Citizen Printer

What is the deal with Ink for Injet Printers lasting for a much shorter time. This is a Jip!?

Many moons ago, I remember my old okidata printer. I could go through boxes and boxes of paper before I had to replace what then was called a ribbon. Then came new technology. So I get a bubblejet from Canon. Cartridge was $30 but I could print heavy use for months with no issues. So I got a new computer and sold all my old stuff. Months went by where I would just print things up at work. I basically want to shop around for a new printer. So this weekend, I broke down and got a Lexmark Z1300m from Wal-Mart. Its your basic printer but does what I need it to do and prints B&W documents quite nicely. So lets recap something. How many sheets of paper come in a bundle? Usually 500 right? Great. Ok, well this printer has officially ticket me off. First, it comes with a limited use color cartridge. Not an issue. I understand why. But most people would probably print out something in B&W, right? Like school reports or a Resume'. . So my question is..... WHY DOES MY BLACK IN CARTRIDGE, THAT I HAD TO BUY BY THE WAY FOR $19.78 ADDITIONAL TO THE PRINTER RUN OUT AT AROUND 230 PAGES!!!!! What the mother efff is this? Lets do the math. So basically it is 8.6cents per page. Thats crazy! The reason why I am posting this in etiquette is because what is happening to the printer market? Do they not care anymore? I mean, ribbons and cartridges used to last soooooooo much longer. Like 5 to 7 times as longer. What is the deal? . FYI: Every single page printed were B&W documents and nothing of photo quality. I didn't even have my color carrtidge installed because I didn't want to open it prematurely and I didn't need it. I don't feel I need to buy a laser printer because I don't normally use the printer at home often. Just every once in awhile, I have to print a large amount of documents at home.

Public Comments

1. buy a laserjet and never look back. nowadays people want to print photos and the printers use more ink so that they get all the varieties of colors to soak into th e paper. laserjets suck for photos, but they last forever. about 3000-5000 sheets per cartridge. people want to print photos, and people want to print color. color lasers are expensive and suck for photos. black and white laser jets no one wants to bother with because its not color. i bet your old printer was a laserjet edit: OK so how is a laser printer bad for printing documents at home? THE ONLY downside to a laser is that it sucks for color. which doesnt seem to apply to you. printing large amounts of documents is exactly what laser printers excell at. -they dont dry up if you dont use them -they arent expensive -they are fast -a $60 cartridge will last you about 7-8 bundles of paper -they are much sharper for text than inkjets -you dont need to worry about smearing the ink if you handle it too early. ????? downside for you????
2. Tell me about it. I have a Dell 922 All in One Inkjet printer.. worked fine, I guess, but had to feed each individual paper because it always got stuck.. It ran out of ink. Bought new ink.. Stopped working.
3. Why do you think so many stores give away "free" printers when you buy a computer. I tell you, they're all in cahoots!