Inkjet Scam

Our $39.99 Canon inkjet, despite being dirt cheap have not clogged once. I have used up just one black ink cartilage that came with the printer rated for 180 pages capacity but in reality probably less than 100 pages were actually printed in the past one year. I will see if this "refilled" OEM cartilage continues to work without clogging. When I refilled the cartilage, I noticed that there were still plenty of color ink left in the original cartilage. The color printer is programmed to stop printing as soon any ink is depleted, in my case black.

My Windows 10 laptop died a few month ago. After purchasing a Chromebook as an alternative to Windows laptop little over a year ago, I was using it less and less anyway. At this point, I think I am going to let it rest permanently. And the switch is complete. I am now completely Chromebook guy at least at home. (I still use Windows desk top at work.) At least with a Chromebook, I don't have the "printer driver" issue I use to have with Windows.

 

If you are talking about Chrome OS based desktop machine, then there are things called Chromebase or Chromebox which is desktop machine with Chrome OS. But as I understand it, it is not 100% same thing as Chromebook OS. If you are asking about installing Chrome OS onto existing desktop PC, then answer is NO. Unlike many of Linux distribution, Chrome OS is propriety and not user installable, AFAIK. You can however install the open-source Chromium OS onto any PC. Chromium OS is very similar to Chrome OS and many parts are developed by the same people who code the official Chrome OS.

OTOH, if you just want larger screen and separate keyboard with Chromebook, them most newer Chromebook that comes with USB-C can be connected to variety of peripherals including screen, keyboard, mouse and such.

 

My favorite Linux distribution was Ubuntu. Most of my earlier Windows laptops were dual bootable to Ubuntu. And I was so excited when they (meaning the developer of Ubuntu, Canonical) announced when they were developing Ubuntu Touch (smart phone OS with very different flavor than iOS or Android back then) some years ago. In the end, the project did not come through, though there is still a small group of people continuing to develop this platform. I wanted 100% seamless convergence of a personal computer and smartphone unlike MAC-iPhone or WindowsPC-Windows Phone. I even tried using a beta version of Ubuntu Touch by burning a custom ROM onto my Nexus phone. The problem is there was no wide support from app developer. Thus come my abandoning the Ubuntu and switching to a Chromebook. I have been using Android phone for many years already. And currently, Chromebook-Android phone offers the best integration of a personal computer and smartphone, IMHO.

 

Update: After 18 months of service, our $39.99 Canon inkjet printer has been decommissioned. We used up initial ink cartridges (both black and tri-color) and I refilled both with bulk ink once. The printer is still in good condition but refilled ink cartridges clogged and printer monitor was constantly showing low ink despite full of ink. The usage chip in the used cartridges can be overridden fairly easily, but the printer head clog was not fun to deal with.

Our usual printing needs are so low, no more than a few pages a month mostly, cleaning clogged printer head every time we need to print just a page was not worth my time. But, I just could not justify paying more for new ink cartridges than what I paid for the new printer itself. We could have gone without a printer, but now I am working from home, a reliable printer became much more important. Well, I just replaced it with a brand new Canon All-in-One monochrome Laser Printer. It is quite a bit larger than the inkjet, but this should serve my work-related and the rest of the family's printing needs fine for years to come. Original MSRP on this printer was $595 but I got it on sale for a mere $169 (shipped) from Adorama. The best thing is that an aftermarket high yield toner for this printer is available at as low as $12.

 

Well, the laser printer is taller and heavier than the inkjet, but the footprint is not much different, especially when compared to the inkjet with the paper tray open and sticking out.

We needed an All-in-One printer for we use it more as a scanner and a copier than as a printer. But if all you need is a printer function, you could find a very compact laser printer as small as or even smaller than some inkjet.

 

That must be a printer with a near-vertical paper tray. This HP laser printer has a footprint of 6.30" x 13.60" x 7.50" with a tray closed.

 

New OEM toner always costs more ~$50 in Amazon but can be as low as $10 for an aftermarket toner ($27 for 2 pack with $7 coupon applied). In my previous laser printers, aftermarket recycled toner worked fine.

 

Yeah, I think so. High yield black inkjet cartridge is like ~300 pages compared to ~1000 pages for a laser printer toner. For a laser printer, you do have to replace a drum once in a while too, but usually much less frequently than the toner.