The Inkjet Conspiracy - Smart cartridges
(Page 4 of 4 )
Many ink cartridges are now "smart." They are designed to tell the printer that they are the appropriate type (and, many times, not an evil generic), and they also report the amount of ink remaining in the cartridge. As noted before, at least one maker, HP, was accused in February 2005 of programming a shelf life into their cartridges, causing some to expire ("run out" of ink) before they are even used.
Epson's cartridges still have ink in them when they run out. I have three expended Epson cartridges on my desk that one can shake and hear liquid sloshing around. Now I mentioned the Epson settlement-the company claims they have done nothing wrong (they say the extra ink is a safety reserve for print quality), but were willing to give consumers a $45 credit toward future Epson purchases. If one wanted cash, then they got $25 and a $20 credit.
How does this settlement hurt Epson? It doesn't, plain and simple. Most consumers who registered for the settlement went for the $45 and spent more money on Epson printers and ink. Epson does not have to change their methods or technology, just add a statement concerning their safety reserve on the box to hedge against future lawsuits. To make things even more interesting, Epson won't honor the rebate codes they have issued to consumers until November 14, 2006... 90 days after the final hearing this past August 15th.
Smart cartridges can also prevent the user from refilling them with third party ink. Once it registers as empty, that's it. Even more, some printers won't print if there is an empty cartridge, even if the print job does not require that cartridge.
What can we do?
Before investing in an inkjet, determine how much its consumables will cost you. You will likely be better off paying more up front for a higher-quality inkjet with cheap refills than paying less for the machine and out the nose for consumables. If you do a lot of printing, then an inkjet may be more cost effective, since the print head will actually last longer (and you lose less ink through cleaning cycles) if you do a lot of printing.
You might invest in a laser printer-their toner cartridges last longer and the print quality for documents is generally better.
If you print a lot of photos, then invest in a specialty dye-sublimation photo printer-your pictures will look and last longer.
When I still spent some significant time writing and hacking programs, I'd go through a lot of hard copy. I didn't need quality print, just legible, so I went old-school and used a dot-matrix (now called impact printers) for quick, though noisy, draft printouts. Ribbons for these printers have always been cheap.
| DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware. |
/ 12 
