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Dogbert9
Premium Member
join:2002-03-28
Brookings, SD

Dogbert9 to ebgbjo

Premium Member

to ebgbjo

Re: [Rant] HP Photosmart Premium eAll-in_one C310a

I would recommend getting a laser printer as well. You mentioned that you don't print in color very often so a b/w laser could be very good for you. Just switch to your color printer when you need color and use the laser for everything else.

I have an HP laser printer and I print quite a bit out of it. A cartridge will last 5-6 reams which is almost a year. Cartridge is about $90 for authentic HP, but considerably less than what I would have to pay for new ink for the same amount of printing. Plus the laser will print faster and you won't need to worry about any ink smear.

Xstar_Lumini
join:2008-12-14
CANADA

Xstar_Lumini

Member

lol it's pathetic that you guys have to print in black/greyscale because it's not affordable, this is 2012 not 1985, some mafia must be keeping prices artifically high, where's "made in China" to save the day?

CylonRed
MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County
·Metronet

CylonRed

MVM

said by Xstar_Lumini:

lol it's pathetic that you guys have to print in black/greyscale because it's not affordable, this is 2012 not 1985, some mafia must be keeping prices artificially high, where's "made in China" to save the day?

They are made in China but the business model for printers is the Gillette model. Lose your shirts on the printers but more than make it up on the ink sales for the next couple of years. This is why folks refilled cartridges. This is why many printer manufacturers have a VERY thin line on making any money.

Kodak tried to break that by offering a bit more expensive printer but ink was more reasonable. I believe I heard they will be discontinuing the printer sales but still making ink because their model did not work. Personally - I am not sure people believed they made decent printers and that the ink was any good being so cheap compared to the others.

Personally - I had a 12 year old HP that was fine (Deskjet 895 Cse) - did not burn thru ink and never the ink dried out. My wife is still using it in her classroom after we replaced it at home with an Epson.
TheMG
Premium Member
join:2007-09-04
Canada
MikroTik RB450G
Cisco DPC3008
Cisco SPA112

TheMG

Premium Member

I'd much rather pay more for the printer up front, and have cheaper ink, than the other way around.

Unfortunately, most people don't consider the long-term cost of maintaining a printer, and only look at the up front cost when making a decision to buy a printer. Thus, expensive printers wouldn't sell well.

fatness
subtle

join:2000-11-17
fishing

fatness

said by TheMG:

Unfortunately, most people don't consider the long-term cost of maintaining a printer, and only look at the up front cost when making a decision to buy a printer. Thus, expensive printers wouldn't sell well.

A large part of the reason for that is when looking at printers, the purchase cost is advertised and visible, and the costs/copy are not.

DC DSL
There's a reason I'm Command.
Premium Member
join:2000-07-30
Washington, DC
Actiontec GT784WN

DC DSL

Premium Member

said by fatness:

A large part of the reason for that is when looking at printers, the purchase cost is advertised and visible, and the costs/copy are not.

When I bought my current printer I actually was looking for a medium-duty duplexing, color, network printer for several of my SMB clients. Staples had this model on sale for $149, which was a steal (meaning it was a closeout) but I nosed around and figured out how much they'd be spending on ink and printheads, and what user feedback was. The comments were overwhelmingly positive and the numbers worked out to be less than what the low-end b&w lasers would have run at the time so I went with it, plus one for myself. Five years on, they're all still working flawlessly, and the ink costs have actually been less than what I was estimating.

YMMV but spending a half an hour or less doing a little research and simple math makes a huge difference. Too bad the vast majority of people don't realize you can use the Internet for that; not just bitching about making a bad purchase decision after the fact.

fatness
subtle

join:2000-11-17
fishing

fatness

said by DC DSL:

YMMV but spending a half an hour or less doing a little research and simple math makes a huge difference.

While I agree and I do the same thing somewhat, there's a sliding scale for how useful it is. Multiply that half hour times the number of printer models being considered and it begins to turn from a positive to a negative at a certain point.

I did find a site several years ago while printer shopping that actually listed an estimated cost/copy over the life of the printer. But I have no idea what site it was. That information, plus purchase cost plus reviews, would make buying decisions easier.

DC DSL
There's a reason I'm Command.
Premium Member
join:2000-07-30
Washington, DC
Actiontec GT784WN

DC DSL

Premium Member

It shouldn't take even a half an hour to figure out if a particular printer is worth it or not. I can pretty much make the determination in about 10-15 minutes. It is important that you know how you intend to use it (document vs photo printing, high-quality vs draft, heavy vs light duty) and the features that you need/want (i.e., speed, multiple paper sources, duplexing, network connectivity). I encounter way too many people who never enumerate those basics, buy the cheapest unit they can find, then complain about things like how slow it is or how printing photos sucks when they bought a printer that wasn't designed for high-quality photo printing. Make sure the unit(s) you're looking at will do what you want, then worry about if they match your Hello Kitty laptop or look out of place next to your life-size Lost in Space robot.

fatness
subtle

join:2000-11-17
fishing

fatness

So if I understand you correctly, you think it's better if the purchase price is displayed but the cost/copy is not?

DC DSL
There's a reason I'm Command.
Premium Member
join:2000-07-30
Washington, DC
Actiontec GT784WN

DC DSL

Premium Member

No, that is not at all what I said. I said that if people know the functionality they must have, they can narrow-down the pool of models to consider. We all know people who bought something that did everything but what they needed it to. Go back and look at the shiny stuff *after* you have decided a product should meet your needs and is worth the cost of ownership.