<p>We have 2 – a Canon (promotional deal with an Apple laptop purchase a few years ago) and a HP Photosmart printer (on the idea we could then print our photos out at home, which we have done. Once.)</p>
<p>Both of them run out of ink, especially the colors, all the time, which brings the printing process to a dead halt. Yes, I only really need to print in black and white, so maybe I just have the wrong printers, but it is such a money making scam – the HP won’t print if the ink has “expired”. So I run out and pay $$$ for some fresh “cyan”, only to find out that “magenta” is a little low. Very frustrating, especially when trying to help S print homework.</p>
<p>I’m not alone. I was on a business trip and had to print something at a Westin hotel. I was directed to the business center, where they had a big HP printer. It wouldn’t print. Low on cyan.</p>
<p>I have had a brother laser printer for several years now. The main cartridges are expensive (about $70 on line) but last forever. Been cheaper in the long run. And definitely less frustrating.
Two things: 1) HP inks are the best on the market (or were). If you print photos the ink lasts longer for archival use. It’s one reason for the expense. That said, you’re best bet and cheapest alternative is to actually have your prints printed from an actual photo lab for long term. Photo labs have a different process for development so pictures last longer.
2) Choosing B&W for PHOTO printing does not use your black ink cartridge. It actually uses (or did the last time I researched this) the COLOR cartridges to get a black and white photo (probably because of the grayscale). And so eats up enormous amounts of color ink to produce a B&W image. So the color image is less ink eating than a black and white.</p>
<p>Don’t know much about it but Kodak advertises the cheapest ink for photo printing. I’ve done well in the past with the ink “refill” kits which are much cheaper (and not that messy at all) but make sure they’re compatible with your particular printer.</p>
<p>I like Canon, especially the one with individual color and B&W ink tanks. A freebie Canon we own has the colors in one cartridge- waste of ink if one color runs out first. The quality of photos is best from the pros and cost effective we found. I have to buy ink soon- after “low ink” on several colors and saying “OK” to printing I now have run “out” of one and need to jiggle the case or push a button so it prints- still a little bit of ink left… Printer/copier/scanner still works fine, no reason to replace it for now, will have to wait to get one with better features (they always change things, you can’t wait or trade in every year).</p>