Owning a printer is important as it helps you complete and print your office work. However, many people prefer not to buy printers due to the high cost, starting from the price of the printer itself to the operating costs such as buying ink cartridges or regular maintenance. There are two types of printers, inkjet printers which use ink for printing and are usually suitable for home or simple office use as they are designed for smaller printing volumes compared to laser printers, which are more expensive and are intended for commercial use or printing large volumes. They are usually faster than inkjet printers.
Although inkjet printers are cheaper, the cost of buying their ink cartridges is somewhat high compared to laser printers. In laser printers, the printer itself is expensive, but the cost of buying the cartridges is lower than inkjet printers. Some people use non-branded inks or refill old inks to reduce the operating cost of the printer, but these inks may produce fewer prints than expected and also affect the print quality and can damage the printer. In both cases, the operating cost of printers over their lifespan may be higher than the cost of buying the printer itself, leading printer manufacturers to introduce Ink Tank printers.
Ink Tank printers operate similarly to the concept of a car and fuel. The printer contains an internal tank divided into several compartments, each containing a different color of ink if the printer supports color printing. Liquid ink is added to this tank instead of buying and installing a complete ink unit as in inkjet or laser printers. The first Ink Tank printers were introduced in 2014 by the famous company Epson, followed by releases from other manufacturers such as Canon and HP.
Companies provide this liquid ink for each printer in bottles instead of traditional ink units so that a small amount can be added to the tank when the printer needs new ink, reducing operating costs after purchasing the printer. These inks are highly productive compared to traditional inks. Users have to buy new inks after these bottles are depleted. Despite the huge economic benefits of these printers, they are actually slower than regular printers, and the cost of buying the printer itself is somewhat higher compared to ink or laser printers with the same specifications.
For example, if you compare an HP Ink Tank printer model HP Ink Tank 415 with an HP Officejet Pro 8710 inkjet printer at the same cost, you may find that the Ink Tank printer is slightly slower and has lower specifications compared to an inkjet printer or laser printer at the same price, but you will definitely get the printer’s assumed lifespan at the lowest possible operating cost and the lowest average cost per printed page.
