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General discussion

I'm sick of ink-sucking printers, buying advice needed

Mar 25, 2011 7:17AM PDT
Question:

I'm sick of ink-sucking printers, buying advice needed


I am so frustrated with printers and the amount of ink they now use, not to mention the cost of the ink. I don't do much scanning or printing in color and no faxing, so I don't need a high-end printer. I do a fair amount of grayscale printing each day. My problem is that the printers I have had in the past couple of years guzzle ink and use almost as much color ink as black ink, even though I am not printing pages in color. That was not the case in the past with my older printers. My color ink seemed to last forever. Not true, these days. Now that I have Windows 7, I haven't found a compatible printer that is efficient without costing an arm and a leg to operate. Can anyone give me any suggestions on what kind of printer I should purchase? Thanks.

-- Submitted by: Allison H.

Paper sucking ink --Submitted by: blmonster
http://forums.cnet.com/7726-7590_102-5106391.html

Money robbing printers--Submitted by: flrhcarr
http://forums.cnet.com/7726-7590_102-5106311.html

Inkaholic printers --Submitted by: Sidewinder34
http://forums.cnet.com/7726-7590_102-5106321.html

Why color ink runs out as fast as the B/W ink. --Submitted by: blmonster
http://forums.cnet.com/7726-7590_102-5106401.html

Laser, really?? NOT so fast. --Submitted by: jonsantacroce
http://forums.cnet.com/7726-7590_102-5106429.html

Thanks to all who contributed!

If you have any additional advice or recommendations for Allison, click the "reply" link below and submit away. If referring to product, providing a link to the product will be very helpful. Please be detailed as possible when providing a solution. Thanks!

Discussion is locked

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ink sucking printers
Mar 26, 2011 2:22PM PDT

if you have a compatible printer you can get a Continuous Ink Supply System (CISS). This replaces your original ink cartridges with other special ones that are connected by small rubber hoses which trail outside the printer to a series of different coloured ink tanks that you sit on the bench beside the machine. The cartridges continuously feed ink from the large tanks when needed. Tanks are supposed to hold the equivalent of about 50 normal cartridges each. When the tanks empty out you can buy a refill bottle for each colour and just refill the tanks again. I think the tanks hold 100 ml of ink but think you can also get larger ones if you need to. Haven't tried them myself but am intending to get one shortly as my ink bills are getting pretty ridiculous. CISS system should work out many times cheaper than buying small refills. I'm in Australia and the site I am looking at getting one from is http://www.rihac.com.au/index.php but that wouldn't help you if you are from another country. If you check Ebay you can find cheaper systems from China but I would rather get one from a better quality supplier as I think it would work better than the others plus you get support from them should you have any problems or want to buy refills later on. Have a search online and you might be able to find a company near you.

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Ink-Suckers
Mar 26, 2011 3:28PM PDT

If you're just printing B&W pictures but still
using color ink, it sounds like you aren't printing B&W pictures. Probably looks B&W but has enough 'color' in it to use the color carts.


BTW: The manufacturers could have priced the ink cheaper, but then the printers would be more
expensive and you'd be complaining about that
instead. Of course, we all bought the cheap printers,
choosing to pay later (for ink) instead of paying now.

They're gonna make their money.

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They will make their money
May 1, 2011 3:51PM PDT

There is no getting around it, they'll get you sooner or later. If it isn't in the printer, it is the ink, the USB cord, the paper or something.

It is kind of like switching between Time-Warner and AT&T for telephone and internet services. Either way, you will be paying. There is no real choices out here.

But if the head honchos were asked, they would spout this: The shareholders. I answer to them.

Greed knows no bounds.

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If you intend to keep the color printer ...
Mar 26, 2011 6:41PM PDT

with respect to inkjet printers if you are a do it yourself refiller kits you could save money but it is a bit messy ....

There are also Store brand refills on some models too

The liquid in the cartidge does dry out in the cartrige because once the seal is off the air gets in ....

