Printer Ink Cost Is Tied To The Ink Cartridge Yield

When determining the value of printer ink cost, don’t simply look at the retail price of the ink. Instead, find out what the ink cartridge yield is. The ink cartridge yield is the output of pages that a cartridge of ink will give you. When calculating page yields, most manufacturers factor that 4 percent to 5 percent of the page will be covered in ink. So don’t just look at the bottom line when thinking about how much printer ink will cost you in the long run. For instance, the Epson Stylus C63 printer may run you about $200. However, you have to factor in the cost of the ink. Say you spend $25 a piece for the black printer ink and an additional $25 for the color ink. However, to truly get an idea of how much it’ll cost you for the printer, take a look at the ink cartridge yield. According to Epson, the Stylus C63 ink yields 494 pages in black ink and 237 pages in color ink. Think that tells the whole story? Not quite. If you have text heavy printing, your ink will go much faster because that will take up more than 4 percent to 5 percent of the page. If you’re printing color photos, your ink will print much less than 237 pages.