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General discussion

Color Printers: 6-Color, 4-Color, Best Bang

by Confed Oct 11, 2008 6:13AM PDT

Most of the color printers I've owned have lasted less than a year. The ink jet cartridges are outrageously expensive and I've tried buying bargain inks, refilling inks and so forth, all with less than great results. I've also had to throw out some printers because I left the cartridges in too long without printing and the nozzles got clogged. Funny thing is, all those nozzle-cleaning software utilities didn't help at all.

The problem with most ink cartridges is, when you run out of one color, you have to replace all the colors. What I'm looking for, I guess, is a decent quality inkjet that offers cheapest price per page printing when the ink prices are factored in.

Finally, are all printers now using archival inks? Several years ago, they would last about five years before fading, which was only slightly better than a Polaroid camera print.

Thanks. All recommendations are appreciated!

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