Are printer makers ripping us off?

[mandy]

The single biggest complaint that customers have against manufacturers of ink-jet printers and all-in-ones is the cost of consumables. While hardware prices continue to drop, the costs of ink and paper stay pretty much the same and, each year, can well add up to a good proportion of the purchase price of a machine.

This is why third-party ink and paper has proved so popular. At a fraction of the price of manufacturer's own products, you can buy look-alike consumables which appear to do exactly the same job as the originals. But there's a nagging doubt in the back of the mind that the quality of the resulting prints won't be up to the original manufacturers’ standard – a doubt which is played upon by all the main printer makers...

We set out to answer this question: Are prints produced using third-party inks and papers as good as those produced with manufacturers’ own products?...

full article: http://www.trustedreviews.com/printers/r...igation/p1

[thentavius]

Yes. They're ripping us off. The printer price isn't important. The consumables prices are. And--if you use third party cartridges, you end up voiding the printer's almost-useless warranty.



I use third party cartridges all the time. Suck on that!

[BellisimaJ.]

[quote author=thentavius link=topic=9411.msg50297#msg50297 date=1177259879]
Yes. They're ripping us off. The printer price isn't important. The consumables prices are. And--if you use third party cartridges, you end up voiding the printer's almost-useless warranty.



I use third party cartridges all the time. Suck on that!
[/quote]


Ditto. Screw the printer manufacturers!!!

[regic]

I use third party cartridges all the time. Suck on that!

CarrotInk