Xerox 7750 color laser for in-house booklet making?

[Joe S Moore]

We are trying to decide on the feasibility of using a Xerox 7750 to start
making some manuals in-house. We will also get a manual booklet machine that
will saddle stitch and fold.

The reason why we want to try doing this ourselves are because we sell a
very low amount of product items. So we are talking about maybe 100-200
items each per year per model (about 10 different models).

We do not want to get stuck with a 1000 4-color professionally printed
manuals that may be outdated in a year or two so we were thinking about
printing them ourselves. This gives us the ability to fine-tune our manuals
as we go along. Are we saving money by not printing so much?

Is this possible?

1. Costs - How much ink does the 7750 use vs other printers/copiers? I've
seen some sample output out of this fine printer and I really like the
continous tone that it produces but does this come with a caveat that it
uses more ink than others? I calculated that it would use about $0.36 (usd)
for a 20% coverage per letter sized page based upon the published 5% specs.
Does that sound right? Can I save more by doing something different?
Economode?
2. Time - How long does it take to print a 20% coverage print? I know a
35ppm is probably the best it can do but what happens if there are graphics
involved.
3. Planning - We plan on using a 11x17 page to produce a 8.5x11 booklet
using Microsoft Word (we're simpletons). I know the printer drivers has a
booklet feature that will automatically calculate the necessary pages to be
printed. Is it just that simple or do we have to manually page it out
correctly?
4. Reliability - Does this printer jam a lot? I would like to leave the
printer alone and let it print 500 sheets at a time without babysitting
every 10 pages to make sure it did not suffer any jams.
5. Effort - Are there any hidden succubus that may drain us from what I
think should be a simple print, collate and pop the pages in the booklet
machine?

I just recently saw some posts about the Xerox 3535 which I have not even
considered, how is the quality of that machine? Is it worth a look into?
Again I was blown away with the 7750. I've seen the 6250 and 7300 and they
look below average when compared to other laser/led color printers.

Also are we saving that much that going to have it commercially printed at
low volumes (~250 qty). I looked at psprint.com and they can do a 40 page
booklet for $9.612/each for a total of $2403.00. Using based upon 20%
coverage just for ink/drums costs roughly $14.40/each not including paper
costs. The math just doesn't add up to be in favor.

Thanks for any responses!
Joe

 

[Ryadia]

The 7750 Xerox is the top of the range in laser printers. It costs a bundle
too!
It's not clear if you already have one or plan to buy one. If you already
have it, good luck with the toner costs.
If you plan to buy one, get a deal fdirect from Xerox to include maintence
and toner. It'll nail the costs for you.

 

[Douglas]

http://www.office.xerox.com/latest/775CC-02UA.pdf

Check out the above link.As stated Xerox has a program where they will give
you cost per page upfront.I highly recommend the printer.

 

[Joe S Moore]

Interesting, we haven't bought one yet, but if it has a upfront maintenance
and toner program (like it is with their copiers) then the 7750 definitely
has an advantage. Any idea on how much it costs? I have actually seen the
PDF on the link below and the 20% coverage sound like it's too good to be
true at under 10 cents a page. If they can spring that through the program
then it's definitely worth it.

Thanks a bunch!

 

[Ryadia]

The Australian cost is around $13,000. It is possible with this sort of cost
to get a maintenance contract to include toner at 18¢ per page. That means
(for me) everything I print is set out to fit an A3 page to minimise cost.
Like 23 business cards to the sheet. Brochures are 2 up and that sort of
thing.

I recently costed this printer against a Minolta 7300 which is half the
price. Lease payments of $240 per month on the Minolta and $460 on the
Xerox. Once you get past 2000 impressions per month, the Xerox is cheaper by
a significant margine to run. At 4000 pages per month, the Xerox is half the
cost of the Minolta to own and run.

If you only intend to make a few hundred prints a month, the big Xerox is
vast overkill but if you have the work, don't bother to look elsewhere,
there isn't anything better.