Save money on your printer ink , buy a laser printer

The sad story related to color printers is , the hardware is dirt cheap , so you buy the initial printer for a very cheap price and it often contains “starter” print cartridges. You then merrily print away for a while and then the printer either screams that the ink cartridge is low or you simply notice it yourself.

Ink Catridges are Expensive !!!:

You walk off the local office supply store and seek out your replacement cartridges and then grab your chest and nearly faint when you find that the cartridges are often almost as much as you paid for the entire printer. Worse it hits you that you will have to keep replacing these, if your like me the $$$$ start cranking in my head and the shock gets even worse.

Get a Cheap Laser Printer to Save Ink:

I said to myself there must be a better solution for this and I found it years ago, I bought a HP LaserJet printer. I have always liked HP printers and I still use them today , I have used others with mixed success. I have owned LaserJet’s back to the 5L days and even before. As I write this page I have a LaserJet 1018 attached. I have had it over 1 year now , using the cartridge it came with , and it still prints great today .

I believe HP replaced the 1018 with the 1012 printer. This is also a good printer. I have two printers hooked to both my PC and my wife’s PC . One is a Color printer and the other is a black&white Laser printer. Most of the things I print do not require color to be useable. I agree that for some things you need or desire color but for the vast majority of printing there is no real need in my life for a color printer.

Connecting is Easy:

Attaching printers is easy in today’s computing environments. Since 99% of them support USB, you simply get the appropriate USB cable and plug the printer into your PC. In most cases it magically finds itself to install on XP or Vista and then magically you can printer..

The biggest challenge I face is selecting the printer. I set the LaserJet and the “default” printer so if the application does not ask or if I forget to select the printer it will by default go the LaserJet. I have my DeskJet (inkjet color) printer attached to another USB port and when I need a color page I simply select that option to print.

Check out the $$$ SAVING COSTS:

Lets do a little math to see how much this simple arrangement could save you. To make things a bit more straight forward I’m not going to figure in the printer of the printers initially and just account for cartridges.

Assuming all things are even hardware wise

LaserJet Cartridge ->Cost
Typical toner cartridge - $50-$60 (this is a typical range for my HP 1018)
Page yield - 2,000-3,000 pages
Average cost per page – 1.6 - 3 cents per page

Inkjet Cartridges -> Cost Assumes Color and Black and White.
Typical inkjet cartridge - $30-$40
Page yield - 400-500 pages
Average cost per page - 6-10 cents per page

I think the Inkjet cost could be even higher if you printer photo’s frequently.
Lets say you’re a printoholic and print 10,000 pages per year.
Your Laser cost would be on the low side - $160.00
Your Inkjet cost would be on the low side - $600.00

You Save $540.00:

That’s pretty substantial and if you run a small business these numbers may be low. Even if you just use theses at home you can save a bit in ink.
I like HP printers, I suggest you look at there line and see what fits you. I suggest a single function laser printer. I like to keep things simple

In conclusion:

If you want to extend the life of your inkjet printer cartridges, consider buying an laser printer to augment your printing situation. This works for me and keeps my costs down. Check it out , it may be a viable option for you as well.