HP Smart Tank 7603 Cost to Run: $0.40 Ink Against a $2.23 Laser Alternative
The HP Smart Tank 7603 is an ink tank printer that prints, copies, scans and faxes, with a touchscreen and Wi-Fi. It sells for $470, running $0.40 per 100 pages in black and $1.22 per 100 pages in color. The black figure traces to HP's own bottle, the HP-32XL-BK, priced at $24 for a 6,000-page yield.
The Canon MAXIFY GX3020 sits one step pricier to run than the 7603. It costs $432 up front, less than the 7603's $470, but its rates land higher on both counts: $0.52 against $0.40 in black, a real gap, and $1.31 against $1.22 in color, a shade higher, both per 100 pages. It also drops the fax and the touchscreen the 7603 carries. Canon's GX4020 ($540) and GX7120 ($864) run at those same rates; the GX7120 alone reaches 24 ppm, well past the 7603's 15 ppm.
HP's Smart Tank 5103 ($270), 6003 ($370), and 7001 ($430) all match the 7603's own $0.40 and $1.22 rates per 100 pages. The 7603 ties for 14th on black cost per page and 13th on color cost per page among the 30 ink tank printers InkTax tracks, a five-way tie with one more model sharing it. None of the three add fax or a touchscreen, and the 5103 alone skips auto-duplex.
A shopper who prints mostly black text might look instead to the HP LaserJet Pro 4006dw, a mono laser priced at $400. It prints only, with no color, copy, scan or fax, using toner at $2.23 per 100 pages, well above the 7603's $0.40. Its 47 ppm top speed leaves the 7603's 15 ppm far behind.
The Canon PIXMA G3270 holds the ink tank segment's running-cost floor, at $0.38 in black and $0.97 in color per 100 pages — a real cut below the 7603's color rate, though its black cost is close enough to call a wash. It costs $249, well below the 7603's $470. It also drops fax, auto-duplex and the touchscreen. It prints at 11 ppm.