Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

What Multifunction printers cost the least for ink as of 4/1

Apr 10, 2012 10:57PM PDT

I have a BestBuy Certificate and was looking at the Epson workforce 845 for home use but was scared off by the best buy person who I think didn't have a clue of what the cost per page for ink was for black or color and blindly suggested an hp i think 4700 based on the fact it ran fast and the cost per ink per box seemed low to him rather then going by the cost of ink per page. Any suggestions? Thank you!

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Answer
Inkjet printers, cost etc.
Apr 11, 2012 12:57AM PDT

You could go on for days trying to figure out which inkjet printer might be the cheapest to use on a per page basis. What I have seen is that NONE of them are cheap to use from a page volume standpoint. If you are talking about large printing volumes you may want to look into Laser printers, again it totally depends on what you are doing, quantities of color print as opposed to B/W. So far I have yet to see a really economical inkjet printer, claims some manufacturers make are one thing, reality is another. There are so many variables in the way printers are used (especially home users) it is nearly impossible to do an accurate per page costing/ink usage calculation.

- Collapse -
Answer
Multifunction printer, cost of ink
Jul 12, 2013 6:20PM PDT

You were on the right track. I'm not exactly sure what you're looking for because you mentioned you want a home printer and was looking at the the Epson Workforce 845, which can be used for personal stuff but is more on the high capacity end. I'm also assuming that you want a color inkjet instead of a laser since you were looking at the 845.

If my assumptions are correct then there are 2 choices that are good, one is the Epson Workforce WF-3540 which is a 4 in 1 color, and if you like HP you can try the HP OfficeJet Pro 8600 (which has 3 versions, you can take the lowest one). They both cost around $120 to $150 range but the ink costs are low, see here, which also has other options if my assumptions were incorrect.