Need Printer Advice for Specific Printing Needs

[msgirl]

I am looking to purchase a new inkjet printer that can do the following:

1. Print mirror image
2. Print custom size paper
3. Adjust colors (brightness, yellow, blue, etc.)
4. Adjust saturation
5. That uses a reasonable amount of ink

I have owned a HP Photosmart Premium C309a for a while (I'd bought 3 of them). I use my printer heavily, and I therefore need one that doesn't suck up ink too quickly. I recently purchased a HP Photosmart 7520, and I'm having to replace the ink cartridges much faster than normal even though my usage has stayed constant. I've had to install old drivers with this new printer to get some of my settings (like page size) to work, but now the printer won't work with the old driver I'd installed for it. Any advice on quality printers that still have drivers that allow you to select the items above would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Bryandrew]

Go with the Kodak printer line.....I have a feeling you might be using it for pics...? There better on the ink.

 

[l_d_allan]

I'm mostly ignorant about HP printers, but in "the Canon world", the trend has been for ink cartridges for non-pro printers to get progressively smaller ink capacity over the years.

BCI-6 and CLI-8 ... 13 ml
CLI-221, CLI-226, CLI-251 ... 9 ml

You might want to check the specs on the ink capacity for your current and older printers. This may not be the easiest info to get. Also, my understanding is that many HP printers have XL size carts for "extended capacity". Is that an option?

When you say "print heavily", what kind of print volume are you talking about? How much is photo-printing vs text vs graphics. In a year's time, how much ink are you going through?