I don't have an HP to compare with, but our Epson WorkForce 600 (an all-in-one unit) has a separate checkbox which says "black ink only," which on this printer is unchecked by default. Some printers "synthesize" black by combining all the colors together, which, if that's what your printer does by default, would explain why you're using so much color ink. You might want to browse your printer's "preferences" or "properties" menus to see if you do have something equivalent to "black ink only."
We still have an HP 920 set up as an alternate printer; it doesn't have any sort of "black ink only" option, but it's an older printer, so it may not have that setting explicitly. All it has is a "black and white" printing option, but I suspect that's what the print options dialog for your printer has also.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dean Kukral" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Tuesday, November 4, 2008 10:45:58 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: [PCBUILD] HP 9100 Photosmart Printer Wastes Ink
One of the reasons that I purchased my HP 9100 printer at $400 was that it used separate ink cartridges, so I thought that I might
save money over the long run. It has five colors plus black, six separate cartridges in all.
As it turns out, I use it very little for color printing on a day-to-day basis (only after a vacation), so that my only use is to
copy the newspaper crossword puzzle. I always press "black and white" to make the copy, not "color." However, over a reasonably
short time, the color ink cartridges go empty! They are quite expensive to replace for the measly amount of ink that is in them and
considering that I do not copy in color. Sure, I can afford it, but it is an irritation.
Does anyone know why this printer uses color ink even though I tell it to make a black and white copy? Is there a way to fix this?
TIA,
Dean Kukral
PCBUILD's List Owners:
Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]>
Mark Rode<[log in to unmask]>
Visit our website regularly for FAQs,
articles, how-to's, tech tips and much more
http://freepctech.com
|