Last year, my parents bought a cheap, colour laser printer on special offer from Viking for about £180. My Mum’s just informed me that it’s running low on every single toner, so can I buy some more from where we get our toner for work. I’ve just priced it up and it’ll come to about £400.

However, the same place is selling the same printer for £225. So, on price, I can’t really justify buying the toner, when it would be about half the price to buy another printer. That’s just ridiculous, I’m going to end up with a perfectly good and hardly used printer bricked for the want of four plastic tubs full of coloured dust!

I know they want to lure you into their programme of spending massive amounts of money on toner, but they’ve at least got to make the printer more expensive than the toner, or it’s both non-profitable for them and bad for the environment.

Yes, but the toners in the printer, at time of purchase, are often a third full or less...

Hadn't thought of that. It's still going to be monetarily less to buy the printer, which will last another year. Having said that, though I'm going to buy the toner anyway as I think it's ridiculous not to.

It is like razors and blades, it is cheaper to buy a new razor with a couple of blades than it is to buy a new 5 or 10 pack of blades...

The razor, or in this case the printer hardware, are a throwaway cost, they actually make their money from selling the blades/ink/toner. If you keep buying new printers, instead of toner, it will still cost you more in the long run.

I got a Konica Minolta Magicolor 2450 a couple of years ago as it, unlike most comparable printers, cam e with a full set of high capacity toners (4500 pages nominal capacity). However, it looks like replacing the toners will indeed also cost as much as a shiny new Magicolor 4650 which is a single pass printer and considerably faster.

I know this is a problem with a lot of ink jet printers but it looks very much like its creeping into the low end of the laser market as well.
Madness.

Have you looked into compatibles?

I know there are a huge number available for inkjet printers, so I'd imagine there are toners available too.

Everytime I read or hear about this, it takes me back to the days of Win95. Bought a HP Deskjet 870cxii. Back then, printers were £200 minimum and ink was rather cheap. Then manufacturers realised you could make more money out of consumables rather than the printer.

This is why, now, more than ever, running costs are important and I will look at the running costs of a printer before buying.

I have, I'm just a bit concerned as to how well they work. My xerox printer will only accept xerox paper. And my Epson inkjet used to be a bit dodgy with compatible inks as well.

I've used compatible cartridges with both Epson and HP inkjet printers, and they work just as well as the real McCoy. When they run out, I take them down to cartridge world and they refill them for me, which also works great.

Is Xerox paper different dimensions or something? I can't see how a printer can tell what brand of paper it has in it!

This is one reason why when i replaced my defunked inkjet I bought one of the new Kodaks. OK so its not the best printer in the world (but got an OK review in PcPro) but they sold it on cheap(er) ink costs ( that and it was wireless so I dont have to have it sitting to close to the PC)

So far its been Ok

Was it defunct as well as losing it's funk?

Paper has loads of variables in its makeup.

I had a printer that lost it's mojo once

That sounds pretty dodgy on the part of Xerox to me. The HP lasers I'm generally used to using will happily take pretty much whatever you put in them, no problems. And the knackered old Brother laser I have on my desk at work pretty much lives on recycled paper (used once, turned around and used again on the reverse).

I've also never used anything other than compatible cartridges, never had a problem.

IIRC some HP printers were meant to have a paper sensor in them but that was to tell the difference between plain and glossy paper rather than brand.
Unless there is some sort of invisble dot pattern embedded in the paper I doubt the printer can actually tell it is or isn't Xerox paper.
As far as I know Xerox paper isn't different size form any other comparable paper. To do so would be a breach of the trade description.
Is it really cheap paper you are trying to use?

I do know that the new photocopiers that have been installed at the research bunker don't seem to like the paper we use but it's the same stuff we've used since I've been there so I doubt it's the papers fault.

I use Xerox Colotech paper with my Konica printer and it's perfectly happy with it. It's good paper to, still it should be at the price.