and also the replacement cartridges, that provides some sort of guarantee that the cartridges will actually work.


 
MK2010
MK2010  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 23:38
French to English
+ ...
Printers are such a scam... Mar 23, 2018

They're cheap to buy but then you print out 2 1/2 pages and it's time for another cartridge, and those, on the other hand, are NOT cheap. The thing that makes me want to hurl my HP at the wall with terrible force is that it insists on printing out these little "tests" all the time, just to make sure everything is okay. Yeah, right. Like it really cares. It's just so it can use up loads of ink of all colors and make me run to the store again and spend money.

I find that with larger f
... See more
They're cheap to buy but then you print out 2 1/2 pages and it's time for another cartridge, and those, on the other hand, are NOT cheap. The thing that makes me want to hurl my HP at the wall with terrible force is that it insists on printing out these little "tests" all the time, just to make sure everything is okay. Yeah, right. Like it really cares. It's just so it can use up loads of ink of all colors and make me run to the store again and spend money.

I find that with larger files, it's cheaper just going to the print shop. I don't actually know if it's cheaper, but it very well could be, and it's an opportunity to chat with the owners and discuss the lack of snow this ski season and maybe buy a pen. So there's that.
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Thomas T. Frost
Thomas T. Frost  Identity Verified
Portugal
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Danish to English
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Is €0.03/page a scam? Mar 23, 2018

The supplies (toner and drum) for my Brother laser printer cost about €0.03 per page with original parts. I wouldn't call that a scam. The toner cartridge is rated for 2,600 pages, the drum for 12,000.

An ink jet dries out or gets misaligned if it isn't regularly used and tested and realigned. I had one once, and it was only trouble. I wouldn't want another one.

A laser printer doesn't dry out and doesn't need constant maintenance, cleaning, testing and realignment.


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
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Laser Mar 23, 2018

Before starting this thread I had already ordered new cartridges. If they work, fine. If they don't, I'll consider divesting myself of the Epson inkjet (even though it's only a year old) and replacing it with a laser printer.

 
Mirko Mainardi
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Italy
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English to Italian
Health concerns? Mar 23, 2018

Before buying my latest inkjet, I too was considering a laser printer, however, I've always heard that copiers and laser printers might be harmful to one's health, especially if used in closed/... See more
Before buying my latest inkjet, I too was considering a laser printer, however, I've always heard that copiers and laser printers might be harmful to one's health, especially if used in closed/confined environments.

E.g.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4791579/
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/268411555_Health_hazards_caused_by_laser_printers_and_copiers
http://www.abc.net.au/health/talkinghealth/factbuster/stories/2011/06/22/3249217.htm
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Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
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That reminds me... Mar 23, 2018

Mirko Mainardi wrote:

Before buying my latest inkjet, I too was considering a laser printer, however, I've always heard that copiers and laser printers might be harmful to one's health, especially if used in closed/confined environments.

E.g.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4791579/
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/268411555_Health_hazards_caused_by_laser_printers_and_copiers
http://www.abc.net.au/health/talkinghealth/factbuster/stories/2011/06/22/3249217.htm


That reminds me: I would always refuse to translate anything relating to experiments on animals. Quote from your second link: "intratracheal instillation of very high toner doses produced significantly increased lung tumor rates in rats."


 
Thomas T. Frost
Thomas T. Frost  Identity Verified
Portugal
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Health Mar 23, 2018

It sounds as if precautions may be needed if a printer is in heavy use in a poorly ventilated room, but I doubt the average translator needs to print that much.

 
Tom in London
Tom in London
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Eliminate Mar 23, 2018

Thomas T. Frost wrote:

It sounds as if precautions may be needed if a printer is in heavy use in a poorly ventilated room, but I doubt the average translator needs to print that much.


I think the aim should be to eliminate printing completely, if possible.


 
Thomas T. Frost
Thomas T. Frost  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 03:38
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Yes Mar 23, 2018

Tom in London wrote:

I think the aim should be to eliminate printing completely, if possible.


I print very little, and certainly not when I use a CAT tool. I know you don't, and I admit that when I get scanned pages that can't easily be OCR scanned and loaded into a CAT tool (i.e. I work directly in Word), then I also prefer to print the whole thing before reviewing it.


