NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — It’s the warning you hate to see: your printer is low on ink. New ink cartridges are not cheap.
But saving money on ink actually starts by choosing the right printer.
Consumer Reports has some good money-saving news when it comes to printers and ink.
“You want to choose a printer that doesn’t waste a lot of ink on maintenance cycles and one that doesn’t have high costs to replace that ink,” Chris Raymond said.
In its laboratory tests, Consumer Reports calculates both factors so you can see just how much a printer will really cost you over time.
Inkjet printers that use cartridges typically have very high ink costs and aren’t known for being very reliable. But one model that does well in Consumer Reports tests has a low-price tag and moderate ink costs for an inkjet.
It's an all-in-one printer from Brother. It uses about $68 worth of ink each year.
If you do a lot of printing in color, there’s a better option that will actually save you money over time—even though the upfront cost is higher.
“Tank printers don’t use ink cartridges. They have reservoirs that you refill with bottles of ink,” Raymond said.
And compared to cartridges those bottles are a bargain!
Ink for the Epson EcoTank is only five dollars a year. And if you own it for a few years, it becomes one of the cheapest printers in Consumer Reports ratings.
If you don’t need to print in color, Consumer Reports says a black-and-white laser printer is your best bet.
No matter what kind of printer you’re using, you can save ink or toner by using the draft mode, using printer-friendly all-text versions of stories, and changing your font to Times New Roman—which will get you 27 percent more mileage on your ink compared to Arial.
