These cartridges were released on our web site just a few hours ago and bring the total number of cartridges we offer to 4,939.

Here are some more details on our latest additions.

The HP 38 series of inkjet cartridges includes:

The 38’s are a pigment based inkjet cartridge, meaning the ink on your paper is more water resistant (should it get wet), fade resistant, but offers less color range (when compared to a dye based ink). I believe HP has addressed this by mixing some dye based inks in to their pigments to increase the possible color range.

These cartridges work in the HP PhotoSmart Pro series of printers (HP PhotoSmart Pro B8800 Series, HP PhotoSmart Pro B8850, HP PhotoSmart Pro B9180).

The HP 70 inkjet cartridges are actually a series of print heads for use in the same HP PhotoSmart Pro printers, and a few HP DesignJet printers (plotters). These printheads, along with your HP printer, will make automatic and continuous adjustments to optimize your print quality and reliability.

The HP 70 series of printhead’s includes:

These cartridges work in all of the HP Photosmart Pro printers, mentioned above, as well as the HP DesignJet Z2100 (24 and 44 inch), HP DesignJet Z3100 series (24 and 44 inch), HP DesignJet Z3200 series (24 and 44 inch).

If you’ve used any of these cartridges, printheads, or printers, let me know what you think about them. Thanks!

Good question. And, probably one that should be answered before more folks start to ask why I know so much about all these different printers.

I do not have the time or resources to review each and every printer model out there, so I have to depend on reputable sources for assistance. Right now, two of the best sources for reviews are CNET and PCWorld. But, a critics review is not enough. The critic uses the printer for a short while in their work place. Because of this I also like to depend on user reviews. The user actually owns the printer. He/she takes it in to their house and uses it for an extended period of time. The user has real, intimate, knowledge of the printer we are trying to talk about. The best place to find user reviews, right now, is Amazon.

My goal is to present both the critic’s and user’s reviews for you to read. I pull data from CNET, PCWorld, and Amazon and present it in a post for you. I don’t get to fancy, or original, in these posts. I’m juse presenting the information as it was written by others (and giving them credit).

My hope is that it will provide  you with a useful summary that will help you make an informed purchasing decision.

If you have any suggestions on how I can improve these posts, please let me know. Thanks!

The HP Color LaserJet CP2025n is a pricey color laser printer built with the small business owner or work group in mind. At $450, the CP2025n can connect to multiple computers of a wired network, and the printer produces high-quality prints, but it’s not without minor faults: the output speed for text and presentation documents is slower than the competition and it’s missing an auto-duplexer for double-sided printing. At the same time, HP redeems itself with a toolbox full of helpful settings, instructions, and features that brighten the user experience, not to mention the CP2025n’s optimal quality prints. Although it’s not perfect, the positives do outweigh the negatives and we recommend the HP CP2025n for offices that need a dependable color laser printer. (Source: CNET)

Do you own this printer? Tell me how you feel about it. Thanks!

— CNET Rating: 3.5 Stars —

The good: Impressive print quality; fast output for color documents; high monthly duty cycle; comprehensive driver features and warranty; easy networking setup.

The bad: Slow black printing; no auto-duplexing; can’t print directly from USB thumbdrive or digital camera; lacks wireless connectivity.

The bottom line: Although the HP CP2025n is rather slow to print black documents and is missing supplementary features such as USB-direct printing and wireless, the color laser shines in output quality, and the software holds your hand through a somewhat daunting learning curve. The CP2025n also has a high monthly duty-cycle, so we recommend it to anyone hunting for a workhorse printer to complement an equally diligent work environment. (Read the full CNET review)

— PCWORLD Rating: 3 Stars —

Pros: Inexpensive; very good print quality; Competent speeds

Cons: No weekend support; Some pieces rattle and feel cheap

Bottom Line: For the price, you get solid overall performance–but a somewhat less solid-feeling package. (Read the full PCWorld review)

— Consumer Ratings: 3 Stars —

A positive comment from Amazon.com:

Decent Printer

Everything about the printer is good, except the ink cartridges are expensive and it doesn’t come with full cartridges. After about 600 copies the machine says I need to purchase another black cartridge. A full cartridge should print 3x that amount.

