Tips from the Windows Pros: Does the Green Ink Have You Seeing Red?

If you're shopping for or currently use one of those inexpensive color inkjet printers that are so popular these days, you might find that your pleasure over their low purchase price fades quickly when you find out how much the ink cartridges cost. It's the overall cost per page that matters, and this can range from $.05 to $.15 per page for black-and-white printing, and lots more for color. If you print, say, an average of 10 pages per day, a printer that costs $.05 per page less than a competing model will save you $180 a year. That can way more than make up for a higher initial purchase price. This same argument goes for laser printers too, by the way. There are monochrome laser printers on the market for not much more than $100 now, but the cost of the consumablesouch!

My advice is, when you're shopping for any printer, check out online reviews and estimate your actual cost of operation before you buy. You can find reviews at www.pcmag.com, www.zdnet.com, www.consumersearch.com, www.consumerreports.com (which requires a subscription), and many other sites. An hour or two invested in research now can save you a bundle later.

But suppose you already have a printer and find that it's been rated as the biggest ink-sucking pig on the market. If you use it heavily, consider trading it for a less-thirsty model. Remember, you might recoup the cost in short order. You also can look into using recycled, refilled ink or toner cartridges, or even get one of those fill-your-own kits. (I would probably accidentally stick myself with the needle and end up with unintentional multicolored tattoos, but you might be braver than I.)

Finally, right-click the printer's icon in the Printers and Faxes folder, click Properties, and look at the various properties tabs. Most color inkjet printers have a special settings page that lets you choose to print everything in black and white only, or to print in a "thrifty" mode that saves ink. Use the color and letter- or photo-quality output modes only when you really care about what you're printing.