Ask any given expert in the consumer printer industry about what printer to buy when you're on a budget and they'll tell you that beauty is only MSRP-deep. Thats because in the long-run, you also need to account for ink and toner costs over the life of your printer. As a result, seasoned consumers calculate cost per page for consumables to supplement a simple MSRP comparison among different printers. Heres how you can calculate it for yourself, using the HP CP3525DN as an example:

1. Getting the figures you need: When it comes to color printers, remember that you're calculating cost per page in Color and in Black and White. First, you need to find out which cartridges the printer uses, their prices, and their Page Yields (i.e. how many pages each cartridge can help print before it runs out). According to the product page, the HP CP3525DN uses 4 toner cartridges: Black, Cyan, Yellow and Magenta. In this case, the black toner cartridge has a Page Yield of 10,500 pages and the colors have a page yield of 7000 each. All the compatible toner cartridges cost the same @ $109.95 each.

2. Calculating Cost Per Page:

• Black and White Pages: To calculate cost per black and white page (i.e. text documents), you take the price of the black cartridge and divide it by the black cartridges page yield. A compatible HP CE250X [Black] costs $109.95 and has a page yield of 10,500 pages. $109.95 divided by 10,500 pages comes out to a cost per page of 1.0 cents.
• Color Pages: To print a color page, the printer typically uses all its cartridges, including the black one. So we calculate cost per page for each of the color cartridges, add them all together, then combine that number with the black and white cost per page to get the final cost per color page. Compatible Cyan, Yellow and Magenta Toner Cartridges for the HP CP3525DN cost $109.95 each and last for about 7000 pages each. Based on those figures, heres the final cost per color page calculation:

(109.95/10,500) + (109.95/7000) + (109.95/7000) + (109.95/7000) = 5.5 cents per page

And thats really all there is to it. Try calculating cost per page for your current printer and compare it to other machines and cartridges on the market. It may take a little extra calculator work, but the end results can help you save big in the long run.