print cartridge usage??

[carrbowl]

Just bought a new printer/scan/fax/copier ( in the last 6 monthst) and now it won't work with windows 7. I was never excited about it because I felt like it ate more print cartridges than my teenage boys eat food.

So I'm looking for a new one...any way to tell how much ink this things suck up? I've looked at opinions and they vary on every product, so I can't go by them. Is therea testing standard that you can go by?

[Charles Putnam]

I don't think there's a testing standard, other than what the printer manufacturers tell you. If you're looking for an all in one, either Epson or HP would be my recommendations.

Personally, I have two separate printers (a HP for text and such, and a second Epson wide format printer for photos), and a separate scanner. The HP tends to be more efficient with ink usage.

[Rson]

Since I do not print pics off it, I get the brown box refurb special from Fry's. When the ink is out, I get a new one.

Ebay has some great refurbs.

[carrbowl]

I don't print my photos...the printer is just for office kinds of stuff. I have an old i900 canon printer and I have been most impressed with that thing. It will print forever before I have to put a new cartridge in. Sorry Charles, but I am not impressed with HP..

[Charles Putnam]

No problem. Canon makes good printers too. I opted for the HP wireless 'cuz that's all that I could find at the time and we needed one post haste.

[epoh]

One thing I found it is helps if each color is it's own cartridge. That way if the cyan runs out, you just buy a cyan refill, and not a combined 3 pack.

Also, why won't the printer work in Win7? There's a backwards compatibility tool that's worked for everything I've come across so far (including a 7yr old flat-bed scanner)

[Zack Davis]

If you don't need it for printing images you might try snagging a refurbed Dell laser. We've got two of them and you can purchase the toner from a 3rd party company to save there as well but it gets you 1000's of pages that way.

Dell Outlet Home & Home Office - Refurbished Printer - Refurbished Printers - Refurbished Photo Printers | Dell

Than just print on the inkjet as needed. Though I will say we have an Epson Workforce 600 it's really decent on the ink and the built-in wi-fi is great so it doesn't even have to be connected to a computer!

Epson WorkForce 600 All-in-One Printer - Refurbished, Overview - Product Information - Epson America, Inc.

Though as far as knowing how far an ink cartridge will go is mostly a best guess by the manufactures. There's no real sure fire approach to know how far you'll go on a single cartridge.

Also, why won't the printer work in Win7? There's a backwards compatibility tool that's worked for everything I've come across so far (including a 7yr old flat-bed scanner)

There are a few things that don't have backwards compatibility, I have a few network cards and such that won't work with 7 even using sneaky fake driver versions and such.

[carrbowl]

since this is my thread I'm hijacking it...kind of...I can't get quickbooks to work on Windows 7 either...