Whats the deal with printers?

[HotDog-Cart]

Guys, I dont get it.

I was watching a AVGN video and he brought up a good point about printers.

Why the heck do some of them need color ink to print stuff thats black and white? (Like, my moms printer for instance. When I try to print a black and white word document, it tells me the "color ink" is low. Like, who cares? Im not printing color.)

Also, he also mentioned in his video that, why do we need all these different color numbers? Like whats the difference between Black #26 and Black #52. They are both black! If the cartridge fits in the printer, why cant the printer just use it? Who cares about the number! The printer should just accept whatever numbered color that you put in it. Whether its Black #26 or black #51.

[palmertech]

It does not need it, it just warns you every time anyway in case you DO need to print a color document.

And because they are different shades of black, people would complain about stuff like "Baaaw my photos look like crap ima never buy an HP printer again!". It may work for black and white stuff, but the reason it is in place is to protect the average user from their own ignorance.

[Twilight Wolf]

Couldn't they just, you know, standardize a particular brand's cartridges? That'd make much more sense than making seven types of incompatible cartridges.

[DK]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you standardize the brands cartridge, it means that you can't have specialist printers like my lovely Photosmart. Pigment inks won't work in normal printers so the unsuspecting public would mess up their printers with the wrong type of ink.

[HotDog-Cart]

No guys. My moms actually wont let her print until she buys a new color cartridge. All it does is just print out a test color sheet everytime.


Like seriously! I dont WANT color ink. I want to print BLACK. But nooo you need to have COLOR cartridge to print BLACK.

Like hell! Ive even seen some that say:

The printer is low on WHITE ink.

Like WTF, thats not even possible! What the hell! The sheets white! Whats it need white ink for?

[rikitheshadow]

I think they should standardize typical printer Cartridges, one designed not for the specialty printers.

They could still set a default size or brand ink cartridge for the print, scan, fax combos. (Everyday printers)
And set some standard size cartridges for the specialized photo printers that use different pigments. (Professional Printers)

Printers are annoying! The whole ink cartridge thing is just a big money gouge....
I work in a Photo Lab, we carry a large format printer which can handle up to 30" sheets, its an EPSON, they used to sell ink wells for this thing so you would haven't to concern yourself with cartridges, they discontinued it completely so they can gouge you for more money for a smaller package. 50milliliter cartridges made out a tough rigid plastic that you just throw away when your done with them, what a WASTE, they are certainly not thinking Green.....
Trying to contain myself in a forum, or i would go off like the AVGN

[Sparkfist]

No guys. My moms actually wont let her print until she buys a new color cartridge. All it does is just print out a test color sheet everytime.


Like seriously! I dont WANT color ink. I want to print BLACK. But nooo you need to have COLOR cartridge to print BLACK.

Like hell! Ive even seen some that say:

The printer is low on WHITE ink.

Like WTF, thats not even possible! What the hell! The sheets white! Whats it need white ink for?

Some printers do that because the way their designed they'll use the colors to make black. I know it sounds stupid but I've seen it, the guy was out of black so it combine yellow, read and blue to make black.

White ink might be used in one of the high grade printers that may require it for the kind of graphics it's expected to print out. Not everyone uses white paper, and some images you print out you might want to have a different white in there then just the paper white.

As for standardizing ink. You know that's an idea that likely wont happen for years right? Companies are making a pretty penny charging people up the wazoo for ink cartridges, why would they want to mess that up? Or worse why would they want to give people a reason to buy someone else's printer or ink if it works just as well.

-Sparkfist

[ghosstt]

Couldn't they just, you know, standardize a particular brand's cartridges? That'd make much more sense than making seven types of incompatible cartridges.

Then there wouldn't be any competition and no need for advancement. It is also how they make all of their money. What if they standardized gas companies and only used 1 brand of gas. ie. Shell. Then shell would be the only gas station, and the rest would be crap out of luck.

[bicostp]

I think he meant all HP printers use 1 HP cartridge, all Lexmark printers use 1 Lexmark cartridge, etc.

Fun fact: Inkjet ink, if bought in cartridges, costs thousands of dollars a gallon.

[XCVG]

Ink is a ripoff. I can understand all the different types. Ideally though you only need a few:
1. Everyday, 4 colour
2. Photo, 7/8 colour
3. Professional, comes in a squirt bottle (for easy refill, yeah right. INK FIGHT!)

I've got a colour inkjet but neither me nor anyone else in my family uses it on a regular basis- we only print the occasional photo. I think we're on like our second set of catridges in more than a year. Most of our stuff is B&W anyway and we have a laser printer for that. The toner cartridges are $100 each but last forever, and I think they have parts of the printing mechanism in them.

[Twilight Wolf]

I think he meant all HP printers use 1 HP cartridge, all Lexmark printers use 1 Lexmark cartridge, etc.

Yes, that is what I meant.