When it comes to purchasing a printer the upfront costs aren’t the only thing to look at. You will spend more money on ink or toner over the life of the printer then the printer itself. This is why its most important to look at the consumables costs and not just the initial printer price. A good site thats already does this for you is Printers With Cheapest Ink.
How can you determine how much ink and toner will really cost you?
The best method is to look at the cost per page or CPP. To do this you need to know the cost of the replacement ink cartridges or toner and the number of pages each cartridge or toner can print. If the replacement ink costs $40 and can print 1,000 pages you would divide $40 by 1000 (40/1000) and see that it costs $0.04 per page to print. Obviously the lower the number the less money you will spend over the life of the printer to print.
How can I find printers with low ink and toner costs?
Again, sites like Printers With Cheapest Ink will do this for you. If you want to do some research on your own you will have to look at the potential printers you are interested in buying and then find the ink cartridge or toner that they use. Next you will find the best price for said ink or toner and then do the math based not the formula above.
Are there other ways to save on ink or toner?
You can save a significant amount of money on ink and toner by looking at compatible ink. This is ink or toner thats not manufactured by the printer OEM, but made by 3rd party companies for specific printers. In recent years the quality of these 3rd party compatible ink and toners has increased and now its very comparable to the OEM stuff. Recent tests show no discernible difference between compatible ink vs genuine cartridges.
Printers With Cheapest Ink 