Q: I would like to know the difference! I was a student in Graphic Design when I was in high school not to long ago and I need some advice in which printer I should use. I have two ink-jet printers (which currently are out of ink) and I am gonna go buy some ink tomorrow. Which one should I buy the ink for? Thanks! Oh, let me elaborate. I have a printer that uses a RGB ink cartridge and a single Black cartridge. Then I have another printer that uses 4 cartridges, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. my question is which kind should I invest in?! A printer that uses 4 individual cartridges (CMYK) or a printer that uses two (one with RGB and another with black)
A: Actually, there is no RGB printer... RGB are additive colors (video display) Cyan Magenta Yellow Black are the colors used for subtractive color... There are printers that only have 3 colors, and no black... it derives it's black by combining all 3 colors... These printers are almost impossible to find, because nobody wants them. They use lots of ink just to print black text, and the black isn't really black, it's more of a dark green color. I'm not even sure anyone is still producing 3 color printers new any longer. You aren't going to have a choice, there will only be specific cartridges that are going to fit your printers. If you are planning on getting a new printer (which you might actually find cheaper/preferable to buying new cartridges for an older/slower/lower-resolution printer) stay away from Kodak... Their drivers, support, and technical support are absolutely bottom-of-the-barrel at the moment. If you print a lot of color, eventually a printer with individual color cartridges will save you money. The first couple times you need a color cartridge, it will be cheapest to buy a "pack" of all 3 color cartridges. You will then probably find that the yellow will run out first, and will be able to purchase just a single yellow cart to "catch up" with the cyan and magenta you have "left over" from the triple pack, saving you some money. Also, with Canon printers, there is actually more actual ink in some of the individual cart models than is in a single piece color cartridge.