First, never use refilled or remanufactured cartridges. They have the ability to damage your printer and void your warranty. Each day you’ll find several posts right here from someone crying that their printer was ruined by a refilled cartridge. To save money, use only brand new compatible cartridges.
Next, unless you totally need photo quality, go with a laser. Lasers have sharper text and are generally faster than inkjets. While toner cartridges are more costly than ink, they print more pages, so the cost per page is lower. But you pay more up front. Inkjets are superior for pics. Personally, I use both. I have an inkjet for photos and a color laser for jobs which don't need absolute pic quality.
You can get a good color laser this day for $80! Samsung CLP-300 at http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/p…
I’ve this printer and it's really nice. Toner cartridges are more costly then inkjet cartridges ($70 for a set of 4 at http://ccs-digital.com/ink.asp ) but they last for about 2,000 pages.It does a nice job on photos, but an inkjet is still superior for this.
Inkjet: As someone who was in the computer hardware business for years (though I rarely sold printers since I couldn't compete with the crazy rebates) I’ve always suggested Epson. The print quality is excellent, even on plain paper. I have photos I printed on a 640 about ten years ago hanging in my office which still look good, though not as good as the ones from the CX8400 on glossy paper. The warranty is excellent. For a year, Epson will express-ship a replacement and pick up the old one. I had one customer who needed this. He called one afternoon and had the replacement two days later. Another client purchased a Canon. It needed two fixes within a few months. Each time it was taken to the repair center, then picked up a few days later. This client runs a specialty printing business and this really injured. They have since purchased an Epson CX5000 and have had no down time since.
The C120 (printer only - no scanner) is on sale at Ritz Camera free after rebate but you must also purchase a digital camera. The cheapest is $15. With $7 shipping you pay $22 for printer and camera. It uses 3 colors and 2 of the SAME black cartridge.
http://www.cheapstingybargains.com/55740…
A set of 5 cartridges are $23 at http://ccs-digital.com/ink.asp
The RX595 scanner/copier/printer also prints on DVDs. It uses 5 colors plus black and has even higher pic quality. You can get it at Ritz Camera for $45 after rebate with digital camera. The printer is $130. The cheapest camera is $15 bringing the total to $145. Then there’s $100 rebate and free shipping, bringing the final cost to $45. http://www.ritzcamera.com/webapp/wcs/sto… A set of 7 cartridges (1 extra black) is $30 at http://ccs-digital.com/ink.asp
Answer:
Good luck with that one. HP and others make a LOT of money off ink. I’ve a Canon printer that has 5 separate cartridges. They are around $11 each (best price), but that adds up to over $50 to replace them all. I found some generic cartridges for $3 each, but they sucked. The color was awful, especially for pics! There are kits available to refill many types of ink cartridges. Also toner for laser printers. Refilling brings the cost way down. I've had mostly good results, but each cartridge can only be refilled 2 or 3 times before losing quality.
Answer:
Any will do as long if you’ll use refill kits like these http://www.misterinkjet.com/ or http://www.jettecjetset.com/