Wireless Printer?

[#1]

The other recent talking point about ink cartridges was chipping. The practice of fitting a chip to the cartridge which decides when the cartridge is empty based on usage rather than actual content.
A great deal was written in the computer press about this as tests were demonstrating substantial wastage and the subsequent unnecessary expenditure on replacement cartridges.
Also it tried to negate the practice of refilling empty cartridges which subsequently spawned chip resetting instructions and tools.

[#2]

Quote from: Strat

The other recent talking point about ink cartridges was chipping. The practice of fitting a chip to the cartridge which decides when the cartridge is empty based on usage rather than actual content. A great deal was written in the computer press about this as tests were demonstrating substantial wastage and the subsequent unnecessary expenditure on replacement cartridges.

Yeah I've heard all about that, and I disagree with most of the conclusions made. Provided the ink cartridges come with the amount of ink advertised, then I see no problem... it's just the same as your local Chinese take-away giving you free prawn crackers if you spend enough with them. Except that the extra ink combined with the chip does actually serve a purpose: it prevents a situation arising where the ink cartridge has no ink to feed the print head, which can cause a very nasty blockage in the print head which may render it unusable. If you had a print cartridge which was transparent and not chipped, people would be tempted to let the cartridge run completely dry before replacing it, which would be a bad thing to do.

[#3]

The reply to that is that it never used to be a problem with non chipped cartridges as the print head and cartridge were one and the same so were thrown away as one when completely empty of at least one colour.
The single colour per cartridge printers I have used come with separate print heads and therefore your argument is sound as the print heads would last longer.

[#4]

As far as assessing the remaining ink in a cartridge is concerned. My Canon iP4300 uses 13ml carts 4 colours and black which is 30ml. I don't think they're chipped, but the low ink warning I get, I guess from the print head somehow. is quite optimistic (in Canon's favour...in fairness to Canon, it does report "low ink" not empty) with several ml left in the tank. But my query is; there are two compartments to each tank, one "filled" with ink, the other has a sponge in it...which side actually feeds the ink, and is it safe to wait until the sponge side is looking low of ink before replacing the cartridge?
As a supplementary question. What is the considered opinion of high street ink recharge shops? has anybody found them any good? are they really value for money?