What makes it more expensive to print in color than in black amp; white? Isnt ink, ink, whatever the color? -

like most said the pigments, also, the coding for the printer would be much more intensive. The computer will have to take all those shades that the people made and convert them to whatever kind of printer it is, so it would have to mix those to get the shade that you wanted.

Color cartridges contain specific pigments that are more expensive. When you print a color graphic or picture, the computer tells the printer how much red and yellow to spray onto the paper to get the right depth of color for orange ( or any other non primary color). thus, you are using two inks or more instead of just black, which is cheaper to produce.

No, because there are differnt chemicals used and are differant prices... so it costs more sometimes; )

Yes, that is true. However black and white only needs black ink and white paper. Colour uses what is called CYMK or Cyan, Yellow, Magenta and Black (K is from a German word for black that starts with K if memory serves). With these three you can make any known colour relatively easily but, as you can see, it s 4 times the colours of ink. Also, production of coloured inks is a bit harder. When it comes to professional printing, like for magazines, the big reason for the cost difference is setup. Prepping for a 1-colour print job is simple compared to 4-colour.