Archived from groups: comp.periphs.printers (
More info?)
Buyer wrote:
>I'm a long time HP printer user, and I'm looking at purchasing a new inkjet
>printer. I would like to save money by buying an inkjet that uses individual
>colored ink cartridges. Well, at least I think I'll save money.
That's the key issue...do you really save money with individual ink
cartridges?
If you use only original cartridges, you won't save much money, if any.
The typical user prints fairly equal amounts of colours. It's only an
advantage if you're a non-typical user and you require prints that use a
lot of one specific colour, such as photos that are all blue sky. I'm a
typical user and ink waste is not really an issue for me.
If you think you're saving money buying just one ink tank at $11
compared to HP's cartridge at $33, think again. The cost of all three
ink tanks is the same price. It only SEEMS like you're spending more
because of the checkout price, but generally you're not.
I've been an HP fan too, and last year I wanted to upgrade to a better
printer with good photo output. Everyone was raving about the Canon
i-series, so I decided to try a Canon i850 with individual ink tanks. It
printed very well, as good or better than the competition, and I was
very impressed. But the printhead (which Canon claimed lasted the life
of the printer) failed after some 4000 sheets and only 16 months. A
friend's i550 also had a printhead fail after only 2500 sheets. I was
very disappointed when I found the cost of a new printhead was %95 of
the cost of a whole new printer.
So I dumped the Canon and went back to HP because the printheads are
never an issue.
When I shopped around for a new printer, I compared page yields with
various brands and models and found that the HP models that used the new
94/96 and 95/97 cartridges have some of the lowest costs per page. I
have little need for direct photo printing, so the model I bought is the
HP Deskjet 6540. It uses the identical cartridges as their Photosmart
8450 and prints just as good. The only differences seem to be related to
direct photo printing features and conveniences. I didn't need any of
those so I was able to save some money on the Deskjet series.
> It seems HP
>does not make inkjet with individual ink cartridge for each color, is it?
Actually they do for their business models. Costs per page are no better
than some of their home printers, but you do get individual ink tanks if
you have non-typical printing needs.
>Also among the major printer manufacturer, like HP, Canon, Epson; it seems
>only HP build the print head in the ink cartridge. I have been very
>satisfied with HP printer, but I would like to try another brand. I have the
>impression HP inkjet printers are expensive to operate.
Many years ago, HP had higher costs per page than the competition, but
they had the advantage of better quality. HP has long since lowered
their costs per page, and it's not really an issue today.
For speed, Canon currently holds the photo print speed records. But HP
and Epson are only seconds behind. For home and office users, the print
speeds are merely bragging rights..."my printer is faster than yours".
Having said that, my new HP printer is only a few seconds slower than my
now defunct Canon, but it prints slightly better.
>BTW, the Canon Pixma printers look interesting, especially the double-sided
>print feature.
Many printers from all of the big names offer duplex printing, either as
a standard feature or an optional component. Only you can determine if
automatic duplex printing is a valid reason to choose one model over
another.
For me, automatic duplex printing doesn't matter - I'm not too lazy to
reach over and flip a few pages if needed.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram