An article on a UK news site advised readers to “take with a pinch of salt” the OEMs’ warnings that third-party cartridges risk damaging your printer.
The piece in the Yorkshire Post offering tips on how to get the most value out of a printer also said that “most of the [OEM] research and development effort these days seemingly goes into defeating third-party cartridges, which typically sell for fraction of the ‘recommended’ price”. With “compatible” cartridges selling for just £7 ($10.80/€9.52) compared to the £27 ($41.68/€36.75) for OEM cartridges, the writer said it is clear “where the value lies”.
He also said that refills are problematic as “they’re overpriced and they run out too quickly”, with the printer forcing you to replace them before they’ve fully run out, while the printheads can dry up if you don’t use the device enough.
Another issue the writer mentioned was that “the amount of ink in the cartridge has shrunk over the years on roughly the same scale as a California reservoir”, so today’s XL cartridges are as big as what was a regular cartridge five years ago. He recommended using a £40 ($61.76/€54.45) black-and-white laser printer, or “simply do without one altogether”, as Facebook and Flickr enable photo sharing without printing.
If a colour printer is needed, the author recommends not overspending on specialist printers, buying a printer with four ink cartridges rather than two, and not installing all the software that comes with the printer, as only Windows or Mac driver are needed to communicate with the computer, and not “the superfluous ‘print centre’ apps”.