Printing costs are one expense that businesses always seem to be trying to control, so the announcement by Xerox of new colour printers that it claims cost no more to run than mono lasers should be good news all round for firms.

Sadly, life is seldom so straightforward, and so it turns out here. Other factors have to be taken into account, such as the purchase price of the equipment. In this case, the higher cost of the printer hardware offsets the cost savings unless you produce a great many colour pages per month. Recent research by analyst firm Gartner also shows that solid ink printers consume more energy per printed page than the familiar laser technology – not ideal for IT managers under pressure to cut energy consumption as well as costs.

While Xerox should be applauded for taking a step in the right direction, it seems that printing still has some way to go until the difference between black-and-white and colour has been completely eroded when all costs are taken into consideration.
So, while the vendors would like everyone to use more colour, IT managers should pass a critical eye over the total costs first.