The HP DeskJet on the shelf costs €65,50. That price is the hook. The ink it runs on is where the money goes. A decade of printing quietly costs more than five whole printers.
An original HP 305 black cartridge is €16 and prints about 120 pages. That is roughly thirteen cent for every sheet. Leave the cartridge unused for a few weeks and it dries out. The print head clogs. The machine itself gives up after two or three years. Another €65 printer takes its place.
The Brother HL-L2400DWE is a mono laser printer that costs €133. It fuses toner powder onto paper with heat. There is no wet ink to dry out and no print head to clog. Nothing spoils while the machine sits idle over the summer. The drum and the toner are separate parts you swap in seconds. A genuine TN-2420 toner is €88,95 and prints 3.000 pages, close to three cent each. These printers routinely run ten to fifteen years. Plenty pass twenty.
Print 500 pages a year, the load of a normal household with school forms, tickets and the odd letter. Over ten years that comes to 5.000 pages.
| Ten years, 5.000 pages | Brother laser | HP inkjet |
|---|---|---|
| Printers bought | €133 (one) | €262 (four) |
| Ink or toner | €178 (2 cartridges) | €672 (42 cartridges) |
| Cost per printed page | about 3 cent | about 13 cent |
| Total spend | €311 | €934 |
The inkjet figure is the kind one. It counts black pages only. Add colour cartridges and the half-used ink you throw away. The gap only widens.
A laser printer holds no resale value worth counting. The dividend here is quieter. One machine sits on your desk for a decade while four inkjets pass through the recycling bin behind it. You stop buying €16 cartridges that manage 120 pages. You buy one €89 cartridge that prints 3.000 and forget about it for a year.
The verdict. Buy the laser once for €133 and print for a decade at three cent a page.