We have a Konica Minolta 2450 color laser printer. Rock-solid performer, a good citizen on the network, true PostScript, excellent color reproduction.
And, as of today, we also have a Konica Minolta 2550 color laser printer — which is essentially the same model.
Why on earth do we have two color laser printers?
Because we needed a new drum cartridge, and we were running low on al four colors of toner. Big deal, right? It’s just consumables.
Here’s the thing: Four high-capacity toner cartridges plus a new drum cartridge would have run $471 at the best on-line price I could find.
The brand new 2550 printer, which uses the same consumables as the 2450 — and comes with them pre-installed — was $435, shipped.
I saved $36 and got a free printer in the deal. I would have bought two, except the next time I do this the spread between consumables and the full package will be even greater.
In the mean time, I have to decide if I want to try to sell the new printer new-in-box without the consumables or sell the old printer as a parts solution to someone who already has one or more of the discontinued 2450 model.
Is this insane? The idea was that you would give the razor away and make your money on the blades. But if the razor plus the blades is cheaper than the blades by themselves, we’d be fools not to buy more razors.
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Sean M. Broderick, CCIM says:
The ‘ol Gillette model is soooo 90’s now that our Chinese manufacturing partners are just a container away..
February 5, 2008 — 8:45 pm
Doug Quance says:
If your new model is anything like most others… the consumables in the new printer are not the same quantity as new consumables.
I used to think the same thing with HP printers… but found out that a new printer does NOT have the same amount of ink as buying new cartridges.
Now if I’m wrong about the Konica Minolta (and I very well might be) – then you did the right thing, of course.
February 5, 2008 — 8:46 pm
Chuchundra says:
What Doug said. You may find that that the toner carts that came with the printer don’t have as much toner in them as toner carts that you buy separately.
Printer companies may be daft, but they aren’t stupid.
February 5, 2008 — 9:00 pm
Will says:
Yup. With Canon I believe it is half the toner in the new printer’s included supply.
February 5, 2008 — 10:14 pm
Michelle DeRepentigny says:
I think some of the commenters are missing the point. It is the drum that cost so much usually – and it is stated these are high capacity cartridges. I haven’t had to replace my drum yet – going on two years, but I see the point.
February 5, 2008 — 10:14 pm
Allen Butler says:
I have a Xerox Phaser. The printer costs about $1,000, and the consumables are about $380 dollars to replace. That’s just the four sticks of solid ink. The “maintanence” kit is another $150. Fortunately, the kit only needs replacing every 10,000 pages. It ain’t cheap! At least it lasts a long time though. . .
February 5, 2008 — 10:22 pm
Scott Saghirian says:
I use the Xerox Phaser too. I despise toner, especially since the manufacturers can program their toner cartridges for “page counts” instead of actual toner usage. (Beating the Refill) The quality is great, and I don’t have the mess. I have found after market sources for the ink, and the quality is just as good as Xerox. They say it voids the warranty but how would they ever know?
February 5, 2008 — 10:33 pm
Doug Quance says:
I hate to break it to ya, Scott… but the Phaser does it, too. It counts color pages for the maintenance kit.
Grrr.
And I know a copier repairman – and he says it’s actually pretty easy to see if you’ve been using knock-off sticks…
February 5, 2008 — 11:45 pm
Benn says:
I have about 9 printers for this exact reason, the guy at frys thinks I have a fetish or something- maybe I do, anyone need a printer? heh
Actually we decided to donate the printers to the church to give to burned out families.
February 6, 2008 — 12:14 am
John Kalinowski says:
eBay is the answer!
I have a big HP8550N and a Dell 5100CN. I buy all the consumables on eBay, and the prices are less than half (usually even lower)what you would pay anywhere else.
For example, a cyan cartridge for the HP is $178 plus shipping online. I can get it on eBay for $25 plus $10 shipping. That’s about 80% lower than the typical online price.
February 6, 2008 — 6:05 am
Norm Fisher says:
From an environmental perspective, its pretty sad that these companies can get away with using their printers as packaging for consumables.
February 6, 2008 — 6:08 am
Bob Crain says:
Greg,
Did you hear that Hyundai is giving away a free Car with a tank of Gas… 🙂
That is crazy that the toner would cost as much as the machine. How many pages can you print before your disposable printer runs out of ink?
February 6, 2008 — 9:28 am
Greg Swann says:
> How many pages can you print before your disposable printer runs out of ink?
4,500, so that’s around $.10 a sheet, not counting paper, power and office-space footprint.
February 6, 2008 — 9:31 am
Scott Saghirian says:
Doug,
When my maintenance kit expires I can still use my ink. It’s not trapped in my un-usable toner cartridge. And the printer doesn’t shut down when I use the maintenance kit a little longer than the count.
Using ink other that Xerox does not void the warranty and I don’t see a quality difference. In fact, the people I buy my ink from (at a great discount) actually give me a warranty that states if Xerox declines warranty work due to use of their cartidges that they will fix it. That’s two warranty’s for the price of one.
I can buy a whole new Phaser already for the price I have saved in ink so far, and I have only had to deal with ONE printer for over two years.
To me, it’s the solution to the cartridge game described in the post.
February 12, 2008 — 9:36 pm