INKJET OR TONER, WHICH IS THE BEST PRINTER FOR YOU?

What are the pros and cons of either?

When you are in the market to buy a printer, the biggest decision is whether to purchase an inkjet or a toner laser. Both types of printers can offer you features such as wireless printing, colour, multi function capability, etc.

People will tell you that a toner printer has better quality, but that is an over generalisation. There are many inkjet printers that produce photo image quality second to none, and some toners that don’t focus completely on quality, with consideration for other factors such as keeping prices down considered more important.

Probably the most important consideration as to which printer is the best for you, is the quantity of printing you require.

The average inkjet cartridge stores a rated 200 – 300 pages of ink. But at a 5% yield, or approx. one to two paragraphs a page, that ‘ai’nt a real lot of grunt’. In reality , obviously depending upon your usage, that amounts to probably about 100 printed pages. And coloureds are less but they usually share the workload with the other colours and the black.

Toner cartridges, on the other hand, rarely have a capacity of less than 1,000 pages, and go on  up from there.

Lets take a comparison of the two different capacity & per page printing costs of an inkjet & a toner from the same supplier, Brother. Each printer is a popular model, and randomly selected

The Inkjet in this case is the Brother MFC-J430W/J432W/J625D/J825DWW. The cartridge ( the LC40B (genuine) has a cost of $24.73 (prices supplied by ABC Print Supplies) and is calculated at printing 300 pages. The cost per page is 8.24 cents.

The laser/toner printer is the Brother HL2140/HL2142/HL2150N, with a cartridge, the TN2150, at a cost of $75.50 (genuine), and a cartridge capacity of 2,600 pages (standard). The cost per page is therefore 2.9cents.

Without going into the overall cost of the printer + page usage, it s obvious that if you are printing higher volumes, then the toner printer is the one for you. However the inkjet printer in this case retails at less than $100.

We thank our sponsers at ABC Printsupplies along with other suppliers for providing this information.

DO I BUY A GENUINE, COMPATIBLE, REMANUFACTURED, OR REFILL PRINTER CARTRIDGE?

Four different choices for the one printer cartridge, which is the best for me?

It can be a difficult decision to make, yet once you make it, you very rarely dwell on it.

There are four possible areas for concern here: here, reliability, quality, yield, and price.

But first of all, what are they? It doesn't matter whether they're InkJet or cartridge, the four choices remain the same, we'll explain them here as follows:

Genuine Cartridge
As the name suggests, its the one originally produced by the printer manufacturer. Hence a Canon printer cartridge is either made directly by Canon, or under licence to them. The interesting thing with the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacture) cartridge is that some of the componentry can be produced by another brand manufacturer or manufacturer.
They are normally very reliable and sometimes do not advertise the yield, because they are what they are, ...original.


Compatible Cartridge
Compatible Cartridges are giving the genuine ones a real shake up for their money.
Although their unreliability  was questionable 5+ years ago, this is not so much the case today.
The compatible is manufactured by companies that specialise in this area, such as G & G, Print Rite, Uninet etc. If their product was unreliable they wouldn't still be in business, as simple as that.
Having said that, their reliability is not quite to the level of the genuine cartridges, but close enough that suppliers are willing to replace any that fail to work, or when quality is not acceptable
Copyright laws are obliging compatibles to make up to a 35% alteration in the shape of the cartridge, although this can be a detriment to the genuine brands, as the compatible can be altered to hold a greater quantity of ink/toner, therefore higher yield.


Remanufactured Cartridge

This cartridge is the genuine one which has been taken back to a factory,where it is taken through a process of cleaning, examining, replacing worn out parts, filling it with ink/toner and post tested for quality, in a sterile environment.  In most cases, the body of the cartridge is the original body actually made by the same manufacturer that made your printer.  Many of the parts inside the cartridge are reused original components that may have been cleaned and left for a second cycle.  Many users swear by remanufactured inkjet cartridges and say that they can't ascertain differences in print quality over more costly OEM products. 

Refill Cartridge

The refill cartridge is also a genuine cartridge which is refilled by drilling a small incision into the tank of the cartridge at both ends, and using a needle type instrument to refill it. Refills might also have the heads cleaned to prevent clogging when reinstalled. 

