Know Your Total Cost of Ownership

Step 5. Determine the device's annual output. There are different ways to get that:

a) Use your network software.

b) Print a usage sheet straight from the device.

c) Type the device's IP address into a browser.

However, for the small desktop devices, none of these tactics may work, and you may have to make a wild educated guess. When I must do that, I use half of the manufacturer's recommended usage range. The HP 4730 I'm using for this example produces 24,273 black prints and 16,897 color prints annually, for a total of 41,170.