A4 photocopier with the lowest total running cost? under 10 grand

[echelon6]

Originally Posted by bubblegoose

We have the Toshiba e-studio's here at work, and they are pretty decent machines if your users treat them right. ours are a few years old now, and I hear the new ones are even better (they have a totally new OS on them). I think we pay 0.8c for B+W and about 8c for colour (includes toner, staples, waste toner containers and maintenance/parts.)

The canon ones looked very decent as well. In terms of features for fleet management and follow me printing etc. (not that you would need that if it's just for the one machine). and their costs were very good too.

I do about 5000 bnw a week and 20000 bnw a month. No need for colour. So for your 0.8c per print, did you go through Toshiba directly for the contract or did you go through a dealer / distributor?

[aokman]

I think the Konica Minolta Bizhub C220/C280/C360 would be a good option in that price range. They have very good copy costs and it's single click for A4 / A3 - Single or Double sided.

You don't have to use the color but its there if you need it.

If your dead set on B&W the Bizhub 223 (22ppm)/283 (28ppm)/363 (36ppm)/423 (42ppm) are rock solid machines, very simple in engine design and very very reliable. They are single click also.

[Copey]

Originally Posted by aokman

I think the Konica Minolta Bizhub C220/C280/C360 would be a good option in that price range. They have very good copy costs and it's single click for A4 / A3 - Single or Double sided.

You don't have to use the color but its there if you need it.

If your dead set on B&W the Bizhub 223 (22ppm)/283 (28ppm)/363 (36ppm)/423 (42ppm) are rock solid machines, very simple in engine design and very very reliable. They are single click also.

We have 4 Konica C220/C360 under contract at about 8c/.8c pp. & 4 Sharp MX4111n at 6c/.6c pp (government contract)

We have found that in terms of reliability, performance & ease of use the sharps shit all over the konica’s.

A couple of the sharp machines are doing 40000+ prints pre month without any hiccups

[aokman]

Are you dealing direct with Konica or through a dealer. You certainly have a unique experience as the newer Konica interface is much more advanced and i find easier to use over Sharps especially lol... The only downsides of the C360 range is they are not good with abusive users (teachers). Your pp costs are also a bit high, are Sharp charging single click for a3 and double sided?

[Copey]

Originally Posted by aokman

Are you dealing direct with Konica or through a dealer. You certainly have a unique experience as the newer Konica interface is much more advanced and i find easier to use over Sharps especially lol... The only downsides of the C360 range is they are not good with abusive users (teachers). Your pp costs are also a bit high, are Sharp charging single click for a3 and double sided?

We live out in the sticks, so we have to go through a dealer. Speaking with users of both the Konica's & sharps, they seem to be happier with the sharps & I must admit that I do find the Konica’s user interface to be a tad confusing…
I’ll have to reconfirm this but I believe we are paying .06c per B/W & 6c per colour is that not a good deal? Toner & servicing is included in that price.

[aokman]

All depends on how big your contract is really, going through a dealer will give you worse experience with the machine however as dealers stretch consumables out past their usable lives and avoid spending money on machines at every point. You didn't hear that from me though...

Unfortunately you don't get much other choice in remote areas

Your B&W costs sounds ok however we have had contracts with colour coming very close to B&W costs also Bear in mind though that if your not on a single click account then your getting shafted 2 x for A3 and 2 x for duplex (4x for A3 duplex). Konica direct charge single click for all of them.

[andyroo54]

My suggestion would be to find a good older printer technician and ask for some advice. I have a great tech that used to work on oil rigs and was a radar tech in the army, and he really knows his printers, the drivers/PC side of things too as much as the mech.

I have no doubt he could easily tell me the best printer, the next time I talk to him if I remember I will ask him! (probably soon as printers break down all the time and we have heaps of them..

[echelon6]

thanks andyroo, if you can that would be great

also what is a one click contract?

[aokman]

single click means you pay a 1 page cost regardless of if its double sided or A3. Normally A3 would be double click as its twice the size. Likewise double-sided is considered 2 faces.

[bubblegoose]

Originally Posted by echelon6

I do about 5000 bnw a week and 20000 bnw a month. No need for colour. So for your 0.8c per print, did you go through Toshiba directly for the contract or did you go through a dealer / distributor?

We go through a local company.

Toshiba have both Black and white, and Colour machines, so if you didnt need/want colour, they are a fair bit cheaper, and they do quicker PPM's for the same priced colour machines.

[echelon6]

Originally Posted by aokman

single click means you pay a 1 page cost regardless of if its double sided or A3. Normally A3 would be double click as its twice the size. Likewise double-sided is considered 2 faces.

Wow! so that means if we print duplex, each piece of paper only costs 0.8c or whatever the bnw rate is?? that means its 0.4c per A4 surface? that's ludicrously cheap!

[aokman]

basically yeah, your really just paying for each piece of paper fed through the machine rather than its size / number of seperate faces

this is good for budgeting businesses as if you make it policy to default duplex you can technically almost half your copier costs aswell as your paper costs

[echelon6]

Ludicriously cheap... ok time to get a contract. Thanks for all the info everyone

[NSanity]

Originally Posted by echelon6

Ludicriously cheap... ok time to get a contract. Thanks for all the info everyone

Read the fine print. Do your own maths.