Research Outline

Printer Paper Capacities

Goals

To understand the paper tray capacity of both consumer/personal printers and business/high volume printers.

Early Findings

PERSONAL PRINTERS

  • According to a list of the top ten compact printers, paper capacity ranges from 10-60 sheets.
  • Among TechRadar's list of the top home printers of 2019, 4 printers have a paper capacity of 100, three have a capacity of 500, two can hold 250 sheets, and one hold 150 sheets.

BUSINESS/HIGH VOLUME PRINTERS

  • TechRadar's list of the top small business printers indicates that paper tray capacity ranges from 250-550 sheets, while one printer, the Xerox VersaLink C405 has a 550 sheet capacity with a multipurpose tray that holds another 150 sheets.
  • A list of the best multifunction office printers presents printers with paper capacities ranging from 500-3,100, and several of the smaller capacity machines have expandable capacity with extra trays.
  • Some large, multifunction office printers, such as the Toshiba eStudio line, have paper capacities ranging from 300 to 6,020 with varying individual paper tray capacities. For example, the e-Studio 5516 and 7516 have a total paper capacity of 6,020 with 2,500-sheet and 3,520-sheet capacity trays.

PRINTER PAPER PACKAGING

  • Most paper reams appear to hold 500 sheets of paper.
  • Most references for paper quantities or units state that a ream is 500 sheets of paper, based on quires of 25 each.
  • Known as a "short ream," units of 480 sheets, based on quires of 24, used to be common, but appear to have fallen out of favor.
  • However, some specialty papers come in reams of 480.