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How to pick
This is the running cost that makes people hate printers, and most of it is avoidable by buying the right printer in the first place. If you already have an ink jet, buy ink in multipacks and check the page yield rather than the price, because a cheap cartridge that prints half as much is not cheap. Third party cartridges are usually fine for a laser and much more of a gamble on an ink jet, where they can clog the heads. Refusing the manufacturer's subscription is almost always the right call for a household that prints occasionally. And if you are replacing the printer anyway, a black and white laser ends this problem permanently.
What I recommend
Buying it sensibly
This is the running cost that makes people hate printers, and most of it is avoidable by buying the right printer in the first place. If you already have an ink jet, buy in multipacks and check the page yield rather than the price.
Brother toner cartridge
Toner lasts far longer than ink and does not dry out. Genuine Brother toner is not much more than third party and avoids the chip warnings that some compatible cartridges trigger. High yield versions cost more up front and less per page.
- Lasts years in a normal household
- Never dries out
- High yield versions are much cheaper per page
- Genuine cartridges cost noticeably more than compatible
- Toner is messy if a cartridge leaks
- Heavy for what it is
Ink cartridge multipack
Buy in multipacks, check the page yield rather than the headline price, and refuse the subscription if you print occasionally. Third party ink is much more of a gamble on an ink jet than toner is on a laser, because it can clog the heads.
- Multipacks cost less per cartridge
- High yield versions are better value
- Dries out if unused, wasting the whole cartridge
- Third party ink can clog print heads
- Subscription schemes are poor value for light users
- Printers increasingly reject non genuine cartridges
The permanent fix
If you are replacing the printer anyway.
Brother laser printer
A black and white laser ends the ink problem permanently. Toner sits in a drawer for years and still works, and one cartridge covers most households for a couple of years.
- Ends the ink problem entirely
- Costs less over two years than ink does
- Nothing dries out
- Black and white only
- No good for photos
- Higher up front cost than a cheap ink jet
Related reading
Printer demanding a subscription?
There is usually a way round it, and if not, a laser printer costs less over two years than the ink does.