Side by Side Comparison of: Canon vs HP

I bought this to print occasional paperwork and postage for my small business. It works great so far! I only use the black ink, so I can't speak for the quality of the other colors of ink. I can easily feed through thicker label paper. The only downside is that it does NOT come with a printer cable - I happened to have one on hand from an old printer - but it does have a power supply cable.

A great product. No longer have to take an ipod pic and send to who it may concern. Love the scanner!! Pics and docs are clear. In the old days I would have paid a lot more! Light weight and quick to set up. I stick it on the shelf when done so it doesn't clutter up my work space. Kudos to Canon!

A sweet little printer, and for the price, it's less expensive to buy the printer that comes with 2 stock cartridges than is is to get replacement cartridges. I needed a color printer because I've just started doing heat transfers on tote bags and tee shirts, and it performs this perfectly. I've had it for nearly 3 weeks, so the one I got doesn't seem to have the feed problems others have mentioned. Mine takes regular letter paper, heavy photo paper, heat transfer paper in letter size as well as 4x6 or 5x7 size, DVD label paper --- no problems, smooth feeding. It makes reassuring clicks when I ask it to do something, and I don't find the printing sound too loud at all. So, for peanuts I've got something which makes what I need. A plus which I've only used once so far is the scanner and copier feature --- I have a Canoscan 8800F scanner I use for my photo and negative needs, and I don't really need to do much copying, so these features are just 'nice to have' for me and not the main reason I got the printer.

Good printer for the price. It's does very well printing, copying, and scanning. However, it does have a tendency to pull two pieces of paper through it at times. Happy with this purchase.

I was a bit worried about ordering a printer online. But it arrived in tact and no damage. It prints super fast, and is a great printer. I haven't had any problems with it printing. It took less than 5 minutes to get the printer set-up and ready to download the software. I use a laptop without a disk drive with it and found the software online super fast. My only problem was that it took me close to 10 hours to download the software and get it up and printing, but that's more on my internet speed. It is really easy to use the scanner and copier part, too. I would recommend it to anyone.

Awesome Printer! Comes with ink, hooked up quickly and it works! It scans, copies and prints. i needed a color printer for my son's Eagle Scout workbook and this is just amazing. The cost of replacement ink is actually more than the cost of the whole printer with ink but the unit works great.

Very happy with this printer. This is your basic printer, nothing fancy. Extremely easy to set up up and use. Probably took about 10 minutes and that was with my cat helping. If you just want a printer without all the bells and whistles, this is it. Does what it's supposed to do.

I'm very, very happy with this printer. It's so quiet when printing, I have to look at it to make sure it's working.
The scanning is fast and comes out perfect. It's only for my own home use although, I do use it a lot. The price was amazing, as is this product. I'd buy it again, if needed.

It was easy to set up, does it just about all by itself with the disk. The color print adjusts itself, my last printer would run a test page and you had to choose the 'bullseye' that looked best for set up, the HP does it's own adjustments. Already printing coupons with it.

It fit my needs and more . Easy to install, clear instructions. The price was right for my budget. I recomend it.

Only had the printer for a few weeks, but it is working fine and has met my expectations. I have had several HP Deskjet 1512 Printers and if this one works as well as them I'll be well satisfied.

Does the job. Don't need anything more

Replacing my old one with another just like it. It does everything I need but the Cannon won't help if anything goes wrong. Disposable.

Our last all in one went out and we did not have money to buy anything "nice" so I was concerned. This printer Canon MG2520 Color Photo Printer is great at doing what it was meant to do. basic everyday stuff. Nothing to brag about but it prints pictures and doc's well, scans well and one button copies. To scan you have to go thru the computer and use the software but again, this is a $30 printer.Highly recommend this if you need a cheap printer.

So I've had this for a while now. It's pretty decent. It stopped working at one point and I couldn't find anything wrong with it at first. I wasn't about to send it in for repairs considering the price of it to begin with so I took it apart a little at the bottom which was awkward but possible. It doesn't come completely apart so don't try that but it was enough to locate a bracelet that had fallen inside. 2 kids and 3 cats, I wasn't surprised. Moral of that story is keep that top piece closed when it's not being used. The ink for it runs under $20 at Walmart but it runs out very quickly. There aren't a lot of knock off ink options like there are for some other printers. I have seen ink cartridge refill kits for $9 but I don't know anything about refilling ink. Honestly it's better than what I expected for the price. If you need a cheap printer now, get it. If you can afford a better printer, you will probably save on ink costs in the long run. I had a kodak for 6 years before it kicked the bucket (poor maintenance. my fault.) and I paid $20 for 4 ink cartridges.