So back to reliability, quality, yield, and price.

The reliability will vary little between the first three cartridge types above from reputable suppliers, although if you are operating a business where reliability is of upmost concern, then genuine is the way to go. At the bottom end of the scale is the refill, owing to the lack of quality control or replacement parts (seals etc.). Compatibles & remanufactureds do have a  high reliability, and for most users should not be a consideration.

Quality will again be 100% from genuine cartidges, so that if you were a professional photographic firm, you would probably not want to risk compromise. Having said that, many photographers have experimented with compatible/remanufactureds and stayed with them. But one bad experience will normally have you scurring back to genuines. Again refills are suspect in this regard. For the home user though, probably not a problem.

Yield and Price are very related. But compatibles and Remanufactureds have usually the same yield, or greater yield than the genuines. But how can that be for remanufactureds you say, as they are the same. Well unfortunately the genuines are not filled to the maximum, so don't have the same yield. 

So the Price issue is a no-brainer. Genuines really struggle against the other types here, and that is what has let the non-genuines into the market big-time.

We thank our sponsers at ABC Printsupplies along with other suppliers for providing this information.

WHAT BRAND OF PRINTER SHOULD I BUY, BROTHER, EPSON, XEROX.....?

 

 

 Confusing, isn't it, when its time to go buying a new printer?

There are so many things to consider when buying a printer, like what sort of printer cartridge do I use (Inkjet or Toner), what functions do I need it for, do I want colour, etc, etc.

We have discussed a number of these issues on previous blogs, but today we are looking at the issue of what brand is the best to buy?

There are 18 major brand names out there you can choose from, and because they are major brand names, you are unlikely to buy a lemon.

However each brand sells a lot of different models of printers. And some of those models, while you wouldn’t necessarily call them lemons, they might not be offering the best range of features e.g. one printer might produce a higher quality of print than another from that same brand. If printer quality (good v acceptable) is not your hot point, then it doesn’t matter.

There is no particular brand that is better than another. Like saying all Russians are communists, or all French people like wine, you can’t say all ‘x’ brand is better than ‘y’ brand.

Rather than buying a brand because it is better, look at factors like what is their after-sales service in your location like, do they have efficient repair facilities, are their prices competitive for the type of printer you want?

So when buying a new printer, this could be your order of priority:

1.    Type of printer (Inkjet/toner, single/multi function, mono/colour, photo/copier etc.)

2.    Cost of printer, including cost of printer cartridges.

3.    Investigate reviews, talk with large multi –brand retailers, other users etc

4.    When you have a short-list, if a large (expensive) printer,look at the supplier’s after sales service, maintenance agreement; if low cost, look up model on the internet to get user’s opinion.

Then make your decision, don’t procrastinate (an awful word), and buy it!

We thank our sponsers at ABC Printsupplies along with other suppliers for providing this information.

WHY BUY PRINTER CARTRIDGES BY THE BUNDLE /VALUE PACK?

     

You do save by bulk buying, but only if you have use of all the colours. When  you buy cartridges over the internet, an option you will often find is "B,C,M,Y Bundle" (usually for compatible/remanufactureds) , or "value Pack" (usually for genuines) as an option to purchasing a particular colour. Should you take advantage of these options?  The answer most times is yes you should. If you look at the individual prices of each of the black, cyan, magenta, and yellow cartridges, you will find that if you buy all four individually, their collective cost will be often significantly higher than the bundle offer. Also if you choose to buy each one individually as you require it, you will most likely be paying for the shipping cost, often anywhere between $5 to $10, and sometimes $15+ charged by the suppliers whose cartridge price is unbelievably low. If the price of your cartridge is say $22 then this is a heavy impost. But if you take advantage of the bundle/valuepack offer, and suppose you don't as have much requirement for colours as you do for the monocolour (black), you can end up with extra colours, not being used. The solution for this is to order a bundle/value pack, and also order an additional black, or cyan etc, if that colour of cartridge is what you use more. You will pay more for the additional cartridge because singularly it doesn't attract the bulk buying discount, BUT you do save on additional courier costs, as most retailers will charge only the one courier fee, no matter how many cartridges you order at the one time. We thank our sponsers at ABC Printsupplies along with other suppliers for providing this information.

