What is a Printer Cartridge?
A printer cartridge for the laser process will differ significantly from the printer cartridge for an ink-based device. Laser print technology uses toner, an ultra-fine dry powder made up of tiny particles of polymer (plastic) mixed with dry pigments to produce the image on the paper. Heat and pressure are then applied to “melt” (fuse) the fine plastic particles in the toner to the paper’s surface. Inkjet print technologies “spray” wet ink onto the print to produce the image. The fluid in the ink used to carry the pigment is either absorbed by, or evaporates off, the print surface, leaving the image behind. Although inkjet machines are more commonly encountered, both these technologies have a place in the market. Inkjet print technology is better for high-quality graphics and photographic output, while lasers are better at text documents. Both technologies are available in black-and-white or full-colour variants.
Maximising the Yield from a Printer Cartridge?
Consumables for both inkjet and laser units are relatively expensive, so it’s wise to maximise the yield you get from each printer cartridge you purchase and avoid wastage, where possible. With both laser and inkjet technologies, it is considered best to use original equipment manufacturer (OEM) cartridges when looking for replacement consumables. While there are some variables, it is possible to get a good idea of what yields should be achieved. Expected yields should be compared to actual yields and there should not be too large a disparity between the two.
There are several ways to get more out of each replacement printer cartridge without compromising the quality of the prints produced.
When a printer leaves the factory, the manufacturer has usually set it to deliver the highest possible print quality at the highest possible resolution. This is great if your environment demands this kind of quality but if the type of output needed doesn’t require the utmost quality, ink can be saved, and print speed may be increased by using a lower-quality setting. Printing emails out on photo quality, for instance, is unnecessary, wastes time, and uses more ink.
Be aware that documents that appear to be black and white may have been created as CMYK or RGB full-colour documents. These documents do not use only black ink to produce the print output, which is unnecessary. Selecting the grayscale option in the print menu, when printing the document, will force the device to use only black when printing. Internal company documentation should be designed to be ink-usage friendly by using fonts that are frugal on ink utilisation, for instance. Some fonts may use up to 30% more ink than a perfectly adequate alternative that has been optimised for ink saving.
When buying a printer cartridge, it is more cost-effective to buy the highest volume replacement available where high-volume, XL-sized units are offered for your particular model. XL units contain as much, or more, ink than two standard printer cartridges for the same machine but can cost substantially less. Where replacement units are sold in multiple unit packs (multi-packs), they are priced to make the cost per unit, in the multi-pack, lower than the price of a single cartridge.
Engage With the Printer Cartridge Experts
For anything to do with printers and printing, talk to us at Raydian. We stock an extensive range of consumables for all the leading brand devices. We pride ourselves on availability and range. Contact us today for your replacement consumables.