Printer Cartridges: Which To Choose?

In the age of internet and technology, the printer has become one of the main machines in everyday life, because it serves to transform digital texts into paper texts; this, however, could not happen without cartridges or toners.

First of all, we need to know how to distinguish the two products: toner is used in laser printers, cartridges in inkjet printers.

Toning

Based on the one mentioned above, the toner cannot be used if you have an inkjet printer, but only if you have a laser printer, a fax machine or a photocopier. The product consists of a very fine powder of coal, iron oxides and resin. As soon as you start printing, the toner is deposited by a drum on the sheets to be printed, heated, then melted and finally placed on the paper, forming the images. The colors available are: cyan, yellow, black and magenta.

The only negative aspect of the product is that, during printing, it releases very small particles that are a risk to both our health and the environment.

Ink

Cartridges are a removable device used in a printer that contains ink. It cannot be used in laser printers. This type of cartridge contains ink of one color or multiple colors, but not in the same chamber. In most printers, a black cartridge and a multi-colored cartridge are used. They are made with a liquid ink contained in a plastic tank. The printing of images occurs through the use of heads that eliminate droplets of ink that then compose the image on the sheet.

The main differences between toner and ink cartridges

Obviously, being used in different contexts and in different machines, the two products have substantial differences:

Speed: Laser printers are much faster than ink printers, therefore, as a consequence, toners are faster than cartridges.

The quality: The toner has excellent precision and excellent quality, the cartridges have a high quality, but they can stain.

Capacity: The toner can withstand a large amount of work, the cartridges have limited capacity.

Cost: Toner is much more expensive than cartridges.

Obviously the most important difference is that the toner is recommended for work environments (companies, companies), while the cartridges are recommended for environments without an important workload for the printer (houses, small shops).

The types of toner and cartridges

There are three types of toner and cartridges: compatible, original and re-manufactured.

The original product is a type of cartridge marked by the printer manufacturer. It has excellent quality, but the ink replacement costs are very high.

The compatible product is an unmarked cartridge, but is compatible with the printer you are using. The cost is very low compared to the original cartridges, but the quality is not very high.

The regenerated product is a cartridge that is cleaned, revised, refilled and renewed. It is expensive and the quality varies from retailer to retailer.

Toner and cartridge

The life of the cartridges varies from two to five years, but it all depends on the climate and the exposure to the air of the product. A regenerated cartridge lasts only one year. Toners, however, can also last forever, but only if kept in a dry place.

The costs of a toner and an ink cartridge

Previously, we have tried to give you, indicatively, a cost for all types of products. But what are the real costs of a toner or a cartridge? First of all, the cost depends on the type of printer and model. Some models have toner or ink cartridges with very high prices, others with low prices. On average, an original inkjet cartridge costs between $15 and $100; a compatible product, from 1 to 5 dollars; a regenerated product from 5 to 20 dollars; but, of course, the quality changes. For toners, the costs are approximately the same for a compatible and regenerated product, while for an original product, it can even reach 200 euros. However, it changes the quality of compatible toners that are not comparable to regenerated ones. The regenerated fact, e-commerce of toner and re-manufactured cartridges, is made by filling the casing of an original toner with dust and changing the chip when necessary. The quality is therefore assured.

The quality of toner and ink cartridges

One of the most important things to look at in a printer product is quality. But this obviously depends on what kind of product you choose; if you decide to buy a toner or an ink cartridge, you certainly have a very high quality, because the product comes directly from the printer manufacturers you bought. The same cannot be said for toner or compatible ink cartridges; they have a very low quality, being not original and therefore not coming directly from the manufacturer of your printer; but, as previously mentioned, the costs are much lower. For a re-manufactured toner or cartridge, however, the quality depends on the retailer from whom you purchased the product.