The 1200c and
1600c are durable and expensive printers and well worth the
cost of even buying the tray kit from HP at list, unlike some of the junker
inkjets made by Canon, Epson, Lexmark, etc. The 1200c and 1600c are more in
the professional series as well.
Now is the time to buy cartridges too, as MANY big dealers are dumping
them, and when its gone its gone (at decent prices anyway).
Not a very successful strategy; the ink cartridges for the HP1200C,
HP650c Plotter, HP750c/755CM+, and the black cartridges for the
HP DeskJet 870 & 895 have a limited shelf life.
However, I think you're wrong about these particular cartridges
disappearing from the market any time soon.
YMMV, etc.
-dq