Most of the above answers such as a Laser Printer for black and white printer is a compromise worth noting ...

Also if you are a heavy printer for business or schools you might check around at some local offices for suggestions.

maybe you go also go piggyback with some companies who do a lot of printing and they might get you a better pricee.

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Brother Printers
Mar 26, 2011 11:14PM PDT

My printing is different from yours, in that I do a lot of color photos and graphics, with some black and white. I have been using Brother ink jet printers for maybe six years now. Each ink is in a separate cartridge, so when one color runs out, that's the only one I have to replace. It saves money, at least for me. Also, the quality of prints is exceptional. Granted, the quality involves more than just the printer, but, regardless of other factors, a good printer is necessary. Even during black and white or grayscale printing, small amounts of other colors are used, but that's to keep the print heads in good working order. I find that the ink lasts a long time.

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same advice as others
Mar 26, 2011 11:27PM PDT

stop buying ink and just pay the little extra for a lazer>>> if you dont need color just do it!

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ink eating printers
Mar 27, 2011 12:51AM PDT

i had the same problum, so i bought the cheapest laser printer i could find. and it worked out great.like you i only use it for black and grey printing.you can get one from as low as 79.00 and the refill on line is only 35.00 .it will last for a year or more before needing to be replaced. alice

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Why not use your older printers?
Mar 27, 2011 1:33AM PDT

Can you not use your older printers?
With the purchase of a very cheap cable I am running a HP 690c and a Lazer Jet 5 from my Windows 7 computer.
Have you tried getting them to run from your new system?
SSS

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Something that I do to save on ink.
Mar 27, 2011 1:49AM PDT

While these deals are more difficult for me to find than they used to be, there is something that I do to save money on ink. Many of the printer manufactures and/or Staples type office stores will run incredible sales and rebates on printers. This is especially the case when a model is being discontinued. On some of these deals, one can actually purchase a whole new printer with the ink included in the box, for less than the retail cost of the full set of ink cartridges that is included in the box. I have purchased these on-sale printers, two at a time, for ten to fifteen dollars less than the cost of the full set of ink carts that came with the machine.

I simply pull the ink carts out of the box and use them in my present machine. I keep a few of the new printers around for a backup replacement in case mine ever quits working. Either that, or I sell them or give them to someone. I also turn in my empty ink cartridges to Staples and get $2.00 each for them.

There are some things to watch for when purchasing printers just to get the ink. First and foremost, know what a good retail price is for a full set of ink cartridges for your machine. Second, be sure that the ink carts packaged with the printer that is on sale, are the same part number as those for your other printer(s). Also, be sure they are full capacity ink carts. Some manufactures package starter ink carts with their new machines that contain less ink than retail cartridges.

Note: After destroying two printers with after-market, generic, ink. I never use discount generics or refilled cartridges. I only use new, original brand, cartridges with unexpired use-by dates.

Hope this is helpful,

DB Columbus Ohio

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Buy an inexpensive BLACK laser, with additional cartridge
Mar 27, 2011 2:52AM PDT

A low-end black-only laser printer will give you very nice text and grayscale printing at a low cost-per-page. However, as with most printers these days, the one you buy will only come with a "trial size" cartridge, which will not last you as long as a standard cartridge.

If you have a sizable task to perform, you might want to consider purchasing a standard replacement cartridge at the same time as the printer. That way, you can budget for the "real" cost of the printer, and not get caught with an out-of-ink cartridge in the middle of your task.

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If going ink-jet, make sure CMYK are separate
Mar 27, 2011 11:31AM PDT

I can't really specify models too much, because my own experience varies. (Call it a love-hate relationship.)

