To illustrate the difference that running costs can make to the total cost of ownership of a printer, we've printed two versions of the VFM graph. In the first, the VFM calculations use just the printer's purchase price, while in the second the VFM score is based on purchase cost plus the total consumable cost for each printer to print 150,000 pages. We've presented the costs of all consumables in the PC Magazine Labs report , but didn't include the cost of paper, as this is common for all printers. We also didn't include the cost of electricity, as this is a relatively negligible consideration. This chart shows our assessment of the relative value for money for each of the products in this review.
Longer bars represent better value for money.
Products are sorted by price, with the highest price at the top. Where products have the same price, they are shown in alphabetical order. The resulting raw VFM scores are then made relative to the lowest-scoring product. To use the graph, first see which products fall within your chosen price range, by looking at the column of prices on the right. The best value product within that range is then the one with the longest bar.