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.
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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
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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?
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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.
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