Buying replacement ink for your printer? You should know the difference between “OEM” and “non-OEM” ink. Essentially OEM comes directly from the original manufacturer, and “non-OEM” is the generic equivalent. Here’s a full explanation:
Category Archives: printing
Vistaprint Postcards Review: Check Out My Postcards!
Vistaprint Postcards – My Real Review + Today’s Best Coupon: If you are looking to use postcards as part of your marketing strategy, you might want to consider Vistaprint. They have some of the best pricing & highest quality custom postcards, and when you use a coupon you save significantly more.
Vistaprint Flyers | Reviews, Flyer Marketing Ideas + Coupon
Inexpensive Custom Flyers from Vistaprint: Marketing flyers are like the infantry of the marketing world; simply getting the job done without glamour.
Whether you’re advertising a coupon for your beauty salon, an upcoming concert, or letting the neighborhood know about a new house for sale, flyers can get the job done.
Printer Ink: More Expensive Than the Finest Wine (and No Buzz!)
Printer ink price per ounce is insane: Do you realize just how much name brand printer ink costs?
“very elegant on the palate, with rich, ripe but tightly wound cassis and chocolately flavors nicely framed by silky tannins. Finishes lively, floral and long…”
Ah, yes; Chateau Petrus, which has a reputation for being one of the best, and most expensive vintages of wine available.
In fact, silly humans can pre-order a bottle of it for about $1600 online, although don’t plan on bringing it to dinner next Friday night (to compliment Mom’s meatloaf?) as it might not ship for a few months.
“Wow, I would never splurge on something that decadent,” you say! Something so extravagant is surely only bought by fat cats who wear monocles and light their cigars with $100 bills, right?
Name Brand Printer Ink Can Cost $70 Per Ounce!
Actually, depending on how you price it, you might already be buying something just as lavish. As you can see in the graphic above, the
price per ounce of printer ink
Vistaprint Posters: My Real Review + Coupon
Vistaprint Posters Coupon + Review: So, a lot of the reviews out there were written in haste by people who never used Vistaprint, but will make a buck if you click on their site. I decided to put my money where my mouth is and have a poster design printed through Vistaprint, and share the results.
Vistaprint Free Sample Kit: Business Cards, Postcards, Brochure
Free stuff from Vistaprint for your business – If you’re a small business considering printing marketing materials, it might help to get samples in your hands before putting together an order. In fact, a number of online printing services offer free samples, including Vistaprint.
How Do Inkjet Cartridges Work? No Tiny Elves Involved; Fascinating!
HP Video Explaining How Inkjet Cartridges Work: So, you thought that an ink cartridge was basically just a little plastic box that holds ink until it’s magically transferred onto paper by tiny elves? (Well, that’s what I always assumed)
Did You Know: Inkjets Printers Waste 50% of the Ink You Buy?
Inkjet printers are inefficient and wasteful: We all hear those stories of government waste, and it makes us crazy. In fact, did you know we spent $2.7 million recently to encourage Chinese prostitutes to drink less. We were billed another $60,000 by the IRS for their awesome “Star Trek parody” video that was shown at their recent leadership conference. (Wow, was that directed by Scorsese?)
Anyway, we can’t do much about how the government wastes our money, so let’s look closer to home. In fact, let’s look at your inkjet printer.
We’ve already mentioned how expensive printer ink is, so at least it’s being used efficiently, right?
Wrong! According to Consumer Reports, about 50% of that printer ink never hits the page. In fact, the worst offenders only output about 30% of their ink to the pages! So, why are inkjet printers so wasteful? It seems that the culprit is the intermittent use of our printers.
Print Less Frequently, Waste More Ink
Basically what that means is that most people don’t buy an ink cartridge and use it all up in one week. More likely, people print a few pages here and there, and this is where the waste begins. The printer uses much of the ink in self-maintenance and cleaning, and ends up sitting in a reservoir inside the printer. (What a little diva!)
Printer companies are well aware of this, and on HP’s website states that, “Some ink must be used to maintain the health of the print head; some ink is residual; and some ink evaporates.”
