Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Lexmark's claim of lowest black ink cost is limited

Lexmark claims the lowest black ink cost. The claim is true but limited to black ink only.
Lexmark™ 105XL High-Yield Cyan Ink Tank Model 14N1012 Costs $4.99 with a page yield of 510 pages for a cost per page of 0.98 cents per page.

This cartridge is used in the Prestige Pro 905 multifunction which sells for $299.
This ink cost per page is better than HP’s best deal which is the #940 ink cartridge. The black #940XL sells for $35.99 for 2200 pages or 1.6 cents per page.

Lexmark’s cost advantage’s end here.

The Office Jet series 8000 and 8500 sell for about the same as the comparable Lexmark machines.

However, Lexmark’s color inks cost $17.99 for a 600 page yield or 3.0 cents per page.

The color # 940XLs sell for $25.99 for 1400 pages or 1.8 cents per page.

The Lexmark black ink is 39% less per page than HP, however the remaining three colors are 67% more.

The tank capacity of the black Lexmark is a quarter that of the HP which means the user will be changing cartridges four times as often. The capacity comparison is a little better with the colors but they are still less than half of HP which means they will be changed more than twice as often.