The source for independent testing and evaluation of printers, MFPs, All-in-Ones, software and solutions...insight, experience, expertise

The source for independent testing and evaluation of printers, MFPs, All-in-Ones, office software and solutions...insight, experience, expertise

Wirth Consulting has just completed a Hands-On Test Report on what we feel is a really important digital imaging device, the $599 Epson B-510DN Business Color Ink Jet Printer.  It hasn't gotten a lot of marketing support (when was the last time you saw an Epson commercial?), but it is a ground-breaking product.

What’s that sound?  It’s the sound of you all murmuring to yourselves, “$599 for an ink-jet printer?”  Before you go apoplectic, we suggest that you ponder the following points:

Feature Set - The B-510DN is office-ready out of the box with standard automatic duplexing, Ethernet networking, and two media sources for a total 650-sheet capacity.  Most (if not all) low-priced color laser printers, either do not have these capacities or must be upgraded to meet or exceed them resulting in a total acquisition price that meets or exceeds $599.

Print Speed – Epson advertises that the B-510DN prints at 37/37 ppm in B&W/color draft mode, the quality of which is more than acceptable for internal business correspondence and archival purposes.  ISO prints speeds for the B-510DN are 19/18 ppm in B&W/color.  Single-pass color laser printers in this price range are rated in the range of 21/19 ppm, while four-pass color laser printers are rated in the range of 20/5 ppm.  Although print speeds in ISO mode may be slightly slower than a comparably-priced color laser printer, the time saved in changing and adding supplies/media (see below) more than offsets this minor differential.  On top of that, unlike other business-class ink-jet devices, with Epson's MicroPiezo® imaging technology, there's no drying time required in duplex mode--the printer does not have to pause before printing on the second side of the media. 

Image Quality – There’s not much to say here other than that in our tests, the B-510DN produced image quality that was superior to that of most desktop color laser printers.

 
Raw TIFF photo taken of the B-510DN’s continuous-tone output.

Raw TIFF photo taken of the continuous-tone output of a workgroup color laser printer that costs in the neighborhood of $4,000.

Supply Yield - The B-510DN's Extra High Yield black ink cartridge yields 8,000 pages, while each High Yield color ink cartridges yields 7,000 pages.  Color laser printers in this price range typically use toner cartridges that yield 2,000 pages.  With these lower-yield toner cartridges, users will have to spend more time replacing supplies--and laser-printer supplies can be more time-consuming and involved to replace than ink cartridges. 

Maintenance - The B-510Dn’s ink cartridges are wrapped in a plastic bag and are simple plastic boxes with an embedded chip.  There's a Maintenance Box ($17.99) for the disposal of ink removed during a cleaning cycle.  Changing these supply items is as easy as it gets and we contend that in the history of imaging, it's among the easiest of color devices to maintain.  (If the average user can't perform these duties, we're all doomed.)  That can't be said in regards to color laser printers that have a minimum of four toner cartridges that must first be unboxed, removed from a foil pouch, rotated to distribute the toner evenly, and have a strip or seal removed.  Then, the user must delve into the heart of the unit to remove the old cartridge and install the new one.  Quite frankly, many office users can't be trusted to perform these duties without the risk of some type of mishap occurring.

Maintenance Items - As stated, the B-510DN ships with four large ink cartridges and a maintenance box.  Color laser printers have a minimum of four toner cartridges and a fuser unit that must be replaced, typically after 30,000 prints.  Some color laser printers also use a transfer belt, developing/drum units, and maintenance kits that must be periodically replaced in order to keep them running.

Environmental Issues - The B-510DN’s supply items are wrapped in a plastic bag and the cartridge themselves are simple plastic boxes.  The consumables for a color laser printer come in extensive packaging to prevent damage; the packaging's also designed to be reused for shipping the components back to the vendor for recycling.  A color laser printer's maintenance components also contain significant quantities of plastic, metal, electronics, and chemical compounds.  Aside from the physical content of these components, think about how much energy it takes to package, ship and store this comparatively huge bulk of supply items,  Plus, you must pay somebody to take the time (added costs) to repackage the depleted units and prepare them for shipping back to the vendor (more time and energy expended) unless you have absolutely no conscience and (illegally?) toss them in the dumpster.  Vendors don’t want you throwing away these units or allow them to fall into the hands of remanufacturers, so they jump through hoops in order to get you to return them.  In fact, Lexmark’s “Return Program” (it used to be called “Prebate Program”) gives users the incentive to return the cartridges by promising to sell users new cartridges at a lower cost (with a pledge to return them too).

Energy Consumption – The B-510DN consumes 30W of energy when printing and 6W in standby mode.  Most laser printers consume in excess of 280W when printing and 50W in standby mode.  That’s nearly 10X more electrical energy required by a laser printer in order to produce a single page.

Cost Per Page/Total Cost of Ownership – The B-510DN’s cost per page of 1¢/4¢ for B&W/color is significantly lower than most laser printers.  We’ll use the table below, created using our Printer/MFP TCO Worksheet to show total costs versus a color laser printer:

*Typos in cells are courtesy of Adobe Acrobat 9.0.  Indeed, we can spell the words “Feet,” “Volume,” “Cost” and “Unit.”

