HOW TO…
`````````
Choose A
Business Printer
in association with
How To Choose A Business Printer
Editor’s Note
Printers are all too often overlooked in an IT purchasing strategy - and this is a great
shame. Your printers directly produce the material customers and business partners see, and
`
they also represent a large and mostly unmanaged cost to your business.
Recent research found that most organisations are blissfully unaware of the financial
costs their printers are racking up, and the environmental cost they are adding to the
company's footprint.
Peter Judge
This is a shame because printers are easily managed and the decision criteria can be easily understood. Printer
Peter
Judge
choices are being driven by the recession and a new environmental awareness - backed up increasingly
by regulations.
Printer makers are responding to these demands, and the market is moving into a new phase.
Users will be choosing to have fewer printers, but larger, more efficient and smarter printers. They may increasingly
also choose to buy a print service instead of running and managing all.
If you understand the direction of the market, and the specifications of existing printers, and if you can
calculate the output you require, you can compare the likely total cost of ownership for a range of models, and find the
one that suits your needs best.
We hope this guide will help you do that for your company.
INDEX
Quality is always in demand…………………………………………………….....
Page 2
Money may be tight, but people are still prepared to pay for quality printing, says Dell’s senior manager of SMB
printers, Steven Mast. Companies do want to reduce costs, but they'll be doing that by applying efficiency practices,
he said, in an interview with eWEEK Europe.
All change in printers………………………………………………….…………….
Page 4
Printer technology is always evolving, but the real driver for change is what people buy. Tough times have held back
the market, but we expect a shift towards faster, shared printers, special niches for multi-function devices and,
ultimately a service-based world for many customers.
What to look for in a Printer………………………………………………………..
Page 7
Monthly capacity, print speed and maximum graphic resolution are key criteria when it comes to choosing a printer,
but TCO and some specific functions also need to be taken into account.
Total cost of ownership and green considerations.……………………………..
Page 11
The total cost of ownership argument is well established in IT circles, but why is it so rarely applied to printers? Is it
because printers are such a common sight in offices that they tend to be overlooked, until some- thing goes wrong
with them?
Glossary of Terms…………………………………………………………………….
Page 14
An explanation of the key terms and concepts used in this guide.
HOW TO GUIDE________________________________________________________
1
How To Choose A Business Printer
Quality Is Always In Demand
Money may be tight, but people are still prepared to pay for quality printing, says Dell's
senior manager of SMB printers, Steven Mast. “Companies do want to reduce costs, but
they'll be doing that by applying efficiency practices”, he said, in an interview with
eWEEK Europe.
The recession has hit many printer manufacturers hard, as companies
put capital acquisitions on hold while looking for more economical
office solutions. But Mast claims that there is still a demand for highquality printing technology. “I think we saw a significant impact from
the economic recession on pretty much every part of the printer
business – the whole space – from inkjets all the way up to the high
end boxes,” he says. “We did see that our toner sales actually held up
fairly well over the course of this year,
“We put duplexers on the vast majority of our product
lineup, and we offer it as standard on everything in our
mid and high-range products”
which to me serves as an indication that customers are still out there printing, they are just trying to
extend the life of their existing products as long as they possibly can.” That's probably just as well, since
the company has pushed the performance boundary with the world's fastest A4-size colour laser
printer, the 5130cnd, which can process up to 47 pages per minute. It's aimed at medium to large size
businesses with heavy printing needs and, Mast says its cost of ownership should appeal.
Despite the demand for high performance, multifunction printers and advanced features are still
wanted, says Mast: “We did not see a move away from colour or a move away from MFPs [multifunction
printers] last year, so we did not see any kind of effect of customers saying “OK I no longer want colour
- I'm just going to stick with the cheapest black-and-white box that I can”. Demand for these features is,
in part, kept up by the fact that these printers are smart enough to keep the costs under control, he
adds: "When you buy a box we provide tools for our customer that allow them to have a colour box
deployed in their network, but only allow certain users to print in colour on it. You can still get a colour
box and - for a very competitive price – but if you only want a couple of users to be able to print in
colour you can lock the other users just to print in mono.”
IT TAKES SMARTS TO GO GREEN
These document managed software solutions cut costs, but they
also help organisations to address the environmental impact of wasteful
printing practices. Dell has set itself the target of becoming the greenest
technology company on the planet and, according to Mast, printing is an
HOW TO GUIDE______________________2
How To Choose A Business Printer
important part of that effort.
