Answer to 6 Common Questions About Ink Cartridges

Inkjet printers produce great quality prints, but buying inkjet cartridges can take a big bite out of your budget. The good news is that there are inexpensive ways to maintain the life and quality of your printer. Here are answers to six common questions about printer cartridges and toner cartridges.

1. Do I Have to Buy Brand Name Ink Cartridges?

Printer manufacturers have a vested interest in convincing you that buying brand name inkjet cartridges is the only option. The truth, though, is that compatible inkjet cartridges are a cheaper alternative to branded printer cartridges.

2. What are Compatible Print Cartridges?

Compatible print cartridges are generic ink cartridges that are made with entirely new components. They are manufactured to meet or exceed the standards of brand name cartridges, thereby retaining the quality and reliability of OEM (original equipment manufacturer) inkjet cartridges - at a fraction of the cost.

3. What are Remanufactured Cartridges?

Remanufactured printer cartridges are essentially recycled inkjet cartridges. They have been inspected, cleaned, and refilled with ink. They are typically print tested before they are sold to ensure that they are in excellent working condition. Remanufactured cartridges are usually less expensive than compatible print cartridges, which in turn are less expensive than OEM brand name ink cartridges.

4. Are Compatible and Remanufactured Cartridges Made for All Printers?

The availability of compatible and remanufactured toner cartridges and inkjet cartridges varies, depending upon the brand and model of your printer. Cartridges are made for most models of Epson, Canon, HP, Lexmark, Samsung, Kodak, Brother, Compaq, and Dell printers.

5. Won't Compatible Cartridges Hurt My Printer?

If you select the right supplier of ink cartridges, you can rest assured that the ink cartridges will be rigorously tested and that the ink used is of the highest quality. Compatible cartridges won't harm your printer, and the print life usually meets or exceeds that of OEM cartridges.

6. How Do I Find a Good Source of Ink Cartridges?

If you want to save money by buying compatible or remanufactured cartridges, the best place to look is online. Not all online ink cartridge suppliers provide equal quality, though. Look for a supplier with a track record; one that has been online for at least seven years and that has supplied cartridges to schools and government bodies is a good choice. In addition, make sure that the supplier you choose will guarantee the quality of its products. Further, to save more money, select a supplier that offers free UK delivery and VAT inclusive prices. Finally, look for service that includes same day dispatch, no minimum order, and secure online ordering.

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies on the web. Learn more about Common Questions: Ink Cartridges or Majon's Computers directory

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Ink Cartridges & Printing Problems - Poor Print Quality

Why are there faint areas or gaps in my print out?

* Unlikely, but your paper may need changing due to its deterioration due to its age.

* Check that the type of paper you are using in your printer matches ('Media Type') the setting in the printer software 'Main Menu' or 'Print' dialog box.

* You may need to clean the print head nozzles. These can be cleaned by employing the 'Head Cleaning' utility from within the printer software interface you get when you want to print or by going via the 'Control Panel' (found via 'My Computer') and selecting the printers section. After the cleaning operations are carried out by the printer, a check pattern will be printed to show that the ink cartridge nozzles are clean. If there are still poor quality areas, repeat the operation.

I have white horizontal lines appearing?

* You may need to clean the print head nozzles - see above

* If your printer has a light flashing indicating low ink levels for a cartridge, then change it.

* Check that the type of paper you are using in your printer ('Media Type') matches the setting in the printer software 'Main Menu' or 'Print' dialog box. The colors are not what I thought they'd be?

* Clean your print head nozzles - see above

* You've not chosen the color option in your printer software interface. This has happened to me many times. By default, my printer software had black selected for all printing.

* Specific types of paper have one side only that can be printed on. Ensure that it is loaded correctly in your printer.

* Check that the type of paper you are using in your printer ('Media Type') matches the setting in the printer software 'Main Menu' or 'Print' dialog box.

* What you see on your monitor will never be identical to what you get on your print out. It shouldn't be that far out, but if it is, then you you may have a color calibration issue between your monitor and software package that you are using.