Do you believe us now?  Wouldn’t you say that a device that outperforms virtually any other when printing at its suggested monthly volume AND saves $3,166 annually is indeed “groundbreaking”?

It's worth keeping in mind that Epson has a particular advantage when it comes to marketing a product such as the B-510DN--unlike other companies, it doesn't market laser printers and MFPs, and thus doesn't have to compete with a division within its own company.

Happy Reading!
Terry Wirth

Reproduction and redistribution is forbidden.  For distribution rights to this article, contact us at sales@wirthconsulting.org 

Considering the state of the economy, the forthcoming holidays are as good a time as any to invest wisely in a family holiday gift that is both fun and productive.  That is indeed a rare combination of traits for any product to have—until now.  The recent introduction of two innovative All-in-Ones equipped with groundbreaking Web connectivity, as well as with great color photo-printing capability, has rewritten the ground rules for this market segment, and injected some much-needed fun into color MFPs for small-office and home/home office use. 

Lexmark Platinum Pro905 - $399.99

Lexmark International’s Platinum Pro905 is the flagship model in Lexmark’s new family of color ink-jet MFPs, and features an automatic document feeder and Web-connected touch screen. With the Web-connected touch screen, and Lexmark’s free SmartSolutions applications, the Platinum Pro905 makes both routine and more advanced document-imaging tasks easier, and also enables users to access Web content without using a computer workstation.  Some of the business apps include one-touch scan and copy keys, and Print A File (automatically print a designated file without having to use a computer workstation), while Web apps include access to real-time MSBNC news feeds and Google maps.

As an A4 desktop MFP (or All-in-One) the Platinum Pro905 incorporates color network print, color copy, color scan, and Super Group 3 walkup fax.  It uses color ink-jet imaging technology and dye-based cyan, yellow, and magenta dye-based ink for more vibrant color output.

Business-class capabilities include standard Ethernet networking for sharing among users, 300-sheet paper capacity for longer uninterrupted operation, and standard, paper-saving automatic duplexing.  Also standard is convenient wireless network connectivity.  Users can share documents with color scanning (including scan to e-mail) and Super Group 3 walkup fax.

Touch Screen and Web Application Photos

HP Photosmart Premium with Touchsmart Web - $339.99

Hewlett-Packard’s Photosmart Premium Touchsmart All-in-One Printer is for photo-printing and for home and home-office use, and features a revolutionary Web-enabled touch screen—it's actually the world’s first Web-connected printer. At the same time, this color ink-jet All-in-One incorporates all of the functions required for home-office use—print, copy, scan and fax all in color—making it suitable for satellite employees, home finance, small business, students, etc.

The system incorporates a 4.43” color touch screen that is used for programming copy, scan and fax jobs.  However, HP has expanded the touch-screen functionality with ground-breaking Web applications, enabling users to access and print Web content without a computer workstation.  This makes it faster and easier to perform typical Web tasks such as printing Google maps and calendars, coupons, and movie tickets, and accessing, viewing and printing photos stored on HP’s free photo-storing Web site, snapfish.com.

HP has also taken the Photosmart Premium a step further, incorporating entertainment applications for both adults and children.  These includes downloadable Web Sudoku games, coloring pages, paper crafts (include model car-making), and more.  With the Disney Web app, we watched and listened to Disney movie trailers on the touch screen.  We also see this is a great entertainment center for children, and far more creative and educational than most television programs and video games.  What's especially nice is that with the Web apps, new content will be available on a continuing basis (for instance, new movie trailers and associated paper crafts), and HP is also working on new apps for the future.  This means that it'll be a gift that will "keep on giving." 

The Photosmart Premium Touchsmart is also a first-rate photo-printing system, with state-of-the-art color photographic image quality.  It also uses dye-based color inks for more vibrant color output, and HP has incorporated features that make consumer photo-printing easier and more enjoyable. These include borderless printing on up to 8.5”x11” paper, PictBridge port for direct printing from digital cameras, and photo-editing software so that users can adjust and adjust photos. To top it off, the Web-enabled photo application enables users to download, view, edit and print photos stored on Snapfish.com, HP's free photo-storage and sharing Web site.

Touch Screen and Web Application Photos

Both of these state-of-the-art devices must be Internet connected.  With the Lexmark Platinum Pro905, customers must download the applications they want at Lexmark’s Web site.  With the HP Photosmart Premium, all the apps are pre-loaded, and HP says new apps in the future will be automatically downloaded (users can remove and replace apps at will).  Both devices feature Wi-Fi wireless network connectivity, which is great, since both can be located anywhere in the home, such as in a home office, and other family users can access them with a Wi-Fi-enabled computer without having to be hooked up with cabling.  They also provide print-and-distribute applications that normally require the use of a PC

In testing, we found that both devices are both remarkable and affordable.  Ink costs are moderate and the feature sets and image quality are state-of-the-art.  The Lexmark system is geared toward more office use, while the HP system is more consumer-oriented. 

Which One to Choose?