“We put duplexers on the vast majority of our
product lineup, and we offer it as standard on
everything in our mid and high-range products. We
also offer it as an option on the bulk of our lowentry class products because it's very important to
us, as a green feature, to enable customers to print
on both sides of the page, and even to set the
printers up where that's a standard.
“The most important thing for IT
managers is to assess the needs of their
own company before going out and
shopping for a printer”
“We continue to strive with our partners, working
on lower power consumption in our boxes. The
5130 actually has a new toner formulation that
fuses at a much lower temperature than past boxes,
and that allows the printer to consume a lot less
power in the printing process. That toner also takes
a lot less power to make at our vendor, which cuts
the carbon footprint for production of the product in
the first place.”
That should go down well with Green ICT
advocates who stress the importance of counting
the whole life cycle of a product when calculating its
carbon footprint. UK government advisors have
called on the public sector to green its IT, and UN
agencies have backed that with advice on green
principles.
SUSTAINABILITY - IT'S PRACTICE, NOT
TECHNOLOGY
But while printer makers can add features
to make sure their equipment supports sustainable
printing practices, the real responsibility falls on
user companies - and the end users themselves - to
make sure those abilities are put to good use.
That is a struggle, and has led some
printer companies, to offer to take the responsibility
offering managed print services, which help
businesses consolidate their products from
widely distributed, very small devices to a few
fast networked machines with high duty cycles.
Dell runs managed printing in the US and
is looking at expanding these into the UK.
However, it's quite possible to consolidate your
printers without outsourcing print, says Mast, as
long as you get the right sort of printers: no
company can offer printer consolidation without
the right kind of printers in its portfolio: “A
customer that manages a printer environment
can clearly do that and can clearly set up that
kind of environment,” says Mast. “I do think that
in order to successfully go after managed print
though, you have to have those kind of boxes in
the line-up.”
According to Mast, the most important
thing for IT managers is to assess the needs of
their own company before going out and
shopping for a printer. Colour MFPs are currently
the largest growth sector in the market but, as
Mast says: “You don't want to buy a giant moving
van if you're just going to be hauling a couple of
potted plants across town.”
KEY CONCEPTS FOR CHOOSING A PRINTER
Steve Mast hit list: the most important decision
criteria for choosing a printer:
Do
you want a networked or locally connected printer? Because if
you get the wrong kind you're in trouble from the start.
Do you want colour or is mono OK for your business?
Do you want multifunction or just a single function printer? That
depends on the upfront decision of how you are going to use this
product.
Duty cycle – how hard are you going to be using this product? If
you don't figure that out before you buy, you may waste money on
one that is way over spec, or buy a printer that is under spec and
never runs reliably.
Speed. This goes pretty much hand in hand with duty cycle.
Print management applications: what sort of security do you
require, and how will management affect the cost per page?
Management, usage and overheads can end up being three to four
times the cost of the initial hardware purchase.
Finally paper handling. Do you need to have just one paper tray or
are you going to need multiple different paper types, legal as well
as letter size, and do you need to collate or staple?
HOW TO GUIDE______________________3
How To Choose A Business Printer
All Change In Printers
Printer technology is always evolving, but the real
driver for change is what people buy. Tough times
have held back the market, but we expect a shift
towards faster, shared printers, special niches for
multi-function devices and, ultimately a servicebased world for many customers.
What output do you need, and what printers will
you buy? Most users' needs are broadly similar, and the
market for printers gives a good idea what companies
have been opting for in the past – while the way that
market is moving shows how printing needs have
changed.
Like
most
IT
sectors, the global
market for printers
has been badly hit
by the recession,
with the number of
printers
shipped
declining 21 percent
year-on-year in the
second quarter of
2009,
to
24.1
million
units,
according to research by IDC. The total value also
declined 23.2 percent over the same time period to
$11.6 billion (8bn), suggesting users have shifted
towards cheaper models.
Colour laser printers, still seen as a luxury,
actually declined during the recession, but are getting
ready for a surge in popularity as prosperity returns.
IDC expects us all to be making the shift to colour partly as a means for companies to improve business
communications and stand out in a competitive market.
Colour laser printers will grow at a compound rate of
12.1 percent per year between 2009 and 2013 in EMEA,
it predicts. And within colour printers, multi-function
devices are doing well, having weathered the downturn
better than single-function devices, with global unit
shipments declining just 6 percent year-on-year in Q3
In some large markets there is actually pent-up
demand, says Mitri Roufka, research director of imaging
and hardcopy devices at IDC: “Many of the largest
markets in the CEMA (Central Europe Middle East and
Africa) region, such as Russia, Turkey, Poland, Saudi
Arabia, South Africa, UAE, and the Czech Republic,
are still far from saturation, offering growth
potential at 15.7 percent CAGR (compound annual
growth rate) for colour laser devices in the next
five-year period,” he said.
