Buy computer ink or a whole new printer?

[jeffrey]

Does it make sense to simply buy a new computer printer when yu run out of ink rather than buy new ink? (these are not my photos, but illustrate the point)



I find this can be true with razors as well - sometimes it is less expensive to buy a whole new razor than the cartridge refills.

[project15]

I've heard that new printers come with ink cartridges that aren't as full as a brand new cartridge.

[buildmybudget]

This post is hilarious to me because it is true that a new printer is usually cheaper than new ink. But I suppose if project15 is right than it's not cheaper. Either way it sucks because so much plastic is going in the trash from these one-and-done printers.

[mainyy]

buy a new cartridge of course.

the cartridge of the new printer is not full.

so,you need buy a new cartridge in a very short time.

[kork13]

there are many places that will now refill your ink cartridges for you, at less than half the cost of new ones. Some people/companies claim it gives poor printing results, but I've never tried it yet to know...

[ktmarvels]

My roommate gets her ink cartridge refilled and it doesn't bother her. Although she mostly does text printing that doesn't need to be high quality. There are limits to the number of times you can get them refilled, cause the cartridges get warn (or something like that), but she's usually able to refill them 2 or 3 times. Walgreens frequently has coupons for getting them done (or did anyway).

[Broken Arrow]

Haha, yeah, I've read this elsewhere but it is quite amusing indeed.

I've bought 3rd party ink cartridges and it works just fine. Re-filling somehow is definitely the way to go.

If I remember correctly, HP uses individual heads for each cartridge, whereas Canon ink is just tanks. So, if smearing is a potential issue, I would think that Canon's is designed to be less likely of a problem?

[EconoMutt]

You may want to look at purchasing a Kodak Printer. Their ink is much cheaper. Black cartridge is about $9 a color is $19

[elessar78]

I hate this situation myself. I make sure I set every print job to black only. That way I only have to purchase the cheaper black ink more often than the rest. There was an article and website about this too, I'll try to find it again. Basically, if you do certain things to the cartridge you can trick the sensor into thinking that it's still full.

edit: link to article found

How your printer tricks you into buying ink and toner when you don't need it. - By Farhad Manjoo - Slate Magazine

[wincrasher]

Depends on the printer.

Often the HP cartidges contain the print head, so you are paying for the electronic gizmo as well as the ink. But you essentially have a new printer with the changing of the cartidge.

The Canon has a print head in the printer so it will wear out eventually.

You won't be getting much of printer for $30. My HP Officejet was $500 and it costs around $100 to fill it up. They have a new photo printer that they are advertising on TV with a touchscreen and such - that is a $300 printer and probably is about $70 in ink each time.

Ink is such a profit center for these companies. ANYTHING they charge for the printer is pure gravy. I read somewhere that the ink calculates to over $5,000 a gallon.

[safari]

I've always wondered why the ink so expensive and couldn't come up with a good reason. It shouldn't cost that much.

[creditcardfree]

We discovered this a few years ago. We purchased a Lexmark at the time and refilled cartridges for our home printing. Recently, that printer stopped working. We purchased an HP printer this time. The HP refills at the store are cheaper than the Lexmark brand. I hope to be able to use refilled cartridges on this new printer, too.

I think I sold an Epson printer, still in good condition, on ebay for $25 a couple years ago. So, theoretically, you could buy the printer each time it runs out of ink, you could resell the old one on ebay! This might be the least expensive way to go.

[simpletron]

Isn't this a common pricing model? Give the equipement for cheaper/free and make it up in an recurring cost. Free cell phone with 2 year contract, free satellite dish with 1-2 year contract....for neither, does the recuring cost relfect the underlying cost to deliver the service because it also includes the cost of the equipement. but I guess the printer companies took it a little too far, making it unnessary for you to use the recurring cost.

I'm still happy with my laserjet, bought it 10 years ago for $500. At $50/cartridge for 5000+ pages of black and white, it is an easily decision - buy the cartridge until the printer doesn't work.

[Saving_spree]

Are you nuts??? Instead of re-filling you want to buy a new printer...

[Kellybr969]

Advice

Well, in general I recommend NOT using refills. They are probably OK for printers with ink nozzles that are NOT built into the cartridge (like Canon printers), but I would still be careful. The ink may not be the same quality as what you would get from the manufacturer.
If you are using an HP printer, the ink nozzle is built into the printer cartridge and is not meant to be run for refill after refill. When you replace your ink cartridge, you also replace your old nozzle with a brand new one. Helps keep the print quality good (especially important if you're trying to print out photographs).
Another point to consider is that when you bought your printer, you were probably looking at print quality. Why take a chance on compromising that print quality to save a few bucks? i would suggest buying a re-manufactured or compatible instead.