If you want to have fun and the cost of ink be damned, the Hewlett-Packard Photosmart Premium is for you.  It will be great for home/home office use and photo-printing.  With the required Internet connection and a healthy application library, the potential for new applications is virtually unlimited.  Ink-cartridge pricing and HP's estimated page yields are as follows:

Black Ink Price/Yield*: $34.99/800 pages.
Cyan Ink Price/Yield*: $17.99/750 pages.
Magenta Ink Price/Yield*: $17.99/750 pages.
Yellow Ink Price/Yield*: $17.99/750 pages.
*Pages at 5% area coverage.

Black/Color Supply Cost Per Page: 4.4/11.6 cents

If you want to have a little less fun but more business use, the Lexmark Platinum Pro905 has what it takes for business and personal use: 1) an automatic document feeder;  and 2) dual paper trays with a total capacity of 300 sheets of media.  With the required Internet connection and Lexmark SmartSolutions applications and customizable one-touch keys, the Platinum Pro905 can serve as either a family, workgroup or small office communications hub/photo printer.  Ink-cartridge pricing and Lexmark's estimated page yields are as follows:

Black Ink Price/Yield*: $4.99/510 pages
Cyan Ink Price/Yield*: $17.99/600 pages                        
Magenta Ink Price/Yield*: $17.99/600 pages
Yellow Ink Price/Yield*: $17.99/600 pages
*Pages at 5% area coverage.

Black/Color Supply Cost Per Page: 1.0/9.9 cents

Parental Warning! – You are forewarned that both of these devices make it exceptionally easy to make copious quantities of non-supervised color prints.  Keep in mind that even though cost per page is comparably inexpensive, ink costs can be more than 10 cents per page when printing an average color page containing 20% area coverage.  Add in the cost of photo paper at approximately 40 cents a sheet and hopefully you see where I’m going with this.

We love the challenge of testing the new capabilities offered by these devices.  Stay tuned for What You Should Know Hands-On Test Reports for both systems in the very near future. 

Happy Reading!
Terry Wirth

One of my most treasured comedic film moments comes from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”  Michael Palin, after witnessing considerable carnage in and around his castle makes this plea: “Let’s not bicker and argue about who killed who.”

Anyway, since I was broken in under the direction of Arthur Kallet (a co-founder of Consumers Reports), I have deep roots in the consumer-testing industry, and have always reviewed products from the perspective of the end-user.  As Wirth Consulting has reported, there’s currently a movement among some consumers that ink-jet printer/All-in-One vendors label the actual amount of ink contained in their ink cartridges.  And, since, its entry into the market in 2007, Eastman Kodak has been aggressively claiming that their ink-jet printer/All-in-Ones have the most affordable ink costs, and alleging that other vendors are actually overcharging customers for ink.   

First, I’d like to point out that I’ve been involved in the testing of copier and printer ink/toner yields for many, many years.  I was also heavily involved in the development of  American Society for the Testing of Materials (ASTM) F.05 page-yield test methods and procedures.  My (former employer’s) lab and efforts were instrumental in basic R&D/marketing claims for the ICRA (International Cartridge Recyclers Association).  In summary, I have printed/copied enough page-yield test targets to pave the streets of London.

The development of page-yield standards was always a dicey proposition and it took years of work at ASTM before any kind of consensus could be reached.  This is because the ASTM charter specifies that each subcommittee consist of a specified mix of consumers, manufacturers and observers, and there were monumental economic issues at stake for many members.  One vendor would insist on using their internal test method as a foundation, another would insist on using their test target, somebody else would challenge the test method or page coverage/composition of the test target as not realistic and the conversation would devolve into a debate about how to measure original page coverage.   This went on for many years while myself, as committee chairman, looked out for consumer interests.  Finally, once our committee hashed out test methods and procedures, it took ANSI/ISO to stick a fork in it with ISO/IEC 24711, a standard that has been adopted for ink-jet and solid-ink devices.  ISO/IEC 24711 is described as “a method for determination of ink-cartridge yield for color ink-jet printer and multifunction devices that contain printer components.”

Thankfully for consumers, the Wild West of vendor-reported ink yields was over and they could actually compare the ink cost-per-page of various products on a level playing field.  Using these recently replicable numbers, let’s do a cost-per-page analysis on ink-jet MFPs from the major vendors that are priced in the range of $125-$175 using the the hardware and cartridge pricing that we obtained from the Staples® Web site.

Ink Cost Per Page for MFPs from $125 to $175

*Staples® Web Site pricing
**At 5% page coverage per color for a total of 20% coverage
***Multi-color ink cartridge houses cyan, yellow, magenta, and photo black inks, as well as a protective coating, in a single cartridge

And the Winner Is . . .
Indeed, Kodak at 5.829¢ (followed closely by HP at 8.090¢).  The ESP 5250 has a considerably lower cost per page and TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) than the other five other All-in-Ones in this comparison.

Houston, We Have A Problem
However, there is a big problem with taking these numbers at face value.  While it is indeed valid to compare all the numbers above, you can't include Kodak in the comparison because it employs a multi-color cartridge.  Why is this so?