STORAGE LIFE-SPAN FOR INKJET AND TONER CARTRIDGES

Advice on storage life-span can vary from three months to years. What are the life-spans?

To clarify this article, we are discussing the storage life of cartridges, not the usage lifetime once installed, or yield.
For inkjets and toners, as they use different materials, one liquid ink, the other powder, we are talking quite different storage life expectancies.

Inkjet Cartridges
Inkjet Cartridges, if stored in an upright position, and left unopened, in an area where the temperature remains below 35 degrees Celsius and above -15 degrees Celsius, will store for a longer period than the ‘use by’ date on the box, which is normally two to three years. Not all inkjet cartridge boxes have a use by date, but the cartridge is in a package designed to minimize any evaporation. If after a long period of time, when you do open the packet, and install it, and it doesn’t work, your print head might be blocked, then you can clean it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGKFg0r7CXc . For maximizing  the lifespan of your inkjet cartridge when in use go to  http://tinyurl.com/8ybeogk

Toner Cartridges
Toner is a dry polymer powder used in laser printers (laser is an acronym for ‘Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation’) which is literally melted onto the paper when it passes through the fuser. It won't dry out, and will last indefinitely. However, in high humid conditions, it can congeal. But again, if the cartridge is protected by a sealed package, then storage life for a toner is not really an issue, as the printer’s life span could even be shorter.

We thank our sponsers at ABC Printsupplies along with other suppliers for providing this information. 

 

WHERE CAN YOU FIND REVIEWS WHEN BUYING A NEW PRINTER

Your printer is about to pack it in, and you have worked out what type of printer you want i.e Multi functional (print, copy, fax etc.), with colour, and so on. But which brand/model do you buy?

To assist you in that regard, look up this previous blog on what printer should you get.

Time to check out the internet reviews to get your answers, but where or how do you do that?

One way is to call up sites that specialise in reviews, by using different search keywords, such as "printer reviews" This will provide a fair assortment of different options.

Reviewers will often provide a filter for letting you advise what you are searching for. The filter determinants can include different choices such as Brand (Company), Category (Multi-function, copier, inkjet etc), user favourites Editors Choice...... so there are lots of ways on the better review sites to determine what printer best suits you.

Remember that reviews are not there to tell you what to buy, but what are the advantages & shortcomings of each printer that you look at. You have to make the decision as to what is important to you and what is not.

And don’t forget that once you have a shortlist of the printers you prefer, to look up the cost of printer cartridges be they  genuine, compatible, or remanufactured to help you determine the long term cost of that printer.

To help you in your quest, here are a few review pages you might find of interest: 

Cnet Reviews

PCworld Reviews 

AlaTest Reviews  (my favourite)

We thank our sponsers at ABC Printsupplies along with other suppliers for providing this information. 

WANT TO PRINT FEWER PAGES AND SAVE PAPER AND INK?

How to save on paper, ink and printer costs while helping reduce carbon emissions into the environment. Then you should have a look at 'Greenprint Home Premium', a downlaodable software product. There is a 32 bit & a 64 bit version. One user reviewed it as", Works GREAT on my XP Home system, saves a bunch of ink and a ton of paper that would be wasted without it. Also saves time, since I don't have to wait while things I don't want or need are printed." We can't vouch as to whether this was an interested party or not. Greenprint previews your print jobs for you, removing the unneccessary pages such as images and pages with no text before printing, enabling you to print a lot less pages, depending upon your application. It can also be used to create PDF files form the pages instead of printing them. The PC World Editorial Review of 'Greenprint Home Premium'  advises it is easy to use and that you instal it as a printer driver, and when you want to print, choose it on your printer driver. You then get a preview of all your pages where you can remove the graphics, text, and entire pages. When you're done, tell it to print. In bringing this product to your attention we do not necessarily  recommend it, and we would advise you to use the free trial version for 30 days before whole heartedly launching into it at a price of $29.00. To download Greenprint Home Premium, click here. We thank our sponsers at ABC Printsupplies along with other suppliers for providing this information.