A negative comment from Amazon.com:

Good standalone printer, but not good network printer

Like any other printers that I work with I find that this printer is a nightmare. I have no quarms about setting up this printer as a locally installed usb printer, but failed miserably as a network printer. Our Windows 2003 DHCP server sees 18 hexadecimal mac address instead of 12. I have a nightmare when I try to install the driver to the server, server would freeze, and I had to reboot the server to finish the installation. HP Webjetadmin only sees the NPXXXXXX name and not the name that our dhcp server would provide. Lastly, when I updated the firmware trying to fix the problem, the mac address of the printer actually changed. I would recommend that you purchase for standalone printer only, and not for networking.(Read all Amazon.com user reviews)

I was surfing the web looking for some new post topics. I stumbled in to some forums and pretty quickly found quite a bit of resistance to Epson printers. Intrigued by the sentiments expressed I had to forge on to find out more. Here are the details of my wanderings through cyber space.

Epson printer owners most commonly expressed their displeasure with the fact that Epson printers have a propensity for clogged print heads. Forum contributors also said that these clogs often could not be remedied, meaning a new printer needed to be purchased or a large amount of money needs to be spent on repairs. Because Epson printers are so inexpensive, it does not make sense to pay for repairs. Epson is one of the few printer manufactures that puts the print heads inside the printer, rather than on the cartridge. This is the reason clogged heads are such a problem.

Another common complaint was the speed at which Epson cartridges use ink. Way to fast! I’ve read a lot of complaints about the cost of printer cartridges, but not much about how soon they run out of ink. The reverse was true of Epson cartridges. Complaints center on the fact that Epson cartridges run out ink way to fast, even accommodating for their lower cost.

A word of caution on Epson printer cartridges. While the price tag for a single cartridge is generally lower than other printer cartridge manufacturers, remember Epson sells ink tanks. This means you need to buy an ink tank for each color your printer uses. Many of their cartridges are priced around $14, so if your printer uses black, cyan, magenta, and yellow you are going to pay $56 every time you replace the entire set. Many of their new printer models also include a photo cyan and photo magenta cartridge. Add another $28 ($84) to your replacement cost. From a pure cartridge cost, not much more economical than anyone else.

Forum contributors also expressed concern for how often the print head cleaning utility needs to run. It is often done automatically, so the printer owner has no control over how often it happens. When the print  head cleaning utility runs, ink from the printer cartridge is used.

To be fair I took a look at the ratings of Epson printers on web sites like CNET and PCWorld. Both the critics and users rated Epson printers fairly high, typically three stars out of five. The bulk of the positive comments were for print speed (fast) and the (high) quality of prints Epson printers produce.

The last Epson printer I owned was the Epson Stylus 640. Despite being loud I loved it. But once it died I switched over to HP printers and have never been back.

If you own an Epson printer I need you to step up and let me know what you think about it. We’ve got to answer this question . . . Are Epson printers any good?

I don’t consider myself to be a die hard environmentalist, probably not even close, but I’m not a huge fan of excessive waste and just throwing things away (my wife might disagree given the way I cleaned out the garage a few weeks ago).

When we talk about environmental consciousness in the printer cartridge industry we are very quick to point out the number of printer cartridges that are thrown away each year. Some estimates have the number as high as 750 million worldwide. Of that number, it is estimated that 450 million are thrown away in the United States alone. Does it shock anyone that 60% of the worldwide cartridge disposal comes from the United States? Even more shocking is that most of this waste is shipped off to landfills in third world countries. We are not even taking responsibility for the waste we produce.

The automatic response to such a staggering amount of waste is that we need to recycle. And we do, but not to the extent we should. Most of the manufacturers offer recycling services for their printer cartridges, either in the form of a postage paid mailing bag/label (included with the cartridge) or a service provided through their web site.

Despite these steps, critics are quick to blame your printer manufacturer for creating a product and system that produces so much waste. They are also quick to say that manufacturers should take responsibility for all the waste they have created. I could not disagree more.

First, printer manufacturers are attempting to do something by including the postage paid mailing bags with new cartridges. Manufacturers team with recycling companies and have the empty cartridges turned in to plastic based products that we use in our daily lives. What more do we want them to do?