The multi-color (or chamber) cartridge that has been used by many other vendors in the past has been largely abandoned in favor of individual cartridges for each color because of a single glaring weakness:  The multi-color cartridge houses roughly equal quantities of the various ink colors in a single cartridge.  While this may keep down the cost of cartridge manufacturing, it doesn't do the user any favors at all unless they print documents that require the exact same ratio of all of the ink colors.   This is because as soon as one color runs out, you need to change and dispose of the cartridge even though it may still contain considerable quantities of the other ink colors.  In theory, you can still print with a muli-color cartridge that has run out of one color but your color image quality will be hideously wrong (think psychedelic) and the software/device will continuously nag you until you relent and change the cartridge.  The bottom line is that nobody, I repeat nobody in the real world is going to be able to wring every last drop of color ink out of a multi-color cartridge and their cost per page will suffer accordingly.  How much it will suffer can't be determined, but you most certainly don't have a leg to stand on when you start pointing a finger at who is overcharging who for printer ink.

What’s Next?
Wirth Consulting has purchased a Kodak ESP 5250 and will shortly be performing a WYSK Hands-On test on the device  Using our standard test method, we’ll look at the aspects of performance that are important to users including image quality (especially photo image quality for this class of products), reliability, ease of use, and maintenance procedures.  And yes, we'll let you know when and if the ESP-5250 runs out of ink during the printing/copying of our standard test suite when compared to similar products that we’ve tested from HP and Lexmark.

Happy reading and stay tuned . . .
Terry Wirth

©2010 · Wirth Consulting, LLC
Reproduction is Forbidden · For Copyright Release Information, Contact sales@wirthconsulting.org

It's a given that in this economy, hardly any customers will be purchasing products that they don’t really need.  Purchasing something just because it's fashionable and/or may be needed in the future just doesn’t cut it any more.  It's also a given that customers are seeking more efficient and less costly ways to purchase office-imaging equipment.  That brings us to question two entrenched ideas:  that every office needs an expensive A3 printer/copier system, and that a dealer channel is a must-have in order to effectively market office-imaging equipment. 

A3 (11”x17”) Media Capability – Back in the day, people still printed and distributed 11”x17” brochures, sales collaterals and user manuals.  Consequently, all the office-imaging vendors that relied on dealer distribution marketed a host of A3 printers and MFPs that had elaborate finishing options, including folding, page insertion, trimming and saddle finishing—and they continue to do so. 

In my opinion, that model may no longer be effective.  Think about it: When was the last time that you REQUESTED that somebody mail you a brochure?  When was the last time that you delivered a printed (non-proof) brochure to a colleague or customer?  When was the last time you received a printed user manual with a product?  When was the last time you could actually locate an existing printed user manual (practically ancient text by this time).  Instead, you probably downloaded and viewed an Adobe PDF of the user manual online.

Of course, there will always be some need for printing A3, for instance, for printing Microsoft Excel worksheets or proofs of product brochures or sales collaterals.  But in those cases, we have always recommended that businesses instead purchase a low-cost A3 printer that's dedicated to the few users that actually need A3.

Digital Scanning and Document Management – We discuss this issue in detail in a companion piece recently posted on our Industry Pulse Web Blog.  The bottom line is that the day of the digital document is already here, so it doesn't make sense to keep printing and distributing documents, much less re-digitizing by scanning them--with the scanning process resulting in guaranteed lessened image quality.  Most likely, the original document is in digital format; it can simply be e-mailed or shared on a network or an intranet.  There's maybe some need to print it and distribute it, but since the document's already probably in digital format, there's little need to scan it in order to convert it back to digital format.  Many vendors stress the that the A3 scanners that are built into their A3 MFPs are a necessity.  We say that a common paper cutter is a viable alternative for cutting an A4 document in half and scanning on a cost-effective A4 MFP and that there are very few applications that demand an A3 scanner.

The model in the past was "print-and-distribute"--a digital document was printed by a high-volume A3 system and then distributed in hardcopy format.  Today and in the future, the model will be reversing--"distribute and print."  With this model, the document is e-mailed or shared on a network, Internet, or intranet.  The user then decides whether to print it.

Why do the vendors insist on hammering the market with A3 devices that cost three to four times more than a comparable A4 device that can be purchased business-to-business (B2B) rather than by haggling with authorized dealers?  Why keep hammering every office with the message that they need A3 printers and MFPs?

Here’s why:

• The vendors that distribute through authorized dealers (Canon, Ricoh, Xerox, et. al.) have a HUGE investment in the dealer community.
• Dealers are beholden to proprietary toner sales and service revenue.
• As a result, the vendors build tens of thousands of units that have proprietary toners (that can’t be bought online or via retail) and are designed specifically for distribution by dealers.  These systems are also usually built so that maintenance components can only be replaced by trained technicians, not by everyday users. 
• The sales margin for dealer products is exponentially higher than comparable B2B products because dealers demand high profits on sales margins AND elbow room for the inevitable haggling process.
• B2B vendors such as Hewlett-Packard, Brother and Lexmark are not beholden to a dealer community and are content to sell A4 products at low margins and reap the profits from readily available toner, ink and maintenance kits.  They seem to have chosen to leave A3 systems to the dealer community.  But you can be sure that this will change, as they may also likely begin marketing more alternative A3 systems for the office--why should they leave A3 all to the dealer channel?

