-tictech message:
At 09:05 AM 3/26/02 -0800, currie morrison wrote:
>This is a good question. For sheer volume and longterm lower costs. the
>network black and white laser printer makes the most sense. However the
need
>for color by some users will at least dictate the purchase of a couple ink
>jet color printers. The trade off is that ink jet has a high cost per page
>and therefore recurring costs are quite high. Fairly heavy use of the ink
>jet results in the purchase of ink worth much more than the original
>purchase cost. In addition when only one color is used too much, (little
>kids do this typically) the cartridge has a tendency to not last too long
as
>a useful multi color producer.
>
>Of course some teachers will insist on having and buying their own printer,
>however I would make it very clear who is responsible for resupplying the
>ink. It is not cheap even at school prices and will eat up a budget very
>quickly.
It is possible to buy ink in bulk from third party suppliers. The ink
should be specially designed for the specific brand and model of printer,
don't use "universal inks". I would recommend either Repeat-O-Type or
Nu-Kote brand (I've used Repeat-O-Type myself, Nu-Kote also has a good
reputation). As far as I know, Nu-Kote only sells refill kits for a
limited selection of printers, Repeat-O-Type sells kits and bulk ink for a
very wide variety of printers, and their own brand of much cheaper
cartriges for some printers. I suggest buying a refill kit from
www.inksite.com (they sell both brands), which will have all the tools, and
then buy just the bulk ink after that. It comes in pints or gallons (or 55
gallon drums or even larger quantities), or you can buy it repackaged in
smaller quantities from www.atlascopy.com. You can also buy third party
cartriges which are cheaper than the OEM versions, but not as cheap as
refill kits or bulk ink. For my printer the refill kits are about one
third the cost of buying new cartriges. The bulk ink is truly dirt cheap,
I no longer even worry about the cost when my daughter wants to print out
full color artwork, the ink is cheaper than the paper at that point. Since
the inks are printer (or printer family) specific, I would suggest
standardizing on a particular printer for the entire school so that only
one type of ink needs to be bought.
"Mary K. Conner" <trif@imp.serv.net>
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