Finally;

Never buy brand name ink cartridges. Get what are called compatible ink cartridges. They are much cheaper and produce the same quality results. www.ink-cartridge-store.com shows you the range of such products available nowadays.

In my experience, if you use your ink cartridges infrequently, then you will find yourself having to use the cleaning utilities practically every time you do use them. So I suggest printing out a b/w and color text page (say, 200 words with black, red, blue and yellow colors) on a regular basis (once a week?) even if you are not using the printer. You will save ink in the long run as the cleaning utility will use a lot more than your weekly maintenance pages.

This article may be reproduced in its entirety provided the resource paragraph below is included with the url kept active.

About the Author

(c) Paul Curran, CEO of Cuzcom Internet Publishing Group and webmaster at Ink Cartridge Store, providing discount ink cartridge supplies and laser toner products.

Paul Curran

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Computer-Free Photo Printing

PC Magazine, April, 2005 by Laarni Almendrala Ragaza

So you've just snapped that perfect shot of Junior taking his first steps. You're dying to get a printout, only you don't want to wait to download the image to your computer or haul your camera off to the nearest drugstore photo kiosk. No worries. A photo printer may just be exactly what you need.

Many people, particularly digital photo novices, assume that in order to print your photos, you need to have a computer. Not so with the photo printers we've rounded up here. All five feature PictBridge, a mass-industry technology that lets you print photos directly from your camera to your printer, regardless of brand, provided that both devices are PictBridge-compatible. Moreover, all these printers can also produce outputs directly from memory cards.

All these printers have LCD screens, but what they show on them differs. The Canon Pixma iP6000D, for in-stance, lets you preview photos before printing, while the HP Photosmart 8150 features kiosk-style options on its screen that allow you to crop, sharpen, adjust the brightness, and so on. And the Lexmark P915 can even show you ink-loading instructions on its LCD. The Dell Photo Printer 540 is small enough to carry around (it's just 3.2 by 7.5 by 5.4 inches, HWD) and print photos anywhere you can find outlet. And the Epson Stylus Photo R320 can print directly on printable optical disks (of course, in order to use this feature you'll have to connect it to your computer).

Only two of the printers—the Pixma iP6000D and R320—have a cartridge for each of its six ink colors while the Lexmark and HP printers have tri-color cartridges and the Dell has one cartridge (it also only prints three colors). This is an important consideration, as replacing an ink color for your printer may end up costing you more for models that have tri-color cartridges, especially if you haven't used up the other colors in that particular cartridge. And if you're also planning to use your printer for general-purpose printing, it's important to note that the Dell only accepts a maximum paper size of 4-by-6 inches, while the other four can take up to legal size paper. Whichever you choose, one of these five photo printers is sure to simplify and speed your image delivery.

For more on what factors to consider when purchasing a photo printer, read our Photo Printer Buying Guide.

In this roundup:

Canon Pixma iP6000D It's a reasonable choice if you want a second printer specifically for photos.

Dell Photo Printer 540 It prints from computers, cameras, and memory cards. It's a little faster than most other thermal-dye photo printers, and it offers a lower price per print.

Epson Stylus Photo R320 This printer offers better output quality across the board than most ink jets.

HP Photosmart 8150 Photo Printer What really distinguishes it is kiosk-style features for direct printing, with options to crop, sharpen, adjust brightness, apply digital flash, and more.

Lexmark P915 Home Photo Printer It offers reasonable, but not outstanding, speed for the price, along with some nice ease-of-use features.

Check out the features that differentiate these photo printers in our comparison table.

Copyright © 2005 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in PC Magazine.

Article source: findarticles.com

Buying a Photo Printer

As more and more of us have turned to digital photography there has been a huge surge in demand for printers that can deliver photo print quality reproduction that we have been used to with a developer shop. With the development of improved technology delivering a wider range of printing options you will find a bedazzling array of photo quality printers to choose from so here we shall give you some sound advice as to what you should be looking for in a new photo printer.

