Are "cheap" inkjet printers really cheap? Archives
If you are considering the purchase of one of the really cheap (less than $75) inkjet printers that are available these days, here is a word of advice when making a decision about which printer to buy: Check out the replacement cartridge prices!
All of them are labeled with the total volume they contain (usually in ml) and you should keep in mind the following rule of thumb: cartridges that cost more than $1.00 per ml are very much overpriced and those models of printers should be avoided. You may have seen the HP inkjet printers that are being carried by the major chain supermarkets like Albertsons, selling for $49! HP makes their profit on these units from the replacement cartridges. Some of them contain as little as 15 ml of ink and sell for nearly $40 (that's over $2.00 per ounce!). The very inexpensive units will often be rated at 10 or 12 pages per minute, but in fact will only do that in draft mode or when double spaced, etc. You have to read all the fine print!! Just stay with the <$1.00 per ml cartridges (black ink only; color cartridges vary greatly) and you'll be okay.... I use an HP 890 that I've had for about 5 years and the 42ml cartridges cost around $30.00 ea. (or about $0.71/ml).
Here are some links you might find helpful...(note: you will need to have cookies enabled in order to visit most of these sites)
Hewlett-Packard Cartridge Specs