During the recession Western Europe has
slipped to third place in unit shipments, but is still
second in terms of value, which suggests that
Europeans are not opting for short-term
investments in cheap printers, even if money is
tight.
Users are pretty conservative in their choices,
according to the figures, with the top five printer
makers remaining unchanged: HP keeps the top
spot, despite selling 28 percent fewer printers in
the second quarter of 2009, and is followed by
Canon, Epson, Brother and Lexmark. However, in a
more volatile market, more recent entrants such as
Dell have been increasing their share by offering
better services and using the synergy with their
systems business.
WASTING PAPER AND ENERGY
The real driver for change will
be an increased focus on efficiency,
coming from a combination of three
factors. Firstly, there are increased
economic pressures to cut costs, and
secondly there will be greater "green"
regulations forcing companies to waste
less. Thirdly, and most surprisingly,
despite the obvious benefits, most
companies are still blind to the
efficiency savings that can be made
from printers.
Every country in Europe has a
long way to go in improving printing
efficiency
according
to
the
Document Governance Index
Despite a lot of talk by
manufacturers and users, efficiency has made very
HOW TO GUIDE______________________4
How To Choose A Business Printer
little headway in people's printing. practices or
percent, and own-brand inkjet cartridges fell by 19
purchases. Printing is a ripe target for both reducing
percent. Meanwhile, third-party toner went up by 5
both environmental and economic footprints.
percent to take 37 percent of the toner market.
Paper wastage is a significant cost, with
As businesses get more careful with their
businesses spending up to five percent of their annual
spending, printer manufacturers will step in and
turnover on document management, a total spend in
respond to the changing demand. However, in the
Europe or around 14 billion per year. Despite this, 32
process, they must create new business models, as
percent of business leaders in Europe allow employees
today's printer market does not operate in favour of
to do what they like with regard to duplex printing
efficiency. Again, this is an opportunity for newer
(printing on both sides of the paper), according to a
challengers such as Dell.
study by printing specialist Ricoh, and 19 percent are
As organisations move towards efficiency,
either still in the planning stages or have no plans to
this will tend to shift the market towards fewer
implement a duplex printing policy. Only 18 percent
small printers, as individuals are no longer given
have implemented such a policy company-wide.
personal desktop printers. Users will buy a smaller
Sustainable printing strategies are poorly
number of larger printers, which tend to use fewer
adopted right across Europe, according to the Ricoh
consumables per page, and have a lower overall
study. The UK, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany
total cost of ownership.
Italy and France all scored between 38.5 and 43.5 out of
WORLDWIDE PRINTER UNIT SALES
a possible hundred on the Document
Governance Index – which assigns a
Inkjet printers are still the popular favourite, but are really a consumer
numerical value to environmental aspects of
technology according to market researcher IDC. They made up 70 percent (18.6 million) of
document governance such as recycling,
the printers shipped in Q3 of 2009. In particular, people are searching for value by
setting targets, auditing and employee
investing in multifunction peripheral (MFP) devices, which can photocopy, scan and fax as
well as print. This part of the market actually showed a year-on-year growth of 13 percent,
behaviours.
and now makes up 24 percent of inkjets.
Although the UK placed worst, every
Laser printing is the future, and is already the most common technology in
country in Europe has a long way to go in
offices. Once the preserve of top-end systems, it is continuing to extend its foothold, and
improving printing efficiency, Ricoh found. Only
because of the larger cost of these devices, laser printers make up a much bigger part of
33 percent of companies have implemented a
the revenue in printers.
fully developed strategy to deal with paper and
Personal printers had spread to many desktops in offices, but IT managers
energy wastage. This means that many
eager to reduce their costs and their environmental footprint (as we shall see later in this
companies are overlooking tactical actions they
guide) are starting to cut that back, pushing shared printers.