How many pages can you get out of an inkjet cartridge?
Inkjet vs Laser Printers: Which Printer Is Best for You?
Inkjet or Laser Printer? There are a plethora of printers on the market for home-use, but which one is right for you? The easy answer is this: If you print mostly black and white text, go with a laser printer for speed and savings on the cost of ink. If you print out graphics, you’ll want an inkjet printer.
If you primarily print text, then a laser printer might be best for you. Laser printers are best for handling black and white text, (like emails, Word docs, and your taxes) and they are faster and less expensive. I know someone who prints out almost every email he gets for his records, and he must save hundreds of dollars a year by having a laser printer for this task. They can also handle address labels, which is nice around the holidays, or for bulk business mailings.
If you print a decent amount of photos, graphics, or color text, then an inkjet printer is best. I recommend not going with a color laser printer, as the costs of ink are significantly higher than black and white laser printers. Color laser printers use four toner cartridges, which can make the cost of ink even more than an inkjet
Don’t try to print photos with a laser printer. The quality will be marginal, and they aren’t meant for printing on glossy, or special photo paper. They also might not be able to print on sizes of paper other than 8.5 x 11
Having said that, here are some considerations before you finalize that all-important decision:
Should You Buy an Inkjet or Laser Printer? (Video)
When I think of a printer for home use, I instantly think of inkjet printers. They’ve become kind of the “Renaissance man” of your home office. After all, they can print out emails, address labels, stickers, t-shirt transfers, or even photo-quality prints from your digital photos.
As if that’s not enough, many of the “all in one printers” throw in scanner, printer, and fax machine capability.
Inkjet or Laser Printer?
So inkjet printer must be right for me then? Maybe; consider the following before buying:
ISO 9001 Quality Standards for Ink? Here’s What That Means
What are ISO 9001 standards for ink? How do you know that the quality and performance of that remanufactured inkjet cartridge you are about to buy is really as good as the more expensive name brand ink?
The process that ensures quality for remanufactured and compatible ink is known as ISO 9001. Most ink that meets these tough standards will actually have an ISO 9001 seal on the packaging, meaning that they have been manufactured under ISO 9001 standards.
While all of your top ink brands like Epson, Canon, HP ink, and Lexmark (genuine ink directly from the manufacturer is known as “OEM ink”) comply with these standards, you’ll want to make sure any generic ink cartridges that you buy comply as well.
The coupons for generic ink that we feature on this site (click for 4inkjets.com coupons or 123inkjets.com coupons) all comply with these quality standards.
History of ISO 9001 quality standards:
In 1978, a Swiss organization known as the International Organization for Standards (ISO) created a set of quality standards, known as ISO 9000. This set of stringent quality standards are universally accepted and were created to ensure that a specific product or service will consistently meet their expectations every time.
ISO 9001 is a specific set of standards under the broader global standards (known as ISO 9000) that monitors the quality of design, development, and production. In this case, the ISO 9001 standards apply to compatible inkjets and remanufactured inkjets.
The ISO 9001 certification process
The process for obtaining ISO 9001 certification is a very rigorous process. With the end result guaranteeing that you, the customer, are getting a very high quality product. Some of the requirements in ISO 9001 (which is one of the standards in the ISO 9000 family) include:
- a set of procedures that cover all key processes in the compatible inkjet cartridge manufacturing process
- monitoring all manufacturing processes to ensure quality of inkjet cartridges
- checking inkjet cartridge for defects, with appropriate and corrective action where necessary
- regularly reviewing specific individual processes as well as the quality system itself for effectiveness
- facilitating continual improvement for inkjet manufacturing process
- New: Get 500 business cards for only $10 + shipping! – Vistaprint
In general, a company or organization that has been independently audited and certified to be in compliance with strict ISO 9001 standards may publicly state that it is “ISO 9001 certified” or “ISO 9001 registered”. (as seen on the side of many inkjet cartridges) Certification to an ISO 9001 standard certifies that formalized business processes are being applied for consistency.
Buy generic ink that is iso 9001 certified for quality