Is This For Real? A Laser Printer For $38?

I don’t do much printing at home – the last time I can remember using my at-home inkjet printer was maybe two years ago. So, this past week, when I needed to do some fast printing – it was a no go. Drat!! No ink, dried up ink, plugged print nozzles – dumb move; should have followed through on the recommended – print a test page, or run the cleaning cycle occasionally.

Still, no big deal – a quick trip to Wal-Mart (doing my bit to support the Chinese economy), hand over $60+ for replacement cartridges, and I’d be back in business. That was the plan. A plan that soon underwent a major reversal. Walked into Wal-Mart for inkjet cartridges – walked out with a Laser printer.

But, not just any old Laser printer. A $38 Samsung ML-1670 laser printer (Toner cartridge included), capable of pushing out up to 17 pages a minute. Now I know that the cost of technology is a one way street – generally a downhill curve, but a Laser printer costing less than replacement cartridges for my 4 year old HP 4-in-1, had me considering that I had stepped into an alternative universe.

Once I’d gotten over the reverse “sticker shock”, I couldn’t help but compare this experience with the purchase of my first Laser printer back in 1992.

Flashback: 1992

Purchase – HP LaserJet 4

Cost – $1,800 approximately – $2,761 in today’s dollars (The Inflation Calculator)

Output – eight pages per minute

Resolution – 600 DPI

RAM – 2 MB

Weight – 37 lbs.

Interface – Serial and Parallel

Toner replacement – $200+

Features – it printed (very well, actually).

The present:

Purchase – Samsung ML-1670 laser printer

Cost – $38 (Wal-Mart Canada)

Output – 16 pages per minute for A4 paper, seventeen pages per minute for letter-sized.

Resolution – 1200 DPI

RAM – 8 MB

Weight – Featherweight (8.8 lbs.)

Interface – USB 2

Toner replacement – $48

Features –

Anyweb Print – Lets you grab image sections of any web page and arrange them onto a clipboard. The simple drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to get exactly what you want, and nothing more.

Print Screen Button – Will instantly print your screen’s current contents at the push of a single button. Keep your finger on the Print Screen button for fast, efficient printing.

Given the reality of Moore’s Law, I expected that Laser printer prices would have shifted downward dramatically. Still, I couldn’t help but feel I was in a time warp – watching Moore’s Law operating at the speed of light. From $2,700 + (in today’s dollars) to $38, is nothing less than astonishing!

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