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Analysis | Printer ink is a scam. Here’s how to spend less. (wapo.st)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/technology@beehaw.org
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Washington Post: Americans waste $10 billion each year on name-brand ink. So we tested low-cost options including remanufactured cartridges, ink injection kits — and even making our own.

My advice: get a mono laser printer. Printing is handy but relatively infrequent for a lot of people these days. If that's your use case, mono laser is the way to go. Toner does not dry out or go bad.

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[–] 6 points 3 years ago (3 children)

Some of you should try ink tank printers. Low ink prices and lots of ink in each refill. They come out of the box with thousands of pages worth if ink! Only problem is they sometimes get clogged.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago

    Glad someone made this point. My next printer will definitely be a tank printer. It's basically flipping the business proposal back to "pay for the printer up front" instead of "pay for the printer whenever you buy ink". My current printer was cheap enough that I basically spend enough on ink to buy a new printer every few years, given degradation of cartridges when they're left after opening.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    Some of you should try

    I think by "some of you" you mean "heavy printer users", and if so I agree.

    The typical use case for most folks is infrequent (maybe print 100 pages 1 month and 1 page each month otherwise or less) and works when you want to use it.

    The two features you describe do add value, but are anti features when an in

    • lots of ink paying for more than you need
    • sometimes gets clogged
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  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago

    lots of ink paying for more than you need

    You pay less for an ink refil on an ink tank printer than you do a toner refil for a laser printer. This is despite the fact that the ink refil lasts longer.

    I agree with the idea that infrequent users should consider laser printers. The main issue I have with them though is the cost. A colour laser printer is more expensive than even a tank printer which is expensive to begin with. It also can't do photos very well which is something a lot of people use printers for. Greyscale laser printers are only good for text.

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