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I am about to buy a color printer. I had a B&W Laserjet printer in the past but since then I've used Inkjets for decades. I need a printer that can deliver high quality as these photo Inkjet printers, but I'm tired of paying for ink that costs $9,000 per gallon (1 gallon = 3.785 liters = 300 cartridges = $9,000).
So, I was thinking about buying a color laser printer, but I'm not sure these printers can deliver the same quality and are worth the investment in terms of toner consumption.
I remembered that my old Laserjet printer was able to print 1100 pages per toner cartridge. The Inkjet printers I have can print 500 pages per cartridge. Price by price, 2 Inkjet cartridges have more or less the same cost as one toner cartridge and in theory prints almost the same. I am not sure if this is true for color lasers.
What can you guys tell me about quality, toner cost and cost per page for laser or Inkjet printer? Is it worth the change? (Keep in mind that an Inkjet printer costs $50 and a laser printer costs $200.)
2HP used to use water-soluble inks in their inkjet cartridges. not sure that's still true, but i stopped buying inkjets after i found that out. – quack quixote – 2010-04-12T08:22:07.007
what is the problem of water soluble inks? smudging? The problem is paying $9000 per gallon. It is an outrage. People should do as a guy I read once on the web. The guy buys a new printer every time the cartridge runs out of ink. If every person did that, they will have to reduce the prices, because the inkjet printer prices are subsidized in order to create a market. The printer costs more to produce than the price it is sold. If every people buys a new printer when the ink goes out, you break the morons. – SpaceDog – 2010-04-12T08:58:08.860
4@mike: one word: RAIN. or coffee spills. or humid regions of the world. i like your suggestion, tho, but i took it one step further: i stopped buying printers. now if i need something printed i take a USB drive to Kinko's. – quack quixote – 2010-04-12T09:28:19.720
3Water based inks also seem to be worse for fading over time in response to sunlight and such, in my experience. – David Spillett – 2010-04-12T09:51:12.327
thanks for your your comments! I think I will do that. I have a kinko's-like store 5 minutes from here. I will probably buy a laser. thanks. – SpaceDog – 2010-04-12T10:46:39.197