My recent post on buying a new bubble-jet printer led catsidhe to post a comment linking to a graph that purports to show the HP bubble-jet ink is considerably more expensive than blood or booze
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But, when you buy bubble-jet ink cartridges, you are not buying ink, you a buying ink packaged in a form that your printer can use. It is said packaging that operates in a restricted market. You may buy a printer, but you only rent the ability to keep it functioning.
Yes, but you can do that considerably more cheaply buy just buying the ink and refilling the cartridges, which also has the advantage of being more environmentally friendly. If you don't want to go to that much trouble, you can buy no-brand compatible ink cartridges for most printers from Dick Smith's much more cheaply than the named brand ones.
A narrow response to a specific part of a general argument...catsidheFebruary 6 2008, 03:37:26 UTC
The thing is that the combination of Moore's Law and the exorbitant price of supplies mean that that model as regards ink-jet printers has gone beyond self-limiting, and into the realm of Just Plain Stupid
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Re: A narrow response to a specific part of a general argument...catsidheFebruary 6 2008, 03:40:45 UTC
Oh, another thing which might be relied on to keep this model running is the design where different colours are in separately replaceable cartridges, on the theory that you replace one colour at a time, so the immediate equation becomes $50 vs $120. But all it takes is for two colours to run out at the same time, and $100 (with the knowledge of more to come) vs $120 doesn't look so good any more.
Re: A narrow response to a specific part of a general argument...catsidheFebruary 6 2008, 04:34:10 UTC
That's a hell of a premium for convenience.
Of course, that's assuming that very few people actually do the sums to figure out what the premium is, or, in other words, their business model relies on people in general being idiots.
I read somewhere that, by weight, inkjet cartridges are the most valuable things on earth. (Which is why I tend to remark about something being "worth its weight in inkjet cartidges")
I must admit that I got sick of that whole malarkey years ago and just bought a Brother laser printer. It's only black and white, but it goes and goes and costs very little to run.
Yes, I did check the cost and capacity of toner cartridges prior to purchasing the printer. But I'm weird like that.
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Yes, but you can do that considerably more cheaply buy just buying the ink and refilling the cartridges, which also has the advantage of being more environmentally friendly. If you don't want to go to that much trouble, you can buy no-brand compatible ink cartridges for most printers from Dick Smith's much more cheaply than the named brand ones.
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But there are obviously some real pricing issues involved. Particularly given the existing alternatives as outlined by quatrefoil.
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Of course, that's assuming that very few people actually do the sums to figure out what the premium is, or, in other words, their business model relies on people in general being idiots.
And P.T. Barnum never did go broke...
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I must admit that I got sick of that whole malarkey years ago and just bought a Brother laser printer. It's only black and white, but it goes and goes and costs very little to run.
Yes, I did check the cost and capacity of toner cartridges prior to purchasing the printer. But I'm weird like that.
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