Ink and Resolution: Tips for Quality and Saving on Cost
Almost everyone except budding photographers uses the ink manufactured by the
printer manufacturer. Unfortunately, this is expensive after a few dozen prints.
When the ink runs out, it’s time for a trip back to the store for another $25 to $35
cartridge. That’s for one cartridge! Multiply that by four (CMYK) and printing starts
to get expensive.
Want to know just how ridiculously expensive (and profitable) ink is? Take a look at
Table 18.1. Keep in mind that one fluid ounce (in the United States) is equal to 29.57
milliliters. A gallon contains 128 fluid (U.S.) ounces.Table 18.1 Printer Ink by the Gallon—A Comparison
Amount Used When
Ink Store Amount in Refill Light Blinks Cost per
Cartridge Price Cartridge (~85% used) Gallon
HP 27 black inkjet $17.99 10ml 8.5ml $7,990.00
print cartridge
(C8727AN)
HP 28 tri-color inkjet $21.99 8ml ×36.8ml $12,210.91
print cartridge
(C8728AN)
HP Business Inkjet $33.99 69ml 58.65ml $2,325.76
10 Black C4844A*
HP Business Inkjet $33.99 28ml 23.8ml $5,405.50
11 Cyan C4836AN
Canon BCI-6M $11.75 13ml 11.05ml $4,024.32
Magenta
Lexmark No. 82 $32.65 14ml 11.9ml $9,405.15
Black 18L0032
Lexmark No. 83 $37.75 7ml ×35.95ml $24,013.82(!!)
Tri-color inkjet
18L0042*HP’s largest and most economical ink cartridge for their large-capacity consumer inkjets.
In other words, their least expensive consumer-level ink!The store prices shown here were the actual prices advertised by a number of office
supply stores at the time this book was written. The tri-color ink cartridges are much
more expensive because if you run out of one, you have to buy all three! The lesson
here is avoid tri-color ink cartridges. Stick with printers that have separate ink car-
tridges.CHAPTER 18 PRINTERS AND PRINTER RESOLUTION 275