Real-world prices from BuyerZone buyers
We regularly survey BuyerZone users to ask how their purchases went. We've used their responses to provide a sampling of actual prices businesses paid to buy and lease color printers.
The two main drivers of prices for color printers are speed and monthly duty cycle (mdc). The two are closely linked - in most cases, high-speed printers also boast higher monthly duty cycles. A popular speed seems to be around 25 pages per minute (ppm) - that's fast enough for general office use, but not fast enough to command a premium price.
While more color printers are sold outright, a small but significant number of businesses choose to lease their machines. Leasing a color printer is more popular with faster, more feature-rich machines that carry higher price tags, as it doesn't make a lot of financial sense to rent a sub-$1,500 piece of equipment.
All the prices quoted below are for color laser printers or multifunctional devices. As described in our Color Printers Buyer's Guide, laser printers are the best choice for most businesses that need color printing capabilities. While inkjet printers are much cheaper to buy initially, their cost per page is far higher and they can't handle the print volume many offices demand.
Color printer purchase prices
"Xerox 6250 DP - $2,200." [26 ppm, 100,000 mdc]
-- Wholesaler, Cottage Grove, Oregon
"$1,049, no connecting cables." [26 ppm, 20,000 mdc]
-- Church, Lewisburg, West Virginia
"$1,500 for OKI C5510 (multi-function
color printer, color copier, scanner, etc.) It is very difficult to find
a multi-function laser jet that offers both color printing & color
copying." [12 ppm, 35,000 mdc]
-- Business services, New Fairfield, Connecticut
"$1,630 for a Savin CLP26DN color printer, hard disk drive, copier stand, 1 yr maintenance." [26 ppm, 150,000 mdc]
-- Manufacturer, Denton, Maryland
"$1,300 for a Lanier 126cn." [26 ppm, 20,000 mdc]
-- Financial services, Lincoln, Nebraska
"$1,329.80. All 4 toners, shipping, general maintenance, finance charge." [16 ppm]
-- Law enforcement, Howe, Texas
"$11,800. Included fax option,
finisher, 3-hole punch, stapler, scan, copy, printer, black & color,
service contract." [25+ ppm, 100,000+ mdc]
-- Financial services, Street, Maryland
"$669 Lexmark C524n color laser printer." [20 ppm, 65,000 mdc]
-- Advertising, Portland, Maine
"$6,100 - printer with finisher (stapler and folder)." [40+ ppm]
-- Media services, Jacksonville, Florida
Color printer lease pricing
"Printer/copier for 10+ users - $283/month."
-- Environmental services, Palisades, New York
"I am leasing a combination printer, copier, scanner, and fax for $167.50/month plus 7.5 cents per color copy and 1.4 cents per black and white copy."
-- Retailer, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
"Bizhub c351- $176/month." [35 ppm]
-- Health care services, Westport, Connecticut
"We will be leasing a multifunction printer with a
service contract (including fax, scanner, color printing, PostScript
language, tracking software, and tabloid printing) for approx. $350 a month."
-- Non-profit, Petrolia, California