Well, some say they should be creating cartridges that can be used more than once.

The printer cartridge manufacturers that make  your printer design a cartridge to be used once. They claim that for the best print quality and cartridge reliability they have to be made this way. Really? You’d think some modifications could be made so the cartridges non-vital components could be used again. Cartridges are mostly made of plastic, and the plastic makes up the body of the cartridge. This is what I would consider the non-vital component. Other parts of the cartridge, like the print heads, are made of metal (although in some cases the print head is on the printer and not the cartridge), this is a vital component.

Why couldn’t manufacturers collect the empty cartridges, strip them, reuse the non-vital components, and replace the vital components? You’d think that companies like Lexmark, HP, Epson, or Canon could easily do this. Most would say it’s because of greed. But, who says they have to change the price? They could just as easily sell the recycled plastic cartridge for the same price as a brand new one. We’re getting new vital components, why should we not pay for them.

But, let’s not put this all on the manufacturer. The consumer has a responsibility as well. The responsibility to make sure their empty cartridges are being disposed of in the right way. After all, it is not the manufacturer that is putting them in the trash, it is the consumer! Say whatever you want, we are the ones that make the choice to throw them away.

When your cartridge runs out of ink take a minute to figure out an environmentally way to dispose of it. Did the manufacturer include a postage paid recycling bag? If not, is there somewhere you could mail the cartridge to have it recycled (it would probably cost around $1 in postage)?  Check the Internet, are there companies that will provide you with a postage paid label? Mabye they have a local drop off location. Are there any groups or organizations in your area that collect empty cartridges as a fundraising effort? Give it to them. Want to see if you can use the cartridge again? Get it refilled. There are quite a few stores that offer that service. You’ve got choices, just take the time to find the one that is most convenient for you.

It might not be so hard to make consumables like printer cartridges a little more environmentally friendly. Think about it . . . And let me know what you think. Thanks!

The HP Officejet Pro 8500 wireless all-in-one inkjet printer is a near-perfect solution for small businesses and home offices hunting for a device that can print, scan, fax, copy in record time, all with high-quality results. This printer sets the bar high in terms of all the features it manages to pack into a relatively small footprint: autoduplexing, 802.11b/g, a 3.45-inch touch screen, 50-sheet automatic document feeder, and a legal-size scanner are only some of the extras this machine has to offer. Some will balk at the $399 price tag, but spend half an hour with the Pro 8500 and we’re sure you’ll want one of your own. (Source: CNET)

I’d love to hear what you have to say about this printer. Please take a minute and share your thoughts. Thanks!

— CNET Rating: 4 Stars —

The good: Autoduplexer; automatic document feeder; easy to use 3.4-inch LCD touch screen; painless 802.11b/g wireless setup; industry-leading print speeds; excellent quality prints.

The bad: Lacks autodial fax buttons, Bluetooth, and a dual paper input tray.

The bottom line: The HP Officejet Pro 8500 wireless makes a convincing inkjet argument for offices with a high volume of prints. With a function touch screen, multiple networking options, and an astoundingly fast print speed, it makes perfect sense to give this workhorse an Editors’ Choice award. (Read the full CNET review)

— PCWORLD Rating: 4 Stars —

Pros: Fast print and copy speeds; Cheap inks; lots of features

Cons: Very expensive purchase price; Slow scan speeds

Bottom Line: A small office that wants it all can get it here: features galore, including really cheap inks. (Read the full PCWorld review)

— Consumer Ratings: 3 Stars —

A positive comment from Amazon.com:

