Looking for good color Airprint printer that only uses black ink when doing B&W

[Childs]

Does this even exist? Buying for my mom, and I dont want her to go broke buying ink. I have a printer in mind that has refillable cartridges, and one that uses less ink but doesn't have auto reset refillable cartridges, so she'd have to buy relatively cheap official cartridges. Neither seem to allow just using black ink for B&W text printing. Any manufactures letting you do this these days? Airprint is the only requirement...all in one with duplex document feeding and printing would be a plus.

 

[jhansman]

Wish I knew. My Canon MG5220 is wireless, but uses colored inks for every grayscale job I send it. Ironically, it has two black carts, but right now my cyan is blinking. I haven't printed a color job on it in months. Sigh...

Maybe Epson or HP have a solution? And yes, duplex is a real bonus and scanning is very convenient and easy.

 

[Cerb]

Aside from wishing death to all consumer-level HPs, and some business-level ones, they do the same thing. I'm sitting right next to a 8600 that's mainly a shelf, and occasional scanner, because of that same thing . If you want true B&W only, you basically need to get a B&W printer. By using color, they can help keep the jets from clogging, and make you buy more ink.

Today, I'd just get a B&W laser, and have photos/color printed for me. Brother inkjets work well with cheap carts (not OEM), but the print quality is crap (fine for text, but nothing like a color photo/office printer).

Off to Google WTF Airprint is...huh, Apple. Turns out I have a couple (they both use color with black, though, sorry).

 

[Mushkins]

One more vote for getting a B&W Laser printer. Unless you *really* need color printing on a regular basis, it's cheaper and easier to just go to kinkos or staples or something to print the one off color print at 10 cents a page. Any corner chain pharmacy/convenience store will print better quality photos for a few cents a piece than you will ever print on a consumer inkjet regardless of what paper you use.

Color printing at home for 99% of people truly is a gigantic waste of money and a giant headache. You can get a B&W laser printer for $40 used practically anywhere, and most home users will probably never go through more than a single toner cartridge over the life of the printer. Pair a used laserjet with a cheapo Airprint-capable print server and you're set.

 

[Childs]

Yeah she has a Brother MFC laser now that I buy refill kits for, but it doesn't support Airprint. That thing is a champ...only refilled the starter cartridge twice over the last 4 years so. I have one as well, and haven't refilled it yet. I bought her an iPad last year and she doesn't even use her laptop anymore except to print, because she can't print from her iPad. I initially thought about just a new Brother laser with Airprint, but she does like printing out pictures. She goes to Rite-Aid and uses those machines. I thought maybe I could maybe just add a airprint inkjet. But after looking at the issues with ink, I started to remember why I went laser a few years ago.

 

[Throckmorton]

A photo print from an inkjet can't really compare to one from a dye sub machine at a pharmacy-- not worth it IMO.

 

[dstevod]

I use a Dell C3760. Cheap to run as it's a laser, as long as you have volume that you need to print. Just not cheap to buy at first due to the toner carts. Airprint works really well on it.

If a low volume then inkjet I suppose, but can't help you there.....

S