The Australian website NineMSN has posted something we all know, but sometimes should be reminded of: the enormous costs of printer ink. The website has posted an infographic that compares several liquids of which ink is by far the most expensive. There is a whopping $2k difference between famous parfume Chanel no5. ($3180 per liter) and color ink, which goes for $5654 per liter. Black ink is only slightly cheaper, as according to the Australian site, it costs $5544 per liter which a $100 difference.
Prices are compared by using standard HP cartridge with 4.5ml of ink in it and calculate the price from that to a liter. We’re all aware of the expensive prices and many have found ways to get cheaper ink. Ink refill kits, certain cheaper brands and other ways of printing are ways of getting away from the ridiculously expensive inks.
The business model of the expensive ink is based on the fact that printers are relatively cheap and therefor the ink has to make up for the losses printer manufacturers have to make, that’s the idea. The same approach is applied for consoles, where the console itself is relatively cheap while the games are more expensive.
If this business model is still valid for printers we don’t know, as more expensive printers not always come with cheaper inks. All we know is that it’s about time our ink gets cheaper!
16 Comments on What do you regularly use and is $5k a liter? Guess what!
I can reset the chip so the cartridge is recognized as full again and 0.5 liter of ink cost around €30
Not like the crap HP makes today that will break down JUST outside the warranty period.. besides.. most cartrdiges you can refill anyways for less than 50 cents each time..
My success w/ the HP 741X series Hp 96 cartridge is about 6 refills before the printer head dies.. the old 45 cartridges are about 10x refills. I think the sponge in the blank cartrdige 96 can take about 12-16ml's.
DO NOT BUY AN HP inkjet printer... today, they are ALL CRAP.. go with ANY other brand!!
It's extremely easy to buy lowpriced generic ink cartridges for it. I don't know why someone would pay full price.
If they're losing money on printers, surely the easily accessible generic cartridges would impact that business model? Maybe its propped up companys/institutions that aren't able to access cheaper alternatives?
Most experienced cartridge refillers know what the deal is and can find decent cheap ink.. although in the last year PIGMENTED ink is a bit more expensive $10 more than it was the year before- per 16oz bottle, even on ebay-- I bought non-pigmented this time and am not as satisfied with the quality (a bit blurry/runny)-- next time pigmented ink for me.
Seems like this story is trotted out by someone on an annual basis ...
I moved to laser about 5 years ago for all printing. If I really want a photo prtinted, I'll pay for a professional print. Home photo printouts rarely live up to the manufacturers hype.
My last printer was the Canon ip5200 and I've used compatibles in it for about 3 years without an issue, even for printing photographs. Unlike my experience with a Lexmark, Epson and HP, I rarely had to do a cleaning cycle when using compatibles. In the end, the printer finally failed. I have replaced it with a Canon ip4950 and am ready to start with compatibles once its originals run out.

One nice thing I also like about Canon is that it does not refuse to print documents just because a colour has ran out. Just press the resume button and it'll print. The same goes with printing with that colour, useful for using up every last drop of that colour until it fades.
Sometimes I can get a couple of refills out of them before the print head or something else finally dies but the hard part now is finding quality cheap carts. I also have a Epson R800 I use for disk printing and photos but the carts on it finally crapped out and I don't have the budget right now for remaned or refillable carts and ink for it so it just sits.
My first media printing Epson was the R200 and I found some nice refillable carts with extra ink for it and it still works today, my sister uses it now and the ink I found is probably better then the OEM stuff was and is cheaper. She hasn't burned through all the extra ink for it yet and I will get a similar system for the 800 when I can afford it again.
The R200 cost me 30 bucks after rebate and the first set of factory carts cost me 70 so I feel everyone's pain and starting looking for alternatives real quick as it also has tiny carts.
Nice thing about Toner is that being a dry powder it doesn't dry out from sitting,
like the hideously expensive printer ink that's being complained about.
if you aren't printing every day you don't want an inkjet.
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However, most colour laser printers are rip-offs just like cheap inkjets, in some cases where one could purchase two replacement printers for the price of one set of toner.
So if going the colour laser route, check the compatible pricing first. Just an example I came across on Amazon:
- Dell 1350cnw colour laser printer - £138.26
- Replacement toner set (2000 page black + 3x 1400 page colour) - £249.60

- Compatible set (2000 page black + 3x 1400 page colour) - £39.95

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