“Free” printers are often expensive.
Gillette’s famous marketing approach of offering free razors to profit from the sale of the blades has been used in the printer industry before.
HP, for example, spends billions of dollars in research and development to produce some of the world’s best printers, only to offer these printers at extremely low prices and incredible value. Lexmark, Xerox, and others also offer very aggressive prices on high quality printers.
They do so to profit from the sale of consumables for these printers. It works for consumers as they get great values on good printers. The supplies are broadly distributed and that ensures competitive pricing to all.
Now, Dell is giving away, or heavily discounting, its printers.
This is different: Supplies for Dell printers can only be purchased at Dell. As a result, there are no substantive discounts. No distribution means no competition. The prices are inevitably higher.
If you use your printers in a medium or heavy office environment, what you will overpay for your not-discounted supplies will pay for this “free” printer in months. What you will overpay after that, well, you will overpay.
Free anything is appealing but when buying, or getting, a printer, it behooves you to focus on the total cost of ownership. You will avoid poisonous gifts.
