Epson Brings Out Double-Sided SMB Inkjet

The new MFP is touted as being the world's fastest double-sided printing solution for small offices. There is also a non-MFP version.Amidst the January rush is the announcement from Epson of its WorkForce 840 multi-function printer, and the associated printer-only WorkForce 60. They offer a throughput of 15 ppm black and 9.3 ppm color single-sided; and 7.4 ppm black and 5.4 ppm color two-sided. The MFP can also do two-sided copying, scanning, and faxing.

Both have WiFi and Ethernet ports. Interestingly, both are designed to be recycled.

The WorkForce 840 has a list price of $299.00, while the printer-only WorkForce 60 has a retail price of $129.99.

Of course, you'll need refill ink. Epson is clearly taking the usual SMB market approach of selling the printers cheap and making a profit off the refill ink. With these models Epson offers Extra High Capacity cartridges, which are said to have 50 percent more ink (giving them a capacity of 1,000 pages) than the Epson High Capacity cartridges. The price is $18.04 for one color, $28.49 for black, and $54.10 (a savings of two cents!) for three colors. That would imply a four-color ink cost of 8.26 cents per page.

If the Extra High Capacity cartridges can print 1,000 pages and have 50 percent more ink. that implies that the standard High Capacity cartridges can print 666.66 pages. They are not proportionally cheaper: one color is $15.19, black is $18.04, and three colors is $45.55. That implies a four-color ink price of 9.5 cents per page.