Compact Photo Printers

These are portable and will connect directly to your digital camera or PC as well as having a slot for the memory card to be directly inserted into them and allow download and printing of the photos directly.

A drawback is that they are limited in what they can produce. The size of the photo print created is usually a lot smaller than that of a desktop printer but they do print photo quality prints faster.

Check the compatibility between the photo printer and your camera to ensure they will operate together properly.

Desktop Photo Printers

These printers are capable of stand alone operation or work in conjunction with your computer. They tend to provide a wider range of print size options as well as they are larger and tend to offer more paper handling options than their compact brothers. You'll find that they are more expensive but for the extra you get higher printing resolution and a faster operation speed than a regular desktop printer. Indeed, it is not unusual to find that they have all the functional capabilities of a regular desktop printer.

What is DPI?

DPI or dots-per-inch is the measure of a printers resolution capability with a higher dpi meaning that there are more dots, smaller in size and giving an image that is sharper as it is more difficult to distinguish between the individual dots than with a printer that has a lower dpi. For photo print quality you will be looking for a dpi of 600 while typically a printer will offer a dpi of anything between 300 and 3500 dpi. Aside from dpi, the other factor you need to consider in producing good quality reproduction prints is the quality of the paper that you use and the number of colors the printer is using.

Color Management

Usually you will see a photo printer using three to six color combinations to reproduce color prints. The more colors that the printer is using the better the finished article as you tend to get a blurring or fogging of darker colors if you use three colors only. More color cartridges however means more expense as a rule, so keep an eye on the cost of these consumables when you are looking at buying a photo printer.

Printer Type

You have a general choice from two types of printer that are differentiated by how they apply the printer ink to the paper. Laser printers use heat to force the ink through the print head and onto the paper but they produce dots of differing sizes which in turn leads to a less sharp image being reproduced. An ink jet printer will spray the ink onto the paper in a gradual series of layers that results in a uniform dot size and a much sharper image being reproduced. You will tend to find that the better quality photo printers use ink jet technology though laser printers are improving a great deal.

Grant Lithgow is a leading person in printer ink For a full range of printer cartridges for your inkjet printer at discounted prices please visit http://www.easyinkz.co.uk/


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Fax Machines Guide-Some guidelines about Fax Machines

by: Anuj Sharma


A telecommunication tool that sends and receives documents or graphics via telephone lines is known as ‘fax machine’. Fax machine is basically a package of image scanner, a modem and a computer printer. Scanner is used to convert the content of physical documents into digital image whereas modem sends image data via phone line and printer is used to make a duplicate of original document.

Sometimes fax machines are used to scan documents into a computer and to take a print of documents from computer. Fax machines converts a picture into zeros and ones format so that data can be easily transmitted like normal computer data while on the other side it reads the data and translates zeros and ones back into dots and reprints the picture.

Fax machines are affordable and easy to use devices. Fax machines transmit data at speed from 4,800 bps to 28,800 bps. Fax machines with a speed of 9,600 bps transmit one page within 10-20 seconds. Several fax machines use thermal printer that needs special paper to print the best pictures. Thermal paper mostly comes in two sizes such as 8.5 inches wide and 10.1 inches wide.

Some fax machines come with vast variety of dialing features. It enables you to set a program to send a document at future time. Another important feature of fax machine is that you can send multi page document without feeding each and every page manually in the machine.

Latest fax machines are a bit faster than the old ones. You should determine quality, price and other important features at the time of purchasing a fax machine. You can select ‘fax modem’ in case you want to send faxes but not receive them. Choice of fax machines depends on your requirements.

About The Author


Anuj Sharma owns a website on Fax Machines http://www.123faxmachines.com/. Website provides information about cheap fax machines, best fax machines, fax machines reviews, and history of fax machines. Get all information about fax machines from his site http://www.cheapfaxmachines.info/.

