Before you purchase a new printer; research and see if you can buy the ink to refill the cartridges. There are many online ink suppliers that furnish the "manufacturer's-type ink". You need to have several printers that you are considering in mind, then you can call an ink and cartridge supplier on a toll free phone line and can discuss if you could refill the cartridges. See how much they charge for the ink, etc.
Printers are cheap, the replacement cartridges are expensive!
Tip: The supplier will not steer you to a particular printer, only answer your questions, and hope they make a sale of their products.
I just noticed this post is from 2005. I wonder if HP fixed this problem & if any other company puts these chips in their products! I have an HP printer. I don't use it 'cause it was not working right. I bought a Canon a couple years ago & it does fine, so, far. My color ink ran out. I use black mostly, so, haven't bought a new color cartridge. I did by a black a few months ago, as I was running low & took a chance on a refurbished one from Meijer. My black hasn't ran out yet, like I thought it would, so, I hope this refurbished one will work out!
By pam (Guest Post)
03/03/2006
Sometimes you can find out which printers have cartidges that are easily re-fillable. Canon is one brand. But we have also re-inked our Lexmark and even our HP.
By
01/08/2005
I have learned this lesson the hard way. I do alot of printing at home for my boss, and have also discoverd the ink amount in cartridges isn't what it used to be. I used a black and a color in one day for my lexmark. I now go to discount stores for the ink refill kits. I recently purchased an large kit which has the best manual for all printers. Eventually the refills need new cartridges.