I went through the same issues years back with an HP all-in-one that was color (3 color cartridges, 1 black). Like you, I rarely had the need to print anything in color. In addition to the ink cartridges drying out, HP's cartridges are date coded with expiration dates which will render them toast. I also found the same solution to setting up the print default to only black which helped. Given some other printing issues eventually cropping up, I ended up giving the all-in-one to a friend's son for him to tinker with.......he soon put it out with the trash.
I ended up getting a fairly low-cost Brother b&w laser all-in-one after that. The "starter" toner cartridge that came with it new finally ran out.....after almost 2 years. Replaced it with a "high yield" cartridge that should last quite a long time! I use this mostly for printing copies - I have another b&w laser printer (HP 1200) that is older than dirt which I use for printing from the pc. It's been virtually flawless - have only had to replace the toner cartridge in it four times in over 10 years. (I don't print gobs of stuff....).
The laser toner cartridges are more expensive than the ink jet's cartridges when they're replaced but you'll do it far less often.
Bill
