Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Ink costs of HP 564 Photo vs HP 940XL Color

If you need the features in the Photosmart printer be prepared to pay a substantial premium for the ink.
The following is a comparison of the ink costs of HP 564 Photo printing vs HP 940XL Color printing.
The HP 564 series cartridges are used in the newest HP Photosmart: C6300, C6380, D5460, D7560 and Photosmart Pro B8550.
These printers take three unicolor, one photo black and one black cartridge.
The three 564 color cartridges cost $26.99 and are rated for 300 pages each. At $8.99 for 300 pages printing with these cartridges costs 3.0 cents per page. As of this writing there are no HP 564XL cartridges.
Compare that with the #940 colors which sell for $19.99 each rated for 900 pages which calculates to 2.2 cents per page. The color # 940XLs sell for $25.99 for 1400 pages or 1.8 cents per page.
The 564 black costs $11.49 for 250 pages or 4.6 cents per page. The photo black costs $9.99 for 130 pages or 7.7 cents per page. The 564XL photo black costs $17.99 for 290 pages or 6.2 cents per page.
Compare that with The black #940 which sells for $25.99 for 1000 page nominal capacity or 2.6 cents per page. The black #940XL sells for $35.99 for 2200 pages or 1.6 cents per page. HP’s Photosmart printers have photo printing features not available on the commercial ink printers such as:
Print photos in a variety of sizes, from 4 x 6" to 13 x 19"
Review and enhance on the 2.4" color display
Print without a PC—just insert a compatible memory card, or print straight from a PictBridge-enabled camera
And Auto Sense technology which enables the user to print selected web pic’s.

Therefore, if you need the features in the Photosmart printer be prepared to pay a substantial premium for the ink.