Buying a cheap printer is a bad idea, here’s why

HP has been saying this for several years, the world leader in printers, it does not make money from printing devices. It does this by selling ink cartridges. HP CEO Enrique Lores confirmed this once again in an interview with our American colleagues. CNBC In January 2024: “We lose money on hardware but make money on consumables! In fact, HP invests in every consumer.”

At first glance this statement may seem surprising, you only need to look at the price of ink per liter to understand HP’s situation. Because, a liter of black ink currently trades for around €2,000, the bill for one liter of color ink reaches 8,000 Euros! Extremely high prices that have persisted for years. The Society to Stop Planned Obsolescence had already condemned these exorbitant prices in 2017.

Tank printers, a good alternative

Fortunately and as our colleagues WorldSince 2015 there is an alternative to the “Low-cost printer, high-priced cartridges” model: ink tank printers. For starters, these printers don’t work with traditional cartridges but with ink tanks that can be filled manually with bottles sold separately.

Ink tank printers, which were considered niche devices a few years ago, have become popular among mainstream manufacturers. We find these especially in Epson, Canon, Brother and of course HP. You should know that these printers are more expensive than their cartridge counterparts. Prices between around €150 and €600 depending on the model. For comparison, you can find a good inkjet printer, for example at HP, for about € 50-60.

Also read: HP is being sued for misleading users about its printers

A higher price, but significantly reduced printing costs

But ink tank printers compensate for their high purchase price by: Significantly cheaper ink. For good reason, these devices allow you to: Save 70% on consumable purchases. One cartridge will allow you to run an average of 1000 prints, while a set of bottles (usually included with the purchase of a tank printer) will allow you to start almost any print. 11,000 views! Even if we start with 250 print bases per month, users can enjoy peace of mind for 3 years with the starter bottle set included with their tank printers.

But be careful, users can also cut printing costs in half by choosing unofficial ink cartridges in their printers “traditional”. According to Le Monde, the break-even point for tank printers increases from 1,500 to 2,400 prints. However, this option also carries risks.

Indeed, some manufacturers have decided to wage war against these third-party cartridges. Recently HP justified blocking unofficial cartridges in its printers for security reasons. Depending on the brand, these cartridges can be used to distribute malware. It’s a theory that several computer security experts have debunked. Finally there is the quality problem, If Que Choisir tests are to be believed, it is lower than what is recommended by the manufacturers.