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Stay Away From Cheap Printers That Use Tiny Ink Cartridges

Are those $50 printers really worth it? If you factor in the cost of replacement ink cartridges, it could be a lot more.

If you walk down the printer isle these days, you'll probably see a few printers selling for about $50. You might see yourself , "Hey, what a great deal" -- but is it really?
Lexmark was first manufacturer marketing $50 printers. The printer was a loss-leader and the sales of replacement cartridges subsidized the low initial cost. The cost of one set of black and color cartridges exceeded the value of the printer itself.

Many people, who never owned a printer before, were none-the-wiser to what was happening with the purchase of the new cartridges. Furthermore, as time went on Lexmark continued with the same approach but then began to decrease the size of the cartridges their printers use.

Consider this:

One Lexmark 10N0016 OEM Black cartridge retails for about $30 and will yield 410 pages at 5% coverage

One Lexmark 10N0026 OEM Color cartridge retails for about $32.00 and will yield 275 pages at 5% coverage

It became normal to buy a Lexmark printer for $49 just to get the ink cartridges. Then when the ink was all used up you simply sell the printer on eBay and buy another one. HP is now doing the same saying and trying to flood the market to takeover market share.

Several new machines will enter the market in July 2006. Many of which are cheap to buy (starting at around $25.00), but can be expensive to operate. Many of these new cheap printers do not come with printer cables or both ink cartridges which entices users by lowering the initial price.

Over the course of a few years however, the low cost of the machine will be overshadowed by the large amount spent on replacement inkjet cartridges

The inkjet cartridges that most of the new HP printers use contain only 5 Milliliters of ink. In comparison, about 4 years ago the most common HP black cartridges contained 42 milliliters of ink. That's almost 8 times more printing at about 1/3rd the cost (per milliliter of ink).

Many people who have owned older machines, feel abused when they see how quickly their new printer uses up the little cartridges.

Virtually nobody is aware of the true cost of operating one of these machines until the first or second time they replace the printer ink cartridges.

HP now is trying to possess the market by taking over retail shelf space with many different printer models. Most models have the same basic qualities, however the more they can offer - the less room for competing manufacturers. Hewlett Packard hopes to captivate people with name recognition and low initial cost.

Once the customer buys the printer, they will have the customer's replacement cartridge business for the life of that printer. The BIG money is in the supplies.

So here's the point… It is critical that you investigate the price of replacement ink cartridges before you purchase a new printer. Comparison-shop both the printer and cartridges at the same time.

A brief list of printers to avoid are printers using the HP 21 and HP 22 ink cartridges. (these contain only 5 milliliters of ink)

PSC 1410 Series, Officejet 4315, Deskjet F340, F380, HP Fax 1250, HP Deskjet 3910, Deskjet 3940 Series, Deskjet 3915, Deskjet 3930 Series

Printers Using HP 92 and HP 93 ink cartridges (5 milliliters of ink)

PSC 1510 Series, PSC 1507, Officejet 6310, Deskjet 5440 Series, Photosmart 7850, Deskjet 5440 Series

The only customers who should consider these particular new HP printers, are those who print infrequently (less than 3 cartridges per year).

HP makes quality machines, however we recommend simply seeking out a model that does not use the #21 and #22 or #92 and #93 cartridges. Many more of these new HP printers will be released this month.

Another good option is to investigate other printer manufacturers such as Canon, Brother, or Epson. Many times their inkjet printers will give reviews that are as good or better than HP.

The key point to remember, is to always take into account the operating costs of the machine you are considering -- not just the initial price.

Article Source: http://articlebusiness.net/

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