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR INKJET CARTRIDGE

 

How do I maximize the life of my Inkjet cartridges? To get the longest life out of your inkjet cartridges (and your printer), you should do the following: 1) Prevent your inkjet cartridges from drying out. If you are going to go on vacation for an extended period the Ink Cartridge left in you printer may dry out. Think of it just like leaving the lid off a paint tin, eventually the ink will thicken and cause blocking to your print-heads. Take the time to remove these cartridges before you leave. Make sure you follow the instructions provided by your original printer manufacturers manual before you do this. Wrap them in plastic and place in your refrigerator until you arrive back. Make sure that you use your maintenance software when you do re-install them to clean and prime the heads again.  You should print using the colour and black print out at least once in 2-3 weeks, but preferably once a week. If the cartridge is already dried out, do not use it to print, it will damage the print head with heat.  You can clean the print head of the cartridge 2) Cleaning Water Based Cartridge Print Heads: If  you think your print head is blocked, then there is a simple procedure to clean it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGKFg0r7CXc  Don’t forget to run the print head cleaning mechanism as described in your printer manual before using it again 3) Cleaning Pigment / Oil Based Ink Cartridge Print Heads: For some oil bases pigment inks you may have to use isopropyl alcohol instead of warm water. (follow above water based cartridge maintenance instructions) 4) Cleaning My Printer? You should be aware that you have to maintain your printer on a regular basis to ensure consistent print quality. On most printer models you will notice that when you change ink cartridges or when you first turn your printer on the printer goes through what is known as a Print Head Cleaning Procedure. For the life of your printer this will happen hundreds of times. You may not have noticed that while this automatic head cleaning and alignment is taking place that old ink and paper residue is being dumped into a holding bin usually a small plastic container situated towards the right hand side of the printer under the lid. This is where your printer head sits while parked and not in use. If this Ink Dump Area gets over loaded, or generally un-maintained instead of cleaning your printer cartridges is does quite the contrary, it clogs them up with old ink and paper dust, a sticky residue almost like a Crude Oil blocks the tiny pores in your fragile print head and results poor printed output which shows print banding or print discolouration. In severe cases complete print-head blockage has been noted. The Solution: Maintain your printer by cleaning the Print Dump Container and the Cartridge Parking area. Use a cotton bud ear cleaner and some Isopropyl alcohol. Make sure that you remove as much old ink as you can, but before doing anything make sure that all electrical power has been switched off and that you are working in an environment suitable for the job in hand.   We thank our sponsers at ABC Printsupplies along with other suppliers for providing this information.

BORING HOLIDAYS FOR THE CHILDREN? COMPUTER DRAWING IS THE ANSWER

  

 

"Mummy - I'm bored!" The school holidays are happening, but the children have nothing to do.

If you have a computer, and a printer with colour cartridges, then there is a solution.
You might have to learn this free drawing application yourself to show the kids how, but the free time to do other things will justify your return many times over. Happy children means a happy home.
This game is simply called 'Drawing for Children', (click on this link to go to the web page) and it's easy to instal. Did I mention that it's free? It works like a kiddies' photoshop, but oh so simple to use. Just be ready for their printed portrait of you.

Not only does it help further familiarize your children with computer usage, but it also feeds their creative abilities, and it makes them think, and enjoy.  And its something you can share with them.


We thank our sponsers at ABC Printsupplies along with other suppliers for providing this information.  

WHY PRINTERS ARE IMPORTANT TO HOME USERS

     