Granted, high-volume and production devices will likely always need 24/7 attention from a service organization that the dealer community provides—and they may as well be A3 devices.  But how many users actually need to print AND copy A3 documents?  We believe it is a small fraction.  Instead, as we noted, it makes much more sense to equip an office or enterprise with several lower-cost A4 systems, and just a few A3 systems dedicated to those users that really require A3.  But alas, the traditional office-imaging vendors are not providing their dealers with the A4 systems necessary for this model and it seems that many dealers are unwilling to sell them because of their relatively low acquisition prices (and the fact that dealer sales people are compensated based on aggregate monetary sales volume).

However, as we have previously noted, several have demonstrated such foresight:  both Panasonic and Sharp have taken steps to expand their A4 product lineups, and Toshiba has formed a tight partnership with Hewlett-Packard for providing sales, service and supplies for the popular HP LaserJet/Color LaserJet products.

On the other side of the coin, HP has recently struck a deal with Canon to the A3 imageRUNNER line of MFPs—go figure.

Happy reading!
Terry Wirth

On Monday, April 26th, we received a surprise from UPS—the delivery of an early production version of the Hewlett-Packard LaserJet Pro M1212nf MFP.

In case you’ve been living in a cave with no Wi-Fi Internet access, this little gem retails for $199.99 and was just introduced earlier this month.  It's HP’s latest and least expensive B/W toner-based (laser) MFP.  In our opinion, this littlest LaserJet MFP has something that should make potential customers sit up and take notice.  It’s a feature called “Smart Install,” and it's bound to show up on all future LaserJets. 

On the other hand, we do not expect it to show up on the Officejet ink-jet products because of their inherent memory limitations.  This is because laser printers print a full page at a time and require significant memory and processing power to do so.  Ink-jet printers print a line at a time and thus require much less on-board memory and processing power.  Because the Smart Install software is stored in the printer firmware, we are not sure if HP will add the necessary components to its ink-jet products in order to facilitate Smart Install.  However, you never know, and if it's economical enough, HP may add a Smart Install ROM to Officejets, which we think will be a great value-add.

How Smart Install Works
With Smart Install for Windows, it’s not necessary to load software from a CD. Instead, drivers and software are contained within the printer firmware, and when connected to the computer workstation via USB cable, are automatically downloaded and installed. In our network installation, here's how we used Smart Install.  First we connected the LaserJet with USB cable to our computer workstation. The LaserJet USB connection is recognized by the workstation.  Then Smart Install uploads the software to the workstation from the LaserJet. The Smart Install installation then launches on the workstation, and users can select either the USB direct connection, or the network connection.  We chose network operation and were then prompted to connect the system to our router with an Ethernet cable.  To complete the install, the user simply responds to a few simple dialog boxes.  It took us just 11 minutes.

To begin the install, all you need to do is hook up is a USB cable.  Note that HP does not supply one in the box and if you don’t have one available, you must connect your printer to your network switch or router with a CAT5 cable, and use the network install option found on the included CD-ROM.

The first thing that launches is a standard End User License Agreement.  As is usual, basically you agree to this or you can’t perform the installation. 

Smart Install is uploading the installation software to the workstation from the LaserJet's firmware.

The software is being extracted from the compressed archive.

Here, you are prompted to choose whether you intend to use the LaserJet on a network or directly attached via USB cable.  We chose the network option.  We were subsequently instructed to attach a CAT5 cable from the printer to our network switch or router.

Installation continues . . .

We're prompted to disconnect the USB cable.

That was easy!  We only had to respond to a few dialog boxes in order to install the LaserJet MFP.  Clicking “Next” starts the device registration process and the Fax Setup Wizard.  We were able to set up fax at the computer workstation in a couple of minutes (fax may also be configured using the Device Home Page via a Web browser, or from the control panel at another time if you'd like). This is much preferable to having to use the control panel to set up fax.

Caveats

• Smart Install can only be used to install the device on workstations that can be attached to the LaserJet with a USB cable.  With other computer workstations on the network, you'll have to perform the more traditional installation procedure located on the included CD-ROM.
• Smart Install does not install the Toolbox utility.  Not to worry, because everything that you can do with Toolbox can be done with the Device Home Page that's accessed via Web browser.
• If you think that you can’t live without Toolbox, you can install it from the included CD-ROM.  However, choosing the “Add additional software” option from the installer automatically launches the software update procedure and installed a second print driver on our system.  It should have replaced the original print driver instead (keep in mind that we are evaluating an early unit and HP may address this issue).  Nevertheless, if this happens to you, go into your printer folder and delete the older print driver and rename the new one from “HP LaserJet Professional M1212nf MFP 1” to “HP LaserJet Professional M1212nf MFP.”
• Since the drivers are stored in the LaserJet firmware, there's a distinct chance that it your product may ship with older or outdated drivers.  This means that you should insert the CD-ROM anyway and perform a software update at some point in time.  Once the product matures, this should become less and less of an issue.

