I have HP F4210 which is old but trusty and I'm not sure I'll find an ink catridge for it. The catridge is HP 300, don't know if any others fit as well. I checked on the local store for it, somehow they didn't list black ink but they do have 2 kinds of colors, one of is exactly 2 times the price of other, why? Anyway is it worth to buy these catridges or are new printers better now, if so which one? Just need basic scanning and printing like once a month, well my folks need it and no they won't go to pay someone else do it. The other printer we have is Pixma MG5550 which a piece of shit, I think we won't buy any catridges for that one, fck that wireless block that is almost as slow as the trash laptop pops brought from 'murica.
The only way to save money in the long run is laser printing. (only if you do large amounts of printing, but the toner is dry so it doesn't dry out as fast as ink does.... but it still does if u don't use it regularly) Ink is just to expensive. More often it is cheaper to buy a whole new printer and use it's ink than to buy Ink refills for your old printer.
Try the 1 I use in the office. HP L220. As far as economy is concerned, its quite a good purchase. You dont even need to replace cartridges, just pour ink if you run out.
Go for a laser printer buddy. Ink cartridges are expensive as hell, and for people like me, who only prints stuff once in a blue moon, it'll get even more expensive, because the ink will eventually dry out, and you didn't even got your money's worth out of that cartridge. You can go to one of those recycling places where they will refill your used cartridges for like 15€ (at least where I live), but from my experience those dry out even faster, the the 50€ brand new ones...
iirc one of the color of the inks is pricier because of the limited supply of the source of pigment of that certain color... i think it was cyan.. i dunno Edit: I manually refill our printer's ink cartridges in the past... didn't know others pay to do it
From my own experience.... F*ck printers! I had one, but i needed to buy new ink once a month and i didn't use it even that much. So i went to the nearest store and found out that you can use their printer there for a good price. All in all my expenses for printing (with i need quite often because most of my school notes are printed (teachers want it that way...)) are now not even half of what they were before when i still used my own printer!
You would find problems in any case. If you buy cheap laser printer, it will have expensive ink toner. If you buy hp, youll pay more for catridges but longer head lifetime. The problem with hp all in one printers now it locks up if a small problem occurs. Thats why i avoid hp now. Epson ink printers have cheaper inks coz u dont replace the heads, but within 2-3 years you would have to do head maintenance... Dont even start with canon, although they print the best quality of pictures, the inks are the most expensive of the bunch and the printers are the most unreliable of the bunch. My suggestion? If u just use it for printing text and such, epson ecotank is the best option. Been using one for 5 years and still going strong (although i have streaks due to. Head clogs) each ink cost just $7, so thats about 28 per 6 months. I had printers that cost me that much each month...
THIS! The problem with most inkjets is the cartridge. I've had several inkjets, and all of them had their cartridges replaced either once, or twice. After that, it's actually cheaper to just buy a new inkjet, not just for the price, but because finding cartridges for older models are hard, if not downright impossible. If you have refillable ink however, all you have to do is find a compatible set of inks. It doesn't have to be Epson's. Much cheaper, lasts longer, and much easier to find, even for older model printers.
Laserjet over Inkjet. something about inks costing a fortune Can't really explain further but inkjets are a money sink
You should only buy your ink cartridges once, then get waaaay cheaper refills and use those until the physical cartridge literally wears out.
The Epson L220, like the one @die4jingshi suggested is an excellent choice. If you run the recommended stock Epson Ink and you print with it at least once every month then you don't have to worry about ink blocking the head nozzles. Excellent quality and excellent ink cost (around 40USD or less if you look for deals locally). Not even the cheapest laser printer can beat that (unless you do your own refills). As for me, I use a laser printer at home. Even though I only use it few times/week, I still appreciate the speed and duplexer.
As others have said, get a laser printer. Though I will go a step further and say get a cheap one on a deal. I bought BW laser on a deal for 30 bucks, color ones for 60 bucks. As for scanner, as long as you don't need copier, keep scanner separate. You can buy an all in one, but it's better to have them separate because less room for them to break down. Also, some manufacturers lock scanner if there is no ink, so make sure you look. Lastly, put laser printer in a well ventilated area. The fumes they give off have some very minor health risks, similar to smoking. It's not a big deal especially if used rarely but if you can vent it, you should.