“New devices are becoming faster with higher monthly duty cycles, increased
can take, not only to improve sustainability but
paper
management,
and greatly improved connectivity levels, and as a result
to reduce costs as well.
organisations will continue to replace multiple older devices, which are often single
This blind spot in companies won't
function monochrome printers, with a single new device, often a colour MFP," said Julio
remain for long, and it is certain that users will
Vial, research manager for European Printers at IDC EMEA.
gradually become more aware of efficiency. The
This will make the laser printer the first choice in offices in the future. Already
recession itself has lowered demand - the
laser printers are the greatest part of the market by value, and monochrome laser printers
market for consumables dropped 13 percent in
make up the biggest part (42 percent) of the market at $4.9 billion (€3.4 billion). They
EMEA in the first half of 2009, and the fall was
outsell colour laser printers by about four monochrome units to every colour device. They
also tend to be single-function workhouses; around two thirds have no other functions.
more pronounced amongst businesses than
IDC predicts that in Europe, the monochrome peak is past, and these will
consumers. Cost-conscious buyers are less
decline
during
the period to 2013, while colour lasers rule the roost. Already, selling at a
likely to accept vendors' assurances that only
significantly higher price, the colour printers make up almost as much value as the
"genuine" toner is good enough. Sales of
monochrome ones.
manufactures’' own-brand toner fell by 24
Source: IDC
HOW TO GUIDE______________________5
How To Choose A Business Printer
Printers will increasingly be sold on efficiency
characteristics such as the ability to set policies for
duplex printing, and take part in remotely managed
schemes such as "pull printing", In this system, output
is not actually produced when the user asks for it instead it goes into a print queue. The user must
identify themselves at a printer using a swipe card or
security code, before the document is delivered. There
are several benefits: it is more secure, as as documents
can only be delivered to the user who asked for them,
and are not seen by others, and it is also more flexible,
allowing users to skip queues as documents can be
delivered to any available printer. And it also uses
less paper - as it avoids having documents which are
printed but not collected.
Efficiency features may cause changes to device
1
How many people
will use the device?
YES
2-5
6-10
11-50
Do you need
colour?
NO
1
How many people
will use the device?
YES
2-5
6-10
11-50
Do you need multiple
functions?
1
NO
2-5
How many people
will use the device?
YES
6-10
11-50
Do you need
colour?
NO
1
How many people
will use the device?
2-5
6-10
11-50
makers' business models, as the main way to
reduce printing costs is to print less, using fewer
consumables. These make up to half of the revenue
of printer manufacturers - and in some case
seventy to eighty percent of profits.
THE MOVE TO SERVICES
One way to reduce consumables and still keep hold of
customers and make a profit is to shift to a service
based model, where the user pays a fixed price per
page, and the printer provider operates a service to
deliver this. This model is been promoted by
companies including Dell, and it seems likely to
spread down through the middle market, to
companies that currently have many printers and
want to consolidate to fewer printers, without facing a
confusion of different
Entry level colour laser USB
toner types and service
contracts. For vendors,
Entry level colour laser
networked
services will give a means
to keep on selling despite
Mainstream laser colour
networked
customers' demand to
actually buy less. Some
Advanced / Performance laser
colour networked
companies are widening
their document manaEntry level mono laser USB
gement software and
services offerings – selling
Entry level mono laser networked
the prospect of lower
costs and better manaMainstream laser mono
networked
gement rather than new
hardware.
Advanced / Performance laser
mono networked
“Now that many end-user
organisations have frozen
their hardware spending,
vendors are increasingly
Entry level colour laser USB
looking at alternatives
multifunction
such as managed print
Entry level colour laser
services and documentnetworked multifunction
managed software as
Mainstream laser colour
ways to increase revenue,
networked multifunction
said Tosh Prabhakar,
Advanced laser colour networked
senior analyst at Gartner.
multifunction
“Vendors
must
sell
services
to
businesses
Entry level mono laser USB
that will help them better
multifunction
control costs, save on
Entry level mono laser networked
multifunction
running costs, reduce
cost-per-page issues and
Mainstream laser mono
networked multifunction
consolidate devices.”
Advanced laser mono networked
multifunction
HOW TO GUIDE______________________6
How To Choose A Business Printer
What To Look For In A Printer
MONTHLY CAPACITY, PRINT SPEED
and MAXIMUM GRAPHIC RESOLUTION
are key criteria when it comes to
choosing a printer, but TCO and some
specific functions also need to be taken
into account.
M
Monthly Capacity
A
I
Print Speed
N
D
E
C
I
S
I
O
N
C
R
I
T
E
R
I
A
Quality
(partly defined by the
print resolution)
Cost of ownership
Energy use
Noise
Colour output
Paper handling
(including A3/A4)
Multifunction
(scanning and faxing)
Hordes of cheap inkjet printers may make up the big numbers at the low end
of the hardcopy peripherals market but, with significant price reductions and
improved performance, lasers are the top choice for small and medium sized
businesses. With so many factors coming into play, the first thing to do when buying
a printer is take a step back and ask: what are your organisation’s particular needs?
