Solid Ink - How Does it Compare With Color Inkjet
May 18, 2010 by Inkjet Printer Reviews
Filed under About Inkjets
If you want to buy a color printer, there are three choices: color inkjet printer, color laser printer or solid ink printer. Both color inkjet and color laser printers have been around for a long time while solid ink printers are relatively new to most people. So what are the differences among solid ink vs color inkjet vs color laser printers?
Color inkjet printers require a low initial investment but the liquid ink runs out quickly and the replacement ink cartridges are expensive. Color inkjet printers print slowly but there is no warm up time. The ink may smear on some papers and the printout is not resistant to light and water. In general, color inkjet printer can produce good quality text and excellent images on special paper.
Color laser printers are more expensive than inkjet printers. The replacement toner cartridges are also costly although they can usually last for a long time. Color laser printers have a high print speed but they do require warm up time. Because of the complex design, laser printers are bulky and take up a lot of space. Color laser printers can produce excellent text quality but unless you buy the high end color laser printers, they are less capable of producing high quality images. Unlike inkjet cartridges, it is less common to refill the toner cartridges. The empty cartridges produce lot of waste and take a long time to decompose in landfill.
Solid ink printers use ink sticks instead of cartridges. The ink sticks are in solid form at room temperature. When they are heated to a specific temperature, they are melted and applied through the print head. Once printed on the media, they return to solid form immediately. The way solid ink works give them some distinct advantages over color inkjet and color laser printers.
1) The wax based ink produces good quality text, vivid colors and bright images on a wide range of media.
2) The ink sticks can be used up entirely for printing, there is no empty cartridge left.
3) Solid ink printers have simple design, so they are more compact and affordable than color laser printers.
4) Unlike color inkjet printers, solid ink printers can print at a high speed and are good at high volume printing.
5) Replacement solid ink sticks are more affordable than color inkjet or color laser cartridges.
6) Solid ink sticks are easy to use and handle, there is no leaking and spillage.
However, solid ink printers also have some disadvantages, such as longer warm up time, higher power consumption as the ink has to be heated even at standby mode. The wax based ink is difficult to write on and is not resistant to sunlight.
In summary, if you want to buy a color printer for occasional color printing at home, a color inkjet printer will be a good choice for you. However, if you are shopping for a color printer for office use, you should do some research on the solid ink printers. The relatively low investment cost, affordable consumables, compact design and good print quality for both text and image make the solid ink printers an attractive choice for small businesses.
Thanks to Kwan Lo for contributing this article to our Inkjets blog:
Color inkjet printers require a low initial investment but the liquid ink runs out quickly and the replacement ink cartridges are expensive. Color inkjet printers print slowly but there is no warm up time. The ink may smear on some papers and the printout is not resistant to light and water. In general, color inkjet printer can produce good quality text and excellent images on special paper.
Color laser printers are more expensive than inkjet printers. The replacement toner cartridges are also costly although they can usually last for a long time. Color laser printers have a high print speed but they do require warm up time. Because of the complex design, laser printers are bulky and take up a lot of space. Color laser printers can produce excellent text quality but unless you buy the high end color laser printers, they are less capable of producing high quality images. Unlike inkjet cartridges, it is less common to refill the toner cartridges. The empty cartridges produce lot of waste and take a long time to decompose in landfill.
Solid ink printers use ink sticks instead of cartridges. The ink sticks are in solid form at room temperature. When they are heated to a specific temperature, they are melted and applied through the print head. Once printed on the media, they return to solid form immediately. The way solid ink works give them some distinct advantages over color inkjet and color laser printers.
1) The wax based ink produces good quality text, vivid colors and bright images on a wide range of media.
2) The ink sticks can be used up entirely for printing, there is no empty cartridge left.
3) Solid ink printers have simple design, so they are more compact and affordable than color laser printers.
4) Unlike color inkjet printers, solid ink printers can print at a high speed and are good at high volume printing.
5) Replacement solid ink sticks are more affordable than color inkjet or color laser cartridges.
6) Solid ink sticks are easy to use and handle, there is no leaking and spillage.
However, solid ink printers also have some disadvantages, such as longer warm up time, higher power consumption as the ink has to be heated even at standby mode. The wax based ink is difficult to write on and is not resistant to sunlight.
In summary, if you want to buy a color printer for occasional color printing at home, a color inkjet printer will be a good choice for you. However, if you are shopping for a color printer for office use, you should do some research on the solid ink printers. The relatively low investment cost, affordable consumables, compact design and good print quality for both text and image make the solid ink printers an attractive choice for small businesses.
Thanks to Kwan Lo for contributing this article to our Inkjets blog:
Kwan H Lo owns a review site promoting high quality discount ink / toner cartridges including dell printer cartridges and Xerox Phaser 8500 / 8550 ink.