• Use “Add another printer” to install the drivers from the CD-ROM on workstations that cannot be physically connected to the LaserJet with a USB cable.  This task is as easy to do as the Smart Install installation.
• Use “Repair/Update” from the CD-ROM to repair an installation or update the software installed on the workstation.
• Use “Add additional” software from the CD-ROM to install Toolbox and the Install Notes.  Note that when we chose this option, the software was also automatically updated and a second print driver was installed on our workstation.

Conclusion
Network/direct connect installation using Smart Install was remarkably fast and easy, and was by far the fastest and easiest Wirth Consulting has observed among hundreds of network installations we've performed.   “Diskless” workstation and network installation using Smart Install took only about 11 minutes. (Network installation using Smart Install can also be performed without USB connection using the traditional CD installation.)  Note that we found that this process can take 30+ minutes with the traditional CD-ROM installation procedure for an ink-jet All-in-One device in this price range.

Happy reading!
Terry Wirth

At first glance, our What You Should Know (WYSK) product evaluations may look like simple spec sheets to you.  However, we want you to know that a great deal of research and analysis goes into each and every one of them. 

For the most part, what's contained in a WYSK can be found in a product brochure--albeit with considerable parsing.  (We know you and your salespeople cannot afford to wade through four-page marketing brochures endlessly praising a given device's virtues.)

However, our WYSK Evaluations also contain considerable strategic information that is not found in a brochure, and which your salespeople must know in order to succeed against the competition. 

Device and accessory pricing – Because they wish to protect their exclusive dealers (and third-party leasing companies), many vendors do not publish list or suggested retail pricing for their digital-imaging devices or pricing for optional accessories and solutions.  Of course, as any purchasing agent can tell you, the cost of acquisition is an important gauge of value.  As a result, we at Wirth Consulting spend a great deal of time contacting vendors and Googling the night away in our quest to obtain pricing.   Consequently, even if a vendor does not publish pricing, we will eventually find it. 

Supply types, pricing and yields – Once again, in order to protect their exclusive dealers, many vendors do not publish supply pricing.  Some will publish the various types (toner, developer, drum, transfer belts, etc.) but not the page yields.  Others will publish the types and page yields, but not the pricing.  As a result, we at Wirth Consulting devote considerable time combing the Web for this information.  We have found that many third-party consumables' vendors publish the OEM consumables types and yields as a competitive advantage for their products, while others price and sell the actual OEM supplies.  Under these circumstances, pricing can be all over the place, so we publish the average pricing found in the top tier of all the pricing we have found.

Maintenance items, pricing and yields – Some users don't know that they need more than toner or ink in order to produce images on paper.  Many devices, primarily toner-based devices, require regular replacement of components such as fusers (highly-stressed components that apply heat and pressure to a page), feed rollers/friction pads, ADF feed rollers/belts, waste tanks, etc.  While most of these components are covered under the typical service contract, many devices are sold business-to-business (B2B) and the customer is responsible for purchasing and installing Customer Replaceable Units (CRUs) or “Maintenance Kits.” 

Cost Per Page (CPP) – The cost and yield of supply and maintenance items determine a device's Cost Per Page.  While many people only consider the cost of ink and toner, the price and yield of maintenance and other supply items must be considered as well.  While the CPP in our WYSK Evaluations includes only ink or toner and/or imaging drum, the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) calculations (see below) factor in the cost of all supply and maintenance items.

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) - We use all of the above--toner or ink, imaging drum, and maintenance items--to calculate Total Cost of Ownership, or how much it will cost to run a device at various monthly volumes over the course of five years.  TCO can be eye opening, as even a $100 printer can cost you tens of thousands of dollars to operate throughout its life span.  TCO is critical information that every buyer must know.

Energy consumption, security features, maximum media weight and more – Finding this critical information generally involves parsing every line of a product page or brochure, and may even involve downloading and searching through user manuals.  This is something that nearly anybody would be loathe to do, but not to worry, the experts at Wirth Consulting do this for you.

All of the above consumes considerable time and we’re sure that you don’t want your salespeople spending time surfing the Web looking for product info that is conveniently supplied in our WYSK along with the insight that comes along with our 30+ years of experience testing and evaluating digital-imaging devices.  We also use our considerable expertise to award scores of 1-5 in our exclusive Feature Analysis Ratings and scoring system for the following areas of performance:

1. Value
2. Features
3. Copying
4. Printing
5. Scanning
6. Image Quality
7. Ease of Use
8. Software
9. Maintenance
10. Media Handling

Our mission is to provide a service that will save you considerable research and time in your quest to obtain competitive information, and for end-users, enable you to purchase the most appropriate digital-imaging device, and we hope that you take advantage of our services. 

Happy Reading!
Terry Wirth

We’ve all been aware of how pricing for digital-imaging equipment (printers and MFPs) has dropped over the years, especially those of us who remember that the first B/W Hewlett-Packard 8-ppm LaserJet cost $3,495 in 1984 while the 8-ppm B/W Apple LaserWriter PostScript printer (right) cost $6,995 in 1985. 

Why revisit this phenomena now?

