Lexmark throwin' in the towel on inkjet printers... Lexmark to quit inkjet printer business 28 August 2012 - Lexmark's shares soared on the news it was quitting the inkjet printer business
And I do not find this surprising at all. In the marketplace, inkjet printers are starting to find their marketshare diminish as the low cost color laser printers are starting to take over. Inkjet printers had only one real benefit, and that is the cost of the printer. When the individual consumer could only afford a $200 inkjet because a similar color laser or wax thermal printer was in the thousands of dollars, that was that. And often times it was cheaper to simply throw away your old printer and buy a new one because of the cost of ink cartridges. But today we now have good quality color laser multifunction printers selling for under $300. And with a cost per page normally less then one quarter of an inkjet printer, that is simply where the market is shifting to. This is nothing new, I have seen the computer printer market shift from the daisy wheel to dot matrix, ink jet, and a few other technologies in between, like chain, thermal and wax thermal printers. I realized once color laser printers dropped below the $500 mark a couple of years ago that the writing was on the wall for inkjets. And they were never really a very good solution in the first place, only lasing as long as they have because they were cheap.
You bring up some great points, but there is a market that the inkjet printers still have a hold over laser. Photo printing, which is what I do for a hobby. And at the moment the technology just isn't there. If you want to take nice quality photos without going to a print shop, inkjet is the way to go still. I do agree that inkjet sales will keep declining, most consumers don't need it. I just hope inkjets don't disappear from the face of the Earth, because I like printing my own photos.
There will always be nitch markets. We still see sales of new dot matrix and thermal printers, because there are still some that need those types of technology.
Granny gonna send `em a pic o' her butt... Google Finds 86,000 Unprotected Printers In the Internet Jan 25, 2013
Another use for inkjet that laser can't replace, is cd/dvd printing. I have an Epson Artisan 50 just for that.
Ive always used Canon Inkjets because of they always seemed easier and cheaper to get generic ink for. Lexmark and epson were always the most expensive to get inks for as i remember. Ive never owned a laser and I dont print very much at all anymore. Ill keep the canon I have till it dies than look at lasers
I bought a continuous ink system for my epson on ebay... Cost me about 60.00 and included 6 12 ounces ink bottle and the refill are dirt cheap. I'll never buy another low capacity ink cardrige for this printer.
I have a brother mfc-j430w printer, they sell a ten pack of ink for it for $8.78 and a twenty pack for $13.38. Last time I bought a ten pack it was $6.86, I guess the price went up a little. The inks are generic, but they work. They work excellent for text, but only *decent for images**. If you are thinking about getting this printer remember that in order to change cartridges you only need to open the package and slide the ink cartridge into the slot, thats it. Don't peel the little plastic on the cartridge. One of the amazon reviews says it doesn't work with the mfc-430w, but I have that model and I bought the ink from here, through the same seller on amazon, and it works. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005ZHHVSW/ref=ox_ya_os_product http://www.amazon.com/Compatible-Cartridge-Replacement-Brother-LC-75/dp/B0062S4B8Q/ref=aag_m_pw_dp?ie=UTF8&m=A2P2U6U8HPS7IY *I took a picture of an image I printed with the printer and the generic ink for you to compare to the original image.** Picture taken and printed: Original image:
My generic ink in my continuous ink system comes from the same chinese factory that make the original epson ink. I get 6 bottles for about $20 and they last for months... And the quality is the same when i print photo or dvd.
