HP and Brother edge ahead in printer poll

As the Sift Media 2009 Printer Survey heads into the home straight, Jon Wilcox and John Stokdyk take a look at how the count currently stands.

Alongside its sister communities within the Sift Media portfolio, BusinessZone.co.uk is hosting a printer survey, the results of which will contribute towards next month’s Business Buyer’s Guide to Printers.

In a similar vein to Sift Media’s successful Software Satisfaction Awards, the short survey asks participants to rate their printers according to four distinct categories: speed, print quality reliability, and value for money.  The guide will be published in four sectors, covering desktops, workgroups, networked printers, and enterprise-level machines. The results will bolster our own commentary and recommendations, and include cost estimates from members together with data from manufacturers.

So with the countdown now on, what early indications are we getting from our communities?

Of more than 100 machines identified by survey respondents so far, HP has the largest representation with 20+ models, followed by Canon and then Brother. The big three also lead the market in terms of user satisfaction. Brother currently boasts the highest average score, with 3.50 out of a scale of 4. HP and Canon, meanwhile, are locked together on 3.31. There are also indications of a decline in mono laser printers, a trend confirmed by representatives of both Kyocera and Lexmark. One reason for the apparent shift could be the increasingly affordable position of colour lasers.

The online printer survey is still live and awaiting your input. The information will feed into a series of Business Buyer’s Guides to printers that will be published next month, which will include recommendations based on user assessment of their machines’ durability, quality and running costs.
 
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.