Home Office Copier
Making
the Best Copier Choice for Your Home Office
For a home office copier we use an “all-in-one” ink-jet printer. It can copy in color or black & white, and it can also be used as a printer, scanner and fax.
We recommend purchase of an “all-in-one” machine for your home office. In addition to copying you will use the printer and scanner, and maybe the fax.
Although good laser/toner all-in-one machines are available (both black only and color versions), we like the features of an inexpensive color ink printer, which pairs well with our black toner laser printer.
Figuring operating cost
per page
for a home office copier
For a home office copier the cost per page is the sum of the costs for paper and black ink. We use the lowest cost components in our calculations, not manufacturer/OEM. The ink cartridges we compare are all the large size (XL or high yield) because these are the most available and economical size. Taxes, shipping and pick up costs for these components are not included because they vary. You can save by buying online and placing orders for multiple cartridges.
Home Office Copier:
we recommend All-In-One Machines
There are 3 all-in one machines that we recommend to serve as a home office copier and for other office functions. These have been selected for reliability and inexpensive operation.
Common to each of them is black and color inkjet printing with good to excellent text quality, scanning, copying, and fax. There is also direct USB connection to computer, Wi-Fi networking, and both Windows and Mac OS compatibility. Features include an LCD display screen and document feed tray. All use plain paper, and ink cartridges are easy to obtain.
HP Officejet Pro 8610 e-All-in-one Printer (see http://www.hp.com)
Retails online for low as $120, plus fees
Duty cycle recommended by manufacturer up to 3000 pages/month:
ideal page volume 250 to 1500 per month
Ink cartridge, black high yield: $15 compatible (123Inkjets), $37 mfg (HP)
Ink cartridges, 3 individual high yield color: $13 each compatible (123Inkjets),
$28 each (manufacturer/OEM-HP.com)
Ink cartridge page yield*: 2300 black xl, 1500 colors xl (both 123Inkjets & HP)
Prints black text at about 19 ppm, color at 15 ppm (source HP)
Networking: has Ethernet, but no PictBridge camera connection
Can print directly from devices using downloadable apps
Photo print quality is good
Easy to set up and use
ENERGY STAR® qualified energy efficiency
Our index of operating cost per page is $.0115, or 1.15 cents
Paper by case $25, sheets per case 5000, cost per sheet $0.005
Black ink cartridge $15, pages per cartridge 2300, cost per page $0.006522
Brother MFC-J870DW Inkjet All-In-One (see http://www.brother-usa.com)
Retails online for low as $115, plus fees
Duty cycle recommended by manufacturer up to 2500 pages/month:
ideal page volume 50 to 1000 per month
Ink cartridge, black high yield: $7 compatible (123Inkjets), $25 mfg (Brother)
Ink cartridges, 3 individual high yield colors: $7 each compatible (123Inkjets),
$15 each (Brother)
Ink cartridge page yield*: 600 black xl, 600 colors xl (source Brother)
Prints black text at about 12 ppm, color at 10 ppm (source Brother)
Networking: Ethernet and PictBridge camera connection
Can print directly from devices using downloadable apps
Photo print quality is good
Easy to set up and use
ENERGY STAR® qualified energy efficiency
Our index of operating cost per page is $0.016667, or about 1.67 cents
Paper by case $25, sheets per case 5000, cost per page $0.005
Black ink cartridge $7, pages per cart. 600, cost per page $0.011667
Canon Pixma MX472 Wireless Office All-In-One (see http://www.usa.canon.com)
Retails online for low as $50, plus fees
Duty cycle recommended by manufacturer up to 3000 pages/month
Ink cartridge, black high yield: $22 compatible (123Inkjets), $21 mfg (Canon)
Ink cartridge, single 4-color high yield: $32 compatible (123Inkjets),
$30 mfg (Canon) Canon is less than 123Inkjets
Ink cartridge page yield*: 300 black, 400 colors (source 123Inkjets)
Prints black text at about 10 ppm, color at 6 ppm (source Canon)
Has Ethernet networking but no PictBridge camera connection
Can print directly from devices using downloadable apps
Photo print quality is very good
Easy to set up and use
Our index of operating cost per page is $0.078333, or about 7.8 cents
Paper by case $25, sheets per case 5000, cost per sheet $0.005
Black ink cartridge $22, pages per cart. 300, cost per page $0.07333
*Page yield is based on international standards: ISO/IEC 19752 and ISO/IEC 19798 standards for determining monochrome and color laser printer page yields. The test page appears much as a normal business letter, equivalent to covering about 5% of the page with ink.
Saving money with a home office copier
Buy compatible, not OEM, ink and other supplies from a reliable supplier. Look for indications that the quality of toner and other supplies is good. Supplier certifications, such as ISO 9000, indicate solid efforts toward manufacturing quality control.
Order supplies online and ahead of time, instead of waiting until you must go to a local retailer.
Don’t print a page if it is not necessary. View a document on screen instead.
Re-use paper, printing the back side too. Then recycle your discard paper sheets.