Consider this:  Wirth Consulting completed a Head2Head Comparison Report in January 2009 on B2B Duplex/Network MFPs for under $500.  Here's the list:

We just completed the research for a second round of evaluations on the same product category.  Here is the list of B2B Duplex/Network MFPs for under $500 as of September 23, 2009:

• New Products – Nine months later, only two models remain from January 2009 for a total of 21 new products in this category.
• More Imaging Technology Choices – In January 2009, you could choose from among B/W laser or color ink-jet MFPs.  You can now purchase a color laser MFP for under $500 -- the Konica Minolta magicolor 1690MF (right). 
• Lower Cost Per Page – Lexmark is advertising B/W printing costs at “a penny a page” for its just-introduced new ink-jet models.  We can't confirm Lexmark's cost per page, but the models evaluated in January of 2009 had a cost per page of 5.2 cents!
• Office and/or Shared Use – Wirth Consulting believes that networking and automatic duplexing are so critical for office and shared use that we only evaluate devices that can be equipped as such.  As you can see, far more devices for under $500 can be equipped with automatic duplex printing and networking.
• Product R&D/Development/Marketing/Distribution – Being in this industry for so long, it’s hard to conceive of the amount of resources invested by these companies in bringing all of these new products to market.  Keep in mind that this is only one category of B2B products—can you imagine the product development that each manufacturer has invested in across all product categories?
• According to some market-research, the "bright spot" in the digital-imaging market will be MFPs, especially color MFPs, as more customers may be seeking devices with not just print functionality, but copy, scan and/or fax functionality as well.

I know, long time no new post but we have been working feverishly on making our reports, web site and services as useful as possible.  One of our most recent innovations had been a redesign our Wirth Consulting Gold Medal logo for Overall Winners of its Head2Head Comparison Reports.  

Legacy Gold Medal for “Best Overall Performance”	Redesigned Gold Medal for “Best in Class”

What do you think?  We think that the new Best In Class Gold Medal better reflects that a digital imaging device  bested the competition, and is far more effective than generic awards that are often awarded to multiple devices in the same category. 

Simply put, when Wirth Consulting issues a Best In Class Gold Medal Winner, we have pinpointed the BEST device within a segment--and there is only ONE winner.  While some firms issue multiple awards to different products within the same segment, we believe the value of this to your company is very limited.  Add to this the fact that Wirth Consulting painstakingly evaluates office-imaging devices, so that we back-up Best In Class Gold Medal Winners with documentation, research and experience. 

Please keep in mind that Wirth Consulting Gold Medals are not arbitrarily awarded for some nebulous achievement such as “Best Occasional Digital Color Printer”--a product earns a Gold Medal after recording the best score in a multi-product side-by-side comparison using our exclusive rating system.

If you are an end-user, you can be sure that any product that earns a Wirth Consulting Gold Medal will be state-of-the art and the first product that you should consider in its class.  That way, we can save you considerable time in your quest for the best digital imaging product for your organization.

If you are a vendor and your device earned Overall Winner designation in a Head2Head Comparison Report for the Winter 2008-2009 period, you can receive distribution rights to a Best In Class Gold Medal free-of-charge (a $5,000 value!).  Best In Class Gold Medals can be used in in product marketing, on your Web site, in sales collaterals, etc.   In return, all that we ask is that you publish a press release describing the achievement of your product.

We have updated all previous Overall Winner Gold Medals and the What You Should Know Reports and Head2Head Comparisons on our website to reflect the new Best in Class designation. 

If you are eligible and interested in receiving your FREE Best In Class Gold Medal(s) please contact either myself (terry@wirthconsulting) or Kathleen (kathy@wirthconsulting.org) to obtain your Best In Class Gold Medal.  Vendors of the following imaging devices evaluated in the Winter of 2008-2009 are eligible to receive Best In Class Gold Medals free-of-charge:

• Brother MFC-8870DW
• Hewlett-Packard Color LaserJet CP2025dn
• Hewlett-Packard Officejet Pro L7780
• Konica Minolta magicolor 4650DN
• Lexmark X656DE MFP
• Ricoh GX7000
• Xerox Phaser 3635 MFP/S
• Xerox Phaser 6180 MFP/D
• Xerox Phaser 7760DN
• Xerox Phaser 8560/DN
• Xerox WorkCentre 4150/X

Happy Reading!
Terry Wirth

Up until recently, Wirth Consulting has relied on our considerable experience in the testing and evaluation of hundreds, perhaps thousands of imaging products to produce our What You Should Know product evaluations and Head2Head Product Comparisons that are gleaned from publicly available information. 

However, we also felt that those of you who were not familiar with us personally may have missed the point that we know digital-imaging products inside-and-out, and that perhaps you would like us to put these devices through their paces in a hands-on test.

Consequently, we are pleased to announce a significant new product to add to our portfolio of services found on the Wirth Consulting Web site – What You Should Know Hands-On Test Reports.

If you’ve visited this blog, in the last month or so, you’ve probably noticed that there hasn’t been a new post for quite some time.  This is because I was busy developing a test program and a report format for our new What You Should Know Hands-On Test Reports. 

