Selecting an Ink Jet printer?With Low Operating Cost

Printer technology has made tremendous advances in the past five years. Speeds are up and print quality is great. Meanwhile, printer costs have declined.

What has not improved is the cost of ink. Printer manufacturers expected to make their profit on replacement cartridges, and they do. But in charging high prices they created another industry that they have to compete with.

Now there are generic or compatible replacements; you can buy refilled cartridges and refill kits so you can refill them yourself. Worst of all there are counterfeits. And there's a big market for all of them due to the sky-high price of OEM cartridges.

The manufacturers are full of tricks. Some of them use tiny cartridges that don't hold much ink. Most of the standard cartridges are half full of ink. They sell high capacity cartridges at premium prices that are full of ink. They run promotions on printers that have sample cartridges that barely have enough ink to try out the new printer.

These are all factors you have to consider when you buy a printer. There are makers who have addressed the problem in another way. All printers have a separate black cartridge for obvious reasons, but a few use a separate cartridge for each color. If one of the colors runs out you can replace it individually. This way you aren't throwing away good ink. One maker gives you the choice of a double size black unit that is more economical than two singles.

Most printers use a cartridge with a built- in print head, but at least one has the print head built into the machine. The cartridges are only ink containers, consequently very inexpensive and easy to refill. The downside of this arrangement is that the print head is a wear item and it's quite expensive to replace.

The point is that these two style printers are more economical to operate than the conventional type. There are some printers that will operate with only the black cartridge installed, and this is a good choice for students and others that only print text. If you don't need a fancy printing job, often you can set your printer on "draft" which saves a lot of ink.

Be careful when you are buying a printer especially, but not exclusively at auctions; they're selling them without ink. A diligent shopper can sometimes find printers with and without rebates that are below the cost of the ink. This is a good way to go. For more information about shopping visit my web site: http://www.caveatemptorus.com/

I've tried refilling and using refurbished units with mixed success. Refilling is risky business. Maker's claim that it voids your warranty, this is debatable, but there is some validity to their concerns. There are different kinds of ink and using the wrong or an inferior ink can do damage. Many refurbs are poor quality so you end up returning them for replacement.

At the moment my choice is a printer with print heads in the cartridges and I buy good quality generics. Keep in mind this creates warranty problems. If you have a problem printing, you can't get technical service unless you buy a set of OEMs.

Written by: George W. Cannata the publisher of the web site: http://www.caveatemptorus.com, July 8, 2005.

---

Selecting an Ink Jet printer?With Low Operating Cost

Printer technology has made tremendous advances in the past five... Read More

The Right Way To Discharge Capacitor In Switch Mode Power Supplies

Switch mode power supply contain some large filter capacitors that... Read More

Choosing The Right Bar Code Reader

The importance of a bar code reader in this day... Read More

Expansion Cards Part 2: AGP

Expansion Cards Part 2: AGPThe first in this series of... Read More

Video Display

Video displays are most recent technique used in both outdoor... Read More

Printer Cartridge Economics -- Four Ways To Make Your Ink Last Longer

Printer cartridge overheads can be a major expense for any... Read More

Adding USB 2.0

The process of adding USB 2.0 ports took no time... Read More

DVD Media

DVD is an optical disc storage media format that can... Read More

Review of Logitech Computer Speakers

When it comes to computer speaker systems, you have a... Read More

Types Of Laptop Batteries

Throughout the years there have been many technologies involved with... Read More

SED is Coming

One of the bigger challenges facing display manufacturers is to... Read More

Ergonomic Products 101

Human beings are scaling new heights day by day. Markets... Read More

A Technical Introduction to Audio Cables

What is so important about cables anyway?One of the most... Read More

How to Choose The Right Laptop Accessories?

The notebook computer is coming of age. For the first... Read More

The Top 10 Must-Have Laptop Accessories

You've laid out good money for your laptop computer, but... Read More

USB Hubs and Ports Explained

The USB standard has become the universal means of connection... Read More

How to Add or Remove an IDE ROM drive

CD ROMS - If you're adding or removing an internal... Read More

To Upgrade or Not?

To upgrade or not? That is the question. At least,... Read More

How to Choose a New Hard Drive for Your Computer

If you are running out of space on your computer... Read More

A Review of HP Laser Toners

Hewlett-Packard is, along with Brother and Samsung, one of the... Read More

A Guide to Refurbished Laptops

Computing freedom, independence, and mobility don't have to come with... Read More

Wireless Notebooks: What You Need To Know About Going Wireless!

It's not exactly breaking news that our world is becoming... Read More

What Is A Fuse? And How To Test It.

A fuse is a very thin wire, which either melts... Read More

Understanding Transistor Data and Replacement

If, for some reason, you can't get an exact replacement... Read More

Coping with a Serious Data Loss from your Computer Hard Drive

Data loss is an expensive reality. It's a hard fact... Read More

USB Drive Popularity

So many people have small USB drives today, but what... Read More

Protecting Your Computer From Power Surges, Data Loss, Viruses, And Spyware

Protecting Against A Power Surge:Your computer is an expensive investment;... Read More

Used Laptop Computer: Your Quick Purchase Inspection Guide ? Part 4

Used laptop computers are everywhere these days. How can you... Read More

How To Purchase A Quality Laptop Computers Case

So you finally have that new laptop you have been... Read More

RAM - What is It & Why You Need Plenty

This is the first article in the Understanding Your Computer... Read More

RAID Disk Recovery

RAID is short for Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive)... Read More

The Newest Thing in Lighting - LED Lighting and What It Can Do

The other day my son said to me, what else... Read More

Batteries for Your Laptop

With technology advancing more every day, electronics have become smaller... Read More