Posts Tagged ‘ink’

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Disposal Of Old Ink Cartridges

Saturday, July 17th, 2010

With a trend toward ecological awareness, more people are looking to recycle their household products like glass or plastic, for example. Now you can also recycle used ink cartridges. Not only can you recyle, at the store or online, but you often will receive reimbursement for your time and green-sensitivity in the form of cash or store credit. Here’s how to do it:

First, take out the used-up ink or toner cartridge. To be safe and efficient, make sure you follow the instructions with the printer.

Next, you must locate some firm or location operating an ink cartridge donation or replacement program. You can choose the one most spatially convenient to you or just go online. They vary in value depending on where you go and what you have, but generally you can expect up to $4 for an ink cartridge and $7 for a toner cartridge.  Some people like to save them up and mail them all at once to save on shipping. This is an excellent option for office managers at a large company or conglomerate. Others will prefer to immediately refuse or refill them, and bring them in as soon as they go dry.

Refilling and reselling is an option, and many office superstores will do just that. You might want to take advantage of the lower cost. Bear in mind, since the structural integrity of the cartridge is compromised by the refilling process, there is a higher chance of cartridge error or some catastrophic messy error. Refilled cartridges also sometimes void the warranty on certain models of printers-somethign you should check before you decide to use a re-fill.

Finally, you should remember to replace the missing cartridge with a new one. If you alreday have a refill, you can move right on into replacing it. If you seek to purchase a brand new ink cartridge, a decent option would be an online retailer like 4inkjets.com. I’ve found they usually have pretty good deals on cheap ink cartridges.

That’s how easy recycling your used ink cartridges can be! This gives you the ability to maximize efficiency, cut costs, and watch out for the environment at the same time!

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The Canon MX310 (Review)

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

One of my graduation presents a few years ago was a Canon Pixma MX310 All-in-One. I would like to share my take on the printer’s quality and features, having owned it myself for a few years now.

Faxing, printing, scanning and copying are features offered by the MX 310. I am familiar with all of the printer’s components except for the Fax feature. I will talk about each feature individually and then discuss a few other printer considerations.

The MX310 really excels at printing. The software and manual are comprehensive and simple to get through and I was able to successfully connect the printer and print off a test document within minutes of opening the printer. The printing is fairly speedy and isn’t as jam-prone as other printers I’ve used. The ink usage is fairly high, unfortunately, and the cartridges cannot be refilled, but replacement ink is modestly priced and can be found online for as little as $22 at a reputable dealer like 4inkjets. For the tech geeks, it prints up to 600×600 dpi in monochrome at 22 pages/minute and 4800×1200 dpi in color at 17 pages/minute.

Copying is also easy. The Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) is effective and comfortably holds up to thirty pages.. Copies are very crisp and clear, as would be expected from the quality Canon brandname. Professional-quality stills are approximated extremely well by copying photos onto professional-quality photo stock.

The scanner is also a quality tool. My only issue with the printer, it seems, is when it comes to using the scanner feature. I have always had issues getting the printer to shift to the scan function. Often, I have to press the ’scan’ button several times before the machine moseys into scan mode. After the scanning is complete, the quality, however, is great.

I don’t have any experience with the fax component. From what i’ve read online, reviews seem to be mixed. People like the 20-number storage capacity, but don’t like how few options it has. I would really suggest you try elsewhere for information about the fax’s specific capabilities.

My biggest complaint about this printer is its size. The printer is gigantic. It extends over most of my desk! If the printer is already on my desk, I can’t fit my laptop. The printer is also very loud. Also, when the printer indicates it is low on ink, there are actually 30-40 pages left (from my experience). It’s not very eco-friendly, and I hope it wasn’t intentional on Canon’s part.

Pros: Quality prints, efficient functioning.

Cons: High ink usage, inability to refill ink, unwieldly wize.

Final Verdict: A 3 out of 5. Although the printer has high prodcutivity, I just can’t afford to keep replacing ink at the rate I do, and the large size makes it difficult to fit onto a desk. It’s a good printer, but I will be looking for smaller, more efficient models when I buy my own.

Try 4inkjets.com for great deals on cheap ink cartridges.

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Saving Money With B&W

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

Every day we create documents in color without worrying about the consequences. Every day, we throw money out the door by using color ink that should have been black and white. Every day, the black and white print setting can help cut costs in our home or office.

