TCPglobal - news, views and issues on total cost of printing

Issue #0936/2 – Office 2010 will bring a new-look print dialog to our computers. It is a cleaner, more modern look that gives very easy access to important features at the top level ‘Print’ dialog. We’ve had a chance to try out Office 2010 in its beta release and see how the changes affect the printing experience.

Issue #0935/1 – In wanting to follow up on the previous article, which focused on ultra-low-end colour laser printers ("Ultra low-end, direct connect colour laser printers not easy to choose between"), and look at the low end of the business colour laser market, it turned out that there are any number of different ways of cutting the market and still ending up with a group of devices that can be considered to be competitive. We look at a group of low-end colour printers that are based on single-pass technology, offering around 16ppm print speed, and are network-ready out of the box.

Issue #0934/1 – While most businesses, and many homes, find a network interface to be desirable in a colour laser printer, there is still a market for direct-connect USB printers and the industry continues to produce them at give-away prices that belies the true cost of printing. Available for as little as €109, a colour laser printer may seem to be the most attractive option for colour printing, especially perhaps for those printing very few pages – but beware the Total Cost. We look at sub €200 (inc. tax) colour laser printers to find out how they stack up for features and cost.

Issue #0933/1 – We’re not used to seeing Epson as a cost-leader in the home inkjet market but its new Stylus SX510W fills just that position, displacing Canon and Hewlett-Packard from a more typically lower cost position. This is the second article in which we compare Total Cost of Printing between the new inkjet All-in-Ones from Epson, Hewlett-Packard and Lexmark with others on the market – this time taking a slice of the home-oriented portion of the market. We consider the Brother DCP-375CW, Canon PIXMA MP620, Epson Stylus SX510W (we’ll use the European name as pricing is sourced in Europe), Hewlett-Packard Photosmart B109n and Lexmark Interpret S405.

Issue 0932/2 - As promised, this is the first of two articles comparing Total Cost of Printing between the new inkjet All-in-Ones from Hewlett-Packard, Epson and Lexmark with others on the market. Here we focus on the business inkjet sector and a further article will consider home-oriented devices. Devices considered are: Brother MFC-6490CW; Canon PIXMA MX860; Epson Stylus Office BX610FW; Hewlett-Packard Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless; Hewlett-Packard Photosmart Premium Fax; Lexmark Platinum Pro905