Advantages and disadvantages of using inkjet printers

Advantages

1. Compared to earlier consumer-oriented printers, inkjets have a number of advantages. They are quieter in operation than impact dot matrix or daisywheel printers. They can print finer, smoother details through higher printhead resolution, and many inkjets with photorealistic-quality color printing are widely available.
2. In comparison to more expensive technologies like thermal wax, dye sublimations, and laser printers, inkjets have the advantage of practically no warm up time and lower cost per page (except when compared to laser printers).
3. Present-day inkjet printers use stochastic or FM screening, which gives better-quality results than low-cost laser printers when printing photographic images. Some inkjet printers print dots of more than one size, so that the screening is not purely "FM".
4. For some inkjet printers, monochrome ink sets are available either from the printer manufacturer or third-party suppliers. These allow the inkjet printer to compete with the silver-based photographic papers traditionally used in black-and-white photography, and provide the same range of tones – neutral, "warm" or "cold". When switching between full-color and monochrome ink sets, it is necessary to flush out the old ink from the print head with a special cleaning cartridge.
5. As opposed to most other types of printers, inkjet cartridges can be refilled. Most cartridges can be easily refilled by drilling a hole in and filling the tank portion of the cartridge. This method is more cost effective as opposed to buying a new cartridge each time one runs dry.
   

Disadvantages

Inkjet printers may have a number of disadvantages:

1. The ink is often very expensive (for a typical OEM cartridge priced at $15, containing 5 ml of ink, the ink effectively costs $3000 per liter)
2. Many "intelligent" ink cartridges contain a microchip that communicates the estimated ink level to the printer; this may cause the printer to display an error message, or incorrectly inform the user that the ink cartridge is empty. In some cases, these messages can be ignored, but many inkjet printers will refuse to print with a cartridge that declares itself empty, in order to prevent consumers from refilling cartridges.
3. The lifetime of inkjet prints is limited; they may eventually fade and the color balance may change.
4. Because the ink used in most inkjets is water-soluble, care must be taken with inkjet-printed documents to avoid even the smallest drop of water, which can cause severe "blurring" or "running." Similarly, water-based highlighter markers can blur inkjet-printed documents.
   

These disadvantages have been addressed in a variety of ways:

1. Third-party ink suppliers sell ink cartridges at significantly reduced costs (often 10%-30% of OEM cartridge prices) and also sell kits to refill cartridges, and bulk ink, at even lower prices.
2. Many vendors' "intelligent" ink cartridges have been reverse-engineered. It is now possible to buy inexpensive devices to reliably reset such cartridges to report themselves as full, so that they may be refilled many times.
3. Print lifetime is highly dependent on the quality and formulation of the ink, as well as the paper chosen. The earliest inkjet printers, intended for home and small office applications, used dye-based inks. Even the best dye-based inks are not as durable as pigment-based inks, which are now available for many inkjet printers