After investigating the high cost of original inks for inkjet printer, the American Consumer Institute (ACI) introduced a calculator aimed at helping customers select a printer that is most cost-effective over a course of three or more years.The ACI has already criticized printer manufacturers for not disclosing ink costs on packaging. “It’s not a lot to ask to put a value on the box to let customers know how efficient it is,” says Steve Pociask, president of the institute. “And once people buy these printers, they are trapped because the cartridges are not interoperable.”
The link to the calculator is here.
In fact, the institute found that over the useful life of a printer, the actual cost of the hardware may be as little as one-tenth of the cost of the ink, according Mr. Pociask. Accordingly, the ink price per page is the most important information for consumers to consider when buying a printer.
The new calculator enables customers to pick an inkjet that delivers the lowest ink costs based on their printing practices. If you enter three variables: the number of black-and-white pages you print a week, the number of color pages and the number of 4-by-6-inch photos, the calculator will return results that include printer models, cost of the hardware, and estimated cost of the ink. It provides estimated ink costs for three, five and seven years of use.
The calculator makes its decisions based on 17 printers in its database. While this number is a bit limited, the ACI says the calculator relies only on tests from Quality Logic, an independent testing lab that employs industry-accepted ISO standards.
If you’re shopping for an inkjet, the new calculator provides a good estimate of what you can expect to pay.
For example, if you plan to print 50 b/w pages, 5 color pages and 1 photo per day in average during 3, 5 or 7 years, here are the probable costs involved:
Source: New York Times
Key words: inks, printer, color, cost, ownership
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