<p>S says he’s tired of having to replace the color cartridges in his printer when he just wants to print in black. Are there any inexpensive printers on the market that don’t require this?</p>
<p>Does he have separate ink cartridges for color and black? If he has separate ones and it’s draining his color when he prints in black it sounds like printer is using color to print in black instead of using black to print in black. Just have him go into his printer properties and print in Greyscale - Black ink only… That way it will use his black ink when he prints in black.</p>
<p>We bought our daughter an inexpensive (under $75) Brother laser printer that only prints in black – no color. We bought it freshmen year; she’s now a senior and on her second toner cartridge (the first one came with the printer). As far as I know, she’s never had to print anything in color.</p>
<p>(I ended up buying us the same printer. My color ink jet gets used once in a blue moon, and the black and white laser all the time.)</p>
<p>I would second the recommendation of a Brother laser printer. You can get then for about $100-110 on sale at Best Buy or another big outlet.</p>
<p>If he only wants black then a laser printer is the way to go.</p>
<p>If he still wants an ink jet for occasional color use, he should make sure it has separate color and black cartidges and check the options on the printer’s user interface to make sure he can check an option to print only in black. Some of the printers have the option and some don’t. The ones that don’t will generally use some color ink whether you want to or not. I once returned an HP printer when I discovered it didn’t have the option. Even low cost ink jet printers have the option but some don’t - it’s sort of hit or miss. To check, one can go to the manufacturer’s website and download the user guide for the prospective model and see if there’s an option.</p>
<p>Thanks for the tips. I’ll have S look into the printer properties as well as the options to see if he can specify black ink use only.</p>
<p>[HP</a> Officejet 4500 All-in-One Color Ink-jet - Fax / copier / printer / scanner](<a href=“Google Shopping - Product not found”>Google Shopping - Product not found)</p>
<p>Less than 75$ and for this model you can use generic ink refills which means BIG savings.</p>
<p>And any printer can print in black only. My office Jet ran out of the color ink it came with 3 years ago. I just never replaced it.</p>
<p>I got a cheap HP laser printer off Amazon about 4 years ago (I think it was on sale and I only paid about $50 for it, iirc). I’ve only had to replace the toner once.</p>
<p>My school gave me a 3 in one copier/scanner/color printer, but I never use it for anything other than scanning once in a blue moon.</p>
<p>I have the opposite problem. The printer stops printing when the black cartridge is out and I am forced to buy a new black cartridge. They are more expensive that the whole printer and they run out in no time. Gimmic. I gonna try that grayscale thing and turn if off.
Thanks,</p>
<p>
No - some printers don’t offer the option. I wouldn’t get a printer that didn’t have the ‘Print in black only’ in the user interface. There are (or at least used to be) some printers that don’t have a separate black cartidge although most of them nowadays seem to have separate cartidges. Also, some printers refuse to work at all once they decide one of the cartidges is empty.</p>
<p>One of our printers is having problems. I’m tempted to replace it with a wireless model. Is it easy to set up?</p>
<p>Easy to setup if you follow the instructions. </p>
<p>Today pickup up a Brother MFC8500 Laser/fax/scanner (model circa 2004). Half priced at $10. Found at an estate sale when riding on bicycle.
Can’t get the thing to communicate with computer. Printing out instructions at 240 pages 
on inkjet. This will cost me a bundle to get do cheap. :)</p>
<p>My friend got a printer from the local thrift shop–free. The person who donated it said it works. She just bought a cartridge to double-check before buying more.</p>
<p>I’d suggest your S look at which cartridges he can get refilled at Costco or wherever is convenient to him & get a printer that uses such cartridges. If I were in the market for a printer, that’s how I’d do it.</p>
<p>Off topic, but here’s an [HP</a> Deskjet All-In-One](<a href=“http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?wmlspartner=lu2oiFQBcMQ&sourceid=32500462783890650641&dest=9999999997&product_id=15055746]HP”>http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?wmlspartner=lu2oiFQBcMQ&sourceid=32500462783890650641&dest=9999999997&product_id=15055746) at WalMart for only $20. Before I buy for S2, I’ll see if it will print w/o the color cartridge.</p>