We have a drafting and design company and use a large plotter for some items. We used to have trouble with the cartridges (which were very expensive) drying out so we make conscious effort to use them enough so that doesn't happen. One thing you could do at home is set up a wireless network. That way you could have one printer rather than 2. I've set one up at home by myself and it's really not hard. I am no way IT saavy but the router box comes with good instructions.
I always have HP printers. I have an 8610 at my office now and am really not as happy with it as some I've had. Its a bit glitchy for some things. I have never been able to get it to print batch checks correctly so I finally gave up and just print each one individually so that they print correctly. There was another problem with it that I can't remember right now that I was able to fix by installing different drivers. Google is your friend. I found out how to do it online.