Another Opinion

Recent reviews of the HP OfficeJet Pro 8500 Wireless were critical of noise, vibration, and ink usage. Here are what I have discovered since installing this printer.
1. On most surfaces the noise from the printer is minimal. Movement of the plastic gears on HP, Canon, and Epson are not silent. Perhaps newer versions of the 8500 by HP will address this minor concern.
2. The printer vibrates slightly compared to a laser printer, but not to the extent that it is objectionable. Perhaps HP can reduce or eliminate this in future models but probably by increasing the weight of the printer. Most users, I suggest, would not want a heavier printer.
3. Ink usage is part of the printer expense “game” but with HP you can continue to print in B&W even if any or all of the color cartridges are empty [Verified by HP Support] That may not be the case with some recent offerings from Epson or Canon, although I personally prefer Espon and Canon printers for color prints.
4. The ink cartridges are dated, but they will continue to function even after the “expiration” date. HP prints a date on the ink package, but it does not prevent the cartridge from working. As a matter of fact, ink will remain usable in a SEALED packet for an extended period without concern. This date code is not a rip-off by HP anymore than other companies who print a freshness date.
5. It is certainly less expensive to order color prints online than to purchase OEM ink and paper. For those with a digital camera who need a quick print now and then the quality of the HP is excellent.
6. Setup is easy. I would only add a note to the directions for Step 7 to input your choice of language and then follow the touch screen directions as the printer processes alignment. The directions are not clear on that one point, and you could wait for 30 minutes wondering why it hasn’t competed alignment of the print heads. Check this out if you purchase this printer.
7. I am punctilious concerning most purchases and, at least in this case, I feel that this printer is an outstanding VALUE even when other offerings from Canon, Brother, and Epson may be less expensive. I have seen printers on sale for less than $50, but the thin plastic housing and the print quality reflect the price. We wanted Print / Copy / Scan / Fax, although we will seldom use the FAX function. (I will only connect the FAX as needed).
8. Follow the directions CAREFULLY and install precisely and you will enjoy owning this printer.

A negative comment from Amazon.com:

My HP Officejet Pro 8500 has unacceptable high pitch noise

If it wasn’t for the high pitch noise, I would give this printer 5 stars – it really is a terrific printer.

I have decent hearing and I use it in a quiet home environment. The printer is making a constant non-stop high pitch noise when it is on, even when not printing. The noise comes where the power cable connects to the back of the printer. No matter where I place the printer in my home office which is 10 x 13 feet, I hear the noise. It is absolutely driving me crazy and I can’t stand it any longer (it’s only been two days to give you an idea of just how annoying the noise is to me).

Not everyone can hear the high pitch noise. I think it depends somewhat on how good your hearing is. For me, it is really a nuisance. I am not happy about it because I really liked the printer, it made great quality print outs and the ink is cheaper than toner.

To make sure it wasn’t just my printer, I went to 3 different large box retail stores, and all of the HP 8500 display models were emitting the same high pitch noise. I could even hear the high pitch noise in one store despite having loud TV’s blaring in the background. I will be returning this printer. No matter how great I think the printer is, it cannot overcome this major problem in my opinion. Surprisingly, only one other person has mentioned this in their reviews.

I did an Internet search and found a couple of similar complaints with this particular model. I guess most people do not hear high pitch noises.

(Read all Amazon.com user reviews)

A few months ago, we tested the Canon Pixma MX700 with strong results. The multifunction printer, scanner, fax machine, and copier performed intuitively and yielded excellent quality prints. Most importantly in the world of multifunction printers, each of the functions operated easily and efficiently on their own. Our only complaints were that it was a tad slow on text prints, lacked advanced faxing options, and didn’t have an autoduplexer. Canon answered those issues with the new $400 Pixma MX7600. The MX7600 features superb photo print quality that you simply won’t get with a laser printer. This, coupled with a new proprietary print head system, autoduplexer, and significantly faster output speeds, make the MX7600 an excellent option for anyone in the market for a high-grade, photo-capable all-in-one. (Source: CNET)

If you’ve got a minute or two, I’d love to hear your opinion of this printer. Thanks!

— CNET Rating: 4 Stars —

The good: New clear ink cartridge improves print quality; auto-duplexer; dedicated one-touch fax keypad; intuitive photo-printing controls; increased faxing options; very fast photo and graphic prints.

The bad: Unwieldy size; text speed hasn’t improved; higher price tag might deter prospective buyers.