Anyhow, if you must get an ink-jet for whatever reason, make sure that each color has its own separate cartridge. Printers designed this way tend to go a lot longer per cartridge. With separate color cartridges, you only purchase a replacement for the color that has run out. If you buy a printer with a combined color cartridge, any time any one of the colors runs out - you have to buy another cartridge for all the colors. I consider combined color printers as a gimmick to take advantage of people who only consider the initial purchase price without considering the actual mistake they have made in regards to the costs involved in the bigger picture.

Also because of counterfeiting concerns and who knows what else in certain countries, many printers also print an ID code of dots over printed pages in yellow ink. (Because it's hard to see.) So no matter what, it's likely your yellow will run down somewhat slowly when printing in B/W. Also keep in mind that in a combined color cartridge, the volume per ink is much less and once that yellow runs out, you're borked. May as well just get separate colors.

Some color printers also use all the colors combined with black to make a more "saturated" or "richer" black. Outside of printing photos, it's likely to be unnecessary.

If you're doing a lot of B/W printing, most modern printers are more than capable when in draft mode. Not only does this mode offer much faster print speed, but you use a lot less ink. If you don't need to print in high-quality, don't. (They've come a long way since the dot-matrix days, so draft mode is usually quite acceptable.)

So keep this info in mind and shop smarter. If you're rarely printing photos or color copy, I'd say to follow the crowd suggesting laser printers. The only real advantage to ink-jet is better color rendering.

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Try Canon or Kodak
Mar 27, 2011 1:16PM PDT

I agree with most of the other comments. Indeed a BW laser is a great low-cost solution for your gray-scale printing. I like Canon since they actually make the laser engines inside almost everybody's laser printers anyway. Another good little-known brand is Samsung. They have some very low-cost small footprint machines really intended for home use, but I have had clients who have used them as a central printer in their office, and find them a viable low-cost solution. Samsung also has colour lasers at a reasonable price. Colour lasers are great for business graphics, but not for photo images.

If need to print photo content, you'll need an inkjet. Yes, use proper ink-jet paper. I find 22 or 24-pound paper (regular copy paper is 20 lb.) can double or triple the life of your printer, at least with hp. I've owned them since the very first one 20 years ago, and found that the mechanism would jam regularly and broke in ~2 years until I started using heavy paper. This is NOT an endorsement of hp printers, just an observation.

There are two basic types of printer ink, one is better for black/white/grey, and the other is better for photo-grade colour. I know that many of the Canon ink-jet printers use both types, one for b/w/g and the other for color, as well as some intelligent software to analyse the page for areas where they should switch. As a result, they tend to have more efficient ink use than most. Almost all Canons do duplex (double-sided) as well, which saves paper and reduces eco impact.

Kodak is proudly advertising that their ink use is remarkably less than most. I bought one of the first ones within the last year, and so far I am amazed at how long the cartridges last.

One other point, never refill your cartridges.
1. Many of the manufacturers now include the print head on the cartridge (hp always has). That means that every new cartridge replaces the most error-prone component. It's like getting new spark plugs with every fill-up. It's also why the cartridges can be expensive. To save you money, Engineers design their print heads to last the life of a cartridge, but not much more. If you use your cartridges over and over, the head will inevitably clog and can ruin the whole printer, make a messy cleanup, and wreck your work, just when you're on a deadline, of course.
2. You're getting no-name ink that is not designed for the print results you paid for, or matched to the print head - hence the leaks and clogs. Ink jet printing is a very exacting business. Would you fill your car with gas from road-side mystery tanker truck?
3. You void your printer warranty.

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You are not alone
Mar 27, 2011 10:07PM PDT

Sick of replacing ink that simply clogged beyond any hope of cleaning, tired of getting poor quality prints, and tired playing around every time I wanted to print in color I just gave up.

I bought a moderately priced laser printer for black and white printing. I maintain a color printer just in case but for photo printing it's cheaper to go to the local photo store and print them there.

