Printer ink is expensive

[HeatherLynn]

And I find myself printing SO MUCH STUFF. I know I will be printing a lot, so that is not in question.

 

Question is, what kind of printer and ink is the best buy in the long run?

[WTMCassandra]

I have found that a B&W laser workhorse printer provides the best value. Mine does double-sided printing.

 

Right now I have an HP LaserJet P2015dn. I print a LOT of stuff, but I rarely need color. Very rarely. If I really need color, I take it to OfficeMax or somewhere similar, which is cost-effective with limited quantities and much higher quality than I could do at home.

 

I personally believe color inkjet printers are of the devil ; ). They sell you the inexpensive shell, but then stick it to you with expensive refills that you need to attend to CONSTANTLY. Blech. I swore off inkjets almost 10 years ago and I refuse to go back. LOL. Can you tell I am opinionated on this subject?

[nukeswife]

I have a HP 2600n color laser jet and wouldn't trade it for anything. We've had it for 3 years and although the toner cartridges go for about $80 each we only replace the black one once every 12-15 months and the color ones once every 18-24 months, and I print A LOT! I get about 2500 pages out of each cartridge so that's 5 reams of paper. Totally worth the $250 we paid for it. After we bought it dh and I wondered why we ever had inkjets.

[WTMCassandra]

Color laser-jet IS very cool. I wasn't aware that they had gotten down to be THAT reasonable! Good deal.

[Mary in MN]

and get way more mileage out of the cartridges by setting my print settings as light as possible. I also by my ink from lasermonks, which sells refilled cartridges at about half the cost of regular cartridges.

[LaxMom]

I have found that a B&W laser workhorse printer provides the best value. Mine does double-sided printing.

 

...

Yup, we get about 5000 "average" pages per cartridge. I've also found that, while the toner cartridges retail for about $80, I can get them for $30 something at Super Media Store. I usually order two, get free shipping and spend about $15 less than I would have on one somewhere else.

 

We're thinking about getting another all-in-one, though, so we can make copies, etc. This time, one of the criteria is separate color cartridges. It's ridiculous to have to change the color cartridge (at $45-60 a throw) when the cyan (or yellow, or magenta) is the only color that's low. :glare:

[TraceyS/FL]

Join Consumer Reports for a month online and check the current prices per page for printers.

 

My HP Officejet Pro, L7580 (i think, i'm not sitting next to it), is cheap to run. Cheaper than the laser i replaced it with. It uses the 88XL cartridges - the black is rated at 2450 pages, and they run around $30-34.

 

HP Page Yields can be checked here: http://www.hp.com/pageyield/us/en/index.html

 

I'm beyond happy with it the last year, love the network aspect and it just works great.