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« Return to: The Cheapskate's Guide to Printing


PRINTERStreet priceInk cost per page1: TextInk cost per page1: Text/graphicsPrinter plus ink costs2: 500 pagesPrinter plus ink costs2: 3000 pages
Canon i560 Desktop Photo Printer$130 2.9 cents8.3 cents$158$298
Epson Stylus C84$996.4 cents11.2 cents$143$364
HP Deskjet 3520$406.3 cents16.8 cents$98$387
HP Deskjet 6122$1803.8 cents10.4 cents$215$393
Lexmark Z605 Color Jetprinter$50 11.0 cents20.2 cents$128$517

1Cost-per-page data supplied by the Rochester Institute of Technology's Imaging Products Laboratory. Costs based on manufacturer's Web site price for cartridges and page yields as tested by IPL, assuming 5 percent area coverage per color of a document on an 80-square-inch printed area. Text pages used black ink only; text/graphics pages used all color and black inks. Ink costs for page yields are calculated for replacement cartridges installed after cartridges included in the printer purchase price are used up. 2 Ink costs assume half of the pages are text, and the other half are text plus graphics.