"Brian" wrote in message
...

I'm now thinking that the HP model of replacing the heads with the
cartridge is the way to go.

Actually for a company it's the wrong way to go. Having separate tanks and
head is the only way to differentiate products without creating logistical
nightmare of having to sell hundreds of cartridges. There are two parameters
you want to differentiate, and both of them have to be done by having
different head:
- speed (head with more nozzles)
- quality (head with smaller droplets, or with more colors)

HP home printers are very limited in parameter range, and this is because of
using the same set of cartridges. They don't differ in printing speed too
much (are slower than canons especially in color), and are obsolete - they
still use 4 pl droplets. I guess when you sell so many pritheads they have
to be cheap :-(

Even HP knows it's better to have separate head and tanks and separate tanks
for each color. But it keeps this superior design for more expansive
printers.

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en...51-411179.html
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en...f51-33103.html

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/pscmi...dfs/411179.pdf

"Choose HP's most cost-effective color printer for
general office use. Save money initially and over time,
with a low purchase price and four individual
high-capacity replacement ink cartridges that reduce
intervention and deliver consistent, outstanding print
quality and lowest cost-per-page. Each of the four ink
cartridges holds a single color, so when a cartridge
runs out, replace only that color, eliminating waste.
Four separate, long-lasting printheads are another
important element of the economical design-you don't
throw away a functional printhead when replacing an
empty cartridge."

I guess you can always buy a refill kit and
get a little more life out of those carts?

But it's not as easy as in case of Canon, where you just pop 3-rd party
cartridge instead of original, for 1/5 the price. In Hp you either toy with
syringes, smear your hands with ink, deal with ink flowing out of the
cartrigde, and have a problem with resetting printer settings - as hp
printers have protections against refillers built in. Or you buy refilled
cartridge, which is unfortunately expansive - costs 1/2 of original
cartridge price.

I wouldn't count on on HP reliability too much. I used them in the past and
had a lot of problems with paper tray - in all models. Like taking multiple
sheets at once. Over time paper trays started working worse, at the end it
only accepted 1 sheet of paper at once. I guess it's kind of an planned
obsolescence on HP's part, as even Lexmark printers have very good and
reliable paper handling mechanism.