parts with various maintenance kits instead of having the technician do it. If a major component goes bad under the warranty, HP then replaces the whole unit. In the past year, we have seen HP introduce this approach to some business class printers that run from $700 to $2,999.
For example, in looking for the maintenance kit in the service manual, everything is now a kit, including the newly added 128M memory kit, duplex reverse guide kit, 500 sheet feeder replacement kit, control panel kit, and formatter kit. These are new to us in service. There is a listed preventative maintenance kit CE484A (110V) but, again, it contains only the fuser, and instructions since it is rated for the life of the printer. So there is a maintenance kit, but really no need for it. The standard supplies listed in
the service manual are the toner cartridges, toner collection unit (bottle) and fuser, but again no life counts anywhere. The maintenance chapter of the service manual shows you how to replace all the supplies except for the fuser. Thus the only standard replaceable parts on these units realistically are very limited. The rest are replaced as needed and often in the form of a service kit.
HP New Products:
The first of these units is the new P2030 series which contains the P2035 and P2035n model printers. They are rated at 30 ppm and list at $250 on HP’s website. The old rule of thumb has been that anything under $500 really isn’t serviceable, because if the price of service is half the price of the unit or better, the customer will buy a new one rather than repair the failing printer. Thus a $250 unit is tough to service for only $125 in parts and labor. You can replace the pickup rollers, separation pad, fuser and transfer roller but if a power supply dies, it’s time to replace the unit. Over time HP sometimes produces an MFP version of the printer.
The good news is that the price point of this printer based MFP will likely be over the $500 threshold, making the MFPs worth servicing.
Next we saw a low end color laser CP1215 for $299 and CP1518ni for $399. At 12/8 ppm in monochrome and color, this is a lure for those customers who still haven’t made the leap into color printing. The tradeoff becomes the lower the price of the unit, the higher the cost per page. The price of the four toner cartridges are: black at $73.99 and three color cartridges at $68.99 each. Assuming 5% coverage per color or 20% for a four color page — which is what HP has traditionally rated color coverage at — the cost per page of printing in color is 18¢ per page. And that’s just toner. Contrast that with HP’s business class CLJ 4600 unit, which is rated
at only 8.5¢ per page.
Next is the CP2020 series which comes as a CP2025n at $449, CP2025dn at $499 and CP2025x at $549. Note again how 2020 is the series number but the model numbers are different. The “x” stands for
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