At $65 an Ounce, I'm not Buying Ink Anymore

[James Fee]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/08/technology/08photo.ready.html?ex=1286424000&en=33e5d5f4b93827c5&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss' target='_blank'>http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/08/technology/08photo.ready.html?ex=1286424000&en=33e5d5f4b93827c5&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss</a><br /><br /></div><i>"For about $200 you can get the Hewlett-Packard Photosmart 8250 that in just 14 seconds spits out a photo that equals the quality of those coming back from the photo finisher in an hour. For the same price, Canon's iP6600D prints a borderless 4-by-6-inch photo in 46 seconds, but also prints on both sides of dual-side photo paper. The catch is that after you make an initial investment, you are going to pay at least 28 cents a print, if you believe the manufacturers' math. It could be closer to 50 cents a print if you trust the testing of product reviewers at Consumer Reports. In the meantime, the price of printing a 4-by-6-inch snapshot at a retailer's photo lab, like those inside a Sam's Club, is as low as 13 cents. Snapfish.com, an online mail-order service, offers prints for a dime each if you prepay. At those prices, why bother printing at home?"</i><br /><br />I used to be really big about printing at home, at least until a CVS opened right around the corner. Just the other day, my Canon i960 needed new ink so I went to Staples to get refills (5 of the 6 where low) and walked out after learning that I would have spent almost $70 on ink. Now I'm in the market for a cheap laser B&amp;W printer and I'll be printing at the CVS or the Costco a couple miles away. Who would have though that in 2005, I wouldn't have a color printer at home?

[jeffd]

Damn right! My canon hasnt had color ink in it in a long time now. I wanted to print some photos for the folks and took snapfish up on their freebies offer, it was easy, fast, and the prints were all good, better then my printer could dream of. And with the prices local print shops have, the next time I wanna print some 8x11 pics on regular paper, i'll just use them, their printer is probably better then mine anyways.

[pocketdoc]

I agree, and personally don't print many photos.

BUT, I don't buy retail printer refills any longer. I have a Canon as well and buy generic refill cartridges on Ebay for a couple of dollars each. Huge difference in price.

[Kursplat]

I stopped printing photos a couple of years ago. Specifically, the day I learned the local Costco started doing digital prints for 19 cents each. The final product was better then I could do, and definitely cheaper.

But there is still room in my life for a color printer. Things like newsletters, CD/DVD covers, printing out a web page (and wanting the color).

But for many people, I assume the biggest expensive-color-ink-sucking activity has been photo printing. As more and more people come to this same realization, do you think the demand for color printers will drop? Do you think the cost of ink will finally drop to be competitive?

[Chris Gohlke]

I do the same. I recently tried out the new Yahoo/Target photo service. You can do everything on-line and then walk in the store and pick up the prints a few hours later. If you have a large order the per print prices are cheaper if you have them mail them to you but even the in-store prices are cheap when compared to using a printer at home.

[sub_tex]

I'm in the same boat. I'd love to hear what you guys recommend for good a good black and white laser printer.

[Kursplat]

My ole HP 6L is still going strong. But laser prices have really come down. I just saw a Brother laser on sale at Buy.com for about $75. My first laser was around $1200! Boy do times change!

[James Fee]

I'm looking at the Dell Laser Printer 1100 (http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/print_1100?c=us&amp;cs=19&amp;l=en&amp;s=dhs) and the Brother HL-5140 (http://www.brother-usa.com/printer/printer_detail_AREA=PRINTER_1&amp;PRODUCTID=HL5140.aspx). My parents have had a similar Brother printer for quite some time and they seem to love it, but that Dell has gotten great reviews and is cheaper (though buying ink over the interent seems like a pain).

[Jake Ludington]

I swear by InkSaver (http://www.topdrawerdownloads.com/download/99186) as a solution for cutting ink costs. Printer apps are not optimized for efficient ink usage for obvious financial motivations from the printer and ink companies. InkSaver acts as a proxy between the printer software on your PC and the ink output in the printer, dramatically reducing ink usage without impacting the quality of the final print. The price of the app is about the cost of one cartridge, which pays for itself within the first ink usage period in most cases. It's the app that should ship with every new printer.

Jake Ludington
http://www.jakeludington.com

[Jason Dunn]

BUT, I don't buy retail printer refills any longer. I have a Canon as well and buy generic refill cartridges on Ebay for a couple of dollars each. Huge difference in price.

I tried those once a few years back with my Epson C80 printer, and had horrible results. The ink cartridges dried up after only two weeks, and the colour output was very poor. :( Because of that I've avoided the replacement off-brand products like the plague with all my other printers. Have you had good luck with them? Do you buy a certain brand of ink?

[Jason Dunn]

I swear by InkSaver (http://www.topdrawerdownloads.com/download/99186) as a solution for cutting ink costs.

Hey Jake! Funny that this topic got to be your first post. ;-) I tried the Inksaver product, but unfortunately it didn't seem to support networked printers - and 95% of the printing I do is from my main PC, while my Canon Multifunction printer is hooked up to another machine. So no dice. :-( If they ever come out with a version that supports networked printers, I'd love to give it another try.

[Jason Dunn]

But there is still room in my life for a color printer. Things like newsletters, CD/DVD covers, printing out a web page (and wanting the color)

Yeah, I'm with you. Though I also seem to be in the minority in terms of printing at home - when I want photos, I generally want them NOW, so I only use online services when I'm either doing special prints (large format) or when I'm doing a lot of printing. Pretty much anything below 30 prints I do at home.

[Kursplat]

... when I want photos, I generally want them NOW, so I only use online services when ...

I don't use online services either because I prefer not to wait and because it is more of hassle when dealing with prints that were done with miscalibrated equipment. That is why I use my local Costco - cheaper then printing at home, cheaper then most online services (especially when taking shipping into account), ready in 1 hour, and I can have them rerun the prints at no extra cost if they don't come out right.

At $0.19@ for 4x6 up to $2.99 for a 12x18, you can't even get good paper for much less then that, not to mention the cost of the ink. It certainly seems like more brick-n-mortar stores are doing digital prints and the prices are dropping. This only makes my decision easier. :)

I year or two ago, I went into a Kinkos to try one of their Kodak print stations, but the prices were like $035 a print, so I walked out. Even the Walgreens and Walmarts were $0.29. Now that others are finally at or below Costco's prices, it just means more choices for me. :)

[whydidnt]

Yes, I quit buying color ink for my PhotoSmart 1215. Snapfish does a lot better job printing pictures and is a lot cheaper. Recently, one of the Office stuperstores had an HP color LaserJet on sale for $249.00 and I bought it (it even included full toner cartridges) :D . I now use that for non photo color printing - it's very fast, and for color in documents, etc. it looks great + plus it had a built in network interface.

With all the pressure from retailers and online service for digital printing, I would not be at all surprised to see the price of photo ink begin to drop. I find it hilarious that TV newsheads scream bloody murder when gas hits $3.00/gallon, but don't even seem to bat an eye that printer ink is roughly $1,000/gallon! Give me a break..... :roll:

[Kursplat]

Yeah, I heard a comedian joke that $3/gal shouldn't be a problem 'cuz people are spending $400/gal on Starbucks coffee. The difference being that we don't burn through gallons of ink to get to work each day. :)

I have been contemplating a color laser. Dell has an all-in-one networkable B/W laser, scanner, fax, copier that actually works as a scanner over the network (you don't have to have it plugged directly into a computer). I'm hoping they will come out with a color version of that printer. I'm holding out until I get what I want! I did finally see an all-in-one color laser, but I think it was HP and I doubt it was networkable, etc.