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Ditto
Mar 27, 2011 10:37PM PDT

The consensus seems to be, get a low-cost laser printer. I would echo that, with the caveat that just about any laser printer today is low cost. Ten years ago the conventional wisdom was that an ink jet was far cheaper to purchase but more expensive in the long run to operate. Today, the only justification, in my opinion, for an ink jet is if you want a moderate-cost printer for art or photographs. A similarly-priced laser will not give you the color gamut or gray scale fidelity. But if you're just printing general documents or web pages, a laser is definitely the way to go--way faster, too. If you want to do occasional color, you can get an HP color laser for less than $500 (though when you finally use up the toners a full set will cost more than the printer!) A perfectly serviceable black laser printer is under $200. I've seen other brands of color lasers for that much too.

When I bought my Laserjet 6MP in 1997 (long out of production, still running fine) it was almost $1000. For the amount of printing I do, I've bought one toner for it, at about $140--about $10 a year on average. I think 5000 pages is the official average you should get from a typical toner cartridge, though I'm sure I got more than that.

The only reason you would spend $1000 or more for a laser today would be for an industrial "work group" printer. Even some of the cheap lasers do networking, though the build quality is not as good and if you cranked out thousands of pages per month it would probably break and be cheaper to replace than fix. I'm guessing you're not a commercial user.

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Another vote for old HP Laserjets
Apr 29, 2011 9:46PM PDT

I bought my Laserjet 5P in 1991, and it's still plugging along at 6-9ppm doing a fine job for me. It has a straight-through paper path, a rarity these days, and easily accomodates thick stock and envelopes. I maxed out the internal memory and use a Netgear parallel-to-ethernet adapter instead of the original parallel cable, and so it serves as a network B&W printer for our 3 home computers. They're available at you-know-where for well under $100.

I think I've bought maybe 3 toner cartridges in the last 20 years, but even those are available, new, for under $20. They may have ancient manufacturing dates, but according to HP, "The date of manufacture on the toner cartridge box is intended for HP
internal processes and may be required to comply with regulatory
standards in certain countries. The date of manufacture is not an
expiration or "use before" date. There is no expiration date for the
use of HP toner cartridges. Laserjet folkore suggests that quality started to go down with the 6 series, but your mileage may vary.

For my rare color needs, I love my Canon MP240. The MP260 was recently available at Costco for $26. Yes, ink is expensive, but buy the XL cartridges, use Canon paper, and use color only when necessary and you can save big bucks.

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Ink jet ink
Mar 27, 2011 11:12PM PDT

It is a known fact in the industry that ink jet ink costs almost $9500 per gallon if you take ink cartridges and start dumping them out until you get a gallon's worth. As a network technician for a high end multi-function printer dealership, I can tell you that your biggest bang for your buck is going to be with a laser printer. You can get one that may cost you twice as much or more as a good ink jet printer, but your operational costs will drop drastically. A typical ink jet printer can cost you 20 cents per page for printing a page of black text. A low end laser printer will cost under 10 cents per page. Check with some computer stores or office equipment dealerships to see if they have any used ones for sale. Then keep your ink jet printer for those few times that you need color or better yet, just take your files to a Kinkos or Office Max to print them. No worries about dried up cartridges! Good Luck!

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Brother HL-2040 Laser Printer
Mar 28, 2011 12:49AM PDT

Last year I bought a low-end Brother HL-2040 Laser Printer from Staples. I installed the drivers, plugged the unit in, and?BEEP...BEEP?BEEP! My UPS battery backup was not happy, and continually tripped. I had the printer plugged into a receptacle on the other side of the room, and NOT plugged into the UPS! Reluctantly resorting to the written instructions, I placed a surge suppressor/noise suppressor on the printer's AC cord. Same result!

OK. Next I took the printer into another room, and plugged it in. When the internal heater turned on (I guess that's what was doing it), the floor lamp in the room, dimmed. WOW! That's a lot of power!

I went back into the computer room. I first tried plugging a 1500-Watt space heater into the same wall outlet where the printer had been connected. No complaints from my battery back-up unit. I unplugged the heater and substituted an iron- No complaints from my UPS.

