Toner cartridge duration

[Vik11]

Hello!  I'm looking at buying the color laserjet pro mfp m281fdw but wanted to doublecheck how long the toner that comes with the printer will last.  Since the initial purchase of the machine is an investment I want to know how long the ink that comes with it will last before I have to put down a big chunk of change on the new toner cartridges.  Thank you for your help!

[Copier-Pro]

Hi I would like to assist to the best of my ability to solve your problem.I hope the information i supply will be of help.

On the starter toners you will receive about half the copies of the cartridge specifications.Then the 2nd round will be the start of a full cycle of prints.This is because starting the machine use some of the toner to full up the units for processing the prints.Hope this helps.

[Valsimot · Accepted solution]

The new cartridges that you will receive in your printer are introductory and their page yield at 5% coverage is:

black 1400 pages and 700 pages for colour cartridges

After that you can purchase standard yield cartridges ( 202A and 203A) :
black 1400 pages and colour 1300 pages

You can also get higher capacity cartridges also known as X cartridges ( 202X and 203X) that can print:

black 3200 pages and colour 2500 pages

Page yield is calculated at 5% coverage so if your coverage is higher page yield will be lower.

[JDW3]

False, most HP toner packs last about 30 pages.  One color runs out and you can't print.  Buy a Dell printer instread.

[Skorp62]

Preface - I do not work for Hewlett Packard nor sell Hewlett Packard or HP products.

I think it is time to debunk some "old wive's tales" about HP sneaky tactics.

HP has stated they do not ship any toner cartridges with less than the standard amount of toner in them ("introductory cartridges"). My testing by weight has backed this claim up - maybe even proving that the introductory cartridges had even higher weight and yield than the standard replacement cartridges.

For instance, this printer uses the CF500 or HP 202A cartridge as a standard (not extended) black cartridge.

The shipping weight of this cartridge, in a cardboard box and a fibreboard insert, with associated documentation and packaging weighs 750 grams. The posted weight of the cartridge itself was 454 grams. I have weighed the original cartridge that shipped with the unit and it weighs 535 grams AFTER initialization and set-up pages printing. That seems more than fair, in my opinion. This could even be an example of the black cartridge being sent with the "extended cartridge" amount of toner included - which some people have claimed they have seen. Oddly enough - the original label on the cartridge does not say "HP 202A" nor "HP 202X"; it was just "black" with no details. Maybe it was a standard cartridge with almost double the amount of toner, but not quite the extended.

Now to address the "sneaky" part - HP did ship introductory, not completely full, "ink-Jet" cartridges in their ink-jet printers (proven many times by weight tests).

HP claims they have a very good reason for this (but I don't believe their justification). HP stated the reason was because new printers could have the cartridges pre-installed and due to long lead-times in storage, shipping and handling, there was a risk of the cartridges leaking or drying out and causing a new printer to not work properly or, possibly, clogging the print heads. Like the rest of you, I think they just want to recoup costs by selling new cartridges.

With Laser Printers there is no such thing as "drying out and clogging print heads". Laser printers are usually much higher in initial purchase costs and HP would be foolish to spend the extra logistical time to make lower-yield cartridges and turn their semi-pro or professional user base against them. I, personally, have never seen HP ship a laser cartridge manufactured to less than the standard specification.

Hope this clears the air for some of you whom are concerned.