What You Should Know Hands-On Test Reports are approximately 12 pages in length and contain tested performance data as well as useful photos of the device and screen shots of the software.  The first page of each report will be freely viewable on the Wirth Consulting Web site and the entire report will be automatically delivered to the e-mail inbox of our subscribers (BTA members automatically qualify for a 25-percent discount).  Initially, we will concentrate on testing the business-to-business (B2B) and small/mid-size business (SMB) market segments in our facility, and plan to eventually move upwards and evaluate office/dealer digital-imaging products.  This step will involve on-site testing at a location designated by the equipment vendor.

Following is a description of the methodology that we will use.  You can view the complete version here.

General

• Wirth Consulting always uses best testing practices (such as those described in various ASTM standards) when testing. All testing is performed under controlled conditions with a stabilized network, and a “clean” PC with latest service packs and all application-software updates installed.
• Wirth Consulting evaluators have decades of experience in the testing and evaluation of all types of office products, in particular networked, digital-imaging products.   We have managed test programs, as well as personally tested and evaluated hundreds of devices, ranging from desktop printers to office MFPs and light-production systems (monochrome and color).  As evaluators, we both test the device and compose and produce the test report.    

Installation

Office products are delivered and set-up by dealers.  For B2B and some SMB products, Wirth Consulting records the procedures and time it requires for our evaluators to:

1. Remove the components from the packaging and install the hardware and imaging supplies.
2. Install the device on the wired network.
3. Install software utilities and print drivers on a single PC.

            
Installing a test unit's duplex unit.        Installing a test unit's print head.

Image Quality

• Wirth Consulting evaluates prints (produced with highest settings) and copies (in text, text/photo and photo modes) for negative/positive line/dot quality, halftone reproduction, grayscale reproduction and photo reproduction.  RAW TIFF photos of the output are included in each report.

Our reports feature RAW TIFF (uncompressed) photos taken of the actual printed output.

Printer Productivity

• Using normal print settings, the media supply closest to the print processor, and finisher-tray output (when applicable), Wirth Consulting ensures that the device is not in recalibration or standby mode, and times the simplex and duplex FPOT (First Page Out Time) and Job Times/pages per minute (ppm) for the following documents:

1. 1-Page Photo
2. 10-Page Adobe Acrobat Color
3. 10-Page Adobe Acrobat Text
4. 10-MS Word Power Point
5. 10-MS B/W Microsoft Word Text
6. 10-MS B/W Microsoft Word Duplex Text

Copier Productivity

• Using default copy settings, the media supply closest to the print processor, and finisher-tray output (when applicable), Wirth Consulting ensures that the device is not in recalibration or standby mode, and times the simplex and duplex FCOT (First Copy Out Time) and Job Times/PPM of a 10-page color document in both color and B/W modes.

Ease of Use

• Wirth Consulting analyzes the control panel and touch screen layout and design, and the user interface of any included software.

Software

• Wirth Consulting analyzes the effectiveness and usability of all included print drivers and client utilities.

Maintenance

• Wirth Consulting photographs and records all the procedures for accessing and removing misfeeds, as well as all procedures for replenishing imaging and media supplies.

                  
Misfeed access in the duplex unit                    Adding media to the media tray

Media Handling

• Wirth Consulting analyzes the scope of all media types and weights that the device can handle.

Cost Per Page

• Using figures supplied by the vendor that are derived from the ISO/IEC 19752:2004 test method for the determination of imaging-supplies yields, Wirth Consulting calculates and reports the cost per page based on original coverage of 5% per color for color devices and 6% for B/W devices.

Space and Power Requirements

• Recognizing that space is always at a premium and most enterprises and users seek to minimize their energy costs, Wirth Consulting reports the energy consumed while printing, the space required in regards to its footprint (including cubic feet/cm), and whether additional space is required around the perimeter of the device for common user maintenance.

Eco-Friendly Features

• Every company wants to be environmentally correct.  Consequently, Wirth Consulting reports any of the device’s notable eco-friendly features or capabilities.

Recommendation

• Wirth Consulting evaluators compose a summary of the device's overall performance in testing, describing the devices’ strengths and limitations, and recommending its best-use scenario.
• An overall rating of “Outstanding,” “Well Worth Consideration",” Worth Consideration” or “Not Worth Consideration” will be applied.

Scheduled Reports

We have decided that it makes the most sense to initiate the new testing program with B2B devices, as they are are easy and inexpensive for vendors to ship to our facility.  Our first report is for the Hewlett-Packard's Officejet 6000 Series, and will be followed by a report on HP's Officejet 7000 A3 Ink-Jet printer.

HP Officejet 6000 Wireless Printer test unit.

Send Us Your B2B/SMB Digital Imaging Product(s)!

B2B/SMB vendors who wish to participate in our testing program should contact us.   We will gladly evaluate any B2B/SMB digital-imaging product that at a minimum has a network interface.  You will also get an opportunity to review the report in its entirety before we publish it. 

Note that we also prefer to evaluate devices equipped with automatic duplexing, so please arrange to ship any automatic-duplexing options as well.  Last, in testing, we will print 100 to 200 pages, many with 100-percent color area coverage.  This means that it is advisable to ship us a second set of toner/ink cartridges so that testing can continue without delay.

We hope that you will enjoy our new service.  Look forward to publication of the first What You Should Know Hands On-Test Report within the next week.

Happy reading!
Terry Wirth