 
Roy Chacón
Roy Chacón  Identity Verified
Colombia
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English to Spanish
Issue solved Mar 23, 2018

I do the same, print out all translations several times. Just buy an Epson L555 or similar, no cartridges to replace and just inexpensive ink bottles. https://www.epson.es/products/printers/inkjet-printers/consumer/ecotank-l555

 
Tom in London
Tom in London
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Hmmmm Mar 23, 2018

Roy Chacón wrote:

I do the same, print out all translations several times. Just buy an Epson L555 or similar, no cartridges to replace and just inexpensive ink bottles. https://www.epson.es/products/printers/inkjet-printers/consumer/ecotank-l555


Very interesting- thanks Roy!


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
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Crooks Mar 23, 2018

Quote

"The strategy has been to nudge the consumer towards a high frequency of purchases"

Interesting article in The Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/feb/23/printer-ink-cartridges-paying-more-getting-less

The more I think about my printing experience over the past few years, th
... See more
Quote

"The strategy has been to nudge the consumer towards a high frequency of purchases"

Interesting article in The Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/feb/23/printer-ink-cartridges-paying-more-getting-less

The more I think about my printing experience over the past few years, the more I realise that I and millions of other frustrated users are engaged in a battle with the printer manufacturers who are trying to squeeze more and more money out of users at a time when people are printing less and less.

Is laser printing a better option in terms of cost? I'm not sure. You still need to buy toner.

What most people need is probably a cheap, reliable printer that they will only need a few times per month, using inks that won't dry out and are cheap (or free) to replace.

For such a printer I would be prepared to pay more upfront.

[Edited at 2018-03-23 19:32 GMT]
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Anna Giulia Musso
Anna Giulia Musso  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 22:38
German to Italian
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ever tried text to speech? Mar 23, 2018

I recently tried the text to speech function in Word: it helps me a lot during the final revision, especially in terms of eye tiredness.
It could probably be useful to save some ink and paper (and trees...).


 
Dan Lucas
Dan Lucas  Identity Verified
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Japanese to English
Kyocera Ecosys Mar 24, 2018

Tom in London wrote:
For such a printer I would be prepared to pay more upfront.

Like yourself, I personally feel that scanning a printed page, red pen in hand, gives better results than reading the same document on screen.

Inkjet printers (with the possible exception of HP's PageWide models) are generally far more expensive to run than lasers. Individual toners for laser printers are not cheap, and some people get caught up on that: "The toners cost more than the printer!" is a common cry. Well, yes, the printer is just a delivery mechanism for the toner, and over the life of the equipment the toner will cost many times the initial cost of the printer itself.

Nevertheless, looking at the cost of a toner in absolute terms is naïve. If you need to print x number of pages, then what matters is the cost per page of printing those pages, as I think somebody has already mentioned in this thread. If a toner costs £50 and lasts 1,000 pages (made-up figures) then the cost per page is 5p. An ink cartridge that costs £15 and only prints 200 pages has a cost per page of 7.5p - 50% more expensive. Yet some people will look at the inkjet cartridge and think it is better value. You do have to factor in the higher initial cost of the laser printer, so the economics only work if you are printing a reasonable number of pages, rather than half a dozen sheets per week.

When I last bought a laser printer I searched for the lowest running costs, which led me to Kyocera Ecosys printers. Kyocera's expertise is in ceramics, and they have used this to develop very durable components (specifically, the drum). These do not need to be replaced during the life of the equipment, resulting in lower cost of ownership. For the same reason they also generate less waste. An explanation can be found here. Magazine reviews generally seem to support Kyocera's claims of low running costs. I bought an Ecosys printer in 2013 and have been very satisfied. It just works. When the time comes to replace it I will probably get another Kyocera.

The thing to watch out for in your case is drivers for the Mac. Everybody claims to supply them, but it seems that the quality varies not only from brand to brand, but sometimes from model to model.

Regards,
Dan

[Edited at 2018-03-24 07:52 GMT]


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
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5p Mar 24, 2018

Dan Lucas wrote:

... If a toner costs £50 and lasts 1,000 pages (made-up figures) then the cost per page is 5p. An ink cartridge that costs £15 and only prints 200 pages has a cost per page of 7.5p - 50% more expensive.


Even 5p per page is ridiculously expensive. I'm going to be drastically reducing the amount of printing I do.

Thanks for the pointer, Dan. And thanks to all (so far) - you have made me take the time to do a complete rethink about printing (which continues).


 
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The cost of printer cartridges






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