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Here’s Some Potentially Good News For HP Printer Owners
By JLP | February 6, 2007
As an Hewlett Packard printer owner, I get ticked off everytime I have to buy ink. It’s too dang expensive!
That may be about to change.
I read in today’s Wall Street Journal that Kodak is introducing a line of all-in-one printers. The printers will be priced pretty much in line with similar models from HP. However, the ink is supposed to be a lot cheaper, bringing the cost per page to about half of what it costs with HP ink!
I probably won’t be buying the new printer since I have a lot of money tied up in my HP and I don’t do that much printing with it. However, when it comes time to replace my HP, I might give Kodak a serious look.
Do you think this will change the printing business?
Topics: Budgeting, Business News | 8 Comments »
February 6th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
The best way to seriously lower your cost per page is to get a laser printer. I bought a cheap ($80) Brother black and white laser printer about a year ago. It has printed 1300 pages so far, and I have not had to replace the toner cartridge that came with it. I think the estimated life of the toner is 5000 pages. Generic replacement toner cartridges are $45 or so online.
Of course, it only does black and white, but that is all that I need 95% of the time. I still have my HP Inkjet (and a few spare generic cartridges) for color printing when I need it.
February 6th, 2007 at 5:37 pm
I have a Brother MFC-420CN network all-in-one, and it has three separate color ink tanks, which saves a little money. You don’t have to replace all three when only one is empty, like you do with some machines. I also order my cartridges from ABCink.com. Sometimes I can get 2 of each color, including black, for a total of about $20. That works out to $2.50 per cartridge. Sure, they’re after-market, but they work great. For b&w printing, I have a Brother HL-2040 laser printer. The toner cartridges are expensive, but the cost per page for a laser printer is much less than with an inkjet.
February 6th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
The whole printer market is all about losing money on the printer and making it back, hand over fist, on the ink… I wonder how this will change things. (not to say they aren’t making money on the ink anyway)
February 6th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
I agree with the first poster, laser is the way to go. You can find a black and white laser printer for the same price or even cheaper than a typical color ink jet. Of course the replacement toner may be slightly more, but when you can print hundreds to thousands more pages, it makes no difference.
Although in regards to the Kodak situation, if their product can draw attention to ink prices, that is only a good thing. Competition is good for consumers. A cheaper alternative would ultimately result in cheaper ink prices overall if HP feels the heat. But it won’t make me switch, I’ll stick with my laser.
February 7th, 2007 at 11:46 am
For an good personal laser, I would have to recommend the HP Laserjet 1020. It’s normally about $180, but a couple times of year can be had on sale for $99, and more frequently on sale for $120. I have heard good things about the 1018, but haven’t tried it personally.
February 7th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
BTW, I’ve got the same Brother HL-2040 that Scott has. I picked up a refurb for $80. I think it normally goes for $100 to $120. I picked it because it can fit legal-sized paper without the paper sticking out the front. The 2070 is the same thing with built-in networking, which would be pretty handy. There are similarly-priced models from Samsung and HP that are good too.
February 7th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
I have a Dell all-in-one model inkjet and am not happy with the amount I spend on ink. I am refilling the cartridges when I can to avoid having to buy new ones (only available from Dell on their website, btw). My wife went with an HP color laser because she prints a lot for church. It is a lot quicker, and hopefully cheaper in the long run.
With any luck Kodak will help spark some competition in the ink jet market and drive down prices.
February 8th, 2007 at 1:09 am
One crazy thing is you can’t buy a photo printer that prints 4×6 prints for