To help you make a decision, eWEEK Europe has compiled a list of the main
decision criteria, and looked at how these can affect your company.
MONTHLY CAPACITY
Printing capacity is the top priority for most companies when it comes to
choosing a printer. While inkjet printers are less expensive to buy, they incur a much
higher cost per page over the long term than their laser counterparts. Inkjet printers
are therefore suited to very small businesses (freelancers, very small companies,
etc.). An inkjet printer should only be used by a user or a group whose total printing
needs do not exceed 1,000 pages per month.
Over that threshold, laser technology is generally considered the better choice,
particularly as these machines have a much longer service life. They are faster, so
they should also be chosen if your company’s business involves printing peaks, for
example, needing to produce a high volume of brochures in a short space of time.
Printer makers quote a "duty cycle" as the number of pages a printer can produce in
one month without any performance issues, but suggest that the actual print volume
per month should be kept lower than this.
Cheaper laser printers usually have a lower recommended duty cycle - cheap
200 multi-function unit may only be rated for 6000 pages per month, but print-only
units, designed for high usage can manage 80,000 to 100,000 at prices for a
purchase price of £600.
Although devices with a high duty cycle are more expensive to buy, they
work out cheaper if the user's print volume is also high - as low duty cycle printers
must have a maintenance kit applied to them more often. Since the maintenance kit
for a 1000 printer can cost around £250, maintenance is a major part of the lifecycle
cost - and choosing a printer whose duty cycle matches your print volume need can
keep that cost down.
HOW TO GUIDE______________________7
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How To Choose A Business Printer
PRINT SPEED
The printer’s speed becomes a deciding factor for
companies when they need to produce a large quantity
of documents in a limited
time. This value, expressed
in pages per minute (or
ppm), can differ depending
on the print quality. For
example, printing in draft
mode is often much quicker
than in optimal mode.
While traditionally
colour printing has been much slower, there are now
numerous printers that feature the same speed for
colour or monochrome printing. Dell, in particular,
claims to have the record for the fastest colour laser
printer, with its 5130cdn. However, printer
performances vary greatly in this area. Models in the
region of £450 usually offer a speed close to 20 ppm,
while the fastest models can reach almost 50 ppm.
Power consumption is a driver
towards running fewer shared
printers, and also towards using
newer printers
PRINTING QUALITY
Requirements in terms of printing quality
may also be taken into account when choosing a
solution. It is worth noting that while significant
progress has been made over the past few years, laser
printers are yet to match their inkjet counterparts in
this area – especially when it comes to printing on photo
paper.
The precision of a printer is determined by it
resolution, expressed in dots per inch (dpi). This
measurement corresponds to the number of pixels the
machine can print on a square inch. Depending on the
type of documents you need to print out, you will need
to make sure your printer can handle the right range of
resolutions.
COST OF OWNERSHIP
As a general rule, the cost-per-page for laser printers is
lower than for inkjet models when handling large
volumes. However, the various models of laser
printers differ greatly in this respect and costs can
vary by as much as 200 percent.
One of the reasons for such disparity is
the use of high-capacity cartridges in some models,
which generates savings on the purchase price and
also means that cartridges need to be changed less
frequently. When it comes to buying a printer,
therefore, companies and individuals should assess
the total cost of ownership, taking all these factors
into account.
SPECIFIC FUNCTIONS
Some companies may be looking for their printer to
be more than just a printer. Multifunctional devices
which can handle photocopying, scanning and
faxing are well established. When they arrived,
some people expected multi-function machines to
replace single-function devices, but in fact they are
only a niche - albeit a large one - in the printing
ecosystem.
Multi
function
devices are more expensive.
Also, although they can do
different jobs, it is not much
help if one user monopolises
the machine for a complex
photocopy job while
someone else has a print job
waiting - or vice versa.
It is also essential to
consider whether the organisation needs to
produce
colour
documents
or
whether
monochrome would be sufficient. The price
differential between the two is currently quite
steep, but is reducing. At some point, printer
manufacturers predict that the difference will be
small enough for users to simply opt for colour so
they can have the benefit of better output.
The price comparison between colour
and monochrome printers, like all such
comparisons, is a complex one, involving both the
purchase price and the cost of consumables and
maintenance. Even if the purchase price comes
down, consumable costs will still be higher for a
colour device, and some organisations may feel
they can afford to buy one but fear the consumable
costs will spiral out of control.