The bottom line: The Canon Pixma MX7600 multifunction is a huge improvement over the previous model. With additional features such as an autoduplexer, increased faxing options, and an upgraded control cockpit, we have no problem recommending the MX7600. (Read the full CNET review)

— PCWORLD Rating: 4 Stars —

Pros: Very fast; reasonably priced inks; Great print, scan, and copy quality

Cons: Very expensive; bulky; Control panel can be too busy

Bottom Line: Good speed, great print quality, and features galore make it worth the price; it lacks only Wi-Fi. (Read the full PCWorld review)

— Consumer Ratings: 3 Stars —

A positive comment from Amazon.com:

Great for general home office use

I offer this review to comment on the general home office functionality of the printer. I use this printer as a networked printer at home to service both PCs and Macs. I hooked it up to my wireless network and was able to very easily set it up as a networked printer within minutes. With previous printers, I was never able to do this and had to resort to using USB cards to move files back and forth to be printed from remote computers to the one computer in the house that was hooked up to the printer, which was a real drag.

As you can imagine, I was elated when I was able to set up the printer as a networked printer without any hassle. We typically use the printer to print out homework assignments, presentations, work related items, and other items typically generated in MS Word and MS Excel. My wife has PrintMaster Gold and she uses the printer to print out cards and pictures occasionally, and the printer does an excellent job. We also use it for making copies and for scanning. The software that comes with the printer for scanning is really easy to use. I was able to show my family how to use the scanner and copier in just a couple of minutes, which was great. I’ve had the printer for about 3 months and so far I’ve only had to change out the black cartridge. I will mention that I couldn’t find cartridges for this printer at Office Depot or at any retail stores where I’ve purchased cartridges in the past. I had to order them online, and they were kind of hard to find. I was able to find and order them, so all is well. I just did a Google search for the names of the cartridges and found a couple of outlets from which to purchase them right away.

We use the printer about 5-10 times per week during normal school time, so we are not “heavy users” of this printer. This is a very good printer for a family. It turns off automatically to save power and turns back on quickly when you’re ready to print, so it is very energy efficient. Great printer – I highly recommend it.

A negative comment from Amazon.com:

MX 7600 extremely disappointing, noisy and no ink

The Canon MX 7600 is very noisy. It annoyingly clicks and clacks for minutes after it is done printing, and while speed of page printing itself is OK, the printer waits for up to a minute to start printing many times. I’ve had the machine for 2 weeks and already it has started jamming paper every 15 sheets or so. And the ink required by the MX 7600 is not sold over the counter by any store in New York City. No stores even list the ink, so you have to buy it online. And Canon’s support dept. was absolutely no help whatsoever with coming up with a solution. How can Canon launch a product and not provide the ink anywhere!
I replaced a Canon MP 780 which I liked, after it wore out, with this MX 7600 and am extremely disappointed and will now try another company’s products. One last inconvenience to note, unlike the Canon MP780, paper for normal use in the MX7600 cannot be loaded from the rear, but must be loaded from the front cassette which holds less paper.

(Read all Amazon.com user reviews)

Approximately 350 million printer cartridges are thrown away each year. Each of these 350 million cartridges can take up to 10 years to decompose.

If everyone saved their printer cartridges, we could build a bridge from earth to the moon (223,000 miles).

Facts like these are in heavy circulation around the printer cartridge industry. We are all very familiar with the battle cry, “Recycle your empty printer cartridges!”

And we should. The plastic and other materials can be used again. The most common notion is that empty printer cartridges will be remanufactured and used in your printer again, but not all cartridges can be recycled. What happens to those. Well, here are two companies that have come up with some pretty good ideas.

Etsy.com is offering ink cartridge lamps and chandeliers, made from empty inkjet cartridges. The empty cartridges are modified to fit the lamp design and then wired for electricity. The creator picked the right style of cartridges, because these things look pretty cool. Prices range from $30 to $150.

Close the Loop has been working with Lexmark to do something more productive with all the empty printer cartridges they collect. Together the two companies have come up with a way to turn empty inkjet cartridges in to pens. Various companies use Clost the Loop’s services to recycle their empty printer cartridges. Close the Loop then turns the cartridges in to various plastic based recycled products. While working with the plastics and metals has been easy, they claim to have always had a problem with the ink remaining with the empty cartridges. This is when the pen idea came to them. They decided to try to use both the ink and the plastic of a cartridge to make a pen. A prototype of the pen has been released. It contains 84% recycled materials. The company want to make one that contains 100% recycled materials.

Huh, I can picture it now. Sitting under my printer cartridge lamp while writing with my printer cartridge pen . . . about printer cartridges.

