Two copy buttons, two very different costs
The front of this machine has two separate keys: Colour copy and Black copy. That is handy — you lay a sheet down, press, with no computer involved — and it is the most repeated action of the day.
It is also what decides your consumption. "Colour copy" draws on the tri-colour, which holds only 100 pages, even if the original is a black and white document. "Black copy" only draws on the black, a little more generous with its 120 pages.
Getting into the habit of pressing Black copy by default, and keeping colour for originals that genuinely contain it, changes the whole resupply pace of a machine this size. It is a habit, not a setting: there is nothing to configure.
A very low recommended volume
HP quotes 50 to 100 pages a month — the smallest range in the catalogue — for a maximum cycle of 1,000 pages. That is not an undersized machine: it is a standby printer, designed for a few documents a week.
At that pace, a standard 305 covers roughly the quarter. If your real use goes clearly beyond those 100 pages a month, move to 305XL: on cartridges this small, every replacement is an order, and orders end up weighing more than the price of the cartridges.
The black resists water, the colour does not
The 305 black is a pigment ink: the text stays crisp and does not run under a highlighter. The tri-colour, being dye based, gives brighter shades but far more fragile ones. For a document to be kept or signed, print in black.
And bear in mind the flaw of every three-in-one cartridge: when a single shade runs out, the whole cartridge becomes unusable, even with yellow and magenta left. That is one more reason not to call on it for black and white copies.
A fleet of printers to keep supplied?
We draw up the list of consumables for your whole fleet and a single grouped quote. Invoice in your company's name with its ICE number, delivery anywhere in Morocco.