HOW TO GUIDE______________________8
How To Choose A Business Printer
For these users, colour print management functions will
be an important feature to watch for. Printers with
strong intelligence features can handle printing policies,
so that only specific users, or job types, can print in
colour.
Other specific functions that may be required
include Wi-Fi connection as well as wired Ethernet,
smartphone compatibility, local storage, and printing
from USBs.
As more complex functions are added, this adds
other requirements such as physical and data security of
any hard disk - thieves could steal it for the corporate
data it contains.
LIMITED LIFE CYCLES
In the retail printer market, the price of a set of
cartridges can be as much as 80 percent of the total
value of the printer, although most devices are delivered
with cartridges from the outset. As a result, very small
companies sometimes choose to buy a whole new
printer
once
the
cartridges have run out
rather than buying new
cartridges, which is a
disaster
ecologically
speaking.
However, the ink (or the toner for laser printers)
is not the only thing that needs regularly replacing.
Other parts of the printer also have a limited life cycle,
such as the drum, the transfer belt, and the
photoconductor unit.
Some manufacturers cover the replacement of
these parts free of charge during the warranty period,
while others leave it to users to buy and replace them
for themselves.
WARM-UP TIME
“Time-to-first-page” is also a factor frequently put
forward by manufacturers when it comes to choosing a
printer for SMBs. This is defined as the time it takes for
the machine to warm up and be ready for use. This can
be an important issue in an office that prints small
quantities of documents at regular intervals throughout
the day, as having to wait 20 seconds for a printer to
warm up every time you use it can be a serious
inconvenience. A short warm-up time is also essential
for companies who want to reduce their overall carbon
footprint by having their printers shut down or in a lowpower standby mode when not in use.
Some manufacturers have made significant efforts
to improve performance in this area, and most
professional models now.
PRINT LANGUAGES
To communicate with and
receive instructions from
computers, printers use
different languages which
provide a description of
the pages. PostScript 3,
initially developed by
Adobe, is currently the most widespread, and has
become a standard now found on almost all models.
Note that some manufacturers offer emulations of
PostScript such as BR-Script 3 by Brother.
Another standardised language is PCL
(Printer Command Language) developed by
Hewlett Packard, and currently available in version
6. PCL 6 compatibility is also sometimes provided
by vendors including Dell and Lexmark.
POWER CONSUMPTION
The actual power consumed by a laser printer can
be a massive component of its overall cost,
particularly for a cheap model, or an older printer
which is due for replacement. Older printers do not
have efficient reduced settings for standby power,
and printers with a particular usage pattern can be
left on full power all the time, burning electricity.
Personal laser printers, which only cost
approximately £200, can look cost effective if users
say they need them to be more productive, but
research by Lexmark found that these can use up to
85 of electricity per year, making their overall cost
vastly higher.
Power consumption is therefore a driver
towards running fewer shared printers, and also
towards using newer printers, which benefit from
improvements in printing technology, such as a
lower temperature toner in use by Dell, which cuts
energy use still further.
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How To Choose A Business Printer
CAPACITY, WARRANTY, NOISE
Although arguably less significant than the previous categories, other criteria that may
tip the scales when making your choice of printer include:
 Input
paper capacity, which is why most professional printer models
allow optional trays to be added.
 Sound level, which should be checked for convenience,
particularly in already noisy environments. This is expressed in decibels,
with a difference of 3 decibels corresponding to a doubling of noise level.
 Warranty, which generally lasts for one year but can be extended
(for a price) with most manufacturers. In this area, it is important to
note the difference between a standard warranty covering common
defects and faulty material, and an extended warranty that covers
wear on parts such as drums.
 Consistency.
A clear overall print strategy will usually aim to use a minimum of
vendors and a minimum of models. This will cut the cost of spares and consumables
that need to be kept available, and will make it quicker and easier to manage the
printers - and also end users will find it easier to get the output they want using the
same user interface.
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How To Choose A Business Printer
Total Cost of Ownership
and Green Considerations
The total cost of ownership argument is well established in IT circles, but why is
it so rarely applied to printers? Is it because printers are such a common sight in
offices that they tend to be overlooked, until something goes wrong with them?
In these tough economic times, the strategy for
managing an organisation's printer resources is
incredibly important. Most companies are having
their IT budgets squeezed, and printers can often
be overlooked as a way to help an organisation save
money.