Does its job. Sometimes I have to unplug and re-plug but I'm not a heavy user. I print maybe 15-20 pages a month. But I find it so silly that it's cheaper to buy a WHOLE NEW PRINTER than it is to buy the replacement ink.

My old "4 in 1" HP has been on it's last legs for some time now. The functions stopped working, one at a time. Until last week, when the last function left (the printing) died out too. I don't use my home Printer / Scanner much. But when I do need it, it's important I have it. I was just looking for a Printer, I didn't even realize this is a Scanner too. As for the USB thing, I just used the one I had from my "4 in 1". Yep, so far so good. It is pretty compact & simple to use. You pretty much use the online features to execute the functions, which is a nice change & far less complex from the old one I had.. The prints are great quality, for the price, especially!!

Again, I was just looking to get a decent, highly rated Printer delivered as quickly as possible for the lowest price. (I have Amazon Prime, so that helped). I just figured this one would do the job for now. And later if I want to replace it with a higher end product, I can always go do that. And then have this one as a backup.

The plastic on this device does look pretty cheap. And when you handle it, you'll see that it's NOT heavy duty or high end right away. However, as the other Reviewers have already pointed out - it works great!! It's compact. Simple & light weight!

I'm so proud of myself for this purchase!!

This is a very good entry-level printer for people who don't have extremely specific printing needs. As a student, I generally only need to print papers or various assignments for classes, and this means that I'm usually printing 3-5 pages of black and white material. This printer meets these needs very well, and is relatively affordable. Let me elaborate:FEATURES:• Wired Connection - I did not require a wireless connection, so this feature was perfect for me. The USB printing cord comes with the printer. I plugged it into my Mac, and was prompted to download the drivers for the printer, and was able to print within 5 minutes. I have only used this with Mac, but I know for a fact that it works with Windows as well.• Scanner - The lid of the printer opens up and features a scanner. I've used a few different scanners, HP and otherwise, and this is the best quality one I have used so far. If you're scanning on a Mac, I recommend using HP Easy Scan, which can be found on the Mac App Store. It makes scanning very easy. On PC, just use the built in Scanner and Fax program. The scanner produces high quality images, but is a bit bigger than a normal sheet of paper, so you may have to do some cropping on the PDF/Photo file.• Printing - I was able to use this product and print with ease. I rarely have misprints, and the prints come out very good. This printer is not as good for photos, since it is not designed for it, but for PowerPoints and Word Documents, as well as PDFs, it works great.• Ink - This printer uses HP 61 Black & Tri-color Original Ink Cartridges, 2 pack (CR259FN), and this is a huge pro because this ink is extremely cheap compared to other printers inks that I've come across.I do, however, have a few issues with this product, which is what caused me to take one star away.• Occasionally (twice), I have had the printer feed 2-3 sheets instead of 1, which causes the paper to crumple and the print to be messed up.• When inserting a new cartridge of ink, the printer prints out a test sheet, which wastes ink and cannot be turned off.• If there is not paper or ink present, you must cancel the print job on the printer and go again, it will not automatically start back up when you feed paper back in.• The paper "reservoir" does not hold very much paper. Only about 15-20 sheets.Overall, this is a great entry level printer and is a great price. I would recommend this to people who print infrequently, or students on a budget.

I really enjoy this printer. I still have and use it to this day. I even consider it portable as I take it with me along with my laptop when I travel. Everything I expected in this purchase met my expectations. I searched thoroughly before buying a printer to make sure I could get one for a good price and this was it. The fact that it prints very quietly is a plus also. I find it to be very durable. I have a two year old who thinks he is a business man and this printer has survived all his attacks. The set up was incredibly easy, once I inserted the disk it pretty much set itself up. I am a fan of simplicity so this printer was a perfect fit for me.

