When you’re looking for a new printer, it’s very important to work out whether your business can afford to run it in the long term. It’s easy to neglect the fact that a printer is not a one-off cost, but a continuous investment due to the consumables that are needed to use it.
When buying printer ink or toner, there are a couple of things you need to know first, so you can get the most out of your money and buy the correct consumables for your device.
Ink Cartridges
When you’ve got an inkjet printer, one of the first things you must do is take a look at the advertised capacity of its ink cartridges. This will give you an indication of how many print-outs you could expect to produce before it runs out.
If you’re hoping to find the cheapest printer ink that’s compatible with your device, by taking cartridge cost and capacity into account, you can work out the cost per page, making it easier to make your decision.
It’s important to remember that the capacity on the boxes is only an estimate, which is made via industry-standard ISO 247111 guidelines. Ink density is the most important factor when determining how many pages can be printed by your cartridge.
Single colour cartridges
Many of the best printers utilise the CMYK scale, by using various tones such as magenta, cyan, yellow and key (black), to produce a full-colour spectrum.
Some printers support single colour cartridges and necessitate that users invest in four different colours, enabling your printer to produce a full palette of colours. These cartridge types are hugely beneficial as they can reduce consumable waste which in turn makes them more cost-efficient. When a solo cartridge runs out, no ink is wasted.
Block colour cartridges
Printers that support block colour cartridges in most cases can support only two cartridges, with one space being reserved for black, and the other for cyan, magenta and yellow.
The latter cartridge needs replacing when just one of the colours runs out, leading to wasted ink.
On the plus side, block colour cartridges can be one of the most efficient consumables for home printers, which don’t regularly require colour prints, due to fewer replacements being required.
Toner cartridges
One of the main components of laser printers is toner cartridges, which work hand in hand with the drum unit.
The cartridge contains both toner powder and colouring agents, projecting the image onto the drums, with the resulting image replicated on your printer paper.
XL cartridges
Some of the most adaptable and versatile printing models can support XL cartridges and can ultimately reduce ink costs over time as the capacity cost is less.
From a manufacturer’s perspective, less packaging can reduce costs, helping the consumer save money over time when they invest in an XL cartridge.
If you’re looking to buy toner cartridges or printer ink online but still have some questions, call our dedicated team here at Starink for advice.