Whatever the Laser printer was putting onto my AC power line, I sure didn't want it messing with my computer.

Back it went to Staples. Cry! Cry! Any one else have a similar experience?

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ink-sucking printers
Mar 28, 2011 11:38AM PDT

if you have a Epson printer trash it,they only use 50% of the ink from the cartrige.HP have been doing a good job in that firld.I have a wireless,cartrige#60 and i like it.I also have a smal HP very simple that can use one cartrige black,no scanner no copier but very economical on ink.I had KOdak disapointment,it got umidity and DIED, so that is mysugestion.

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About Epson Vs HP
Mar 28, 2011 2:23PM PDT

I have had numerous HP and Epson printers. I would choose Epson over HP any time. In fact, I have found the Epsons to be so much better that I won't even purchase an HP any more. I have learned not to use anything but original Epson ink in their printers.

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Pay me now, or pay me later
Mar 28, 2011 12:47PM PDT

As they say, Allision, I have good news and bad news. If you are intent on replacing your printer, you are going to have to decide whether you want to pay up front to save money over the life of your printer, or go cheap on the printer and pay through the nose for ink refills. Several years ago, printer manufacturers figured out that the real money is in the consumables (ink and toner), not in the price of the printer. So they started (practically) giving away the printer so they could suck you in to buying their inks and toners for years to come. Nowadays, you can find reputable retailers like Costco who refill the ink tanks with the manufacturers' ink, and although this saves money, you can do better.

There are a couple options to look at if you want to save money; one requires an upfront investment, the other is free. Let's start with the free option. Based on the type of printing you described, your most logical first step is to change your default printer preferences on your existing printer to use less ink. Most inkjet printers have several print modes including "draft" or "fast print" mode, which uses considerably less ink per page than High Quality, Normal or Photo modes. this can save anywhere from 30-60% on ink, not to mention speeding up your prints enormously. The key is to make sure you change the default print mode. In Windows 7, click Start, Devices and Printers, and under printers, right-click on your printer. Click on Printer Preferences. Depending on your printer, the preferences box will be different, but you should be able to find the print quality drop-down box, and choose "fast" or "draft" mode. When you need to print a higher quality document, you can easily override the draft setting at the time of printing, without changing the default, cost-saving setting for future prints.
Depending on how much you print, it may be wiser to invest in a black & white laser printer. The savings over inkjet (even in draft mode) is significant over the life of the printer, but the printer is more expensive up front. Also, a typical laser toner cartridge is more expensive than a whole set of ink cartridges, but the yield is several times more prints per cartridge. Best of all, every print is crisp and clean. The only down side is that you can't print in color, but there's no reason you can't keep your current inkjet printer for occasional color prints. Just know that if you don't use the inkjet for long periods of time, the print head and the ink tanks can dry out. unless you have a need to print high quality color pages on a regular basis, I don't recommend a color laser printer because you will find they use up color toner even when you print black & white documents.

My personal preference is to combine a black & white laser printer, and a low cost color inkjet, which satisfies all my printing needs, and provides the best cost-to-print ratio. Good luck!

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Go Back To B&W Laser
Mar 29, 2011 1:15AM PDT

I'm with you. I've had a string of HPs and Epsons, and tried switching to generic inks without success. Since I no longer print color photographs, I've decided to go back to a B&W laser, with a large cartridge. In my case, a Brother HL 2270-DW. No paper jams, and no hassles. Rob

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I second that ...
Mar 30, 2011 11:10AM PDT

I second the opinion of Kees_B; I bought a low-end H-P laser printer nearly four years ago and it took three years to use up the "teaser" toner cartridge that came with the printer. I had bought another cartridge of toner (to be ready when the teaser went dry) that cost me about the same as the price of two black inkjet cartridges. It has twice the capacity of the "teaser" and will, I hope, take close to eight years to use up. That's REAL economy ...