My fancy printer decided to stop working right before I needed to send out invitations for my friends shower. I ordered this one as a (temporary) replacement. I knew that it doesn't network so it wouldn't work for us for long. But it got me through printing the invites and envelopes. Then I printed volunteer schedules and a few other things that I needed before the fancy printer got fixed. Now, because it doesn't network and needs to be directly plugged into my computer to print, I only use it for making copies. It makes great copies. Color or black and white. I copy drs notes before I send the original to school so I have a copy, I copy my kids artwork when they ask me (IDK why) and crayon colors come out so if you are standing a few feet away you can't tell which is the original and which is the copy. I have no problem with the paper feeding. I even got card stock for the invites, and envelopes to feed just fine. Setting up the printer was no problem and I installed it on two different computers. I have not used the scanner function so I can't comment on that.

My father was looking to not spend a lot for a color printer, for light use, and after much research online we settled on this one. That was about a month ago and the printer is holding up fine. We both have iMacs (he is running Mavericks, I'm running Yosemite) and there was absolutely no problem installing on either (I showed him how to hook it up here, then he took it home with him and hooked it up himself there). He had been worried that he would also need to but a CD player to load the software; I told him he wouldn't, and that held true. It is super easy to download the driver (and the manual if so desired). The printing comes out darker than he likes and I haven't gotten up there to see if there's an easy way to adjust that or not. But, for the price and the level of use, this has been a good choice. (Not able to speak to the scanning or copying functions at this point.)

UPDATE: AUGUST 2015: We bought a second one of these since my daughter wanted a color printer and all we had was my old black-only LaserJet. It has been about a month and we've had no problems and we're still working on the ink that it comes with. So I might even say now that for the price this is a good printer for Medium Use as well.

Works great! I bought this for my daughter to use for her school reports and assignments. It's very easy to install and use. Too bad the cartilage's are smaller than what they were back in my time as a middle/high schooler. Times have changed, so be prepared to buy ink if you run out of one or the other. Can't print with out both being halfway full. The printer is big, so make sure you have space.

I've had this printer for about a year and it works. Major downsides: the printer program does not allow you to print with black ink only. You can not change to black only, or gray scale printing. If your color cartridge is empty, it will not print anything, even if it's just black text. The access for replacing the cartridges is awkward, vexing and difficult. The low price isn't worth the frustration.

there is no aftermarket ink cartridge for this printer. The Canon cartridge costs 17 dollars and prints very little. The printer costs you more than a hundred dollar model. Before buying a printer always check the ink availability

It prints quite well, and fast. My only complaint is that the printer software will *only* let you select 4 x 6 photo paper. I'm not sure why that would be, full size photo paper confuses it. I set it to "high quality" instead of "photo", and it prints well... I'd just like the photo-quality option for real paper.

Cheap printer that requires expensive ink.
Design for reaching the ink cartridges is a bit cumbersome. Have to reach down under the main unit and tilt the cartridges into place.
Seems to be working just fine. Easy to get going. Software package is good.

The price that you pay for the printer is great, it's even lower now than when I bought it. It does have some issues though, for whatever reason if I want to print pages chronologically, it will do the opposite. Sometimes if the paper isn't placed correctly into the feed, it won't go through at all and would just spit ink on itself. I have also had problems with printing multiple pages and some pieces of paper would be stuck together and not separated. I definitely have no competence in internal printer architecture but it's probably something to do with the roller part where paper enters into the printer. The ink goes fast on this machine too, more so than other printers I've had in the past. If you aren't printing on a daily basis or even weekly, then this printer is for you.

Prints fine, but always gives me an error message (long after printing) saying it wasn't shut down properly (maybe it wants to be manually shut off after each use?) and the "auto on" feature has never worked. I always have to manually power on in order to print. It's really just annoying, but it prints like a regular inkjet. The most annoying thing ever is that I bought the printer and the ink and got it delivered on time on the day I really needed it, only to realize that. .. duh... they don't include the cord to attach it to the computer (seriously, which genius decided to start selling printers minus the cord you NEED in order for it to work? Might as well sell the power cord separate too... ridiculous! )

I would actually give this a 3 1/2 or even, maybe a 4-star rating because it does what I want it to and it was inexpensive. BUT the ink only worked long enough for a test sheet. I didn't use the printer for some time after, so when I realized there was no more ink I didn't bother to complain. (Also if you've ever dealt with HP help you'll know that it really is worse than useless because of the frustration level.) Other not too serious complaints I have is that it's not intuitive to use, the paper feed doesn't hold a lot and the printer occasionally spits out a blank page before it prints. But after all I wouldn't discourage anyone from buying it with just a grain of salt.