Careful planning is required when installing
a new or replacement machine in a department,
even though the end users may be demanding a
replacement printer immediately.
Your total cost will depend on the monthly
print volume you require from your
printer, and that may also depend on
what the printer is capable of doing
For example, does the replacement machine really
need to be a colour laser printer? Does this
department really need a multifunction model? Is it
time to replace this inkjet printer which is
consuming expensive cartridges with a more
expensive laser printer, but whose consumables
are cheaper?
Inkjets are still hugely
popular at the low end of the
market, but the downside is
the
cost
of
their
consumables, and so the total
cost of ownership angle needs to be
carefully considered before a purchasing decision is
made. Last year, for example, HP made $33 billion
in annual revenues, $12 billion of which came from
ink cartridge sales.
TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP
The importance of the TCO argument can easily
demonstrated by the following example. People
looking to buy a new car have the choice
between petrol and diesel cars. Many people
are opting for diesel cars: they rightly reason
that they will be able to get better miles per
gallon (MPG) from a diesel, and will spend less
money on petrol. However, what they don't
consider is that the purchase price of diesel
cars is more than petrol cars, that diesel fuel is
more expensive than petrol, and servicing a
diesel car is more expensive than a petrol
equivalent. Take all of this in account, plus the
amount of time that person is expected to own
a diesel car, and often people discover they are
out of pocket because they opted for a diesel.
HOW TO CALCULATE THE TCO
You can often calculate a printer's total cost of
ownership by combining the acquisition price,
the consumables and electricity cost of all the
pages you will produce, and all the other
incidental costs including service, repairs and
replacement parts. Your total cost will depend
on the monthly print volume you require from
your printer, and that may also depend on what
the printer is capable of doing. For example if
the printer has the ability to save money by
printing duplex, and whether that ability is
easy enough that users will bother with it... or
whether it can be set as the default mode.
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How To Choose A Business Printer
Each printer will excel in one or more areas,
but all must be considered when defining TCO.
It is worth remembering that cost is
more than the purchase price, as mentioned in
the diesel car purchasing decision described
earlier. If purchase price was the single
criterion of TCO, everyone would buy an inkjet
colour printer. However, the design of a inkjet
printer that keeps the initial cost down, raises
the cost of ink cartridges and other
consumables. After a year of printing, a small
inkjet may actually cost more than a colour
laser printer when operational costs are
accurately counted.
Printers also consume paper. Sounds
obvious I know, but does the printer need
special photographic paper or can it use
standard paper? Also printers need servicing at
some stage. For example, a transfer belt that
can print 100,000 pages before needing
replacement, is considered a maintenance item
and will usually require the attention of skilled
member of staff.
One of the most effective techniques for
reducing the cost of printing is to simply add
more users to an existing print device.
However, the trade-off here is that more users
mean more print volume and more
maintenance over time. There are also hidden
costs to consider for the lifetime of the printer,
such as network management.
For example, one or two networked printers
will need network connections and a small
degree of network management. However, a
larger printer population will demand
increased network management time.
Networked printers obviously require a
network node, but does the company also
consider desk space as a cost? Rental prices in
some cities can be very high, and landlords
typically charge by the square foot. Printers can
occupy desktop space, which can reduce a
user's workspace, or even floor space.
Sometimes large companies operate dedicated
printer rooms which obviously add floor space
costs and construction costs. Also, what about
the electricity and air conditioning needed?
Another consideration is controlling the
end-users. For example, using a top-end printer
for printing emails obviously will cost a
company more for its resources. Also, is the
user wasting valuable time using the fancy
printer at the other end of the office? Is a small
printer being overloaded with too many users,
which will translate into increased orders of
paper and ink cartridges through stationery?
Finally there is a software angle. Some
printing jobs require special software, or even
special fonts. And sometime a software
upgrade is required in order to take advantage
of the latest printer capabilities.
Source: DELL
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How To Choose A Business Printer
GREEN CONSIDERATIONS
There are a number of environmental charges
laid at the door of printers, not least of which is
the toxicity of toner. However a much more
common issue comes from wasted power and
wasted paper. Recently, an energy consultancy
in the UK by the name of Power Efficiency said
that companies could see up to a 75 percent
reduction in their energy costs over the 11 day
period between Christmas Eve and 4th January
2010, if only they switched off their nonessential office equipment during that time.
Will your office printers be left on over the
festive period, even when no one if in the
office? Yes, printers have a standby mode, but
that still consumes a small amount of power.