There are so many ways to get the most of your printer use at home - here are some of them. Often home users rarely use their printer, perhaps because they aren't aware of the many print benefits they can get. Following are various uses that you might not have thought of: 1.      Forms.   Many webpages have forms option on their sidebar at no cost. A good example is a Statue of Declaration form 2.      Tickets.  You want to go to that new movie that is on in town, or your sporting team has a big home game coming up Saturday week, and you want some tickets. The internet not only allows you to select where in the  theatre/stadium etc you can choose to sit, but allows you to print your tickets on the spot 3.        Photos.  You get a virus in your hard disk drive and you havn't backed up to a removable drive. The real heartache occurs when you realize that you have not printed those special family photos. The quality of printers and inks/toners today, along with glossy photo quality paper, enables you to produce great quality photos for your album. 4.        Children's Games, Drawings & Keepsakes.  Children on holidays need to be kept occupied, but 3 children do not go into one computer. What to do? Print-out games that they will enjoy doing on paper. Or when they do a computer drawing, it's a masterpiece of course, and must be put up on the wall in the bedroom - imagine if there was no printer! 5.       Recipes.  You want a recipe for Thai Chicken, as your partner is bringing home the boss who apparently has a real penchant for it. You find just what you are after on the internet. So if you don't have a printer, you have to either write it own, or keep referring to the monitor which of course has gone into stand-by mode.....aaaagh. Printing it gives you quick, easy reference, plus you store it away in your recipe book for next time after the boss says it was the best he's ever had. There are numerous other uses for the home computer printer. So make sure you have a spare printer cartridge available as well, or the children will never forgive you, even Ben at 18, who needs a map printout to get to his new girl friend's place. We thank our sponsers at ABC Printsupplies along with other suppliers for providing this information.

CARTRIDGE FAILURE OR PRINTER PROBLEM?

 

Getting poor quality print outs from your inkjet/toner printer? Is it the cartridge or  printer maintenance to blame?

Are you seeing smudges on the paper, colours mixing, or missing sections? Then it could pay you to have a look at the maintenance of your printer,
Here are some things you should regularly do to maintain good printer quality:
 – Use your inkjet printer regularly
When  your printer is left unused for long stretches of time, the ink in the print head and nozzles can dry and cause printing flaws such as jagged lines and incorrect colors. To prevent this,  use your printer frequently, even if just a page of printing.
– Perform nozzle checks
If you leave your printer unused for a long period of time, you should perform a nozzle check before you use it again. This will make sure your printer prints normally. The nozzle check can often be run thorough your printer’s utility function. Look at your printer’s user manual for specific directions.
 – Clean the print heads
If your nozzle is clogged, cleaning the print heads should fix any poor print quality issues. Cleaning utilities come with your printer drivers. Some printers even have a print head cleaning button on their control panel. Your printer’s user manual will have specific directions.
– Align the print heads
If your printouts have vertical lines or horizontal bands this generally means that your print head needs to be aligned. This utility can be found with your printer drivers or in your printer control panel. When you align the print heads, the printer will print a pattern on a piece of paper. You then follow prompts from your printer to adjust the pattern. Specific information for performing a print head alignment can be found in your printer’s user manual.
– Replace your inkjet cartridges
Flawed printouts can often be caused by cartridges that are low on ink. Your printer will prompt you when a black or color cartridge reaches a certain level of ink. Printer manufactures say you should replace your cartridge when you receive this warning because print quality will suffer if you don’t. When replacing your printer cartridges, be sure your purchase the correct replacement cartridge ( check the printer models on the cartridge box or from the web page) and install it as the supplied instructions or your printer’s user manual directs. Incorrect installation can cause more flawed printouts.
 – Turn your printer off (the correct way)
Leaving your inkjet printer on for extended periods of time can cause clogged nozzles and flawed printouts. After you finish using your printer for the day you should turn it off using the printer’s own power button. In most printers, the power button initiates a process that seals the print head from outside air, preventing clogged nozzles. If you unplug your printer, or turn it off using a power strip, the print head sealing function may not run.

Alternatively, to check your cartridge, insert an alternative one, if it prints well, then contact your supplier to replace the malfunctioning one. But remember, cartridges don't last forever - if it is over 3 months since you've received it, or experienced abnormal temperature conditions, then discard it as the supplier is unlikely to offer replacement.

We thank our sponsers at ABC Printsupplies along with other suppliers for providing this information. 

TIME FOR A NEW PRINTER, WHAT SHOULD YOU GET?

 

 

The questions you should ask yourself before making a decision on the best printer for your usage.

 

There are many features and options available to you when buying a new printer, that if answered correctly, should enable you to buy the most suitable printer to your needs. And not necessarily the most expensive.