Always misaligned. Tried aligning it in all direction. Always prints incorrectly even with all the updates installed. Stupid aligning software....took printing back to the stone age !!!!! EDIT: ANYONE BUYING THIS PRINTER...PLEASE DON'T INSTALL THE HP SOFTWARE BUNDLED ALONG WITH THE PRINTER. USE THE WINDOWS PRE-LOADED DRIVER. YOUR PRINT ALIGNMENT AND QUALITY WILL BE MUCH BETTER.....!!!!

I previously gave this a scathing condemnation but since then I've learned to adjust to it's quirks. It's still not the best but perhaps may be the best of it's type for the money. Even though Amazon authorized its return, I've decided it's not worth the trouble. I've used it less than a week and the ink levels are at 50% - obviously NOT FULL CARTRIDGES. We all know this sleezy practice!

Originally, when I bought this, it stated that it supported wireless printing... THIS PRODUCT DOES NOT SUPPORT WIRELESS PRINTING. It also doesn't support the type of printing where you can email the device and print from "anywhere". It only prints via usb cord.

Also, be warned... apparently the ink was pre-used and refilled... so that's kinda lame...

But over all, it prints pretty well. It prints really fast.. and takes great scans... which I am very excited about. :)

Also doesn't fax either... which was -also- part of the of description, when I bought it.
Not going to return this because we need a printer and really other printers in the series do support the things listed in the description... and I suspect that it was listed on this one, because of that... so be careful when buying this product.

It is early in my experience with my new printer/4 way HP 1513, but I am generally disappointed. I bought this item when my previous HP deskjet gave up the ghost after nearly ten years of service great service. I admit I spent half as much as I had on my old HP, but the new one sounds like it will shake apart any minute…and I don't give any printer heavy usage. The "cradle" that holds the cartridges seems loose and just correctly seating the initial cartridges took 10-20x as long as my old machine. Not what I expect from an HP. It is also a bad deal when you don't get a printed manual. I know manuals are available online, but nothing is as good as having a manual in one hand while you you make the necessary adjustments or settings on the machine with the other. Spend a little more and hopefully you will be happier than I am.

I bought this poster specifically to print small posters in color for my classroom and it cuts off the bottom of the image, which in this case happens to be text, which makes the printout useless. I have tried adjusting the settings many times, with no success. I may have to return this if I can't figure it out. What a waste of time.

While it worked for some months, it pulls multiple pages when printing, causing jamming, and broke down completely less than 1.5 years after purchase. Uses a lot of ink. One does get what one pays for with this printer.

I don't know why, but I thought it was , "wireless capable"
I wanted a cheap wireless printer, so I guess I can blame myself. I thought I ready it was wireless. I searched for , "wireless" printers, and this came up.
Otherwise, it works well. It prints.
If you want a WIRELESS printer, really make sure it is.

Not a fan. Prints ok, but VERY LOUD and I have it on the quiet setting. Not smooth and seamless either. Makes jerky movements while printing. Ink is expensive too. I'm currently searching for a new printer. My previous printer was a Canon and I loved it. I had it for 2 years. This one has been in my life 1 very long month. I homeschool and I print often. I can't deal with this printer anymore.

WOW.....WHAT A INK HOG....Cost me 40 bucks to print 100 2-sided business cards !! Not to mention the avery labels.

Initially fine, therefore 2 stars. Broke after 6 month. It claims to have a paper jam but there no paper at all in it. I even opened and reassembled it. Briefly it worked going through the normal start up routine. On the first test printout it did not transport the paper and went straight back to paper jam failure. Too late for a return .-(((

Very unreliable. It frequently gives me an error about paper not being in it despite there being paper loaded. I frequently need to turn it off and turn it back on for it to print something. Would not recommend.

You get what you pay for. The things this printer did were very basic. Basic scan, basic print. The things I hated about this, but could do with since I hardly use a printer from home is as follows:
- Scanning something is a pain in the butt. You have to install their software, turn it on, and scan it in. After it's been scanned, it's crooked and really low quality. I've had to bring items into Photoshop after scanning to make adjustments to the quality.
- Printing is loud and slow. I have a baby, so the loudness of this product is not conducive to printing things while the baby is sleeping.
- But the WORST part is that I had this printer for LESS THAN ONE YEAR, and it has already crapped out on me! It will not print. Every time I press print, the loud "prep" noise comes on, but it does not take the paper anymore. Rather, it starts to take the paper, but then it crinkles the paper to the point that it jams before it even leaves the paper feed!
Waste of money and space.

