Showing posts with label printer ink. Show all posts
Showing posts with label printer ink. Show all posts

Saturday, January 3, 2009

5 Tips To Buying Ink Cartridges For Printers

$As a general rule, black ink cartridges are more affordable than color toner. When considering which to purchase, take a moment to think about how you will be using your printer. Will your printouts require color or will they work just as well in black & white? If the answer is ‘yes,’ you will save a considerable amount of money in purchasing the black ink cartridges.

$If you are cost conscious and also have a great concern for the environment, purchasing recycled ink cartridges may be your best bet. Not only are these more affordable, but they are also better for the environment as are other recycled products. One of the best places for purchasing quality recycled ink cartridges is Viking Office Products and Staples.

$When you purchase any type of ink cartridge, make sure that it is compatible with your printer. Many people are surprised to learn that ink cartridges are designed to be used with a specific model and manufacturer of printers, which should be clearly explained on the outside packaging. If you have trouble remembering the model number on your printer, simply write it down on a piece of paper and take it to the store with you. This will be the single most important information to have on hand when selecting ink cartridges for printers because without the right printer model number, you are not likely to get the right product.

$Because ink cartridges are sometimes very expensive, it is often possible to find a real bargain on a printer/ink cartridge combo. A recent visit to a local retail store revealed a single ink cartridge for $29.97. Just beside the ink cartridge selection were several boxed printers. Among them, a new printer and color ink cartridge combo, which was priced at just $34.95. When you consider the difference of only $5.00 and the fact that you could purchase a brand new printer and ink for almost the same price as a single ink cartridge, the better deal was obvious. In this scenario, you could simply resale your former printer on eBay and replace it with the new printer. This just goes to show that a little smart shopping can go a long way in terms of getting the best value for your dollar.

$The majority of ink cartridges for printers carry a manufacturer’s warranty guaranteeing your satisfaction. The only way to receive coverage as promised is to retain the original purchase receipt, ink cartridge packaging and warranty information. If your new ink cartridge should fail to work as promised, most manufacturer’s will either replace the cartridge at no cost to you or refund the original purchase price in it’s entirety.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

5 Things To Know When Buying A New Printer

In spite of the "paperless office" that was supposed to be ushered in by the common use of computers, there is more printing done today than ever before. And that means that printers and their supplies have to be replaced on a fairly regular basis, whether you're printing at home or in a business.

Today's printers offer a lot of features - high resolution photo printing, multi-function printer/scanning/faxing, digital memory card readers and much more. But before you make a decision, there are some basic considerations that you need to think about.

First is the long-term cost of the printer. You can buy a very good color printer for well under $100 these days but the catch is most of these inexpensive models have costly ink cartridges.

If you're thinking about buying a budget printer, find out how much the ink costs to replace and whether there are generic or refilled cartridges available for it.

Second, find out whether or not the printer you're considering includes full size ink cartridges. Many of today's printers come with "starter" inks that have much less ink in them than a standard cartridge.

The printer may not seem like such a good deal when you have to buy a new set of ink after printing 40 or 50 pages.

Next, consider the cost of the black cartridge. Most people print much more black and white than they do color. Some printers have considerably larger black cartridges than others, and if you do a lot of black printing the larger cartridges can save you a lot of money in the long run.

Fourth, consider what kind of things you'll be printing. If you want to be able to print your own digital photos you should look at one of the many photo printers on the market.

If you're not printing photos, however, photo printers generally cost more to operate than other options. You might be better off with a laser printer that has considerably lower operating costs than inkjet.

Lastly, think about whether you really need all those extra features like faxing, scanning, photocopying, etc. It sounds great to have all these options, but most people rarely use them, if at all.

And consider the cost for these other features as well. Do you really want to make photocopies at home that could cost $0.50 to $1.00 per page when you can get them for 5 to 10 cents at the local copy store?

Sunday, December 28, 2008

3 Types Of Cheap Ink Cartridges

Your printer ink cartridges play as big a part in the final quality of your print as the paper that you use. If you use cheap paper, your print quality will suffer and in many cases the same is true of using cheap ink cartridges. This isn't always the case, however. Discount ink can be bought in a few different ways and each of them has advantages and disadvantages.

Refill Ink

The first option for cheap ink is to refill your empty cartridges. This is generally the cheapest of all the alternatives, but it is also tends to wind up with the lowest quality prints.

It'll depend on what brand and model of printer you have, but many of the newer printers are difficult to refill. It can also be quite messy because you're dealing with bottled ink, trying to inject it back into the empty cartridge.

Recycled Cartridges

There are plenty of companies that recycle cartridges for you. They basically take the empty cartridges, clean them up, refill the ink and test them.

This is more expensive than refilling your own because you're paying for the labor involved, but it tends to give you better results.

These companies have refilling and cleaning equipment that can do a much better job of remanufacturing your empty cartridge. They also generally offer a guarantee on their work, so if the cartridge doesn't work properly you can either get a replacement or get your money back.

Generic Brand Cartridges

Generic cartridges are not as common as the other two options, mainly because many printer companies have patents on their ink cartridges so no other companies can duplicate them.

There are some cartridges that you can find brand new generic replacement ink for. These generic cartridge are not recycled, they are new but they aren't made by the printer companies themselves.

These cartridges tend to be the highest priced of the three options, but they are still cheaper than the original cartridges, and work just as well.

Which option will be best for you is going to depend a lot on how much printing you do, and what you're printing. If you're printing photos that you want to be able to keep for a lifetime, you'll have different needs than if you're just printing copies of web pages for future reference.