The Economics of Ink: Analyzing the HP OfficeJet 4650 in the Subscription Era

When you buy an HP OfficeJet 4650, you aren’t just buying a plastic box with rollers; you are buying into an ecosystem. And like any ecosystem, the cost of living varies wildly depending on how you participate.

The 4650 uses the HP 63 cartridge series. It also supports HP Instant Ink. For the consumer standing in the aisle (or browsing Amazon), the choice between “buying ink” and “subscribing to ink” is confusing. Let’s apply some forensic accounting to the fluid dynamics of this printer.

The Hardware Reality: Integrated Printheads

First, a mechanical detail that drives cost. The HP 63 cartridges used by the 4650 have the printhead built into the cartridge. * The Pro: Every time you change the ink, you get a brand-new printhead. This makes the 4650 incredibly resilient. If the nozzle clogs after months of disuse, you don’t throw away the printer; you just buy a new cartridge ($20-$40) and the machine is good as new. * The Con: Manufacturing a circuit board and nozzle array for every cartridge is expensive. This is why HP 63 cartridges have a higher price-per-milliliter than the simple ink tanks found in Epson or Canon printers where the head is permanent.

Scenario A: The Retail Buyer (Pay-As-You-Go)

If you buy cartridges off the shelf: * Standard HP 63 Black: ~$22 for ~190 pages. CPP (Cost Per Page) ≈ 11.5 cents. * Standard HP 63 Tri-Color: ~$26 for ~165 pages. CPP ≈ 15.7 cents. * XL High Yield: Buying the XL versions drops the CPP to around 7-9 cents for black.

The Tri-Color Trap: The 4650 uses a single cartridge for Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow. If you print a lot of sunsets (Magenta heavy) and run out of Red, you must throw away the entire cartridge, even if the Cyan and Yellow chambers are full. This inefficiency effectively raises the real-world cost for color printing.

Scenario B: The Subscriber (Instant Ink)

HP Instant Ink flips the model. You pay for pages, not liquid. * The Math: If you pay $4.99/month for 50 pages, your CPP is ~10 cents. If you pay $11.99 for 100 pages, it drops further. * The Loophole: A “page” is a page, whether it is a single line of text or a full-color A4 photo.
* Text Documents: You lose money. Printing a shipping label costs 10 cents via subscription vs. 5 cents via retail XL cartridge.
* Photos: You win big. A full-color photo uses 20x more ink than a document. Printing it via retail might cost $1.00 in ink. Via subscription, it still costs 10 cents.

Verdict: Know Your Profile

The OfficeJet 4650 is a chameleon.
1. For the Photo Enthusiast: Sign up for Instant Ink. The ability to print borderless 4x6 or 8.5x11 photos without worrying about draining the expensive Tri-color cartridge is a massive arbitrage opportunity.
2. For the Occasional Text Printer: Buy the HP 63XL Black cartridge. Cancel the subscription. If you only print 10 pages a month, a single XL cartridge will last you two years, costing far less than the minimum monthly subscription fee.

Understanding this economic divide transforms the 4650 from a potential money pit into a precision financial tool for your home office.