Line printing (DOT Matrix) vs Laser printing: Which is cheaper

[csmith]

Okay, this topic may seem to be a little outdated but so is my boss. I
just started with a company that prints some internal reports to a
line printer. My boss wants to compare the cost of line printing to
laser printing. The office staff is tired of the noise the line
printer makes. I've suggested moving the printer but we have a very
small office and space is limited. I've suggested getting a cover for
the printer but no I have to do a cost analysis of Laser vs. Line
printing. So here is where I'm at. Ribbons are rated at how many
characters you can print per ribbon and laser toner is rated on pages
per cartridge. Is there a formula to convert characters per ribbon to
pages per ribbon? How do you factor in the numerous paper jams the
line print has? Personally I don't care either way. I don't sit by the
printer so it does not bother me.

 

[TJ]

Okay, this topic may seem to be a little outdated but so is my boss. I
just started with a company that prints some internal reports to a
line printer. My boss wants to compare the cost of line printing to
laser printing. The office staff is tired of the noise the line
printer makes. I've suggested moving the printer but we have a very
small office and space is limited. I've suggested getting a cover for
the printer but no I have to do a cost analysis of Laser vs. Line
printing. So here is where I'm at. Ribbons are rated at how many
characters you can print per ribbon and laser toner is rated on pages
per cartridge. Is there a formula to convert characters per ribbon to
pages per ribbon? How do you factor in the numerous paper jams the
line print has? Personally I don't care either way. I don't sit by the
printer so it does not bother me.

If all characters possible(no spaces) are printed on a page, the
standard conversion for a line printer is 4800 Characters per page.(80
characters per line, 60 lines per page) In real life, however, you
rarely fill the entire page with characters, so that's a poor
comparison, at best.

It's been a very long time since I worked with a line printer, and I
don't currently own a laser printer, so I'm afraid I can't be of much
more help in comparing them. But, I can't imagine that it's easy to find
ribbons for that dinosaur any more.

TJ

 

[Fred McKenzie]

If all characters possible(no spaces) are printed on a page, the
standard conversion for a line printer is 4800 Characters per page.(80
characters per line, 60 lines per page) In real life, however, you
rarely fill the entire page with characters, so that's a poor
comparison, at best.

TJ & CS-

Suppose there are 1600 characters on a typical page. This is arbitrary,
so pick another number if you prefer. If you look at what is being
printed, it may be possible to actually count characters.

Does the time required to print a report pose a burden on employees? A
dot matrix printer might take a minute to print a page, while the laser
printer might do it in ten seconds.

How often does the paper jam, and how long does it typically take to
unjam it? It should be easy to quantify the cost of man hours required.

Pick some numbers and do the comparison. There might be an obvious
winner.

Also consider measuring the sound level near the printer when it is at
its noisiest. The level can be compared to OSHA limits to determine if
there is a health risk involved.

If a decision is made to go with a laser printer, I suggest you get one
of the better ones, not the cheapest. Toner is a bit more expensive but
gives more pages per cartridge, resulting in a lower cost per page. A
printer with a paper tray that holds a full ream of paper doesn't have
to be refilled as often.

Since you got me started, I'll make one more suggestion: stop printing
the reports. Connect everyone up to a network, and E-Mail the reports.
If the new laser printer is also on the network, anyone that needs a
hard copy can print it.

Fred

 

[Heiko Recktenwald]

The old standard was 2k characters per page as an average. At least
that's what I recall.


Lasers can jam also, but it's rare if you use a quality printer and
decent paper.


Sounds like the paper jams aren't a happy moment for you, though.

Situations where an impact printer wins over a laser:

* Multi-part forms (often easily replaced by having a laser print
multiple copies of the form)

Factors where lasers win over impact printers:

* Print speed (an ordinary laser is faster than a fast impact printer)
* Print quality (ever have an invoice where an "8" is misread as a "3"?)
* Reliability (less mechanical, less prone to downtime)
* Supplies cost (ordinary copier paper, toner versus ribbons)
* Noise (people on the phone in an office)

Here's my document on used office lasers:

http://www.wonkity.com/~wblock/docs/usedlasers.pdf

Where do you get those "typical rollers"?

In case I should ever need one.

Had to replace the toner for a HP Laserjet 5 MP, toners seem to be a
science of its own too.


H.

 

[csmith]

Thanks for everyones input. I'll pass this along to my manager.

 

[Warren Block]

I suppose with printers getting cheaper ands service getting more
expensive, it might be cheaper just to run them until they die and
replace them. I don't like the philosophy of that though.

Except with lasers, particularly HP business-class lasers, repairs are
easy and parts are readily available. Most repairs only need a
screwdriver, some not even that.

With lasers the problems always seem to be paper pickup. Either
grabbing too many pages or none at all.

Paper feed quality is somewhat proportional to printer price; low-end
HPs were terrible (5L and 6L in particular). In addition to better
design, business-class units tend to have easily replaceable rollers and
separation pads.

The printing itself is pretty much down to the cartridge, which can
easily be replaced.

On HP, yes, although fusers also wear out.

 

[Elmo P. Shagnasty]

"Repairs are easy"?

I've had to throw away several "business class" lasers over the years
for what you might have called trivial problems that I couldn't
diagnose. To have them repaired professionally would have cost more
than to replace the machine.

Currently I've spent two weeks trying to fix my 5MP, and I've had a 4M
collecting dust for the last year since it started giving accordion
jams.
http://www.fixyourownprinter.com




If you know WHICH rollers and pads to replace.
http://www.fixyourownprinter.com


I'm not whining here, I bought these machines for about 5% of their
original retail price and got a year or so use out of them. But fixing
them for the uninitiated is not trivial.

Crapola. Business class HPs are well known and documented, the parts
are cheap and easy to get, and you can replace those rollers yourself.

I can fix PCs. I can do simple plumbing and electrical work. I've
tried fixing laser printers and 90% of the time ended up having to
throw them away.

The manual tell you how to take them apart. Not how to diagnose
errors.

http://www.fixyourownprinter.com