Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Epson Is Trying To Kill the Printer Ink Cartridge

Posted by Soulskill on from the print-with-lasers dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Inkjet printer cartridges have been the bane of many small businesses and home offices for decades. It's interesting, then, that Epson is trying something new: next month, they're launching a new line of printers that come with small tanks of ink, instead of cartridges. The tanks will be refilled using bottles of ink. They're reversing the economics, here: the printer itself will be more expensive, but the refills will be much cheaper. Early reports claim you'll be spending a tenth as much on ink as you were before, but we'll see how that shakes out. The Bloomberg article makes a good point: it's never been easier to not print things. The printer industry needs to innovate if it wants us to keep churning out printed documents, and this may be the first big step.

5 of 223 comments (clear)

  1. dry ink by Spazmania · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I ditched inkjet printers because the ink dries out before the next time I want to print something. Toner cartridges don't seem to have that problem.

    Can Epson overcome that problem?

    --
    Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
    1. Re:dry ink by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      the Epson PX720WD came out in 2011 you've printed 4 color pages and 48 b/w pages and replaced the cartridges once, that doesn't seem like very good numbers to me.

    2. Re:dry ink by jandrese · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Even better: Get a network postscript color laser printer.

      Not only will it last forever, but you will be able to use the generic drivers that come with your OS to print on it. No more 200MB driver downloads only to find out that they've dropped support for your OS or don't work on 64 bit systems or whatever. The network postscript color laser is the last printer you'll ever need to buy, and they can be found in the $200 range easily these days.

      --

      I read the internet for the articles.
  2. Re:Don't believe the hype by thaylin · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Except with just refill bottles instead of cartridges it means that it is vastly easier to sell off brand ink, no pesky DMCA and such on the cartridges, so you are not really locked in.

    --
    When you cant win, ad hominem.
  3. Re:Don't believe the hype by ZorinLynx · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I've yet to see a color laser that can print photos as well as even the cheapest color ink jets.

    I think laser printing tech doesn't lend well to making photographic prints. Probably due to the glossy paper and the need to mix ink colors together to create a wide color spectrum. With lasers everything you print is essentially half-toned, like photos in a magazine.