All About Toner Cartridges

Toner is a dry powder that is used in laser printers and photocopiers to structure the text and clear images on available printed-paper. Earlier it was just a carbon powder. Then, to develop the excellence of the printout the carbon was combined with a polymer. Toner cartridges elements are melted by the heat of the fuser result them to attach to the paper. The exact polymer used differs by producer but could be a Styrene Acryl ate Copolymer or could be a Polyester Resin. Toner cartridges formulations differ from producer to producer and even from one machine to another machine. Typically formulation, grain size and melt point differ the most.

The actual particle size of toner comes about 12 micrometers. When image resolution was enhanced to 600 dots per inch, any how, the particle dimension was condensed to 8 micrometers. Further reductions in size would be essential for developments in resolution. Toner cartridges manufacturers preserve an excellence control standard for actual particle size in order to create a powder appropriate for use in their printers; the actual particle size in the product is not really allowed to vary too much from the essential dimension.

Toner has usually been made by compounding the ingredients and making a slab that was broken or palletized and then turned it into a fine dry toner powder with a controlled actual particle size variety by air jet milling. This procedure resulted in toner cartridge a granule that, if looked via microscope, displayed different sizes and jagged shapes. To get a best print, some ink/toner companies are using a chemical procedure to grow toner particles. This results in size that is more consistent and consistent shapes of toner cartridges particles. The resulting lesser uniform shapes allow more precise color reproduction and well-organized toner use.

In earlier toner cartridge machines toner was poured by the user from a bottle into a tank in the machine. Modern toner machines feed straight from a cartridge. Empty toner cartridges are frequently refilled by third party vendors.

Toner could even be washed off skin or garments with chill water. Hot or warm water would soften the toner, causing it blend to the toner material it is on. Toner fused to skin would weaken in time, or could be partly removed using rough hand cleaners. Toner fused to clothing cannot normally be removed.

Chris victor is an author of LowerPriceUSA.com , one of the worlds MOST popular company for selling Lexmark inkjet cartridges toner cartridges and laser printer cartridges on the web. He has written many articles about ink cartridges, printer cartridges etc. Contact him at chris.seocopywriter@gmail.com

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How To Choose A Printer That Will Do The Job For You

These days, the printer has evolved to a very noticeable extent. Printers started with the dot matrix type that was very hard to use. Dot matrix printers are the ones that print very loudly and it is difficult to feed the paper into them.

Now, laser printers and inkjet printers have replaced dot matrix printers. How do you choose the perfect printer for the job? Below are five of the most important qualities you should look for when choosing a printer.

The most important factor to be considered is the resolution. Resolution is the number of dots a printer prints in a square inch. Your old dot matrix printer could not print in a high resolution. Ink jet printers are perfect for this. A good quality printer with high resolution can produce 1440 by 720 dpi. The operating cost of the printer should also be considered. The speed of the printer is very important especially if you are using it in the office. Laser printers are perfect in this respect, 80 to 100 page documents can be printed in a very short time. Laser printers are also very cost effective to operate since their cartridges are not replaced very often.

Printers that have photo lab quality are essential if you are looking for a printer that can print high-resolution images in photo paper. Those who often use printers for printing pictures should get printers of the dye-sublimation type. With this type of printer, the dots are softer, thereby making the images appear sharper.

The volume of printout per minute is essential if you are printing large numbers of documents in black and white. There are printers with a lower resolution of about 400 by 400 dpi that can print about 70 pages in black and white within a minute.

The size of the printout is also to be considered. There are certain printers that can print all sizes of documents, big or small. The usual paper size is the 8.5 by 11 but for these types of printers, you can print enveloped size to tabloid-sized documents. To be able to select the perfect printer for your needs, you should first determine where the printer would be used. If you are keen on printing photos, then a photo printer is necessary, but if you are more interested in printing documents, then heavy duty printers with speed printing are appropriate to use. High resolution is important, however it should fit the speed, quality and price of the printout. Keeping the above specifications in mind, you will be able to purchase the right printer that would meet your requirements.

Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about printers and get Canon Inkjet Cartridges at http://www.inkjetcartridgeplus.com

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