First there was the inkjet, fast and efficient.  Then came the laser printer, even faster and with better quality.  For the longest time, the laser printer held sway over the inkjet in terms of speed and clarity.  Except recently, the tables have turned again.  Each printer type continues to improve as companies strive for our business but only one thing remains the same.

Ink vs. Toner – The Simple Explanation

The true difference between an inkjet printer and a laser printer is their printing methods.  Though people often group the two based upon their speed, clarity, size, and other capabilities, the real separating factor is the way they print.  After all, some inkjet printers these days can be just as big as a laser printer.

Inkjet printers use ink cartridges.  The ink in the cartridge will either be black or colored, depending upon your printing needs.  If the ink is color, three compartments within the cartridge keep cyan, magenta, and yellow ink apart.  The bottom of the cartridge has a set number of tiny nozzles.  When the printer is given a print job, the ink cartridge receives its orders and sprays out the ink in whatever pattern it is told to in order to give the desired results.  Ink cartridges are generally cheaper than toner cartridges, and now companies have split up the colors so you no longer have to throw out a color cartridge just because it ran out of a single color.  Now you can buy cyan, magenta, and yellow all separate, replacing only the color you need at an even cheaper price.  Black is still sold on its own.

Toner is a different creature altogether.  If you have ever used a laser printer, you may have noticed a small period of time in which the printer seems to be “starting up.”  In some ways, it is.  The printer warms up the toner cartridge, which contains carbon particles mixed with a polymer.  The heat melts the mixture and then transfers it onto the paper, where it immediately dries.  This is why when papers roll out of a laser printer, they are warm.

Typically, inkjet printers are slower than laser printers.  In many cases of more expensive products, this is still true.  However, companies are now coming up with ways to reinvent the inkjet printer, making it faster and more competitive with laser printers.  Because inkjets do not have to warm up any toner, they can simply print right away, and other innovations have stopped ink from smearing, even when highlighters are applied.

Laser printers still tend to win with the clarity of their printing, though.  They are still very fast and strongly preferred by the majority of businesses.  However, they tend to be more expensive, and if you want to print out high-quality color images, an inkjet is the better choice.

When deciding on a printer for your home, inkjet and laser are pretty close overall.  You need to consider what you will be printing and which type will best suit your needs.

Most people are thoughtful about the money they have and how they spend it, preferring to spend their hard-earned cash as carefully as possible. Because of this, many wonder about their options when it comes to printer ink. Just looking at the differences between Epson ink cartridges produced by the company and those produced by Castle Ink, a company offering remanufactured and replacement toner inkjet cartridges, is enough to frustrate anyone. The manual on your Epson Stylus printer may suggest ink from the manufacturer, but the bottom line is that most compatible cartridges are just as good, if not better, than the ink you get from the brand.

Poor Quality Products? Hardly!

When you’re searching for cartridges like these, it’s not very difficult to find companies who swear that their remanufactured versions are exactly the same as the brand name. They claim that there is no difference between the quality of printing that you will get from the maker’s version of the cartridge and from their own. How do you know who to trust?

While it certainly won’t hurt you or your printer to trust the brand name, it may hurt your wallet. Companies like these make more than half of their money from costly printer cartridges, so convincing you that purchasing an inexpensive compatible product instead of actual brand name products means you will have documents of much lower quality than you might have with the brand name choice is in their best interest. Toner from companies like Castle Ink that specialize in replacement printer supplies is often made in the same factories with the exact same equipment as those from Epson, Canon, and other big names in the printing industry. That means you get the same quality for less. As long as you ensure you’ve chosen a reputable name to buy remanufactured supplies from, both you and your printer can look forward to great documents, graphics, and other printables.

Your Machine

Whether you have the popular Stylus or a much newer model like the Impact model, printers are very delicate pieces of machinery, and they require the right tools to function well. Fortunately, remanufactured and discount ink replacements are made just for your machine, so the results will be exactly as you’d hoped every single time. Despite the extensive warnings many companies put out that these cartridges will leak or explode in your printer, the fear is simply a myth that will ensure you buy only brand-name products.

As long as you’ve checked the output of the cartridge you’re considering, as well as the reputation of the company you’re buying from, you’ll get printer supplies that are made to go perfectly with the brand of printer you have in your home. Those that design refill cartridges know the models as well as the brand itself does, offering excellent performance with every product. Some of them even have a customer service team on hand ready to help should you need anything after you’ve completed your purchase. And because the cartridge products are made with high quality materials at every turn, they are equipped to handle all of your tasks, allowing for the best possible results at a price you’ll love.

While it is possible to find toners made by the company you bought your printer from in many different places, you just can’t get the great prices you might with a remanufactured choice. Take the time to look at our selection, and you’ll find out how many people have come to expect excellent performance from top rated companies that offer remanufactured choices.  So, whether you’re looking for Canon ink cartridges or another brand entirely, you’re certain to find what you need at a great discount.

The inkjet cartridge, while a household standard these days, wasn’t always as available as it is today. Years ago, before computers were standard in almost every home, printing virtually anything was something of a premium and often required large amounts of toner and other chemicals. Typewriters, with all of their ribbons and hassles, were often the only means of professional looking documentation in print. But as technology became less expensive, so too did printing. In the 1980’s, printers designs began to shrink and reached a status of relative affordability, which meant that more people began to realize the sheer usefulness of these amazing machines. As an increasing number of home printer offerings became inkjets in the early nineties, the need for inkjet cartridges by the thousands became readily apparent as well.

The Inkjet Cartridge

The inkjet cartridge was designed to make it easy for consumers to reach professional quality results while keeping the price fairly minimal. Unlike many of their predecessors, these offered clearer quality and smooth details that just weren’t an option in the past. It was this excellent performance that convinced many exactly how special these products were. Finally, individuals were able to print whatever they liked with aesthetically-pleasing results. What’s more, though, is that inkjet cartridges quickly became preferred over other types of toner cartridges because they have the ability to be refilled, which can save the consumer a good amount of money.

In many cases, we load these cartridges into our Epsons, Lexmarks, and other brand name products without even realizing how they work. What happens is actually very simple and very smart. If you have a fairly powerful magnifying glass, you’ll even be able to see exactly what happens when you print something simply by looking at the item. When you hit the “print” button, a message is sent from your computer to the printer. It then reads the document, website or other file and translates that into thousands of little dots. The inkjet cartridge is then pushed across the paper, usually from one side to another, and delivers small droplets through tiny nozzles on the bottom of the cartridge.

If you are printing a word document, the equipment generally only uses black and white (unless, of course, you’ve chosen to put color on your document). If, however, you are printing in color, your inkjet cartridge will mix the correct amount of each color that is in the cartridge to create the look you’ve requested, providing for a rainbow of color in one small package.

What You Can Print

These days, you can get virtually anything from your ink. You no longer have to content yourself with just printing out documents, but now can print out anything from labels to posters to stickers to edible cake decorations. It’s even possible to print on fabric, allowing for a huge amount of creativity thanks to a revolution in the world of printing.

You can find inkjet cartridges for many different printers on the market, and while manufacturers do make their own some of their own cartridge selections, often remanufactured choices are just as good or better than the name brands.