So ask yourself these questions:

• What category of printer is required? There are three categories to chose from:

     1) General Purpose or Special Purpose – The vast majority of printers on the market are general purpose (they are good for doing a little bit of everything). Special purpose printers are designed to do specific things (photo printing, document printing, label printing). Figure out what purpose you need your printer to serve.

     2) Home Use or Office Use – Where will you be using your printer? Home use printers are more likely to print photos. Office users will focus on printing text. Maybe you are a home office user. If so, geta multifunction printer.

     3) Laser Printer or Inkjet Printer -  Laser printers are designed for text heavy printing. Inkjet printers are better for photos and graphics. What you print will determine what you need.

•   Do you need to print in color?  
    If the answer is yes, you are probably leaning toward an inkjet printer. If you answer no, then find yourself a laser printer.
•  Do you need a single function or multifunction printer  (MFC or MFP)?    
   If all you want to do is print, go with a single function printer. If you would like the option to make copies, scan documents/images and fax, you are going to need a multifunction printer.                                                                                                                                                                                       
• What kind of print quality do you need?       
  Print quality differs by the type of printer. Check the print quality for text, graphics, and photos separately. Just because a printer prints high quality text does not mean it will print high quality graphics and photos. Find a printer that produces high quality results for what you print.
•  How much speed do you need?    
  If you are the sole user and you typically print 1-2 pages at a time, you probably don’t need a printer with a lot of speed. If you are printing individual documents with many pages, or share the printer with a number of people, you are going to want a printer with a high print speed.

• How much do you print?    
  Make sure you check the printer’s monthly duty cycle.The duty cycle the manufacturers recommended number of pages you should print each month. Each printer has a different duty cycle. Printing in excess of this number may cause your printer to wear out faster.

• How are you going to connect?     
  In addition to USB ports, most printers now allow you to connect via an Ethernet connection or Wireless connection. The advantage of Ethernet and Wireless is that they allow you to add your printer to your home network. You can link all your computers to a single printer. 

•  How much does it cost?    
  Be sure to check the total cost of ownership for any printer you are thinking about purchasing. You’ll pay a certain amount for the printer when you buy it, but remember you are going to need to buy cartridges in order to continue to use it. To get the total cost of ownership, calculate the cost per year for each kind of output (monochrome, color document, photo) by multiplying the cost per page for that kind of output by the number of those pages you print per year. Add the three amounts together to get the total cost per year. Then multiply that by the number of years you expect to own the printer, and add the initial cost of the printer. Compare the total cost of ownership figures between printers to find out which printer will be cheapest in the long run. More on this at a previous article.
  
  
  Additional information on what printer to get can be seen on a video from PC World
  
  
  We thank our sponsers at ABC Printsupplies along with other suppliers for providing this information. 

HOW TO DISPOSE OF USED PRINTER CARTRIDGES

 

 How do you get rid of those used printer cartridges in an environmentally friendly way (e-waste recycling)? 

This is becoming a more vexing problem for business and householders as they dispose of MANY MILLIONS of printer cartridges each year - mostly ending up in land fills with long term environmental issues (scary for future generations - bequeathing them a dump). Plastic is a material that nature finds particularly difficult to decompose taking an extremely long period of time. so alternative uses need to be found for them.

One alternative use is remanufacturing of the cartridges, and this is becoming more evident with companies turning profitability from reproducing high quality toner & printer cartridges.

Another alternative use is to break down the cartridges, using the componentry in other industries.

But where can you dispose of the cartridges?

The good news is that organisations are putting their clout behind solving this problem. They call it e-waste recycling and it makes a lot of sense. Look up keywords like 'recycling printer cartridges' or 'printer cartridge collection'on your favourite search engine site ( Google, Yahoo, Bing etc.)

To help the environment in another way, especially if you are a business, create a disposal box on your premises, and only take it to a disposal centre when it is full. That way you are not using as much fuel in transportation - and fossil fuel consumption creates carbon emissions. 

We welcome other parties using this article to spread the good word. 

We thank our sponsers at ABC Printsupplies along with other suppliers for providing this information. 

THE REAL COST OF YOUR PRINTER PURCHASE

You're buying a new printer and you want to know what gives you the best bang for your buck.

