Inkjet-Printer: Heavyweights From Canon, Epson and HP

Costs Per Page For Photos

As we said on the previous page, we could not complete the C84 lifetime test for lack of ink. The cost of photo printing with this device is based on the lifetime of the cyan and magenta cartridges in this mode and on an estimation of what was left in the yellow and black ones.

The i860, C82 and photosmart 7760 are not affected by this problem and we were able to test them in normal conditions.

** Tom's Hardware Guide estimation

The cost per photo is calculated by adding the cost of the ink required to that of the photo paper recommended by the manufacturers. Canon does very well with costs considerably lower than the others. But we must remember the colors do not last as long and are not as fast as the Epson and HP ones.

The cost of an Epson photo is quite acceptable, but the HP ones seem a bit steep. The American manufacturer should make a bit more effort with the price of its ink.

** Tom's Hardware Guide estimation

This table will interest those who ignore the manufacturers' advice and go for other makes of paper. Here is the cost of the photos in ink alone. The conclusions are even worse for HP than in the previous table. Photosmart photos cost 2 or 3 times more than Canon and Epson. The HP printer does lovely pictures, but they'll really cost you. It's up to you to see what quality/price ratio you are prepared to invest in a printer.