Let me know what you think of these two ideas. Maybe you’ve got some you’d like to share. Thanks!

There is a lot of buzz in the printer cartridge world about Managed Print Services (MPS) and the advantages it can offer the vendor and the printer user. It’s estimated that most companies spend 1-3% of their revenues on printing. It is also estimated that by using MPS you could save as much as 25% on your printing and copying costs. Sound like some thing your business would like to take advantage of?  There are are few things you should know before you jump in.

Before I jumped in, to writing this, I took the opportunity to meet with Bill, a representative from a MPS company here in San Diego. Bill has been working in the printer cartridge industry for the last 16 years so I figured he was pretty knowledgeable. What you read below is based on our discussion.

If you didn’t guess from the first paragraph, MPS is for businesses. There are some technical reasons for this and financial reasons. We’ll skip the technical.

First for MPS to be truly effective you need to have at least 20 printers in your work place. Anything less and you probably won’t realize a savings. Ideally most of your printers also use the same cartridge, and that cartridge is a toner cartridge.

If you fit this criteria, or come close to fitting this criteria you should consider contacting a MPS provider. They will come out and do an evaluation on your printer situation and make suggestions as to how you can reduce your printing costs. Should you decide to utilize their services they will be able to do some pretty amazing things for you.

Not only will they streamline your printing and copying operations but they will also be able o monitor what everyone in your office is printing, when they are printing it, and where they are printing it. Armed with this information they can suggest processes that will increase the productivity of the printing in your office.

While speaking to Bill he shared that many of his clients like to change out their toner cartridge as soon as they get the low toner warning prompt. He said that this was costing them quite a bit of money because the toner cartridge may still be as much as 25% full when this warning appears.

Remember, the low toner (or ink) warning means you should make sure you have another cartridge ready to print with. It does NOT mean change the cartridge. Keep printing with the cartridge in your printer until the print starts to fade, or you can’t print with it any longer.

An MPS can do this for  you. Your printer is remotely monitored. When this warning message appears your MPS provider will make sure you have another cartridge on hand.

Not only does this service save your company money, it will remove the hassle of printer management from your work day.

Have you ever used Managed Print Services? If so, take a minute and let me know how you feel about it. Also, if you want more information on MPS, leave me a post. I will email you Bill’s contact information so you can fn d out more. Thanks!

Just because you’re on a budget doesn’t mean you should be relegated to buying some cheap printer that can’t function outside of simple text documents. If you need a device that can fax, copy, scan, and print on a wide variety of media, the Canon Pixma MX330 will make a perfect addition to your home office. At $110, this all-in-one boosts productivity by adding an automatic document feeder and a full color 1.80-inch LCD. Although we have complaints about the output quality and missing features, we can’t argue with the bundle of features and the excellent value you’ll get in the Canon Pixma MX330. (Source: CNET)

Do you own this printer? Please take a minute and let us know what you think of it. Thanks!

— CNET Rating: 3.5 Stars —

The good: Inexpensive; includes auto-document feeder; robust software suite; 1.8-inch LCD; small footprint.

The bad: Spotty output quality; lacks media card reader.

The bottom line: The Canon Pixma MX330 doesn’t produce the best quality prints, but you won’t find a more versatile printer in the sub-$150 category. An auto-document feeder, 1.8-inch LCD screen, and easy-to-use features make it an excellent choice for creative homes on a budget. (Read the full CNET review)

— PCWORLD Rating: 3.5 Stars —

Pros: Very inexpensive; Brisk copy, scan, and photo speeds

Cons: Pricey black ink; slow text speed; Photos can look pinkish or pale

Bottom Line: You get decent features and speed for the price, but the inks are costly and the photos, pale. (Read the full PCWorld review)

— Consumer Ratings: 4 Stars —

A positive comment from Amazon.com:

Canon hits a home run

This review is actually on the Canon MX320. It is the MX330’s little brother. Both printers are identical except the MX320 does not have the color lcd screen, it has a 2-line dot matrix screen. Since I do all of my editing on my computer, and can’t see much on the little screen anyway, I chose to save about $40. Either printer offers great value in my humble opinion.