 

 

Taking away factors such as print speed, and quality of print ( for genuine recognized brands, are nearly always high ), which can otherwise be important considerations for you, the most important consideration in purchasing a printer is its total cost i.e. price plus running costs over a period of its lifetime, say 3 years. 

Running costs do matter, and a printer with a lower cost per page isn't necessarily going to be cheaper in the longer term. To find out which printer is the best buy, you need to compute the total cost of printing over the printer's lifetime.

In undertaking your comparisons, make sure that the printer cartridge usage yields you use are from reliable suppliers where the yields are measured in terms of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

Remember that cartridge prices are irrelevant unless you also know how many pages the cartridge will print. Focus on the cost per page, not the cost per cartridge. Estimate the number of pages you print per month, both in monochrome (black), and in colour. In printer usage colour also uses the black cartridge.  

Following is a table that will assist you in determining what total printer costa are to you:

 

PRINTER	PRICE	COST PER PAGE		RUNNING COSTS PER MONTH		TOTAL COST PER MONTH	3-YEAR RUNNING COSTS	TOTAL 3-YEAR COST
		MONO	COLOUR	MONO	COLOUR

We thank our sponsers at ABC Printsupplies along with other suppliers for providing this information. 

CALIBRATING PRINTERS BY BROTHER

How to Prevent Print Defects in DCP9040CN, DCP9042CDN, HL4040CN, HL4050CDN, MFC9440CN, MFC9450CDN, and MFC9840CDW printers by Brother

PROBLEM
Due to variations in temperature and humidity, any newly installed cartridge (TN-150, TN155) in the  Brother DCP9040CN, DCP9042CDN, HL4040CN, HL4050CDN, MFC9440CN, MFC9450CDN, and MFC9840CDW printers, whether new OEM (original equipment manufacture) or remanufactured, can produce density defects if the printer is not calibrated.


Failure to calibrate after cartridge installation can result in light print or over saturated dark print caused by colours not being properly matched. Dumping can be caused by over saturation or by over development of toner.


SOLUTION




To achieve optimal colour density for each colour it is recommended that a manual calibration be performed on the printer at the time of cartridge installation.
To manually calibrate:

1.  Press the + or - key to choose Colour Correction, Press OK,
2.  Press OK when printer window displays Colour Correction.
3.  Press OK when printer window displays Colour Calibration. Then calibrate.
4.  Press OK again when printer window displays Calibrate OK?

In the event that your manual calibration is unsatisfactory, undo by resetting the parameters to factory settings and then repeat manual calibration.

1. Press the + or - key to choose Colour correction. Press OK.
2. Press OK when printer window displays colour correction. Colour Calibration 
3. Press the + or - key rto choose Reset. Press OK  when the printer window displays  Colour Calibration Reset.
4. Press OK again  when the printer window displays Reset OK? 
   

We thank our sponsers at ABC Printsupplies along with other suppliers for providing this information. 

posted by Tony Cotton

PRINTER CARTRIDGE COLOURS

What's in a colour you say


If you are into printing, at home or work-wise, then everything. So what are they?
There are four colours used by printers - black, cyan, magenta, & yellow. They can be either ink or toner. Some printers will offer additional colours e.g. red, green, photo black etc, but of the four colours first mentioned, they can combine to form any other colour.
BLACK
The black colour can be defined as the absence of all other colours. The reason that something seems to be black to the eye is that no visible colours are reflected back.
Black can be printed by combining 100% of the three other colours, Cyan, Magenta & Yellowcolours (in which case a black cartridge is not needed). In fact with many printers, if your black expires, the colours will automatically take over to print in black, which is an expensive way to print as they normally are far more costly than the black. Also producing black by combining colours has its drawbacks & can create a colour closer to a brown or gray.
CYAN
Cyan is also called process blue and is one of the subtractive primary colours used in the C,MY9K) colour model. The Cyan colour is predominantly blue with some green in it.
MAGENTA
Magenta is also called process red and like Cyan is one of the subtractive colours used. The magenta colour is greenless and is predominantly redwith some blue in it.
YELLOW
Yellow is one of the subtractive primary colours used in the CMY, and CMYK colour models. The yellow colour is blueless meaning that it absorbs all wavelengths of blue from light.


