Thanks Jane - will look at those if husband hasn't purchased yet. Not that he would tell me.

Thanks for the ink jet-laser printer answers. Had no idea about heat with the laser but it all makes sense.

My printer now has separate cartridges for colors and I like that - I replace them as they go back. HOwever, they are very expensive becuase they all seem to go out at once. WHen one goes out I just bite the bullet and buy all the colors and black which is about $350-$500, then I don't have to buy each one, I just replace them as they run out. RIght now I don't have any but I just filled them all a few months ago.

It costs $350-$500 for ink cartridges?! Wow! I think it's around $50 to replace the 5 cartridges that go in my Canon printer. I have a wireless scanner/printer/copier that is also a photo printer. It prints very good photos, but I rarely print those at home.

If Henri's current printer is laser, then she'd be buying toner for that price and I think it lasts much longer than an ink cartridge...or at least I would hope so! My all-in-1 HP photosmart costs around $55 to replace all 5 cartridges since HP offers special deals for repeat-customers. They have two sizes and I always buy the XL. I do a lot of home printing, including full 12x12 backgrounds and I only replace the cartridges a couple of times a year. The quality is great, especially for photos printed on their Advanced HP paper.~Judy

Actually mine lasts about 2 years before replacement again. WIth my old printer I replaced it and when the thing died about 3 years later it still had the original one.

I replaced them a few months back becuase it still had the baby cartridges it came with over a year earlier.