Summary
While we haven’t quite yet entered a paperless world, our printing needs have changed. Unless you work in a big office that deals with a lot of important paperwork, you probably have less printing needs today than you did 10-15 years ago. I still print at least weekly and I would never not have a printer at home as part of my essential work-from-home setup. That said, I would never buy an ink cartridge printer again. That’s because I switched to a cartridge-free printer a decade ago. Since then, I will never look back.
Rather than a cartridge to remove, replace, and recycle (or return for safe recycling), they come with reservoirs into which you pour ink from replacement bottles. Most, if not all, come with a supply in the box to get you started. The best part? This supply lasts up to two years, even up to three years with some newer models, with average use.
How can you argue with that?
No more razor and blades model
Recurring costs are shaved
A cartridge-free printer costs more upfront than an ink cartridge printer. But if you have heard of the razor and blades business model, you’ll understand why. As anyone who shaves knows, physical razors are affordable. But once you need new blades, your eyes will grow wide at the price. The same goes for ink cartridges. You might think you’re getting a fantastic deal because the printer itself is so cheap…until you need to replace the ink.
Not only are ink cartridges expensive, you’ll have to replace one frequently enough that you start looking at ways to save. That might include buying cheap and potentially low-quality replacement cartridges that can impact the performance of the machine. You need to pay attention to those letters on the cartridge that relate to print yield, with cartridges that have higher yields generally costing more.
The first cartridge-free printer I got more than a decade ago lasted the stated two-plus years with the ink supply in the box. At the time, I was printing a lot more, including articles in color for a print magazine. My son was in grade school, and I’d also print things for him. Since it’s a photo printer, I would occasionally make photo prints, too.
The ink bottle replacements aren’t necessarily cheap once you do need them. You can get a full pack or may need to buy black separate from the other three colors. But measuring print yield against price, which is comparable to cartridges, you come out ahead. One thing to note is that if you don’t have consistent printing needs, print a sheet or two every now and then to ensure the ink doesn’t dry up. And run the printer head cleaning process when prompted.
HP Smart Tank 7603 All-in-One Printer
- Brand
- HP
- Type
- Cartridge-free
- Color Printing
- Yes
- Scanner
- Yes
- Document Feeder
- 250 sheets input, 100 sheets output This refillable ink printer comes with an ink supply that can last up to three years with average use. It can not only print but also copy, scan, and fax. With built-in Wi-Fi and a sleek 3-inch touchscreen, the 250-sheet input tray is perfect for students and work-from-homers. HP AI kicks it up a high-tech notch with smart printing and troubleshooting.
- Pages Per Minute
- 15 ppm black, 9 ppm color
- Weight
- 17 lbs.
- Connection
- Self-healing Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, Ethernet, Hi-Speed USB 2.0
- Dimensions
- 16.8 x 14.3 x 9.5 inches There’s little inconvenience No more rushing to the store Work-from-homers and students especially will love that there’s no more rushing to the store to grab a new ink cartridge. You usually receive a notification that you’re running low, but doen’t it seem like it always happens right when you’re in the middle of a deadline or have a report to hand in the next day? What happens if it’s after-hours and the stores are closed? You could keep a spare ink cartridge on hand for emergencies as a work-from-home gadget for productivity. But it’s one less thing to worry about so often when the supply of ink lasts up to two years. For this reason, especially, I got a cartridge-free printer for my elderly parents, and they love it. My mom creates and prints books for her grandkids and likes to print quite a bit for other projects. My dad appreciates not having to make a trip to the store for ink every few months when my mom suddenly declares that she’s out. Considering the price of gas nowadays, saving on the trip is worth more than just the cost of the ink. Sure, some printer companies offer delivery options. But that means managing that schedule if your printing needs change from one month or quarter to the next. You have much more control with a refillable ink printer that lasts a long, long time. The latest models are high-tech You get other features, too The latest cartridge-free all-in-one printers from brands like Epson, HP, and Canon do a lot more as well. They work with companion mobile apps so you can print directly from your smartphone. They have Wi-Fi so you can print wirelessly: I often work upstairs and can send prints to the printer in my basement office to pick up when I go down. They offer fast print speeds, double-sided printing, and scanning and copying features, too. HP’s latest Smart Tank printers even have built-in AI for automating the set-up process, troubleshooting issues, and self-healing Wi-Fi. One of the coolest features is automatically reformatting web pages so you get only the clean text you want without headers, footers, ads, and extra text and images. This helps save money on paper, not to mention the environment. How many times have you printed an article on a website only to find it formatted weirdly across 10 pages when it could have fit on two? Cartridge-free is the way to go You may initially look at the price tag of a cartridge-free printer and gasp. But when you play it out in your head, the printer pays for itself in a few years. A typical ink cartridge lasts anywhere from three-to-six months with average use. A standard color ink replacement cartridge, if you get one from the manufacturer itself versus a third-party brand, can be anywhere from 100 or more when factoring in both black and tri-color. It’s about the same cost for ink bottles, depending on the retailer. But your yield is much higher. Combine that with not having to go to the store two-to-four times per year, potentially more if you print a lot. By the time the two years are up, the extra money you paid for the printer itself seems negligible. Yes, you’ll still need to refill the ink reservoirs every few years. But you’ll get a lot more out of them for a longer time. In the decade-plus that I have owned different refillable ink printers, I think I have purchase new ink bottles four times, total. It’s a no-brainer investment.