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Posted on October 24, 2007 by Jason Petrina | Posted under Shopping and Product Reviews
Shopping For New Printer
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When you purchase a new car you will generally notice a sticker located on the automobile that will inform you of the MPG you can expect the car to receive. Usually, there will be types of fuel economy listed: open highway and in town. This is because the fuel economy of the car varies according to circumstances. Constant stopping and moving reduces the fuel economy; making the MPG less during in town driving. Similarly, certain factors can affect the yield of a printer ink cartridge. Therefore, you must understand that the yield information that is printed on most printer ink cartridges is provided for guidance only. Generally, the yield information is only possible under ideal circumstances. In order to achieve that yield you must understand the factors that affect those ideal printing circumstances. First, let's look at how yield is actually determined. Generally, yield will be expressed in terms of something like this: 350 pages (5% coverage.) It is imperative to understand when considering factors related to printer ink yield that the amount indicated the cartridge will produce does not necessarily refer to an entire page of print. Beyond the amount of printer that a cartridge will produce per page, the type of print that is produced must also be taken into consideration. After all, plain text print is far different than photo print. Likewise, black ink print differs from color ink. In considering percentage of coverage, you should know that the amount provided on the manufacturer's packing indicates the amount of text per page according to tests performed by the manufacturer. While 5% doesn't sound like a lot of ink coverage; it's actually a lot. The amounts usually vary between 3% and 5% according to manufacturer. If you generally print in the percentage provided by the manufacturer, you may be able to obtain the yield provided or at least close to it anyway. With that said; however, if your print jobs generally require substantially more text then you can anticipate that the yield you receive from the cartridge will be somewhat less. Also, keep in mind that printing graphic images requires more printer ink than text printing because larger surfaces must be entirely covered by ink. This will also reduce the amount of yield you are able to receive from the cartridge. When considering the yield amounts of particular printer cartridges, it is imperative to realize that this information is provided only to help you determine which brand is the most cost effective. You should never use the yield information to determine how precisely how many pages you can expect to print from a particular cartridge. Using the yield information for this purpose is highly irregular because it relies on so many factors; many of which will continually change throughout your use of the printer. If you are concerned about potentially running out of ink in the middle of an important project, it's a good idea to keep a spare cartridge on hand. Judging Printers Using Yield Photo Printers: More Coverage How about photo printers? Well, many times they are also rated at the 5% yield. While this may work for text pages, it hardly works for photo printers - after all, when you are printing a photograph, the ink will usually cover all or nearly all of the paper. This doesn't mean you can't use the 5% measure to figure out which is the more cost-effective cartridge. However, it does mean you can't use it to predict - even generally -- how many pages each cartridge will last. Finally, while you're looking at specifications, look to see if the manufacturer lists the cartridge life. Printer ink doesn't last forever - after a certain time, it will thicken and cake, and so manufacturers will often take steps to prevent users from holding on to printer cartridges for too long, including chips that will prevent the cartridge from being used after a certain date. As a result, while you can save some money from buying cartridges in bulk, don't buy more than you can use in a couple of years. About The Author: Jason Petrina is the Editor and Publisher of Article Click. For more FREE articles for your ezine and websites visit - www.articleclick.com |
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