An alternative to buying expensive Lexmark ink cartridges

[ConLog]

Instead of paying out big bucks for extorionate replacement Lexmark Z25 ink cartridges, simply wait until your ink has nearly run out and sell the printer.

I've been doing that for a year now. I buy the printer for £30 and sell it for £20 meaning I'm only ever shelling out £10 for replacement ink.

[LawyerRon]

You make an excellent point ConLog.

[HAL9000]

You're not the only one doing that... it's becoming a common practice.

[Clover]

Wow. thats a great idea!

[Eaglefeather]

yeah, except some other poor slob gets stuck with having to buy the ink. Sorry but I personally think that is just as dishonest, if not more so, then what the manufacturers are doing.

Just my 2 cents........

EF

[setfree]

my mom has been somewhat practicing this for years now. Except instead of selling the printer she just goes out and buys the cheapest one she can find.

[Surge1243]

Seems like a hassle to have to constantly be selling and buying a printer...I'd rather just shell out the money and get new cartridges or go with a printer brand that sells lower cost inks.

[figarowa]

not necessarily, i work for a large retail office supply store, and i see people day in and day out buy over 50 to 70 dollars worth of ink. What made me respond is that we just introduced a new Compaq printer which retails at 49.99....so in reality, i buy the printer, use till the ink runs out, i just buy a whole new printer and still be ahead of the game by 10 bucks...In retail, Staples...my employer, makes a boat load of profit on ink, as do the manufacturers, it is more profitable for us to sell someone ink then a entire printer..go figure..

[Trent Steel]

I don't know about other printers but my HPdeskjet 990cxi came with half the amount of ink that would be in regular cartridges. I don't know if these cartridges are half sized or are just half filled, but I would assume all printer manufactures do the same of giving small amounts of ink with their printers. You may not be farther ahead with replacing the printer, you need to check out how much ink comes with the printer to verify that (in ml).

[TimPoet]

That was the case with mine, too, an Epson 777i. So what other brands besides the Lexmark are decent and have a FULL load of ink when brand new?

And do you have to uninstall and reinstall the drivers if it's the exact same model?

[glc]

With something like a 990cxi, it's more economical to buy ink cartridges because it's not a cheap printer. Just keep an eye open for a deal on cartridges, the shelf life of unopened cartridges is pretty good. I buy mine in twin packs at Sam's Club. If your volume of printing is such that the price of ink is killing you, buy a personal color laser, they are under $1000 now - or if the vast majority of your printing is black and white, get a cheap monochrome laser (the HP 1000 is under $200 now) and keep a cheap inkjet around for the occasional color job.

[Clover]

Question about the laser printers. Do they actually burn the image on the paper?

[RobH]

I have several printers in boxes with empty ink cartridges,figured this out several years back,I always look for a bargain after the one I have is around 9 moths old or so.
You do know what they are going to do----new printers with sample cartridges....They watch----they learn........

[juppy]

Originally posted by Clover Question about the laser printers. Do they actually burn the image on the paper?

If you mean is there a laser that shoots the words onto the paper, then no. It's more like one of those iron-ons that you can put on your shirt. It's a more detailed process than this, but basically (from the way I understand it anyway, I could be wrong) the laser part is involved in the photosensitive drum. It "paints" (for lack of a better word) the printout on the photosensitive drum and where the words were put, it is somehow magnetized so that the toner sticks to only the parts where the words are. The paper runs across this and sorta temporarily sticks the words on the paper. It goes through a really hot roller called a fuser and it basically "irons" it to the paper. If you have a fuser go bad, when the paper comes out you can just brush the toner right back off the paper. It won't stick. That happened to my old laser awhile back. That's why I said it "temporarily" sticks it to the paper, cuz without the fuser to heat it up and make it stick, the toner won't stay on the page.