Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!rutgers!lll-lcc!ames!ucbcad!ucbvax!phri.UUCP!roy
From: roy@phri.UUCP.UUCP
Newsgroups: mod.computers.laser-printers
Subject: Re: What's a duty cycle?
Message-ID: <8703211517.AA26966@phri.phri>
Date: Sat, 21-Mar-87 10:17:33 EST
Article-I.D.: phri.8703211517.AA26966
Posted: Sat Mar 21 10:17:33 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 24-Mar-87 03:44:17 EST
References: <560.phil.titan@Rice>
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Distribution: world
Organization: Public Health Research Inst. (NY, NY)
Lines: 24
Approved: laser-lovers@washington.arpa

> How do laser-printer/copier manuafacturers decide on this mysterious
> figure?  Why was the LBP/CX given the rating it was?  Why does it appear
> to be so wrong?

	This is mostly conjecture, but guess it's mostly a marketing
decision.  I've heard 2 numbers for the LBP/CX -- 3k pages per month (duty
cycle) and 100k pages total expected lifetime.  Assuming the latter is
accurate and the former is bullshit, that's about 3 years of normal use.
But we put something like 5k pages a month on the machine so I only expect
it to last 2 years.  If we did 10k a month, I guess it would only last 1.

	I suspect that many people wouldn't buy a printer they knew would
only last a year so they fudge the numbers to make it look like it'll last
3 (a reasonable amount of time for a high-tech, moderate-cost item like the
Apple LW/LW+).  I personally think of LW's as disposable -- the BIC pens of
the laser printer industry.  I'd rather spend $3800 on a printer that I
know I'll have to throw out in a year than spend several times that on a
machine which will still be running strong long after it's obsolete.  Think
about it: 5 years from now won't you be wishing you had an excuse to trash
that stupid 300 dpi machine even if it still works?  Our current philosophy
is to always have one LW in perfect condition; as it gets beat up we buy a
new one and use the old ones for draft (we now have 3), putting brand new
cartridges in the best printer and rotating them to the draft machines as
they start to run down.