HP is fully aware of the transition, and recently rolled out the HP Photosmart Premium Fax All-in-One, a device that combines an inkjet printer, fax machine, scanner, and copier. The printer uses five standard HP model No. 564 cheap ink cartridges for black, photo black, cyan, magenta, and yellow. The standard cartridges cost $10, but we’ll use the XL high-capacity option for our cost-per-page calculation to measure the best deal you can get from HP. The XL colored inks cost $18 apiece and, according to HP, they’ll yield 750 color pages, while the XL black replacement cheap cartridge costs $35 for 800 yields. By our calculations, a color page from HP cheap ink cartridge will cost you 2.4 cents, and a page of black strangely costs double at 4.3 cents. So, no need to invest in printer ink at every cartridge refill, when HP ink cartridge is available with a good discount.
We tested the printer using our standard text, graphics, and photos and the HP model No. 564 cheap ink cartridges delivered crisp lines and smooth transitions between varying colors. The overall gradients of color in photos appear evenly shaded with appropriate level accuracy. Since this is a photo-specific printer, we also focused on its capability to produce a dynamic range of contrast between colors. While most photo printers seem to suffer from chronic line banding and a lack of sharpness, the HP cheap ink cartridge consistently produces very pleasing images with hardly any trace of jagged or muddy graphics.