Can this laser printer be operated with just the black cartridge? Thanks.
300437
I have run the color toners "low" which means less than 50 copies left per toner. The message now says color toner is low and that the printer will print in black and white. It appears that it will continue to print B&W; as long as the cartridges are left installed but empty.
300438
No. The printer requires that all cartridges be in place to operate; otherwise, you get an error message. And the printer's technology can tell exactly which color cartridge is missing.
300439
I have printed in only black and white. Just now, I removed the 3 color cartridges, and it would not print. May be missing something, but I think all the cartridge slots must be filled.
300440
I have not tried black cartridge only. The color cartridges last a long time and remain useful even with limited use (not like ink jet cartridges) so I'd suggest not worrying ....
2224332
Yes! Setup cartridges are used first time only on the printer! Then you can buy XL cartridges for it!
1422617
I don't own this printer, but I believe the printer uses two different types of Black ink (at the same time, in different slots). So, for the printer to work, you would have to have all the color cartridges installed as well as both black cartridges - one of each type.
1346839
Sorry Mary, can't help you with that question. I use the printer only for color documents and have a black and white laser for just text documents. In the options for the IP7220 there is a gray scale print option and business document option, but I do not know if they use the black cartridge only. Ken
753423
Yes. But when you run out of color inks you cannot print just black. You have to replace color cartridges even if you don't use them in order to print black. I gave up that nonsense and I bought an only black printer. I go to Kinko's when I occasionally need color prints. Good luck and happy new year.
1787228
Yes the printer requires having ALL ink cartridges installed (and none empty) to print, if you run out of a color you cannot print (even in black) until the color cartridge is replaced..
376771
Yes. There is one black and one color cartridge that comes with the printer.
1574430
I'm really not sure? I have seen answers that you can use a black cartridge in place of the grey space but don't know this answer?
1973070
If you do mean can it print with only a black cartridge only, the answer is no. When it prints grayscale it actually uses some colored ink as well. It's annoying because when a color cartridge has a "replace" status you will no longer be able to print in B&W until you replace that cartridge.
1121931
I don't know the answer when you're printing full color, but when you print grey scale or B&W, you can force the printer to use black only (through the print options.)
1344510
No. Color laser printers need not only color cartridges, but the harware that allows 4 different colors of toner (3 primaries and black) to be metered separately but applied in one pass. Then the waste of throwing the color cartridge away when the most-used color runs out. Same problem with color inkjets. I now print only in black. For color photos, I email files to CVS or Walgreens and in 1 hour I can pick up ACTUAL 4x6 PHOTOS made on $50,000 machines for 19 cents each
1505040
You can set your printer to just print in black and white only, this possibly would cut down on using the color inks.
1379471
yes, you can do this but of course the print quality will not be as good and some of it may be difficult to read. It would be better to have the black cartridge rather than the color one because then you could print everything. The color would appear as "grayscale."
2101549
No. In fact, if only one of the other cartridges runs out of ink, you are stuck. It will not print even a test page in black
2199738
Yes...but, it's black toner, actually. So, it last so much longer than tiny tanks of ink. Great printer.
1787229
You have to have all of the cartridges installed. I do not know of any really good compatibles for this printer yet. Remember, the HP inks are about $105-$115 for the black 970xl and that prints 9200 pages. If you choose to print black only, the colors last indefinately because you are not using them. This is the best HP printer I have owned. I have had many many hp laser printers, and this one blows away the laser printers, and especially the color laser printers.
101619
The printer comes with a coloured ink cartridge, but it doesn't last for long. The black was the first to run, so a new cartridge had to be bought.