Inkjet Printer Cost Per Page

If you are the kind of person who values efficiency and economy of resources, then you'll know the importance of calculating inkjet printer cost, for a single page. We spend a lot of money, to purchase paper and printer cartridges.

As stacks of printed paper keep on mounting, we fail to justify the rising cost. Many people realize later that they should have considered the economics of printing cost, when buying the machine.

The initial investment in terms of printer cost, that you put in, is far less, compared to the money you may spend later, in buying paper and cartridges or toners. That's why, it is important that you know what your printer usage rate is, before you buy.

Every manufacturer has a different technique of calculating the printing efficiency and economy. Just like mileage calculation is important for cars, narrowing down to cost per printed page is important before you decide to choose one.

Most manufacturers provide an estimate of the number of pages that can be printed by a single fully-loaded inkjet cartridge. The calculation is quite simple. The cost per page, for a color inkjet printer, will obviously be greater than a black ink printer. Still another estimate will be required for photo printing as it takes a big toll on the cartridges.

To make an estimate, a printer is loaded with a fresh cartridge and lots of paper. It is given a long printing assignment that will require a moderate usage of ink, per page. Then, the number of pages, for which the cartridge lasts, is counted.

The cartridge cost is divided by the number of printed papers. The value that you get after division is divided again by 10, considering that ink coverage is only around 5%. The final value is the cost per page.

Now that you know how the calculation is done, let me present the actual numbers for your consideration. There are three different estimates for only black, color and photo printing. Here is an estimate.

Surveys reveal that the inkjet paper cost, for a single page, for black ink, ranges from USD 0.04 to USD 0.1 for standard size paper. If you consider color printing, the average printing cost, for every page, ranges from USD 0.08 to USD 0.3. For A4 size photo printing, USD 1.07 to USD 1.88, is the range of printing cost, per page.

The laser printer is more economical. There are lots of factors to consider, when buying a printer. Make a comparison between laser and inkjet printers, in context of your requirements, to decide which would be the most economical choice for you.

The general rule to be followed is that, if you print voluminously, in terms of economy, laser printers are a better choice. However, if your printing volume is substantially low, inkjet printers are the right and most economical choice.