I bought a new printer yesterday, even though there was really nothing wrong with my old one. However, it really bothered me that the old printer wouldn't print in black and white when the color cartridge was out of ink. That makes no sense whatsoever. I've owned two HP printers, and they each completely crapped out after about two years, and my Epson has lasted longer, but the requirement of having color ink in order to print in black and white was a big enough bother to get rid of it.
It's strange to me how printers are basically disposable nowadays. I could have spent about $45 on new ink cartridges for my old printer, but instead I bought a new printer for $100. The new printer also has a flatbed scanner and can be used as a copier, so it was well worth an extra $55 for those features.
There are a lot of color ink jet printers out there in the $30 to $40 range that already come with ink, but new black and color ink cartridges can cost $30 to $40 for most of them, so I don't see the point. Obviously, printer manufacturers are making all their money on ink, and probably not much on the printers themselves, at least as far as the average home consumer goes.