There's more to using a photorealistic printer than just its output quality. You should also consider its paper-handling characteristics, the quality of its consumables and even the software driver. The most obvious consumable is the ink cartridge. It's difficult to determine how long an individual cartridge will last, because it depends on how you use the printer. If you print many large color images, instead of a few smaller ones, the ink won't last as long.
Ink can also dry out while waiting to be used.
If unopened, the shelf life for cartridges in Epson's Stylus Photo family of printers, for example, is two years from production date. To achieve true photographic quality output, the single most important consumable is your choice of paper or media. As far as image quality is concerned, the paper is almost as important as the print-head design. High quality ink-jet papers are available from most printer companies and traditional photographic paper companies, such as Agfa, Ilford, Kodak and Luminos. To get optimum results from these papers, be sure to read the instructions for adjusting the printer's driver to suit the specific paper you're using.