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Go laser. It's much more cheaper.

You are using the word "inflation" wrong in the ending paragraphs(but, curiously, you used it correctly in the bolded summary and opening paragraph)
Inflation is a general rise in all prices. The cost of a single product going up is just that. A rise in prices on that product.

To call a rise in price of one product "inflation"(i.e. ink-price inflation) would be like referring to the spring season as "rising global warming" in the United States.

/Dictionary [censored] Rant

MarcosNapier, on 17 May 2012 - 08:43 AM, said:

Dear Mr. Napier, this is Melissa Riofrio from PCWorld. Thanks for your comments. Lasers are not always cheaper. At the high end, the big iron for a big office, yes, they are cheaper, faster, and built to last forever. In the price range of inkjet printers, $50-$400, a monochrome laser may have toner that is as expensive or more expensive than the ink for an inkjet that costs the same. And if it's a color laser, in the $300-$600 range, the toner will definitely be as or more expensive than an inkjet's. Lower-cost lasers also tend to be slower and not as well-made as their higher-end office laser cousins. I am neither pro-laser nor pro-inkjet; both have their strengths and weaknesses. I'm just pointing out that telling someone to "go laser" isn't the blanket answer it used to be, because the low-end lasers are so different from the higher-end models.

dmineau, on 17 May 2012 - 09:19 AM, said:

Hello, this is Melissa Riofrio from PCWorld. Thanks for your comment! We'll review the sentence you mention.

Again, use a continuous ink system, I´m using it on my Epson TX120 and works like a charm: each photo (without the cost of the photo paper)is about 3 cents.... of Mexican pesos!!!!!, even Epson is selling a model with a similar system already integrated in the machine and, of course, much more expensive (about 5 times the price I paid for the printer and the Ink System)

PCWMRiofrio, on 17 May 2012 - 09:20 AM, said:

If you are an infrequent user (i.e. personal laser), by the time you need the first refill, the cost goes WAY THE F*** DOWN.

Refills on my cheapo Brother MFC 7840W (which they still sell new) are $15 and yield 2600 pages. Or $0.005 per page for the toner, plus whatever paper costs by the ream (or box). But I'm still on the toner that came with my printer, three years ago.

So while it is true the toner CAN be expensive (especially on the cheapest of the cheap, where much of the print engine, drum and all is replaced with the toner), within a year or two, the 'remanufactured' ones are all over the market.

Certainly do a web search on any printer you're ever going to buy, and see what the refills cost. And don't buy the newest of the new. Buy something from last year, or the year before, especially if you're going to be doing lots of printing and consuming toner all the time.

Refills on INKJET are not only expensive, for four inks, they're CONTINUOUS, even if you don't use the printer. If it sits for a year, and you go to print your first page, it will be empty. Something like $40 per page.

While you can find the most expensive COLOR laser, and imagine blowing out a hundred pages a day, most people don't need color, or anywhere near that output. They don't even need the printer 350+ days out of the year.

Just the other day, I went to an 'OfficeMax', and you know what? They had ALL KINDS of color printers. So does 'Kinkos'. So do drug stores and grocery stores. Hand them a thumb drive, and they'll hand you back however many copies of color printout you want, at a fairly reasonable rate. They'll even print photos on fabric, canvas, etc. Whatever you want, when you want it. I got a nice 17x11 print off a PSD, just like it looks on the monitor for $1.07 (with tax). While that may sound expensive, factor in what a printer that could print on 17x11 paper would cost to buy for yourself. If there had been a hundred pages, they'd have printed both sides and bound it for me pretty cheap, too. Photos and all.

Dedicated print shops will even give you a DISCOUNT if you have a big order.

So don't print color until you need it, and when you do, or if you need a lot, go somewhere that has a printer that costs more than your car.

The good news is that on May 31st a compatible replacement has been made for the 30 series. In some cases the Kodak 10 black ink is available for as little as 2.95 per cartridge. The 30xl compatible will run around 6.95 and by years end be about 3.95 on average. OEM should always take into consideration that by raising prices it only makes sense that people will shop alternatives costing them millions in the long run. I have been using inexpensive compatables for years with great results. Some black only pages cost us as little as .005 per page!!