I had an HP printer. It was the all-in0one kind. It always told me when I was running low on either color or black-and-white. You could also go to the desktop and search printer and there you could always check the level of both. It showed a graphic of approximately how much you had left.

When I had problems with my very old computer, I decided to keep the printer / copier. That was a great idea as anybody can make a xerox copy of anything without having to turn the new computer on.

I don't know if this helps but it might give you some ideas...