Does black printing always use color???

[onthefence]

I have been researching color laser printers and it seems that everyone that I have checked out used (even if minimal) some amount of color in the print job, so that even if you print black only, you will still have to replace the color cartridges eventually. Seems like a devious way to add cost per page to your consumption.

Can anyone suggest one <$1000 that only uses black toner for black, and color for color?

Or is there some technical limitation that makes it impossible not to use some color in any print job?

Thanks

[onthefence]

Well, I found out the answer so I'm posting in case someone else runs across this.

According to HP, there are two different ways paper can pass through a laser printer(or at least only two commonly used methods) called Single Pass and Multi-Pass.

Like it sounds, in Single Pass, the paper makes a single pass through all of the toner cartridges(Black, Cyan, Yellow, Magenta). This method uses a little bit of toner from each cartridge when it makes the pass even if the print job doesn't require it(not sure of the technical details here or the whys).

In Multi-Pass, the paper only passes through the toner cartridges that it needs therefore only using the toner that it needs for that print job.

Single Pass printers are generally cheaper and more low-to-medium-duty printers probably because they are more expensive and complicated to manufacture while the Multi-Pass printers are usually higher-end or heavy-duty printers.

So to conclude, it seems that if you're a small business that prints less than 20,000 pages per month, and that primarily prints black only pages, you are probably better off (fiduciarily-speaking) getting two different printers: one that is a dedicated black laser printer, the other being a color laser printer that takes either completely color jobs or mixed black and white.

The logic here is that you really want to keep the black only print jobs at the lowest cost-per-page and you can only do this by getting a black-only printer or a Multi-Pass, but black-only is a significantly cheaper entry point. When you have to have color you send it to the color printer and although it will print some color on black pages, you will maximize your savings by only using it for these color jobs.

The cost of a low-duty (20,000 page/month) color or black only printer will become insignificant compared to the savings on sending out to print shop or printing with color every print job.

On the other hand, if you tend to print mostly mixed jobs, then it may work better to get a Multi-Pass printer but you probably won't see your savings for awhile since these printers don't usually go below $1000. So this would probably be most practical for at least medium duty printing habits. If you just don't print a lot but need to use color constantly, you may just have to opt for the Single-Pass color printer. It is still going to be cheaper than sending out to a print shop or god-forbid an ink-jet.

Hope this helps someone.

[MichaelTech]

"Black" only, uses just black
Color uses all to make black. {Noticeably washed-out}
You have to use the driver to set-up the job.
there is no easy way, get over it. do the work that is required.