Good, name-brand monochrome laser printers are often available for under $100 if a model is going to be dropped from a manufacturer's line. Do your research on price, reliability, and the cost of at least one toner refill, then go for it.

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Did you read this?
Mar 30, 2011 1:13PM PDT

Hi Allison H.
I posted this earlier but am not sure that you read it. There has been a lot of great advice here, but I feel that this in particular addresses you concerns as you have stated them.....
I have had the same problem, so after some research I found an HP 4500 wireless for under $100. The best part is that Costco has a program that allows you to bring in the cartridges and get them refilled for $7.00-$9.00! They only do this for certain cartridge types (HP, Epson ect..) and they have a booklet telling you exactly which ones they refill, so once you are armed with your booklet you can search for your printer. Just look at what type of ink cartridge it uses and reference your costco booklet. The HP 4500 is working great for me, I even bought one to use at work!.
Update,
I have now had the printer for a month at work. I print something every day, sometimes a little (1-2 pages) and sometimes more (5+) and I am just now getting low on ink. It only cost me $7.00 to refill at Costco!

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Epson Printers
Mar 30, 2011 11:25PM PDT

Didn't Epson loose a class action suit some time agr re not using all the ink in a cartridge? Let's do it again for it seems to me that they are back to their old tricks. So is HP for that matter though I don't think they were sued.

Personally I have to use Epson printers because they don't use heat in the print head which would destroy my sublimation inks. A CIS and bulk ink is the only solution to these ing gobbling IJ printers. That's just MHO.

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Reduce Cost Of Printing
Apr 1, 2011 1:44AM PDT

Well Allison, we are all in the same boat with you on this one. The ink cartel has us right where they want us. They give us a printer for next to nothing and then charge us thousands of dollars per gallon for the ink. You think gas prices are high, based on how much ink is actually in a cartridge, we are paying as much as $7,000 per gallon for color ink. It has gotten so ridiculous that in some cases it is actually cheaper to go out and purchase a new printer that is on sale rather than pay the price to replace the ink. It is insane? Unfortunately, models and technology change so fast that it is really hard to pinpoint the exact best solution at any given time and just when you think you have found the perfect solution, things change. I was once the biggest HP fan and now it is probably the last brand that I would recommend, well at least when it comes to consumer grade products and their All-In-One printer software. Epson was once known for the print heads getting clogged if you did not use printer every day and then you pretty much had to throw the printer out. Canon was known for consuming a lot of ink but now that has changed too. In other word, what was true yesterday is not necessarily true today or tomorrow.

As a general rule, I have found that the most cost effective solution for the average client is using some combination of a good monochrome laser printer for all your general purpose black and white printing and a good quality Inkjet printer for color printing. The exception to this would be if you need to print mostly in color only or simply print more than the average user of color pages per month. In this case you might find a color laser printer to fit the bill, however watch out for some of the low cost color lasers because some of these can actually cost more per page than an inkjet printer. In general, the lower the price of the printer, the higher the cost of the ink or other consumables will be.

The relatively low cost of Color laser printers can be very deceiving and you must keep in mind that the toner can cost close to $100 per color to replace and then you may have a drum that may need to be replaced periodically as well. Note: Color laser printers are great for general purpose color printing such as color brochure, spec sheets and letterheads but not so good when it comes to printing photos. If you have a large monthly volume of general purpose color printing, a color laser may be a more economical choice than Inkjet, however if you are using your color printer to print large volumes of repetitive tasks such as letterheads, invoices, business cards and envelopes, you may find that in the long run getting them professionally printed outside is actually cheaper then printing them yourself.

