How To Choose The Right Printer Supplies For Your Printer

Thanks to technology, one of the most important office tools we use, on a daily basis, is our printer. Unfortunately, however, choosing the right printer, to meet our exact needs, can be incredibly daunting and quite a challenge and thanks to the multitude of makes and models now available on the market, figuring it all out may just require a PhD. The process of selecting a printer may bring up a multitude of questions:

- Inkjet Printer or Laser Printer?

- Multifunctional or Standalone?

- How many dots per inch (dpi) should the printer be capable of printing?

Amazingly enough, while people can literally spend days and weeks agonizing over which printer is the best, they spend surprisingly little, if any, time thinking about the ink cartridges that are needed to ensure that the printer functions at top capacity. Of course, while you may have found the ‘perfect’ printer, it will be totally useless without the right cartridges. The best advice you can follow, when it comes to buying a printer, is to remember to focus on the cartridges as much as the actual printer.

Ink Cartridges

The ink cartridge is the part that is inserted into a printer – generating the ink needed to print copies. As printers and cartridges become more technologically advanced, the interaction between the machine and its cartridge has become much more intricate and can now include electronic circuits that ’speak’ directly to each other. Many of us surely remember the first wave of printers and cartridges – we have definitely come a long, long way since then. These cartridges are available in black ink or in the 3 primary colours – cyan, magenta or yellow – (two or more cartridges are usually needed although there are now new combinations available), making printing in color fast and simple.

While the ink cartridges are undeniably the ‘guts’ of any printer, they are also, usually the most expensive part. In many cases, you will find that it is much less expensive to purchase a printer than it is to purchase the compatible cartridge and this, has certainly been a problem for many users, over the course of the last decade. So, it goes without saying to always ask about the price of ink cartridge refills, for any printer you are considering buying. It is amazing just how quickly the ink can run out and you will definitely need to factor these costs into your budget.

Of course, there are other options which can include:

- Purchasing an ink cartridge that is considered ‘compatible’ for your printer, from other sources. While cheaper to buy, the quality of the ink is usually substandard, resulting in poor copies.

- Refilling your own ink cartridges by buying a ‘kit’. Here again, you will pay a much lower price, but the quality of your prints, especially if you are printing in color will suffer.

So choose wisely when it comes to purchases of printers/ink cartridges. Manufacturers are aware of this issue but have been accused, in many instances, of dragging their feet on an affordable alternative.

I know of a site that is one of the United Kingdom’s largest vendors of genuine Canon ink cartridges as well as other brands’ colour ink cartridges. They hold over 50 million worth of stock available for next day delivery, including 12 million worth of printer consumables.