PROS:
1. Photo quality equal to my Canon MX830. I don’t know why or how but the prints look the same. Even better if you use Canon’s “VIVID” setting in the Easy Photo Print software under paper selector.
2. The scanner reproduces colors and details that are very close to original and you have the option to touch up photos after scanning. Using the ADF you can copy legal size papers.
3. The fax options are not perfect but they work. This is the first all-in-one that I’ve owned that I can actually leave the fax running in the back round without it interfering with phone calls on the same line. Using the TEL Preferred setting the fax will start automatically if you answer the phone and it is a fax. This even works from a remote phone by dialing 25 if you hear the fax noise when you answer. Up to 50 (20 pages of documents) faxes will be stored in memory if you run out of paper or ink.
4. My favorite option on this printer is the fact that you can choose which cartridge to print from. This will save a lot of the more expensive color ink, especially from advertisements faxed to you. Simply follow these steps to print from black only:
a. Click on the MY PRINTER icon the software installed on your desktop
b. Click on the PRINTER SETTINGS tab
c. Click on the MAINTENANCE tab
d. Click on the INK CARTRIDGE SETTINGS tab
e. Choose from using BLACK ONLY cartridge, COLOR ONLY cartridge, or BOTH cartridges
The black only setting only works with plain paper and envelopes so photos will still print in color. Plus it takes only seconds to change settings if you need color in your text documents. This setting works great if you have teenagers that print everything they see.
5. You can fax straight from your computer without first printing the fax. Just click on PRINT and choose Canon MX330 Fax as your printer. The fax works just like you ran it through the printer, including printing a receipt if you have set this up on the printer.
6. At about $.05 per black and white page printed, using the XL ink cartridges, and the ability to print photos that will last up to 300 years I feel the print costs are reasonable.
7. I bought the MX320 after trying the Epson NX300. There is no comparison between the 2 printers. The Canon exceeded my expectations in every category. At $69 the MX320 (MX330) is an all-in-one printer that works perfectly for a small home business on a tight budget.

CONS:
1. The lcd screen on the MX320 is hard to read sometimes because there is no backlight. Luckily you only have to use it to set up the printer and fax one time.
2. There is only 1 paper tray.

CONCLUSION:
Every printer requires a compromise in some area. Users of the HP printers I was interested in are reporting problems with Windows Vista, which I confirmed on HP’s own site. The Epson model I tried was noisy, slow, and draft text was barely readable. Not to mention I went through 2 Epson’s because of print head clogging problems. Brother and Kodak printers are unknown entities to me, although I bought one of the first Kodak printers when they came out and returned it the same day.

I have had good luck with other Canon printers and I like their print quality. The MX320/330 seem to be following in the Canon tradition of good quality printers. Unlike many others, I chose a 2 cartridge print system on purpose. My Canon MX830 was an excellent printer but if you change inks one at a time to save ink it seems like you are changing inks 2 times a week. For the money I don’t think you can beat the MX320/330 for an all-in-one printer with a G3 fax. If fax capabilities are not needed I would buy the Canon MP480 or MP620 as these are both excellent all-in-ones without the fax at reasonable prices.

A negative comment from Amazon.com:

Should come with a straightjacket

I hate this printer! Besides being really freakin’ big, it’s beyond annoying. When you click ‘print’, it makes a bunch of whirring noises and thinks about the fact that it has to print something. Then it whirs some more, and decides that maybe printing what you want it to print might be an OK idea. Then it rests for a moment, sends out another little whir, and just when you think it’s actually going to print, instead you get a popup telling you that HEY YOU HAVE ME SET FOR BLACK ONLY! DO YOU REALLY WANT THAT? BECAUSE YOU’RE NOT GETTING ANY COLOR WITH THIS SETTING!! Um, yeah, I do that to save ink. So you click on ‘ok’, and it starts whirring again, probably wondering why in the world you only want black ink. It’s just so wrong for a color printer, after all. You can almost hear it sigh. But then it decides, ok, I’m going to print in black, draft mode no less, for this plebeian. FINALLY it prints. Pretty quickly I might add, probably to make up for all the time it wasted whirring and fretting. Afterwards, it whirs for awhile again, ruminating about what it just printed, and obviously distraught that it could not use the color cartridge.

(Read all Amazon.com user reviews)