Everyone loves the instant gratification that results from printing at home, not to mention the creative freedom. But printing at home can also be a fantastic value.
Here are 10 tips for saving money.
Buy ink and paper that are made to work together
HP Photo Value Packs are convenient (ink and paper in one package) and cost-effective.
Using
HP Photo Value packs–ink and paper packaged together–is the key to affordable photo printing. The packs come in a variety of sizes and
are available for a variety of ink and paper combinations. With the HP Custom 02 cartridges and 150 sheets of 4" x 6" Advanced Photo Paper,
for example, you can get 4" x 6" prints for as low as 24 cents per print.
The ink and paper are made to work together, which means you get the best-quality photo prints1. Plus, the amount of ink is just
right for printing 150 photos, too (approximately). So you have everything you need to print great-looking pictures.
Using original HP ink with HP paper gives you vibrant color and the best value.
HP ink and paper are made to work together. With refilled or remanufactured ink cartridges, you never know how many times they've been used, or the quality of ink that was used to refill them.
QualityLogic, one of the world's foremost quality assurance organizations, tested the performance of HP inkjet print cartridges vs. remanufactured (refilled) brands.
Original HP inks produce 65% more pages than bargain ink. Refilled and remanufactured cartridges often stop working with a lot of ink left in them.2 That's way more ink for your buck!
Learn how to
choose HP photo paper for inkjets.
Look for the Auto Sense mark on select HP photo papers.
Automatic Media Sensing is a feature on select HP printers that optimizes print quality for various papers. So you get the best prints possible–without any extra effort (or wasted paper).
HP Auto-Sensing saves the time and effort of having to select specific print settings. And it spares you the expense associated with making a wrong selection.
Learn how HP Media Sensing technology works and how you can get started.
Need a 4" x 6" print for a photo project or gift? Print it on the spot.
In-store printing may appear to offer some of the lowest prices for 4" x 6" photo prints, but consider the hidden costs of driving to the store and your time waiting in line.
If you want a small batch of prints right away, printing 4" x 6" prints at home gives you immediate gratification at a great price.
Remember that using
HP Photo Value Packs will give you the best price.
More people are choosing to print larger sized photos at home.
Printing at home costs much less for 5" x 7" and 8" x 10" prints.
A recent survey of photo printing services (in-store and online) reported that the average outsourcing price for a 5" x 7" print ranged from 76¢ to $3.04 and the cost for an 8" x 10"
print ranged from $2.67 to $5.93, excluding taxes, shipping or other handling costs.3
By comparison, the cost of a 5" x 7" photo on the most popular HP printers averaged 69¢, and the cost of a letter-size print averaged $1.54.4
HP offers a wide range of larger-sized photo papers, like
HP Premium Plus 5" x 7" Borderless Photo Paper
and
HP Premium Plus 8.5" x 11" Photo Paper.
If you're printing multiple copies of one image, be sure to do a test print first.
Treat every piece of photo paper as a precious resource and a package of it can go a long way.
One way to cut printing costs is to test your photo print on plain paper to be sure it's just right before you print on photo paper.
You can also print the images smaller than the final desired size, until you are sure that the output will be what you expect.
Saving money and being energy-efficient go hand in hand.
Most people don't print photos every single day, so there's no reason to allow your photo printer to stay on–even in sleep mode–all the time. Hook it up to a switched
power strip, and use the switch to turn it off, completely, when not in use.
Using an ENERGY STAR® qualified HP printer is another way to save money by cutting electricity costs. They are designed to use less energy and conserve energy when not in use.
Explore HP ENERGY STAR® qualified products.
The amount of ink used can add up if you power on your machine multiple times each day.
Several HP Photosmart printers now use individual ink cartridges-each dedicated to a particular color. You save money by replacing only the individual ink cartridges that run out of ink. So you get more photos and no wasted ink.
Using a printer with two paper trays makes it easy to use the right amount of ink.
If you're using your printer to print both photographs and other everyday materials, make sure to use the printer controls available to you to cut down on ink usage by printing
"draft" quality for non-critical work.
A printer with two paper trays, like the
HP Photosmart D7560 Photo Printer makes switching back and forth between plain and photo paper even easier–the photo paper tray automatically engages.
This printer also features media sensing, so the printer will automatically pick the optimal quality settings for your photo prints.
Determine your printing habits before you purchase a printer. This will save you money in the long run.
If you are only going to be printing photos, consider a single-function printer like the HP Photosmart A646 Compact Photo Printer. It’s perfect for busy families who want to personalize and print lab-quality photos without a PC.
If you print a lot of digital photos and a lot of documents at home, consider investing in an All-in-One like the HP Photosmart Premium TouchSmart Web All-in-One Printer—which also allows you to print Web content like movie tickets, coupons, maps, and recipes right from the HP TouchSmart screen—no PC needed1!
1Based on estimated retail price of HP Custom 02 series 150 ct 4" x 6" Photo Value Pack, six-ink printing. Actual cost may vary based on printer used, images printed, and other factors.) 2A QualityLogic 2009 study compared Original HP inkjet print cartridges (92A, 93A, 98A, 95A, 21A and 22A) with refilled ink cartridges sold in North America.
Get more details. 3 Photofinishing News, Inc. August 2007 "Global Photo Services Price Review. Photofinishing news surveyed a broad range of photo printing services to
compare prices. The survey included familiar vendors, such as CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Sam's Club, Costco and Target Stores, as well as specialty camera stores and online
services.
410 –Photo costs calculated using prices of HP cartridges and paper from HP at www.shopping.hp.com. The cost of 4x6 photos printed using Photo Value Packs (PVPs) is determined by
dividing the cost of the pack by the number of pieces of photo paper included. Costs of all other photos were determined using prices of twin packs, multipacks, and combo packs as well as using
the highest count HP photo paper offering available. Only 4x6 photos printed with PVPs are full bleed (edge to edge) photos. Page yields used for determining the cost of each photo is based on
HP photo testing and these results can be found by printer model at www.hp.com/go/learnaboutsupplies. Page yields vary considerably based on content of printed pages and other factors.
Printable version
