If you dip a brush in five different colours of watercolour paint and draw a stroke on paper, the result will look nothing like the individual shades you sampled. Statistics on average printer usage have about as much meaning in many ways, because their compilation of individual experiences may not match your reality. When evaluating your printing requirements and the device performance that can meet them, compare your actual output to averages and estimates to help you refine hardware choices.
Evaluating Duty Cycles
The duty cycle is a measurement used in laser printer specifications to reflect a device’s monthly page output capacity. This specification can be used to easily compare a variety of printer models. Higher duty cycles are typically associated with more expensive hardware and longer lists of device features. To extend the life of your device, match its actual output to between 10% and 25% of its rated duty cycle. Running a printer hard enough to meet this specification can cause premature device wear. If a model lacks a published duty cycle, assume the actual measurement will be low.
Estimating Your Usage
Individual workflow and output demands differ dramatically from one user or office to the next, making averages in the world of desktop printing less meaningful. Simple measurements can be used to assess your specific usage and provide yourself with a meaningful output target that the hardware you purchase must support. Empty the paper tray of your current printer and load it with a known number of sheets. Assign one person to reload the equipment with pre-measured amounts of paper and ask them to keep track of the timing and amounts. A standard ream of paper, for example, contains 500 sheets. You can approximate a usage standard for your company if you follow this monitoring procedure for several weeks or a month.
Comparing Consumable Lifespans
Printer consumables include output ratings that claim to measure how many pages you can print with a set of ink tanks or toner cartridges. The measurements stem from an output test based on a suite of standardized pages that represents “typical” output. Like “average”, “typical” serves as a relative measure of performance. If you habitually print graphics-heavy pages with large amounts of type, the relatively light coverage and small graphics on the test-suite pages won’t correlate well with your actual usage. To measure your average ink or toner usage, track your consumables the way you track your paper usage, counting the number of pages you can print on a set of cartridges. When you compare your actual usage against the rated output of the consumables for the hardware you currently own, you can evaluate your printing levels against the expected output for your printer. If you print fewer pages than the rated output, your averages run high, and vice versa.
Other Considerations
Some offices’ printing needs fluctuate in cycles that correspond to seasonal workflows. Other businesses require a steady but light flow of output. You need hardware that can keep up with your most consistent needs while not vastly outperforming your lightest output levels. When calculating averages, you should also consider the percentage of your printing that is mostly black text versus the percentage of your work that requires colour. If you primarily create black-only documents, a monochrome laser printer can save you money over a colour printer, which may use all four or more of its inks or toners even when printing in black.
