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Printer survey: Brother, Canon and HP set the pace

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16th Sep 2009
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A fascinating picture of the UK’s use of business printers is emerging from early respondents in our online printer survey, with HP, Cannon and Brother grabbing the biggest share of the market and the best ratings from their users.

Along with the other online communities in the Sift Media portfolio, AccountingWEB.co.uk is hosting the printer survey to collect information that will go into a Business Buyer’s Guide to Printers due to be published early next month.
In common with our successful Software Satisfaction Awards, the survey asks participants to rate their systems in four categories: print quality, speed, reliability and value for money. This feedback ensures our commentary and recommendations are based on evidence from frontline users. The user ratings will include users’ own estimates of their per page costs, which will be compared with data from the manufacturers themselves.
The Business Buyer’s Guides will be published for four separate sectors, covering desktops, workgroup, networked and enterprise-level machines. Each volume will put forward a selection of different types of printer (inkjet, mono laser, colour laser and multifunction) that have achieved the best ratings from our members.
As the count now stands, HP remains the market leader with around 20% of the total sample share. Canon is the next biggest supplier, with a 17% share. The top two boast a respectable 3.31 satisfaction rating out of 4. Only Brother, third in the market share stakes with 8% of the total sample, has a higher satisfaction rating of 3.50.
HP’s performance counteracts criticisms from some users (including the Sift Media technology editor) who have complained about a decline in the quality of its products and their software drivers. However, many of the better performing models from different manufacturers are no longer commercially available. A closer examination of the detailed ratings will focus on the user scores and running costs of currently available models to help us refine the final shortlists.
The final reckoning will be published in October’s Business Buyers’ Guides, but until then, here are some of the printers that have won plaudits from their users so far:
Desktop
  • HP LaserJet 1005 - replacement for 1020 desktop mono laser (£80 approx)
  • Konica Minolta PagePro 1300w mono laser (£130 approx)
  • Kyocera FS 1300 desktop mono laser (£130)
  • Samsung ML-1640 - replacement for ML-1210 mono laser (£60)
  • HP DeskJet 6940 - Colour inkjet (£100)
  • HP OfficeJet Pro 8000 - 35ppm colour thermal inkjet (£103)
  • Brother DCP165 - compact, multifunction colour inkjet (£51)
  • HP 6410 colour multifunction (£150 approx)
  • Kodak ESP 7 colour inkjet all-in-one (£149)
  • Lexmark Impact S305 - replacement for X1180 colour all-in-one (£90)
Workgroup
  • Brother HL5350 - Fast-selling workgroup mono laser (£195 approx)
  • HP 4015 mono laser printer (replacement for much loved 4100, 4200 and 4300 series models, £559 approx)
  • Dell 1320c - colour laser printer (£115 approx)
  • Lexmark C534dn - 22ppm colour laser (£225 approx)
  • OKI C3450 - 16ppm replacement for popular C3300 colour laser (£187)
  • Brother MFC-7320 Multifunction Printer (£155 approx)
  • Brother MFC-7440N Multifunction mono laser (£195 approx)
  • Canon Pixma MX850 Multifunction Inkjet Printer (£190 approx)
  • Samsumg CLP-300 series colour lasers - "fantastic" says Asonda on UK Business Forums
  • Sharp MX-2600 - 26ppm A3 colour laser MFP

Networked/Enterprise

  • HP LaserJet CP3525 - 30ppm colour laser printer (£500 approx)
  • HP LaserJet CP4005 - 30ppm colour laser printer with duplex (£522)
  • OKI C5650 - 32ppm colour laser (£276)
  • Brother MFC8880 - 30ppm mono MFP (£389)
  • Canon i-SENSYS MF9170 21ppm colour laser MPF with fax (£1,200)
  • Dell 3115CN - colour laser MFP (£507)
  • HP LaserJet M3027 - 25ppm replacement for M4345 (£850)
  • Xerox Phaser 8560 - successor to Phaser 8550 colour laser MFP (£1045)
  • Brother MFC-7440N Multifunction mono laser (£195 approx)

Is your current model in our list of contenders? If you think other people would benefit from using a similar machine (or you want to warn them away), please take a minute or two to add your observations via our online printer questionnaire.

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