To Dhlucke,
I finally held my nose and went to the Canon USA web site to check prices on OEM cartridges for the ip42000. Its basically the same unit as the ip4000 except all the new ip4200 cartridges costs $2.25 more than the old ip4000 ones. Gee, what a bargain, it only costs you $2.25 more per cartridge to get the chips that rip you off. Not sure, but I think the new cartridges come with slightly less ink than their BCI-6 equivalents. But do the math and its about 16% more for the one large text black and almost 19% more for the four CLI-8 color cartridges compared to the ip4000.
Going back to the Tom Hardware guide test of the ip4000 which came in at 3 cents per page black text and eight cents plain paper mixed color using OEM ink, the new assumed figures would be 3.5 cents and 9.5 cents. Still beating the non canon competition by a wide margin.---but its in the area of photo printing where the older Canons shine. According to the April/05 issue of consumer report, the average OEM ink consumable costs for a 8 x 10 photoprint came in at eighty cents for the ip4000. Many users on other forums point out they can reduce that to six cents using third party non-oem cartridges and as low as three cents using refilling methods and bulk purchase of high quality non-oem ink. Even accepting the six cent figure, that is a cost reduction by a factor of over thirteen fold. Gets really compelling if you do much photoprinting. Even if third party inks are not quite as good as OEM and the quality varies widely. But some non-oem ink is quite good so read reviews on various forums.
In terms of print lasting over time, I am just now learning that the paper and not the ink is a more important factor.
Not sure what you meant by five packs of ink. Were you referring to Canon OEM ink or any of the large number of non oem cartridges vendors who advertise refill sets dirt cheap on ebay and elsewhere? If its the latter, those bargains will not be available for the ip4200 until a workaround is found for the new chips.
And you are quite correct that you are way way better off with the ip4200 compared to even the most economical lexmarks.
Its a sad comentary about todays marketing when one can point to some other vendor and say well we are better than those other guys. But in any race, someone has to come in last place.
But cheer up, Lexmark leads the rip off race. Just a view point thing here. I guess we consumers just love to get hosed by inkjet printer manufacters, refuse to study markets or cost issues, and happily accept whatever is offered. For one mad moment in time, Canon made the mistake of being too consumer friendly.
Corrective action has been taken and the balance is being restored.
At least that how it is from where I am from.
Is it better in the land of Wingdingium?
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Osage on 10/31/05 12:52 PM.</EM></FONT></P>