The real cost of a cheap OfficeJet deal
Total cost of ownership for a home printer is the combined expense of buying the device, feeding it with ink over its lifetime, and replacing it when it wears out or becomes uneconomical to refill, and this long‑term view is far more important than the headline discount on the printer itself.
For most people, the best value is a refill tank printer, not the discounted HP OfficeJet Pro 8139. Tank-based models cost more upfront but flip the math when you factor in printer ink costs over a few years of schoolwork, home office documents, and photos. The OfficeJet Pro 8139 looks attractive: an all‑in‑one with print, scan, copy, fax, duplex printing, an auto document feeder, and a sizeable input tray suited to home and home office use. Owner reviews highlight easy setup and an intuitive 2.7‑inch touchscreen, plus app control and AI‑assisted print optimisation. Those are strong conveniences. But you are locking yourself into proprietary OfficeJet ink cartridges and a cartridge‑based ecosystem that tends to punish regular printing over time. If you print more than light occasional jobs, that discount is a trap, not a bargain.
Why the OfficeJet Pro 8139 makes sense only for light home use
The HP OfficeJet Pro 8139 is designed for a home or home office environment, with decent speeds, dual‑band Wi‑Fi, and enough flexibility for day‑to‑day tasks. It handles colour and black‑and‑white documents, automatic duplex printing, and multi‑page jobs through its auto document feeder. For a family that prints a few forms, school reports, and tickets each month, that mix of features feels generous at a discounted price.
However, this is still a cartridge‑based inkjet. Like other cheap printer deals, the low entry price hides an expensive proprietary ink ecosystem. Every refill of OfficeJet ink cartridges chips away at your savings, especially if you print often. The included one‑year trial of an ink delivery subscription can smooth the pain at first, but when the trial ends you are back to paying per cartridge. If you are a small business owner, the brand itself suggests you will likely want something faster and more capable, which implies higher duty cycles than this model comfortably supports. In short, the 8139 is fine for light home duty, but it is the wrong tool if you expect your printer to work hard.
Tank-based printers: pay more once, spend less forever
Refill tank printers (also called tank‑based inkjet printers) replace small cartridges with large, refillable tanks. This simple shift transforms total cost of ownership. One example tank printer uses a set of official ink bottles that yields about 5,200 pages; the ink kit costs far less per page than cartridges, working out to around a cent and a half per printed page with official ink. “Compare that to the 21 cents per page you are going to pay for the throwaway printer, and the savings start to become clear.”
Because tank printers store ink in reservoirs without chips, they also accept third‑party bottled ink without complaint, cutting page costs to well under a cent per page in some cases. That said, using off‑brand ink can void warranties or reduce manufacturer support, so the savings come with risk. Still, for anyone who prints more than a couple of hundred pages a year, investing in a refill tank printer is a smarter move than chasing cheap printer deals. Over a few years, you spend less, print more, and avoid the wasteful pattern of discarding under‑used printers when ink runs out.
Cartridge traps, throwaway printers, and when a deal is worth it
Cheap cartridge printers often look interchangeable: low entry price, included starter ink, and expensive refills. One example highlighted in the sources is a low‑cost colour printer whose replacement ink is only slightly cheaper than buying the whole device again, leading many owners to treat it as a disposable appliance. This throwaway mentality is terrible for the environment, and also terrible for your wallet. At about 21 cents of ink per page, your ongoing expenses quickly dwarf the small saving you made on the printer itself.
There is one narrow case where a discounted cartridge printer like the OfficeJet Pro 8139 can still make sense: if you print fewer than about 200 pages a year, your total ink use is so low that a cheap cartridge model can work out cheaper overall. In that scenario, the convenience of an all‑in‑one with wireless printing and an easy touchscreen interface is worth the occasional purchase of costly cartridges. But once your printing creeps toward regular homework, side‑hustle invoices, or photo projects, the scales tip heavily toward refill tank printers and their far lower total cost of ownership.
Buy if / Skip if
- Buy the HP OfficeJet Pro 8139 if you want an affordable all‑in‑one for light home or home‑office use with minimal setup fuss.
- Skip the HP OfficeJet Pro 8139 if you print frequently and care most about long‑term total cost of ownership rather than the initial discount.
- Buy the HP OfficeJet Pro 8139 if you value features like duplex printing, a document feeder, and smartphone control more than rock‑bottom ink prices.
- Skip the HP OfficeJet Pro 8139 if you run a small business and need something faster and more capable for higher print volumes.
- Buy the refill tank printer alternative if you expect to print hundreds or thousands of pages and want very low per‑page printer ink costs.
- Skip the refill tank printer alternative if you print fewer than about 200 pages per year and do not mind paying more per page when you do print.
- Buy the refill tank printer alternative if you want the flexibility to use third‑party ink bottles for even cheaper printing and accept the potential impact on warranty.
- Skip the refill tank printer alternative if you prefer sticking to proprietary ink and manufacturer programmes, even at a higher per‑page cost.
