Printer resurgent

Well, with a couple more letters typed, my Epson Stylus Photo 1400 printer of 2007 vintage has regained its former performance, and its retirement is no longer imminent. I thought it was on its last legs, but evidently not so. All I need to do, clearly, is use it regularly, and it will soldier on indefinitely.

This is of course good news. It's still a very good photo printer, capable of printing larger than A3, and I had been contemplating its demise with sorrow, even though I very rarely print any photos nowadays, certainly not for myself. But it's nice to have a machine that can do it, and do it excellently. Astonishingly, the printer works very well indeed with my Microsoft Surface Book laptop (which runs the very latest version of Windows 10). So long as it continues to work without issues, there is no point in buying a replacement. 

And yet, being an inkjet printer that uses six non-refillable Epson cartridges (one black, the rest various shades of yellow, blue and magenta, which together produce all the colours when mixed), its operating costs are high.

When I last bought all six cartridges, in January 2017, it cost me just under £90. They all need replacing soon. What will it cost? I looked at my usual online source - justinkandpaper.com - and they wanted £15.99 per cartridge. So replacing all six would now cost about £96. Ouch.

It has naturally crossed my mind that for £96 I could get a new laser printer, albeit a small one that wouldn't produce photo-quality prints.

Well, let's see how my ancient Epson printer survives. If it isn't yet in terminal decline, then I will most likely stay with it, and just bear the extraordinary cost of the printing ink.