Ways to Reduce Your Ink and Toner Costs
The obvious method to reduce your ink cost is to replace your current printer with one that is inherently more cost effective such as one of the new Kodak Inkjet Printers or a High-End Color Laser (if your printing volume warrants it) or even a solid ink printer. Not only do they tend to cost less to operate but may even get the added benefit of printing much faster than the old one that you are currently using. But even if you don't want to replace your current printer or you already have a fairly new model, there are things you can do to lower your cost of Ink or Toner:

1. Purchase Refilled, Generic or Remanufactured ink and toner - There are many sources to purchase Generic Cartridges or those that have been refilled or remanufactured. Staples and other outlets offer generic brands and some stores offer refill stations.

2. Refill the cartridges yourself - Some (Not all) cartridges can be refilled and there are many online kits that can be purchased to do this. If you don't mind getting a little dirty, you can save a bundle refilling your own ink.

3. Change the Default printer settings to Draft Mode - Setting the printer to print in Draft mode will use less ink or toner than Standard or Quality mode. Some printers call this Fast Mode in the Print Quality section of printer preferences.

4. Change the Default printer settings to Black and White - If you really do not need to print in color all the time, simply change the default printing mode of your printer to print in Black and White only. The setting for this is often called something like Grayscale Printing in the printer preferences menu. Then when you really need color, you can select color just before you print.

5. Use the proper paper for your printer - Some printers have the ability to test the paper to determine how much ink to lay down. If you are using paper that absorbs too much ink then the printer will adjust itself to deliver more ink to make up for it. Make sure to use paper that is designed for the type of printer that you are using. Use inkjet paper for your inkjet printer and laser paper for your laserjet printer.

6. Reduce Toner Usage on your Laser Printer - Many laser printers have print density settings that can be adjusted to use less toner as well as default settings for print quality that can be adjusted which will result in saving toner.

7. Ink Saving Software - I have not used any personally but others have claimed real savings using Ink Saving software. Maybe something worth looking into?

8. Professionally Printing - Once you factor in the cost of the paper and the cost of ink, it may be more cost effective to get some things professionally printed rather than printing them yourself. This is especially true of color photos. Sending then to Walgreens, Walmart or some other online site will generally cost far less than printing them yourself and in most cases you get a higher quality print. This can also be true for other types of printer. For Example: I was once printing my own invoices and statements with a Minolta color laser printer because I wanted my color logo and a few spot colors to dress it up. After factoring in the cost of the printer, paper and toner over the years, I found it cheaper to have my forms off-set printed outside with my color logo and then simple fill them in with a black and white laser.

NOTE: Keep in mind that even if you are using your inkjet printer for black and white printing only, the printer will periodically pump color ink just to keep the printheads from clogging so you will still need to replace the color cartridge at some point.

Dana
Wayland Computer

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Response Reduce Cost Of Printing
Apr 1, 2011 7:27AM PDT

Many problems that people experience with their printers are caused by using the wrong ink or outdated ink. Consumer Reports Magazine published a good article comparing original equipment printer inks with after-market and/or refill ink cartridges. According to CR original equipment printer inks excelled in performance. One might want to look up the CR article before turning to other than original inks to save money. I agree that ink prices are outrageous. After destroying two printers with after-market, generic, ink. I never use discount generics or refilled cartridges. I only use new, original brand, cartridges with unexpired use-by dates.

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InkJet Re-manufactured Cartridges
Apr 3, 2011 1:04AM PDT

I've always had pretty good luck refilling my black ink, inkjet cartridges, before they finally needed replacement. However, I have had very little luck refilling the tri-color cartridges. Although I used a similar re-inking procedure, my HP Deskjet D4260 would really become unhappy, blinking its lights at me, and telling me to go out and buy a new cartridge.

So this time I found a company online called ASAP Inkjets, located in California. They have very good prices for re manufactured cartridges, and offer free shipping. I was able to purchase an HP75XL tri-color cartridge for less than half of what a new equivalent HP cartridge would have cost, and in fact it was also less than what I would have paid for a new (less ink) HP75 cartridge.

ASAP provided fast delivery, and shipped exactly what they promised. The printer is again working beautifully .

