Brother MFC-J5110DW Cost per Page: Beats a Laser's Toner, Matches a $210 Sibling's Ink Rate
The Brother MFC-J5110DW is an ink tank all-in-one that prints, copies, scans and faxes, with automatic duplexing, a touchscreen and Wi-Fi, and sells for $360. Its running costs come to $1.67 in black and $9.37 in color per 100 pages. The black rate traces to the LC506XXLBK cartridge, priced at $83 and rated for 5,000 pages.
The MFC-J5110DW's $1.67 and $9.37 tie for 24th on black and color cost per page among the 30 ink tank printers InkTax tracks, a standing shared with five other models. The Canon PIXMA G3270 holds the running-cost floor in that class, at $0.38 for black and $0.97 for color per 100 pages, sells for $249, skips fax, duplexing and the touchscreen, and tops out at 11 ppm against the Brother's 28 ppm.
The Brother MFC-J4355DW sells for $210, well under the J5110DW's sticker, and matches its running costs, but has no Ethernet or touchscreen. Functions otherwise match: print, copy, scan and fax.
The Brother MFC-J5855DW sells for $330, a shade under the J5110DW's sticker, and runs cheaper still — $1.23 per 100 pages in black and $6.06 in color — while matching its fax, duplex, Wi-Fi, Ethernet and touchscreen.
The HP LaserJet Pro 4006dw offers a cross-type option for anyone who never prints in color: print only, without copy, scan or fax, at $400 up front. Its toner costs $2.23 per 100 pages in black, well above the Brother's own black rate, and it prints at 47 ppm, far ahead of the MFC-J5110DW's 28 ppm.