How we tested
We tested each device for its speed, print quality, and cost of ownership.
All the printers were attached to a Netgear FSM726S switch, which was attached to the RMIT backbone. We printed each test document from an Acer Pentium 4 1.8GHz desktop PC with 256MB of RAM running Windows XP Professional.
Word Simple 50-page Test (600dpi): This test comprised 50 pages with a single font (Arial 10-point) and is used to evaluate the printer's maximum real-world throughput.
Word Complex 20-page Test (600dpi): This test comprised 20 pages of complex word processing and includes 18 different fonts some in multiple sizes, eight images ranging from simple clip art to high-res TIFF photos, and multiple column styles.
Fontkey.PDF (600dpi): This test confirms the printer's ability to correctly and accurately render multiple font sizes from 4-point up to 48-point in two font styles—Times New Roman and Gaudy Handtooled.
Laserkey.PDF (600dpi): This test exercises the printer's ability to produce smooth gradients (both linear and greyscale), smooth straight, oblique and radial fine lines, and smooth solid black fills.
Colorkey.PDF (600dpi): This test is similar to the previous test but also includes smooth colour gradations, ink mixing, fine yellow grid lines on a solid green background and a JPEG image of a small child.
Photo Realistic Graphics Test Photo (Max Resolution): A very large 44MB (once “flattened” by PhotoShop) test image was created and printed using Photoshop 5.0 LE, to evaluate a whole range of printer abilities such as skin tones, sky colour fidelity, accuracy with fine white on colour details, accuracy of dithering (particularly in areas of low contrast), handling of low contrast shadows, and overall greyscale accuracy.
Printing Quality Assessment: Printer output was assessed for quality by the Test Lab staff, both with the naked eye and also an 8x magnifier. Purity was also judged with the naked eye, assessing how close the output was to the actual screen image. While we acknowledge this is a largely subjective process, especially given the different technologies, we feel that most users would use similar purity criteria.
Total Cost of Ownership: To work out the total cost of owning a mono laser printer we asked each of the vendors to supply us with all the service intervals that would need to be carried out if you were to print 60,000 pages over three years. This included the cost and frequency of replacing toners, drums, fusers, rollers, belts, waste bottles, and any other components that you would have to replace during this time.
Manufacturers claim that the cost per page for a typical black page is two cents. This is based on five percent coverage, which is the industry standard that is used by many manufacturers.
We also rated each of the machines in the areas of interoperability, futureproofing, return on investment, and service.
Interoperability: We looked at the interfaces that were supported.
Futureproofing: We looked at the expansion potential of each printer, including the maximum RAM that could be fitted, whether you could buy a second or third paper tray or any sorter bins, and if you could fit a duplexer or a hard disk to the printer.
Return on Investment: We looked at the initial cost of the printer as well as the total cost of ownership. We also considered the print speed and print quality.
Service: We looked at the duration of the warranty and the support hours that were offered for each of the printers.
6%
1%
