Washington Post: Americans waste $10 billion each year on name-brand ink. So we tested low-cost options including remanufactured cartridges, ink injection kits — and even making our own.

My advice: get a mono laser printer. Printing is handy but relatively infrequent for a lot of people these days. If that’s your use case, mono laser is the way to go. Toner does not dry out or go bad.

  • Some of you should try

    I think by “some of you” you mean “heavy printer users”, and if so I agree.

    The typical use case for most folks is infrequent (maybe print 100 pages 1 month and 1 page each month otherwise or less) and works when you want to use it.

    The two features you describe do add value, but are anti features when an in

    • lots of ink paying for more than you need
    • sometimes gets clogged
    • lots of ink paying for more than you need

      You pay less for an ink refil on an ink tank printer than you do a toner refil for a laser printer. This is despite the fact that the ink refil lasts longer.

      I agree with the idea that infrequent users should consider laser printers. The main issue I have with them though is the cost. A colour laser printer is more expensive than even a tank printer which is expensive to begin with. It also can’t do photos very well which is something a lot of people use printers for. Greyscale laser printers are only good for text.