Mickmar,
I'm a building tech in a 7-8 middle school where we have around 200 Dell computers, six HP 4100's, a 4600 color laser, and a couple of odd HP's lasers and Dell printers in the office. We also have four or five Epson 740's inkjets that still work. I say that to say this -- it's all about the ink!
No matter the cost of the printer, the ink is going to get you every time. Most inkjets on the market today are considered "throw-aways." That is, the companies build them cheap so the consumer snatches them up at the local computer store or Walmart. They can also afford to bundle these cheap printers with a computer so it looks like you got a really good deal.
Here's where it gets complicated. When you shop for a printer, always shop for the ink it takes at the same time. DO NOT believe what the manufacturer states as the usage cycle for a particular ink is. Those stats are always way out of wack!
Figure this -- you are going to get about half of what the maufacturer says you will get in the number of pages printed. It probably has changed, but at one time manufacturers figured ink usage at 15% of coverage on a page. That would closely figure to be 12 point Times at single spacing with no extra graphics. Throw in a letter head design that has one or two primary colors and soon you will be eating through that color really fast!
I have tried all kinds of ways to get around expensive inks. Bulk ink is way to messy! The ink will actuall seep into the bottom of the printer and make a grand mess.
HP's cartridges have the print engine right on the cartridge, so no body really makes cheap replacements for them because the print engine is proprietary.
Canon cartridges can be found at bargain basement prices, but the chip that is on the original cartridge has to be pried off and attached to the replacement cartridge (some of my attempts have proven unsuccessful and the printer refused to recognize the cartridge). The Canon chips also have some sort of usage counter on the chip and when you do replace it, the printer still thinks the cartridge is empty! So as a result, each time you print you have to bypass or press more buttons to get the crazy printer to work.
At school our Epson 740's drank ink at an alarming rate. Then we had over 50 of those bad boys, and we were going through ink faster than I could buy it. I was able to find several online companies that sell cheap replacements in the $4-5. That is quite a savings; however, the crazy Epsons stop working when one of the color cells goes dry, so you may use all the cyan and still have yellow and magenta completed full. That turns into a false economy.
So my advice after all this ranting is -- find a printer that has all the bells and whistles you like, see what the replacement ink costs, and realize you will not get the kind of usage you think you will get. Then, resign yourself to the fact that this is how the ink/printer companies make money.
Best wishes! BTW, I own a Canon Pixma MP500. It drinks ink like nobody's business, but is a great printer for what I scan, copy, and print. Beats going to Staples to make copies.