ASAP has some interesting tips and troubleshooting information available online. One statement under FAQ's that particularly caught my eye, was this:

"Should I try to print with my old cartridge after it's empty?
No! An inkjet printer works by heating a very small amount of ink, which is then jetted onto the paper. The ink cools the resistors used to heat the ink. If there is no ink, the resistors overheat and burn out. This shortens the life of the printhead. So, when the low ink warning light glows, it is time to change your cartridge. Keep a spare cartridge ready to go, and you won't have to stop printing, except to change cartridges."

To think that the printer manufacturers provide what could be taken to be an "internal fuse", to blow the cartridge "On Empty", is really bad design... or really good, if you're trying to sell cartridges!

Another interesting statement was the difference between just refilling a cartridge (like the local Walgreens), and "re-manufacturing" a cartridge.

Anyway, there were two surprises:

First: The cartridge was re-manufactured in China.

Second: Although the cartridge was ultrasonically cleaned prior to refilling, there was a note attached, stating that the printer may still show the ink supply is low or empty. "This warning should be ignored." Obviously, ASAP does not electrically reset the cartridge to indicate a "Full" reading.

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Ink-sucking printers
Apr 10, 2011 12:50AM PDT

Allison,
Buy an inexpensive Brother black and white printer that has a toner cartridge (like a copier). A toner cartridge will run you about $70 but will print 5 to 7 THOUSAND pages before it will need to be replaced. Use the printer you have now only when you need to print in color. You can buy a black and white Brother printer/fax/scanner for under $200.

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There is no 'FREE LUNCH"
Apr 11, 2011 2:15AM PDT

I hate to be the one to tell you this, but . . . There is no Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny isn't. The same goes for the tooth fairy and the myth of the cheap printer.

If you by an inexpensive printer, the manufacturer will make their profit by selling you overpriced ink or toner. You are the consumer, you are going to pay. How you choose to pay is your choice. My solution was to buy an older multifunction printer from a business that sells used copying machines. Yes, I have a copying machine, similar to what you have in your office in my home. I purchased the machine for $500. I got the network card on ebay for the bargain price on $300. Yes, I've got a copying machine with a document feeder and all for about $800. It is about 5 years old and the counter had 15,000 on it. (That was a real good deal) Major work should not be required till 100,000. Toner cost $80 and I get about 12,000 copies per toner container. Adding the cost of toner and paper my cost per page is about 1.25 cents per page. If I include the cost of the machine, I'm at about 2 cents per page. Machine, paper and toner. It will print about 40 sheets per minute. If the machine quits at 60,000 or so, my cost is still less than 5 cents per page. That is a lot less than what most are paying.

The down side of this, the machine is obsolete. Spare parts are limited. As for now, it works better than anything I ever got from HP.

Best of luck in you search for a cheap printer.

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Get a Color Laser Printer
Apr 23, 2011 11:58AM PDT

I just got a Brother HL-3070 CW color laser printer. It also has usb, ethernet, and wireless connections. Got it from B H Photo about 2 weeks ago for $210.00 with free shipping. I believe this deal is good until the end of this month (April). This printer is $280 at Amazon. Black text print quality is pretty good and color output is what you would expect from a typical color laser. Plus with a color laser I can have laser quality text with color. With an inkjet the text quality is not as good. And if I need high quality prints I just upload that to Costco. I bought a Brother because of cheaper toner (compared to HP) and there seems to be more third party toners available. And I've read reviews on the Brother printers and they consistently scored high with users.

The printer came with starter cartridges(1000 page yield each).The standard cartridge page yields are 2200 for black and 1400 for color plus with lasers and I don't have to worry about clogged nozzles if I don't print often. This printer came with 64MB memory installed but can be expanded up to 576 MB. I also have a Brother HL-2170W b/w laser printer (got this one for $60.00 about 3 months ago) and this one has also performed flawlessly and I'll be giving this printer to a friend.