The cyan, magenta , and yellow individually are normally inserted as a cartidege into the printer, or as a combined cartridge of cyan, magenta & yellow. They never form a combination with the black.

We thank our sponsers at ABC Printsupplies along with other suppliers for providing this information. 

SOME REASONS WHY YOUR PRINTER CARTRIDGE IS NOT WORKING PROPERLY

Clues to get better performance
Sometimes, your printer just won't print properly. You press the 'print' button and your report printout is not very clear. The printout, in fact, is faded, as though you are running out of ink/toner.
But you know the cartridge is nearly full - you only used it last month to print out that recipe.
So you think it is defective.
Before you phone the supplier to demand a replacement/refund, it could pay you to check the printer head. The chances are it is clogged with dried ink/toner or dust. The problem is solved by cleaning the head of the printer. Find your printer manual on how to do this, along with other troubleshooting hints if the printer is not performing.
You find that you are not printing even though the printer screen advises you have a percentage still to use. There is in the cartridge residual ink/toner. Like toothpaste in a tube it can't be accessed. This combined with toner dust (toner remains) will effect the reading on your printer so as you think you have say 20% usage remaining but in reality you are out of ink/toner.


Another reason your printer is not printing properly (or suddenly at all after just recently installing it) is that you might not have removed the seal or tab protecting the ink from dispersing during travel.
The manufacturer will allow a minimum of usage for test purposes without the seal/tab being removed, which falsely lets you believe the cartridge is operational.


And if you think that the quality of the print is inferior, check the printer settings. For example in Microsoft Windows under print preferences you have different print quality choices including high, standard, fast, & custom. If the setting is on 'fast' you won't have the same quality of print as 'high'.


We thank our sponsers at ABC Printsupplies along with other suppliers for providing this information. 

INK & TONER CARTRIDGES - WHAT ARE THEY?

Printer cartridges come in different shapes & sizes, but all have a common purpose.
And that purpose is to store a substance (ink or toner powder), which is supplies on demand to the computer with which the cartridge is coupled. Think of a baby (printer) & a mother (cartridge), supplying milk (ink, toner) on demand.


INK CARTRIDGES

Inkjet (Ink) cartridges vary in size & shape, from the size of a matchbox to a DVD cover.
They can vary in what quantity they contain from 2.5ml for the Canon BCI11BK Black cartridge to 330ml for the Canon  BCI1431BK Wide Format cartridge, although the majority are in the 14 to 18 ml range.


TONER CARTRIDGES

Toner (laser) cartridges are more usually expressed in pages of yield and vary between say a minimum of 1,000 pages for the Dell 592-11451 cyan cartridge to a massive 47,000 pages for the Canon TG29, GPR19 copier cartridge.


The toner printer cartridges normally have greater capacity than the Inkjet cartridges and are more office accentuated while the latter is more often for home usage.
Many offices though do use Ink cartridges, especially smaller businesses.


We thank our sponsers at ABC Printsupplies along with other suppliers for providing this information. 

HOW TO MAXIMIZE PRINTER CARTRIDGE USAGE

 Do you want to get the most usage from your printer cartridge?

There are ways to get more ink or toner yield from printer cartridges, whether genuine , remanufactured , or compatible.

So save money buying print cartridges by following these handy tips:

1) When the cartridge appears to have expired, take it out & give it a firm, but not too vigorous shake, say half a dozen times, reinstal it and you could further usage.

2) Purchase more than one cartridge at a time if via the internet, involving couriers, and save on delivery costs. Most supplers will only charge a one-time fee (incl. ABC Print Supplies).

3) If you do have cartridges in storage, then on a regular basis (say monthly).., shake them in their packaging (NOTE: Do not open the packaging until you use them).

4) If you don't need colour for your printing, although you have coloured cartidges installed, then use grayscale in the print instructions & leave this mode as default.

And don't forget, yield is approximately 5% of an A4 page (roughly a normal paragraph). Check out our previous blog post on yields @ http://inksupplyguy.blogspot.com.au/2011/08/page-yield-and-performance.html

We thank our sponsers at ABC Printsupplies along with other suppliers for providing this information.