With the increased use of the Internet and electronic documents, it seems as if paper is not as necessary as it was years ago. However, many people look at printers as an essential tool (be it for business, school or home purposes) which can be a total life saver. Having a printed material with data in front of you, is certainly more convenient, secure, and easier to read. And according to business experts, definitely more effective.
But there is the disadvantage of being a more costly solution. It’s not just about the matter of buying a printer and paper, but you also need to pay for ink. Depending on how often you print, printer ink cartridges usually last anywhere from few weeks to few months.
Although the frequency with which you print and the type of prints you do may be one of the major factors that affect the life span of an ink cartridge, the type of printer ink cartridges you use also matters. Selecting the right type is often a common mistake many people make, which often ends up in spending more than they should. So before getting your printer, it’s important to educate yourself on what types of cartridges are there and what can you do to reduce their spending.
For example, there are toner and ink cartridges, which are used by inkjet and laser printers, the most commonly found type of printers in homes and offices. Toner cartridges contain dry powder, which bonds to the paper in order to print. On the other hand, ink cartridges contain liquid ink, which is applied directly to the page through the print-heads.
Furthermore, printer ink cartridges are divided into two sub-categories – single and combined. In most cases, black is a single unit, while all the colours are in combined units. This is extremely beneficial if a lot of text is being printed, but not a lot of colour printing is done. By taking advantage of this mechanism, you can replace the black cartridge without touching the colour cartridges, which will save you some money. And while most expensive printers can use up to eight colours, most basic printers use black, yellow, blue and red to produce all the colours of the spectrum.
Additionally, you should always look to buy ink cartridges that are produced by the manufacturer of your printer. They tend to be superior in quality, are less likely to damage your printer, and are sure to fit the model of the printer they were designed for. They have the best print quality and have a low chance to create a bad print. However, this comes at the price of money, because OEM ink cartridges tend to be more expensive. For people who value quality and precise printing, they should highly consider OEM cartridges.
To conclude, you need to do some research if you have no experience and knowledge about printers and printer cartridges, as buying the printer is only a small percentage of the money you will spend on printing. You need to understand how your printer works (read the manual) if you want to make the right cartridge purchases, to ensure you get quality prints while saving as much money as possible.