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In an age where companies look to go as paperless as possible, many businesses rely on printing out hard copy documents daily. Therefore understanding what ink cartridges are best for you and how to get the best out of them is still relevant in 2022.

How Do Ink Cartridges Work?

Ink Cartridges incorporate coloured or black ink and are used solely in conjunction with inkjet printers. 

Each printer (although different) uses strong inkjets that spray the liquid onto the paper, therefore giving much higher and vibrant quality and colour to the print. 

If you have an inkjet printer, you must know the capacity of each cartridge. 

Therefore as a business or for the home, you will understand the number of prints you will get before the ink expires.

The capacity of each cartridge determines your running costs. So you have both colour and black, and depending on the brand of printer used, you may need individual black cartridges and buy a colour unit separately. 

What cartridges Should You Choose?

Everything comes down to what your printing requirements are. 

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Your daily output and volume will help you decide on the best printer to purchase in the first place. And having written in the printing industry for over ten years, in my opinion it is always best to find a well-established stockist who can give you valuable pre-sales and post-sales service and advice.  

In Australia, there is a company with branches all over the country named Hottoner. Look them up, and their specialists will guide you depending on your requirements. 

So before you purchase the printer and commit to cartridges long-term, here are some questions to ask yourself? 

• How many daily prints should I need?
• Are the majority of my prints black or colour?
• For colour print, how long do they need to last?
• Do I require high-quality printing?

Compatibility

Compatibility is everything. An important factor not to be overlooked as not all cartridges are the same or created the same. Some require multiple cartridges, these can be available now as an all-in-one, and other printers require individual cartridges.  

Recycled ink Cartridges

Recycled cartridges are considerably cheaper than your printer-branded cartridges sometimes as much as 50-80 per cent less. Most of the time, you will enjoy the similar quality and print volume from them if they are used correctly. They, of course, are environmentally friendly, but all the major brands now have recycling programmes for their original cartridges. Remember to take the advice of the stockist.

Print Resolution

You may have heard 'DPI', which stands for dots per minute. This is how the print resolution is measured. The more dots for each square inch of paper means, the clearer your print will be. 

If your printer can produce around 600 dpi and 1200 dpi for your colour images, this is a decent buy in 2022. 

Speed and Performance

Speed and performance can mean a lot to students and businesses alike. For example, when using a laser printer, they are designed for speed and bulk over resolution and quality. Still, with inkjet cartridges, you can look at only 16 pages per minute compared to 50 to 100 with a laser printer. 

So, when you buy your inkjet, be sure to know what volume you can expect.

Matching Your Printing Needs

It would be best if you looked towards choosing a printer and cartridge combination that equals your printing needs. 

Each cartridge is designed for a specific yield - which is the number of pages you can expect from each cartridge.

Cartridges are stocked in both standard and high yield sizes, with the standard being the cheaper option but may not be suitable for your needs. 

Although high yield will be more expensive, you can generally get twice the amount of prints, which reduces your yearly spending in the long run. 

Top of the Range Ink Brands

Canon

Canon has been in the market for a considerable time and has a vast range of both printers and ink cartridges on the global market.

Canon is known throughout the industry for delivering high-specification documents and the best photographic printing for both businesses and students alike. 

One of the best performing and best-priced on the market today is the Canon PIXMA PG50. 

Its high efficiency delivers vibrant and smooth results and finishes to all your documents. With Canon's recycling programme, this also makes life easier and saves you expenses on travel once you have bought the original machine and cartridges.

They have some of the best customer support out there also.  

Epson

Epson has also made great strides in the industry this century and has a varied range of inkjet printers and ink cartridges to suit your needs of both home and office perfectly well. 

Epson's T802XL – BCS DURABrite is a fantastic invention. 

Its Ultra Black, and Colour Combo delivers superb vibrant prints that can yield as many as 650 colour pages and 2600 black prints. 

Again Epson has a solid customer service base and a recycling program that matches anything else. 

HP

HP will always be in the conversation of top brands on the printer and cartridge market.  

The HP 916XL Extra High yield Black ink cartridge series produces around 1500 pages. Its counterpart, the HP 962 XL High Yield series, produces about 1600 pages in each cyan, magenta, and yellow cartridge and 2000 pages in black.

SUMMARY

There are many companies, printers and printer cartridges to choose from today, and it is still growing. As mentioned earlier in the article, take advice if this is your first purchase or even looking for something more efficient. Shopping online is convenient but not advisable if this is your first time. Get the advice from a proper stockist and professional, and then look to buy your cartridges online once you know precisely what you require for your printing needs. Also, don’t go for a cheap printer, this is standard that the machines are cheap, it’s the ink that costs, so buy wisely. Good luck in 2022!