HP Smart Tank 5103 Ink Cost Per Page: A Steeper Color Tax
The HP Smart Tank 5103 is a Wi-Fi ink tank printer that prints, copies and scans, selling for $270. It runs $0.40 in black and $1.22 in color per 100 pages, with the black figure priced off HP's $24 HP-32XL-BK cartridge rated for 6,000 pages.
The closest rival on running cost from another brand is Canon's MAXIFY GX3020, priced at $432 with a $0.52 black and $1.31 color rate per 100 pages — clearly higher in black, only a shade above in color. It adds auto-duplex, absent on the 5103, and prints at 18 ppm against the 5103's 12 ppm, a real speed gap.
Within HP's own tank lineup, the 6003 adds auto-duplex for $370 and the 7001 raises print speed to 15 ppm for $430. The 5103 ties both siblings on black and color running costs, part of a five-way tie in each metric among the 30 ink tank printers InkTax tracks, sitting 14th on black and 13th on color there.
Canon's PIXMA G3270 undercuts the 5103 up front at $249 and holds the color running-cost floor among ink tank printers, with a $0.97 rate against the 5103's $1.22 per 100 pages. Black costs sit close together — $0.38 versus the 5103's $0.40 per 100 pages, essentially even.
For buyers who need only black output, HP's own LaserJet Pro 4006dw offers a cross-type option: $400 up front, 47 ppm — far faster than the 5103 — but $2.23 per 100 pages in black, well above the tank's rate. It adds a touchscreen and auto-duplex but drops copy and scan, printing only.