Measuring Yield: Colour LaserJet Printers

Page yield

Customers want to make informed decisions when buying printers and printing supplies. While printing capabilities, print quality, speed, product features and ease-of-use are typically the most important considerations, consumers often want to compare costs as well. In recognition of the fact that customers have different needs, HP offers a broad range of printing systems with diverse printing capabilities and various combinations of purchase price and ongoing operating costs. Consumers need to look at a range of factors when comparing costs, including quality, reliability, support and productivity. Measurements of page yield and related estimates of cost-per-page (CPP) are one part of the economic picture. This article will discuss considerations in measuring colour LaserJet yield.

Comparing colour laser yield measurements across manufacturers is difficult. Numerous factors affect yield measurement including the test document, print job size, print quality modes, end-of-life determination, sample size and environmental conditions.

The Value of Recognised Standards

While yield is only part of the overall costs of printing, HP wants customers to have meaningful information on all factors to help them make the best choice of printing system. HP has developed robust, reliable yield measurement methodologies for its own printers and supports the development of rigorous industry-wide standards. HP participated in the development of, and fully supports, the ISO/IEC 19752 standard for determining monochrome toner cartridge yield for monochrome laser printers. The standard serves as a solid basis for reliably measuring yield. HP is also participating in the development of ISO industry yield measurement standards for cartridges for colour laser and inkjet printers. These standards will help to improve yield testing throughout the printing industry and allow true comparisons.

HP's Approach

HP has developed a rigorous methodology to test colour LaserJet print cartridge yields. It will be in use until the ISO colour laser printer standard is final. HP developed a proprietary test page that allows consistent testing and accurate determination of yield. The test page emulates the typical customer printing of approximately 20% or 5% coverage for each colour. (See examples of approximately 20% coverage below.) Considerations for the printing environment, sample size and statistical analysis are similar to the ISO/IEC 19752 monochrome laser standard.


Examples represent typical business documents with approximately 20% overall coverage - cyan, yellow, magenta and black combined.

HP's Colour LaserJet Yield Testing Methodology

HP invests in research and development to ensure that its supplies produce highly consistent yield, without compromising the quality and reliability that HP consumers count on. Consistent application of testing criteria is crucial to determine accurate and reliable yield measurements. HP's colour LaserJet yield testing includes the following:

Tests are conducted using new printers and cartridges.
At least three printers of each model are used for each test.
At least nine cartridges per cartridge model are tested.
The specific test document is a proprietary HP test page that represents approximately 5% coverage for each colour (cyan, magenta, yellow and black).
Printing during tests is nearly continuous, with normal breaks for changing or adding paper.
Temperature and humidity are controlled to reflect ambient office conditions.
Additional ongoing yield testing occurs at all factories to ensure that cartridges continue to provide specified yield.

HP also uses a clear definition for cartridge end-of-life, a critical component for accurately calculating yield. For colour LaserJet yield testing purposes, end-of-life is defined as when the printer reports "Replace Supply."

Approximate print cartridge page yield information can be found on this website for recently introduced printers, and for all printers by searching for the specific printer or cartridge in the product information available on HP.com.¹

Print Cartridge Yield: Only One Factor to Consider

Print cartridge page yields are valuable to customers in comparing competing printer offerings. They are also useful for planning when cartridges may need to be replaced or for ensuring that enough cartridges are available for large projects. However, yield is just a small part of the overall value of a printing system and only one component of the overall costs of printing. When comparing products, customers should consider all the factors to get the best overall value. Factors such as reliability, productivity and quality drive hidden costs. Products that work reliably ultimately save the time and expense associated with resolving problems. HP urges prospective printer buyers to evaluate their printing needs, as well as system reliability, quality and ease-of-use when selecting a printing system to get the best overall value.

¹ Actual yields depend on specific use.

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