How to conserve?
 

I have two printers-HPs - one for laptop, one for desktop - upper level of house for one and office- lower level for other, and really don't print or copy on a daily basis, but I'm finding that the ink cartridges in both just don't seem to be lasting long at all. Does the ink in these things dry up? Can I take them out and tape over the "opening" when not in use, then untape and pop in when needed. I'm really tired of spending large amts of $$$$$ often for these things...and Murphy's law...they both seem to run out at same time.....how do you conserve on ink?

I noticed the same thing on my HP printers. Seems like I was buying ink all the time. I changed to a Canon inkjet and the ink lasts much much longer. I have been printing for weeks now with the pop up that my ink level is low. When it runs out it won't print at all. That's when I put in new. You can take the cartridge out and give it a good shake. That use to work with my HP for longer printing.

Look to see how much ink is listed on the box. My old print 832C Deskjet takes the old 45 black cartridge of 42ml. I think the new printer cartridges hold a 10th less. That is why I have never wanted to buy a new printer. The new H/P 61 cartridge holds 13.5 pl.

you can take the bighp cartridge out and give it a good shake and it will print on

We had a color printer by Kodak. Didn't use it much and every other time the ink would dry up. We also had another black and white after about 10 years and a lot of printing it was getting tired and bit the dust. My new printer is a laser and I love it. No ink cartridges to worry about. it's a Samsung and I love it. The prints are so crisp and clean. Got it on sale and a rebate and my rewards from Office Depot. after original cost of $400+ we ended up paying around $200.00.

I 2nd the shaking thing. We used to do that at work all the time

Geri, thank you for this post. We had an old HP that kept on printing for years and years, then one day it sprung a leak and there was ink all over the table and down the leg. I went to Costco that is more than an hours drive one way, and asked for advice from the person there in the section where they sold printers and TVs, came home with HP officejet 4635. In a months time we had spent more for ink than for the printer, and just about anything we buy has to be through the mail or UPS. No way am I ordering through that pop-up that is part of the ink level notification.
You can google for any model number of HP printer and read many complaints about them being ink hogs.
I am open to suggestions regarding what brand and model to buy because we are in the market for a new one.

I have an HP Office Jet Pro 8610 and absolutely love it. I think that my last cartridge (Black) lasted at least a year and the color a little longer. We have an 8600 (just before the 8610) at my mom's with the same results. I don't print a ton but do print on at least a weekly basis and print out some each month for our quilt group.

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. :D

My suggestion would be to only have one printer. We just have one printer, but both the laptop and desktop sent the print jobs wirelessly to the printer. That way the printer get used more and the ink is not as likely to dry up. You do have to walk down stairs to pick up the printed paper -- but exercise is good for you.