A:AnswerI just bought this printer and the ink is lasting far longer than twelve pages!!!By contrast I returned an HP printer where the ink barely lasted 12 pages.
A:AnswerNo, there are no generic ink cartridges for this printer. As I indicated in my review, the ink cartridges are very reasonable. The black ink is $20.00, and the colored inks are $12.00.
A:AnswerMartha, I always recommend that a new user get the drivers straight from the manufacturer, and never use the CD. It's just about as easy and quick to do that, and they will always be the latest, with all available subprograms, like scan and networking tools.
A:AnswerYou may not have waited long enough for the printer to configure itself. The almost always go through a lot of girations to start itself, and you can always have it clean the printhead, and it should be perfect after that. If not (and I know this is 5 days after you got it), TAKE IT BACK!