Labs

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Print speed

We time how long each printer takes to print a single page of text, a 25-page document and 24 pages of mixed-colour text and images. We perform all these tests at the printer's default quality settings. We also perform timed prints of two 10x8in and six 6x4in photos on normal A4 paper at maximum print quality.

Print quality

The text and image documents we print during the speed test also enable us to compare the quality of the printers' output. The photos include images designed to test colour accuracy, contrast and shading. We use an additional suite of images to test greyscale shading, block colour printing and image alignment.

Print costs

We use the manufacturers' page yield figures to work out separate print costs per page for mono and colour documents. Most manufacturers calculate page yields using ISO/IEC 19752 standard test pages at 5% coverage.

We divide the cost of each mono toner cartridge (including VAT) by the number of pages it can produce. For colour costs, we add up the costs of the cyan, magenta and yellow cartridges to reach our final colour print cost.

We also calculate the cost of owning the printer for three years of light, medium and heavy use. These figures include the cost of buying the printer, toner, replacement drums and other consumables. In the case of printers with non-replaceable drums, we've calculated these figures to include the cost of replacing the entire printer.