Where Did All the Cheap Inkjet Cartridges Come From?
January 17, 2010 by Inkjet Printer Reviews
Filed under About Inkjets
The search is always on for inkjet cartridges and the cheaper they are the better. Everyone wants them - your printer won’t work without a constant supply of them. Companies are doing their best to churn out these cheaper cartridges for a wider range of printers for less cash every single day. The demand for sanely priced inkjet cartridges grows each month - especially now during a tough time for economies all over the world.
Printer companies like HP and Canon will make commitments to the quality and durability of their printers but never to lowering the price of their printer ink or their cartridges. To be fair it’s not just HP or Canon who are guilty of this but all inkjet printer manufacturers. The reason for this? Companies like HP and Epson don’t make a lot of money from the sales of printers - their main profits come from the sales of inkjet cartridges themselves.
If printer companies were to change their approach to this sales model they’d need to increase the cost of the printers by at least 75% - this would mean the sale of printers would drop like a rock. Fewer printers sold = fewer people looking for replacement ink cartridges. That’s just plain bad for business right?
To get around this problem the printer companies charge you top dollar for the consumables such as ink for your inkjet printer. Think about this. You pay $30 - $80 for your new ink cartridges. Each cartridge only contains a few milliliters of ink. A gallon of this same ink would cost about $10,000. Yes really.
One of two things is happening here.
a. Printer companies are overcharging the general public; or
b. The ink in your cartridges is made of some super secret fluid that costs $10,000 per gallon.
It’s not very likely that the ink in your printer is made from some super secret ink formula right? Well then that answers the question of why they’re priced at such high levels doesn’t it?
Here’s the weird outcome of all of this though. Printer companies are charging top dollar for their inkjet cartridge products. You (the consumer) simply aren’t willing to pay silly prices for these cartridges. This has created a brand new industry made up of companies who only have one focus - produce inkjet cartridges in large quantities and as cheaply as possible. Then sell them online and offline to as many people as possible.
Printer companies are now in running legal battles with these cut-price companies to stop them selling their products. These third party companies would never have come into existence if the printer companies hadn’t been charging so much for their products in the first place. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot eh?
In the boardrooms of inkjet printer companies all over the world there are marketing executives sitting with their heads in their hands mumbling “Charge what the market will bear. Charge what the market will bear.” Sometimes you just can’t teach an old dog new tricks can you?
The day of the inkjet market monopoly is over and isn’t it just great that you have such a wide range of products to choose from at prices that suit you?
Thanks to Niall Roche for contributing this article to our Inkjets blog:
Printer companies like HP and Canon will make commitments to the quality and durability of their printers but never to lowering the price of their printer ink or their cartridges. To be fair it’s not just HP or Canon who are guilty of this but all inkjet printer manufacturers. The reason for this? Companies like HP and Epson don’t make a lot of money from the sales of printers - their main profits come from the sales of inkjet cartridges themselves.
If printer companies were to change their approach to this sales model they’d need to increase the cost of the printers by at least 75% - this would mean the sale of printers would drop like a rock. Fewer printers sold = fewer people looking for replacement ink cartridges. That’s just plain bad for business right?
To get around this problem the printer companies charge you top dollar for the consumables such as ink for your inkjet printer. Think about this. You pay $30 - $80 for your new ink cartridges. Each cartridge only contains a few milliliters of ink. A gallon of this same ink would cost about $10,000. Yes really.
One of two things is happening here.
a. Printer companies are overcharging the general public; or
b. The ink in your cartridges is made of some super secret fluid that costs $10,000 per gallon.
It’s not very likely that the ink in your printer is made from some super secret ink formula right? Well then that answers the question of why they’re priced at such high levels doesn’t it?
Here’s the weird outcome of all of this though. Printer companies are charging top dollar for their inkjet cartridge products. You (the consumer) simply aren’t willing to pay silly prices for these cartridges. This has created a brand new industry made up of companies who only have one focus - produce inkjet cartridges in large quantities and as cheaply as possible. Then sell them online and offline to as many people as possible.
Printer companies are now in running legal battles with these cut-price companies to stop them selling their products. These third party companies would never have come into existence if the printer companies hadn’t been charging so much for their products in the first place. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot eh?
In the boardrooms of inkjet printer companies all over the world there are marketing executives sitting with their heads in their hands mumbling “Charge what the market will bear. Charge what the market will bear.” Sometimes you just can’t teach an old dog new tricks can you?
The day of the inkjet market monopoly is over and isn’t it just great that you have such a wide range of products to choose from at prices that suit you?
Thanks to Niall Roche for contributing this article to our Inkjets blog:
Wouldn’t you like to be able to cut your inkjet cartridge costs by 75%? We can help you find cheap printer cartridges that you can rely on. Click on over to www.inkjetables.com for more information and prices.
