Naturally when I desperately need to print my travel itinerary for a flight tomorrow, and a contract that I need to mail, and it’s well after any stores that might have the right ink cartridge for my printer, is exactly when the printer “decides” that the ink cartridge is “empty”.
I use quotation marks for “decides” and “empty” because it’s all part of the printer ink conspiracy. The cartridge actually still contains more than enough ink to print the few additional pages I need. The manufacturer has cleverly designed the printer to stop printing when it thinks the cartridge has run low, and doesn’t provide any way that I can force it to continue. I’d far rather have a manual override and try to get the rest of my pages printed, even if the quality was less than ideal, than just to be completely out of luck.
This time at least it actually was the black ink that ran out. Last time it was the yellow ink, and the oh-so-clever printer refused to even let me print a black-only document until the yellow ink cartridge was replaced.
Anyone who thinks gasoline is expensive should try computing the cost per gallon of inkjet printer ink from any of the major printer manufacturers, or even from the relatively inexpensive refill suppliers.
Laser is the only way to go. Inkjet for color, laser for black. Whats the chance that they would both run out???
I got the Epson inkjet (a Stylus R320 if memory serves) because it can print directly onto CDs and DVDs. Generally I’m happy with it. I just need to keep a spare set of ink cartridges on hand. I’ll have to order some when I return from Saipan.
I’ve got an HP LaserJet 6MP in storage partly because the toner cartridge finally ran out (after I’d had it for more than four years), and because I don’t have room for both printers on my desk. I really like the LaserJet 6MP, especially because the warm-up time is very short, though I don’t know how many watts it consumes sitting idle. I’ve got an early model “Watts up? PRO” wattmeter, sine I worked on the firmware for it, so if I ever set up the 6MP again I’ll measure it.