Why Color LaserJet have no replaceable drum unit?

[PeterSK]

Hi

why color LaserJet printers have no drum replacement unit? It means there is one but when it is gone I need buy a new printer, or the drum unit is integrated in the toner cartridges?

Why there is replacement drum unit in black/white LaserJets ? Price of (black) toner cartridges for B/W and Color LaserJet looks the same.

thx

[Alex-TATS]

Hi PeterSK,

HP has its drums integrated in the toner cartridge in most of their models (mono or colour ones).

All series from 100s to 700s do so.

In 800 series drum is separate from toner cartridges. So it is on the new gemstones series like E778xx or 876xx.

I hope this helps,

Cheers!

[Repairatrooper]

Which printer are you taking about. A few machines that used a rotary carousel had a separate drum unit such as the 2550 and the 2840 MFP but these units were noisy and often temperamental. 

[PeterSK]

Here ALL common (= most sold) models of b/w printers customers want have separate drum (multifunctional ones or just printers), color ones have no separate drum.

B/W:

LaserJet Pro M203dw - drum HP 32A

LaserJet Pro MFP M130 - drum HP 19A

LaserJet Pro M227sdn - drum HP 32A

Color LaserJet Pro MFP M180n - no drum

etc

So again, why some have external drum and some not, if price of black toner is about the same for both cases?

Should external drum give us cheaper price of the toner?

thank You.

[PeterSK]

anyone please?

[Repairatrooper]

It comes down to a difference in design. Having a single drum unit allows for a very small footprint but the noise and slow printing of carousel type printers are a big turnoff for many people.

Based on the printers you named though, the cost of supplies is dramatically different. The black toner for the 203 is 100.00 and does 3500 pages and the drum is rated for 23,000 pages. The black cartridge for the 180 is 51 but only does 1100 pages.

For the 180 you would have to buy ~20 cartridges at $50.00 each for a total cost of $1000.00 to print 2300 pages. For the 203 you would need to buy  6 high yield cartridges at 100 each for a total of $600.00 to print 23,000 pages.  A 400.00 saving.

[PeterSK · Accepted solution]

So as I expected, if the drum is separated the printing is cheaper, simple because each toner cartridge doesn't contain a new drum.

So I will stick with B/W printers for my customers, thanks.