PC hardware forum: ink loss with officejet 6480 printer

I print only text from foreign newspapers. Never pics since no color cartridge, Always turn off color for printing anyway. Page size 81/2x11".Font size 10-12. regular, not bold. Possible print heads need adjustment or replacement? Officejet should be designed for frequent use (i.e.daily), but seldom used in this environment.

Or a bean counter. If you are buying carts that often, a new printer is cheaper than carts or repairs!

Finding the ink in the printer will only confirm it needs repair and not fix it. And repair > new printer!
Bob

Are you suggesting I will need a new printer every 2 years? I can't afford this.

This sounds worse than the planned obsolescence of American-designed motor vehicles in the 1970's. If only Ralph Nader would investigate the quality of home computer products.

Then again, all these computer products are assembled in China, but not designed there.

With my Canon printer I print some 1000 B&W text pages in concept quality with a 6 euro (= 8 US dollars) cartridge (type 3BK, third party). Because the driver supports printing 2 source portrait pages on one physical landscape page (66.7%) and quite a lot of source texts are readable good enough then, that's some 2000 source pages for 8 dollars.

Moreover, I recently read a new consumer grade printer is only some 10 to 20 euro more expensive than the ink that comes with it (that's the original ink). So effectively you pay 10 to 20 euro (15 to 30 USD) for a new printer. That's not really very much after 3 years.

Kees

Or the words on the web sites. Or the writing on the wall.

Take your pick but these 50 to 100 dollar printers are indeed 2 and maybe a bit longer year affairs.

Above we see an issue where the ink costs are more than a new printer.
Bob

My hp officejet printer is old at 2???
I use this only occasionally, not in an 'office' environment. I print 20-30 pages per week, all plain text.

Still don't inderstand the 'print head out of alignment' message; if I ignore it, printing is ok. Sounds like a software problem to me, a non-expert.

Also, I get greatly different estimates of ink remaining, depending on the source of information.. Generally, it indicates ink level is much lower than actual.

Thanx for your input.

You mentioned spilled ink dried inside the printer. How would I locate this? How obvious is to see?

"How would I locate this?"
Open the cover....locate the cartridge.....look down.

"How obvious is to see?"
Based on the unit I was fuss-in with......quite.

You must have a really small head to fit it inside an officejet printer, and internal lighting as well.

I have actually found that download/reinstall of this HP software is the only solution. I have done this 3 times so far.

I thought there might be a way to prevent this requirement.

The price for this printer shown on your own review was $529, not $200.

The best recommendation is apparently to buy a $200 printer, with the expectation to replace it every 2 years; quality seems to be the same for all. Or perhaps the Canon printer mentioned previously is a better choice than an HP model.

Thanx again for your advice.