I never write reviews. But after using this for about a month I am really upset, I just had to share my experience:
1. I usually use my school printer to print so I only bought this just in case I forgot to print something at school. So I never printed more than 10 pages per job. So, in total ,over the course of about a month I probably used less than 50 pages. And when I do use my printer I set it as "Quality: draft - black and white" so that it prints faster and waste less ink.
The black ink ran out. After my sporadic use for a month (I used this probably about 6-7 times) with the loosest ink-usage setting, the ink already ran out.
I don't even believe this. And it doesn't warn you if it is low it just starts blinking red light after my last use being absolutely fine and gives me nothing.

2. I also had a lot of trouble on my second use with it not being "connected" with my computer. So I had to go to HP's website and go through the troubleshooting tutorial. It worked out but really? after my second use?

3. Also, the papers fall out. The area that receives the papers don't extend so that's not a material defect but it is inconvenient.

4. The paper gets stuck quite often out of that 6-7times I've used it, it happened twice. Not a big problem but frustrating.
Also you cannot put more than 20-30pg on the top.

On the plus side, it's really cheap but I would rather pay a bit more to get a better printer. In fact, I'm trying to get in touch with the customer service to ask about the ink issue. It's just absurd that it already ran out - if I have to pay 30 dollars for about 50 pages of "draft" paper quality printing, I would rather buy a laser printer that lasts much longer.
Also, it's pretty fast, especially if you have it set at "draft" mode. I think it's too big for its purposes. I think there are laser printers that are comparable to this in size. It's light - not that that really matters because it just sits on my desk. Also, because it's really light, it gets easily pushed back if I have a lot of things on my desk.
Anyways, I'm going to see if I can return this and just buy a better printer.

Honestly, this is not the worst printer. It's cheap. But again, considering the cost of ink and how fast it runs out it may be a lot more efficient to buy more expensive but less-ink using or printers that have bigger ink cartilage will probably be a better option.

I ordered this printer model based on many positive reviews on Amazon. Printer arrived quickly and was in brand new condition. The installation CD did not function properly and I spent nearly an hour fooling with it before giving up and downloading the information from the HP website to get the printer working. I printed several test 4X6 color photos and got excellent results. I didn't use the printer for the next three days, then decided to print more photos. During this period of non-use, something happened to the printer which caused my computer to not recognize it anymore. Also, every light on the printer came on and flashed constantly. The paper jam indicator blinked furiously even though there was no paper in the printer. Both low ink level warning lights flashed despite the fact that both black and color ink cartridges are almost brand new. I tried to turn off the printer using the on/off button in an attempt to reset it, but it would not turn off, so I cut off the power by pulling the plug. I tried several times using this procedure to get the printer to work but all attempts were unsuccessful. My old HP 1510 worked for 10 years before it finally died.

I contacted Amazon with the intention of exchanging this printer for another identical model, but the only option was a refund. I took the refund, which is pending, and ordered another printer of this same model and should get it soon. Maybe I just got a bad one the first time and will give this model another chance.

I would give this printer a C+ on documents. It's reasonably fast and quality is acceptable but not spectacular. It's noisy. Copies get a C-. They're legible but there is a definite loss of quality from the originals. Scans are nice, I would give them a B+. Where this printer really sucks is printing photographs. My 10 year old Canon would print flawless borderless prints of stunning quality. Canon provided a photo print utility that let you easily tell the printer you were using special photo paper and what type of photo paper you were using. HP has a "print" command. Unprinted margins are not the same all around and are about 5/8 inch wide on the trailing edge even when margins are set to 0.

The ink cartridges are tiny and all the colors are in one cartridge. I suspect that's why the thing is so cheap. HP plans to make a lot of money selling you cartridges.

The most annoying part of this printer is the driver installation. It will not complete unless you give it lots of personal information. Fortunately it accepts bogus information such as no@spam.com for your email and 99999 for zip code.

I haven't decided if I'm going to keep it or return it as a bad job. If all you print is a very occasional B&W document you'll probably be happy with it.

