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from the somewhere,-the-penny-has-dropped dept.
There can't be many printer owners who haven't had an apoplectic fit about the outrageous cost of inks for their machines, and now Epson is trying to change that business model and lower the cost of printing.
Traditionally printer manufacturers have sold their hardware at a loss and made the money back over the lifecycle of the product in consumables. Ink can cost more than expensive perfume or good single-malt Scotch, and in some cases it's cheaper to buy a new printer for $50 rather than replace all the damn cartridges. Now Epson is introducing Americans to its EcoTank printers that can hold two-year supplies of ink. A bottle of the replacement ink will cost around $13 per color, so the cost per page is drastically lower than for conventional printers.
"The introduction of EcoTank marks a fundamental shift in the way we think about using color in business and in the home," said Keith Kratzberg, VP of Epson America.
"Epson EcoTank sets a new standard for color printing, convenience, and value. We believe that our new EcoTank printers are well-positioned to take a large bite out of the small business printer market."
Epson still has to make money, of course, and will do so with a much higher upfront purchase price. The cheapest printer in the range, the Expression ET-2500 EcoTank, will set you back $379 plus tax, and the most expensive model, the WorkForce Pro WF-R4640, costs $1,200 – minus a buck.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Whoever on Friday August 07 2015, @05:09AM
Cheapest way to buy a scanner: buy a multifunction device and don't ever use it as a printer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2015, @05:32AM
A dedicated scanner usually provides better scan quality with more control. So it usually depends on what you need the scanner for.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2015, @06:35AM
Maybe 10 years ago. But unless you are working in publishing, nobody needs all that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2015, @08:18AM
On a distantly related note, the finnish bureucracy system already gives instructions on how to construct an ad-hoc scanner from a smartphone and cardboard..
(Score: 5, Interesting) by NoMaster on Friday August 07 2015, @06:55AM
I thought so too. Then I found out that Canon made multifunctions that refused to work as a scanner when the ink ran out / dried up...
Live free or fuck off and take your naïve Libertarian fantasies with you...
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Friday August 07 2015, @09:14AM
Yes, that got me to say farewell to Canon printers. A dubious error message that suddenly condemned the original print head as incompatible, resulting in a dysfunctional scanner. I found out that I wasn't the only one who got that error message, some people are even preparing a class action suit over it. But that doesn't do me any good, living in Europe.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2015, @11:30AM
I got one of those little black Canon multifunctions because we have one at work and it seemed to work pretty nice. The wholesale store was selling them for $99 so I picked one up (btw, a wholesale price on the ink replacement pack is $60). It wasn't until later at work when I was trying to fax something that we found out that the printer won't let you do anything if one of the cartridges goes out. Cyan went out, and we didn't have a replacement handy. We tried sticking a different color in, just so the printer would shut up and let us use the fax, but it knew we were trying to snooker it. Now, I feel like I'm the one who was snookered by buying one for the home. Evidently I'm supposed to keep all colors in stock at home. At least our Epsom would keep printing when a color went out.
(Score: 2) by everdred on Friday August 07 2015, @09:16PM
I recently had to deal with someone's consumer-level multi-function Epson, which refused to print a page of text — in black-only mode, mind you — because the cyan cartridge was empty.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2015, @01:36PM
That fuckin explains it.... I threw that piece of shit away was about 1.5 years old.
(Score: 3, Informative) by BananaPhone on Friday August 07 2015, @02:32PM
Canon scanners also clip the edges of your scans to save money.
Your sheet is 8.5" wide but the scanning element will only do 8"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2015, @03:02PM
LOL. That's what I thought too, until the ink ran out every three months without printing anything and then even the scanner was locked out. It was an Epson, now it's sitting in the garage and replaced with a Cannon Laserjet which has a 2 year old toner cartridge that still works. I'll bet the new Epsons will last as long as the warranty does.