Selecting an Ink Jet printer–With Low Operating Cost
By George W. Cannata
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.
Article Source:
EzineArticles.com
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