Horrible machine only lasted a few uses . Bought it for my son at his dorm since they are not allowed to have a Wifi printer; not too many options available now a days. Started in August with printing about once a month; lasted till February!! Only printed an average of seven 5 page papers! Piece of junk!

Well I only bought one and it was defective out of the box. I kind of want my money back. Warranty doesn't get time and effort back. Headline sums it up nicely. Unless it was the supplier, Photo Savings (https://www.amazon.com/sp?_encoding=UTF8&marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER&seller=AVK2FQXQF9PPN). Just thought you should know.

This printer is absolute GARBAGE. I used it one time and it developed a mysterious paper jam that was impossible to clear, because there simply wasn't anything in the printer. I tried for 2 weeks to solve the issues with this printer, and to my dismay nothing worked. No tutorials, whether video or actual support on their webpage worked. Save your money and by an HP, this printer is nothing but a waste of your money.

broke within one week. through it in the trash

The printer requires doing a color test of the inks after you load them and before you can start printing your own items. I have not gotten the test page to print properly (it's printing black, blue, pink but not yellow). This doesn't make sense to me since the colored inks that came with the printer are all one unit... why is one not working?!?!?

The irony : I bought the printer to return a few other items from Amazon and haven't been able to print up return labels to send back the printer or the other items. Very frustrating.

Ideally I'd love to keep the printer if I could just get it to print. Tips?!?!

Worst printer I've ever came across in my 30 years of life on earth. Extremely loud, poor print and photo scan quality. Not compact whatsoever and returned this the next day. I think this is best for printing documents and other things, not for photos, although it is supposed to.

Too many paper and envelope jams! Returned.

I bought this primarily for use as a scanner, for which it's fine. (I figured having to plug my laptop in to scan is no big deal, since I always have to walk to this machine to scan anyway, and not having wireless capability made it cheaper.) I did, however, also want to be able to use this a back-up printer in case my main printer (a wireless-enabled Epson) failed. But black has never printed well for me --- it's either missing or light gray. I've printed diagnostics pages, done alignments, and used the automatic print head cleaning function, all to no avail. Evidently, either: (i) the printer's black capability is broken; or (ii) the black ink cartridge is faulty; or (iii) both. So I'm now gonna shell out another $13 to HP for a new black ink cartridge. If the new one works, I might upgrade my rating to 2 stars: after all, it's only mostly lousy if HP would ship a faulty ink cartridge with a working printer.

BROKE AFTER THREE USES. Three months after purchasing, paper feeder wheel broke - making this printer useless, as the Amazon return window had closed. I understand you're looking for a cheap printer, that's why you're on Amazon browsing - but this is the not the printer. Cheaply made, it had problems from the get go (button not responsive, poor printing quality) but then, after about three weeks of non-use, it just stopped working. Since I have a $47 paperweight on my hands, I might as well take it apart and see if I can fix it.
I always knew HP printers were cheap an meant to be replaced, but after THREE USES? Someone should bring a class action lawsuit against those HP criminals.

So far so good. Works well with Windows 10. No surprises. Hassle free setup. Like this better than my previous wireless HP printer which did not even last long enough to use up the first printer cartridge.

EDIT:
Printing for the 10th time, the printer printed the first sheet of a two sheet job then feeding the second sheet, the 2nd sheet went in cock-eyed. Since then it has not feed sheets properly. So disappointed JUNK JUNK JUNK JUNK

The best I can say is that it does print. And the printing is okay. Just okay. It's also simple to use and lightweight. That's the best I can say about it.

But there's a lot on the downside. It's very noisy. Very. And it needs to be turned on and off manually. That is a pain in the neck.

But perhaps the worst thing about it is that it eats ink. Eats it. HP ink is just too expensive for the amount this printer consumes, so I switched to less expensive "compatible" cartridges. They worked fine, for much less money. Until 5 or 6 weeks ago, when, after I installed a new cartridge, I found a window on my computer screen telling me that the printer would work only with HP cartridges and would not work with the non-HP cartridge I had installed.

Apparently, one of the periodic software updates was one that enabled HP to police the ink I put in my printer. I was outraged at this effort by HP to force me to by their overpriced ink, and it's the last HP product I will ever buy. I packed up the printer, gave it to charity, and bought a much better (Canon PIXMA) printer that I'm much happier with.