help with printer ink purchase

[keakar]

i just bought a new multi printer and this is the first time i ever had 3 seperate color inks to buy. i'm getting a bulk supply of non-branded ink to keep on hand so i can save money but i don't know which colors will run out fastest. (magnetta, cyan, or yellow) black is no problem.

assuming i want enough to replace all of them at least twice, how many will i need to buy?

in other words just to start off with, how many of each color do i need till i get used to it?

i don't do photos just color copying and text documents mostly.



PS - i know everyones different but i just want a guesstimation here.

[Dippyskoodlez]

Originally Posted by keakar

PS - i know everyones different but i just want a guesstimation here.

Unless you have set things you'll be printing, theres no definite answer, its impossible to even guesstimate.

Here at work, every other week its a different toner cartridge for our color lasers. Our yellow has been in there longer than 2 black toners. Magenta gets a new one like every other week.

If you do enough that you're buying BULK ink to keep on hand, you need to buy a color laser.

Deskjets are the biggest waste of money ever when you print documents on a regular basis.

[keakar]

well buying bulk to me means buying 10 ink cartridges at a time to get the discount.

i used to get 4 color and 6 blacks for the old printer. (4-6 month supply)

i print about 3 or 4 sheets a day, usually color copy of small buisness documents.

guess i'll just have to buy 2 of each color and then pay retail if i run out of one.

the reason i asked was someone told me you probably only really use one of the three colors and the others would last a long time. i figured asking the membership here would give a good sample of what the average use that people see.

[Dippyskoodlez]

Originally Posted by keakar

well buying bulk to me means buying 10 ink cartridges at a time to get the discount.

i used to get 4 color and 6 blacks for the old printer. (4-6 month supply)

i print about 3 or 4 sheets a day, usually color copy of small buisness documents.

guess i'll just have to buy 2 of each color and then pay retail if i run out of one.

the reason i asked was someone told me you probably only really use one of the three colors and the others would last a long time. i figured asking the membership here would give a good sample of what the average use that people see.

I'd say most people will probably not have much experience with the actual TCO of printers, as most are enthusiasts..

In the long run, you still will probably want to consider a cheap laser printer.

A cheap laser will run you 400-1500(or more!) full color pages before you will even start to run low.

Whereas 2-6 inkjet cartridges run like $30-$40 a pop.

As for ink use, unless you're printing out 2-3 pages of full yellow, and about 1 red thing every 3 weeks, you probably wont notice significant decreases in your ink quantitys.

[kwchang007]

Agreed with Dippy, laser jets are far better than ink jets. Not only do they give you more prints per cartridge, they also give you better print quality, faster prints, and are generally all around better (except for the whole spewing out stuff thing).

[hat]

and melting

[Dippyskoodlez]

Originally Posted by kwchang007

(except for the whole spewing out stuff thing).

Thats not actually a problem.

Well potentially, but its amazing what marketing speak will overhype things into.