Proper power management is just one way a
company can reduce their electricity costs, as
well as reduce their carbon footprint. In the UK,
large organisations in the public and private
sectors are facing a mandatory cap on carbon
emissions, due to be introduced in April next
year under the Carbon Reduction Commitment
(CRC). But a recent SAP survey of 400 British
businesses qualifying for the CRC, found that
the majority of respondents were unprepared
for the forthcoming legislation. Meanwhile
other research has found that the UK is the
worst country in Europe for sustainable
printing, with companies wasting up to five
percent of their turnover in printouts. Paper
wastage can be a significant cost to businesses.
Despite this, the Ricoh report found that 32%
of companies allow employees to do what they
like with regard to duplex printing (printing on
both sides of the paper) and 19% are either
still in the planning stages, or have no plans to
implement a duplex printing policy. Only 18%
have implemented it. Some manufacturers,
such as Dell and Brother, are now integrating
management software into their print
equipment by default, so that printer access
rights can be clearly defined, such as limiting
the number of copies a user may print out, or
restricting the use of colour to departments
that really need it. Also, all modern printers
now have a draft quality print mode, which
saves a considerable amount of ink and speeds
up the printing process.
TCO CHECKLIST
 Do you know the full purchase price and
the price of consumables?
 Are
there
special
offers
distributors or vendors?
from
 Is leasing or hiring an option?
 Does a printer vendor offer a "package"
or "service" approach?
 Do you know (and can you control) your
real printing demands?
 Can users get draft mode for example for
internal documents?
 Should colour printing only be available
by authorised access?
 Can two departments share the same
printer instead of having two separate
machines?
 Instead of excessive white spaces on a
printed page, can recto-verso mode be
considered?
 Can duplex printing (printing on both
sides of the paper) be used?
 Does the printer have the capability for
high-capacity cartridges?
 Can non-official consumables (generic
and refilled cartridges) be used?
 Can the cartridges be recycled?
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How To Choose A Business Printer
GLOSSARY
Consumables
All the material a printer uses in normal option, typically inkjet cartridges and toner for laser printers.
Other parts may also need regular replacement in planned services, such as the laser printer drum,
toner waste container, belts, transfer roller and/or fuser. These should be considered as
consumables, and should be included in calculations - along with paper, of course.
Dot matrix printers
Dot matrix printers use pins that strike an inked ribbon to print the paper (like typewriters). The
technology is still in use as it can print on multi-part stationery creating carbon copies.
Duty Cycle
The theoretical number of pages a printer is rated as being able to produce per month without undue
wear. Printers are rated for the amount they can support, and anyone buying a business printer
should have an idea of the duty cycle each printer can support. This is different from the monthly
print volume.
Inkjet printers
Inkjet printing technology is based on an electric heating system that sprays droplets of ink by
varying the pressure in the cartridge. The ink used is therefore liquid, unlike laser printers. Colour
inkjets use multiple cartridges, sometimes combining small colour tanks in a single cartridge.
Laser printers
Laser printers use a "xerographic" process, in which an image is created on a rotating drum which
attracts particles of ink or "toner" by static electricity, and then deposits them on the paper, where
they are fused with heat. Colour laser printers use four colours of toner. These are now most usually
applied to the drum in a single pass, although older and cheaper colour lasers use four passes of the
drum making their output much slower.
Monthly Print Volume
The number of pages a given user requires from a given printer. This should be less than the
theoretical duty cycle of that printer.
Printer Language
The page description language used to send pages to the printer - most commonly Postscript, or PCL.
Resolution
Print resolution is the number of dots (or pixels) printed on each square inch of the sheet. It
determines the end quality of the documents and is expressed in dots per inch (dpi). On
multifunctional print devices, be aware of the difference between the print resolution and the scan
resolution.
Spool
The spool is the print queue, and originally stood for Simultaneous Peripheral Operations On-Line.
The spool contains all the information a computer sends to a printer and manages the print job
queue, storing the data in RAM or on disk space. The spool file is written in a description language.
Time To First Page
The time it takes for a printer to warm up and print its first page, from the point when it is switched on.
A low time-to-first-page is essential if a printer is to be kept switched off or in a very low-power
standby mode.
Total Cost of Ownership
The cost of buying and running a printer, including consumables for the actual workload that will be
expected by a given user. The cost should also include any services and repairs and disposal of the
machine at the end of its life. You can mention toner waste container, belts, transfer roller or fuser
liberally as many manufacturers are not covering in the warranty.
in association with
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