[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Cheap Printing: 5 Ways to Save Bucks on Ink and Paper here

[stepsx12]

Thanks for these tips and the article in general. I unfortunately own a Dell printer. Office Depot sells print cartridges for Dell printer that are Office Depot's brand. They cost as much as the ones you order from Dell. I hate that Dell forces you to order replacement ink cartridges from them online. They don't last long and are expensive. With Dell being in such a downward slide you would think that they would start selling their cartridges in stores. They are selling their desktops/Laptops and printers in numerous stores now, so I don't understand why they refuse to do the same with supplies. I was recently in the middle of printing a rather large amount of pages for a project. About 2/3rd's of the way through the print quality starting fading. I had two choices, one was to go to Office Depot or Wal-Mart and by their over priced off brand cartridges or order from Dell online and wait several days(and still pay several $$ for shipping or have overnight shipping and pay huge shipping charges. I went with the Office Depot brand and was very disappointed because the inks were not the same colors as the Dell ink. I then went ahead and ordered online and received my order in three days. I printed about 40 pages with the new Dell cartridges and noticed that my ink level was already down about 1/3rd on both the black and color cartridges. If I want to print decent photos, I have to buy another "photo" ink cart. that is ridiculously expensive. I am now looking at buying a new printer that uses less expensive ink and can be purchased anywhere.

[kflack]

I was fed up with buying expensive cartridges and decided to find a distributor who would sell me in volume, cartridges that I could re-sell for users across Canada.

Profit was never the intent, but only to enable users to use the free market to find what they needed most.

High quality , cost effective products to us in their printers.

After 5 years of operation, I can say we are running a "non profit organization" making a multitude of end users happy, once again,while at the same time encouraging users to keep their current printers rather than replacing them with below cost models from the manufacturers to save on Ink.

[BILLD]

Dell has that thinking that ripem off now because they get new custumers everyday.

[stepsx12]

Will any of your catridges fit the Dell 922 printer? How much are they in relation to Dell cartriges. Thanks

[teflach]

I use the "preferences" or "options" setting to adjust copies when printing, I click on the "fast, economical setting", then I click on the color option of "grayscale" which uses less black ink. For other ways to save, I print both sides of the paper and sometimes print 2 items per page. This saves quite a lot of ink, and paper as well. I also found using HP's Extra Large size cartridge to be more economical.

[TonyRony]

Nope, not for me. I'll have nothing to do with liquid ink printers. As soon as the need for printing arose, I immediately opted to purchase a laser printer. Now good laser printers can be purchased for less than $100. Although the toner cartridges cost more than a set of color ink cartridges, laser cartridges last much, much longer.

And if you think you might have a need for a copier, scanner, or fax machine some day, then you might as well lay down a little more and get a good laser all-in-one unit. Just my humble opinion.

[drmsucks]

I absolutely cannot stand to get ripped off by the OEM's for ink and switched to: Iowaink.com for my Canon inkjet needs a year ago, or so. And, am I ever happy about it! Their customer service and shipping are fantastic (free shipping with orders =>$50) and the cost for black is 42% of what I was paying at Costco for OEM ink. Quality? I can't tell the difference. Yield? Subjectively seems the same or better. Color inks were at least the same cost savings but there was a slight quality degradation - fine for me but if you're into quality photo printing be sure to see for yourself. Okay, I just read over this post - No, I am not affiliated with Iowaink! But, I highly recommend them. And they do show some Dell models.

[bobengel]

Another way to save paper usage (in printers with this option) is to select Page Layout or a similar menu heading and set the printer to print on both sides of the sheet. This may be more desirable than printing two pages side-by-side on one side of the sheet as the font size could be reduced to the point where it's more difficult to read.

With regard to saving on ink, some computers will notify the user when the ink tank is getting low. This may the time to add 3rd party ink because when the ink is totally depleted, the cartridge will no longer be recognized as being full even if it's filled again. There are ways around this problem as well but they tend to be difficult in many cases. It requires shorting out some contacts on the ink tank to override the ink level detection.

The surest way to add ink is when the level becomes less than half-full (assuming that the level can be visually determined in tanks made with clear plastic) and before the low ink warning appears.

One might wonder why the color tanks are eventually depleted even when color printing is rarely used. This is because the printer's periodic cleaning process, which assures good ink flow after the printer is unused for some time, affects all ink tanks equally even when only black printing is normally used. Thus, even setting the default to "fast" printing in "greyscale" will not maintain full color ink tanks indefinately.

[marialuis]

Relax no need to stress over money matters when your Epson Styulus 640 suddenly needs ink. While many printers today are almost cheaper than the purchase of a refill ink cartridge replacement, it just isn't economical. In this E-HOW article you'll learn how to refill your epson styulus 640 inkjet cartridge on a budget saving you from a cash crash.

1) As a preventive ink stain measure gather up some old newspapers & use them to line the surface of your work space, a couple of sheets thick should do the trick.

2) Remove ink cartridge from your Epson Printer according to the manufactures directions, then proceed by placing a piece of Scotch tape over the "OUT LET" which is the larger hole located on the bottom of each cartridge.

3) Refer to refill kits specific instructions for use of there particular product. Now your ready to peel the label off enough to expose the first hole on the "LOWER" portion of the cartridge. If you peel it past the lower fill hole IT'S OK no worries just place the label over upper(VENT)portion & apply some tape to hold it down until the refill process is complete.

4) With your pipette tube or injection tool inserted into fill hole add pressure or push down inside the cartridges fill hole until you think your done, then push a little more & as you slowly draw back out begin administering the ink (into corresponding tank of course)DO NOT OVER FILL!!!

5) Next remove the syringe or funnel and place a piece of tape to seal the fill hole once again. Then before replacing the cartridge back into the printer be sure to remove the tape from the bottom hole.

Now let the full ink cartridge(s) stand unused in the printer for hrs if possible, this will allow ink to flow properly. 1 to 3 Cleaning cycles is also recommend to help the print heads from clogging.

[professor01]

Get a laser printer?! Ever hear of TCO, which includes the cost of electricity? And then you provide a TCO calculator that does not include the cost of electricity? Ever hear of Green Computing? Ever hear of robbing Peter to pay Paul? Inkjet printers use 80-90% less electricity/energy than laser printers.

[kel6172]

How do I set my Canon MP830 Inkjet printer to use less ink?