Running Low On Ink?
Time To Get A New Printer!
By Pete Caldwell
This is the scenario being faced by millions around
the world today. You need to replace your printer
ink cartridges but the cost is only a few dollars
less than buying a brand new printer which of course
comes with brand new cartridges.
Why?
Manufacturers make very little profit from the sale
of their printers. The profit is made on the
replacement ink cartridges. Once you have the
printer you have to buy ink in order to print. If
you use your printer a lot, the cost can be
considerable.
A Brief Explanation.
Broadly speaking there are two types of inkjet
printers. The first uses true cartridges. Companies
such as Hewlett Packard and Lexmark use this system.
Cartridges consist of a tank of ink, a head (The
copper coloured metal strip) and sometimes a chip
that gives back data on the levels of ink. The
cartridges for this system, as owners know only too
well, are expensive.
The other system as employed by companies such as
Epson, Canon and Brother, uses headless cartridges.
This means that when you buy a cartridge for these
types you actually get a tank of ink and sometimes a
chip but the printer head stays within the printer.
Replacements are marginally less expensive for these
types of printer. Neither system has any significant
print quality advantages. Another point worth
remembering is that print quality is measured by
Dpi, (Dots per inch), and the printing media and not
simply by the ink used.
Laser printers work on an entirely different system
utilizing a large cartridge containing toner and not
ink. Toner is a powder containing heat sensitive
pigment. Most, though not all, laser printers are
used to print text and therefore use only black.
Replacements are expensive but some are capable of
printing up to 20,000 pages of text from one
cartridge.
What Can I Do?
For owners of Epson, Canon and Brother Printers one
answer is to use compatible cartridges. These are
cheap and carry superb guarantees as to their
quality. Most will last at least as long as the
originals. For Hewlett Packard and Lexmark owners
there are remanufactured cartridges. Owing to the
patents on these cartridges it is illegal to
manufacture compatibles.
You could always try refilling the originals but
this can be messy and sometimes leaks can occur
resulting in permanent printer damage.
In Conclusion.
Before you purchase a new printer find out the cost
of replacement cartridges. You’ll be amazed at how
much they vary. Look for a printer that uses tanks
of ink and best of all one that uses separate tanks
for black and the colours. In so doing when you need
to replace a cartridge, say yellow, you need only
replace this one colour and not the whole colour
cartridge.
A cheap printer laden with incentives such as
rebates does not always pay in the long run.
Discount ink cartridges or compatibles will always
save you money with no loss of print quality.
Keep that printer doing what it does best, Printing!
For more information on this subject
visit http://www.compatcartridges.com and click on:
The Facts. You can also email us at:
info@compatcartridges.com
for advice.
About The Author
Pete Caldwell is the founder and CEO of Compat
Cartridges.
Copyright 2005. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.compatcartridges.com
info@compatcartridges.com
Terms:
Articles may be reprinted provided content is not
edited and links are kept live
Source:
www.articledepot.co.uk
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