Most printers will allow you to change a setting. When it’s time to print, check your print options for something indicating ‘advanced properties’. Under this tab or the main print settings page, look for a option to print in monochrome, economode or grayscale printing. This uses black ink instead of color ink, because it tells the printer to treat all color images as B&W images. Because color is not necessary for their comprehension, this is perfect for printing instructions, recipes, or directions.

Also remember, when you have a web document, sometimes it looks like it’s in monochrome already, but it’s actually a dark blue, green or purple. Setting the color images to print in monochrome is still a good idea to play it safe.

This saves the color ink for the color ink printing that really needs color and ensures that the next time you have to replace an ink cartridge, it’s a B&W ink cartridge instead of a Color one. This cost savings can be significant. For example, on 4inkjet.com, the replacement ink cartridge for my Canon Pixma MX310 will be $18.99 for the B&W cartridge and $24.99 for the Color cartridge, an immediate $6 savings. This could be a significant savings if I do a lot of printing over the course of say, one year..

For an office-quality laserjet printer, the cut in ink usage may be even more significant. If you’re buying replacement laser loner for the Xerox Phaser 8860, for example, the laser toner replacement will cost 144$.99 on 4inkjets.com, while replacing the three color components will sum up to $164.97, an almost $20 savings.

All you have to do is pick the monochrome printing option when color isn’t needed, and encourage your officemates to do the same, and the ink expenses will decrease quickly.

I like 4inkjets.com for all my cheap ink cartridges needs.

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Save Your Budget Using The Xerox 4150 Printer

Saturday, March 27th, 2010

A multifunctional printer may just be the best quick fix to your office needs. The Xerox WorkCentre 4150 Printer using Xerox 4150 cartridges is a highly competitive product that provides you with four machines in one. These features include: faxing, printing, scanning, and copying. Combined into one, these abilities will save you not only time but your valuable dollars as well.

This machine will not take up valuable space in your office as it has been designed in order to conserve space. The exact dimensions of this product are 24.5 inches in height by 19 inches in width by 24 inches in depth. Not only does it save you space, but it is easy to install as well.

Upon receiving your printer you will want to verify that you have received all valuable parts that are to be included. These parts you should expect consist of: Xerox toner, drum cartridge, power cord, finisher ships with 5,000 staples, and software and documentation. Knowing what to expect can help you decided ahead of time what more you need to purchase separately as well as to make sure you are not missing anything.

In order to operate this printer you will need to be able to quickly locate and maneuver the control panel. Luckily this panel has been designed to be quite large for your satisfaction. Also, control panel is a touch screen for better convenience and ease in operation.

One of the most important features in a feature that can set it above its competitors is its speed. This specific model is known for its excellence in speed and will not fail when compared to similar models. When printing its first page it is able to come out in a total of five seconds!

The input tray is able to take on 2,100 sheets of paper. However, the average amount you want to typically place in it is around 600. Any more than this 600 on a regular basis may be too much for the machine to handle. Also, this machine is able to take on 50 sheets automatically. This is an extremely beneficial feature that is useful in any office for any volume of output.

Another way in which this machine is able to save you money is in its double-sided print abilities. If you have two sheets of paper and they are able to be combined into one the Xerox WorkCentre 4150 Printer is able to do so. This is a simple process that requires little effort by you and that is easy to learn even for those who are not familiar with technology usage.

Finding Xerox WorkCentre 4150 compatible toners won’t be a worry as you can do a search online for Xerox printer toners and see many dealers. Printer Toner Refill prices are excellent when using this method.

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Cost-Efficient HP Color LaserJet 2550L Printer For Your Home Office

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

The HP Color LaserJet 2550L printer is an inexpensive laser printer using LaserJet 2550L toners that has reached the end of its production by HP. This printer produces a large number of color prints. Although no longer available new, it can be found used in several places.

The HP Color LaserJet 2550L printer is a two-tone gray printer. It is lightweight and easy to move. It owes its compact size to the fact that the four-HP ink and toner are arranged in a space saving carousel.

The low initial cost is the greatest advantage of this printer. Even when purchased new, it was one of the least expensive color laser printers for its day. To lower costs, HP designed the machine to be adjusted through the software rather than install an LCD screen in the printer.

Many consumers were not happy with this printer on a couple of counts, however. The printer does not come equipped with a paper tray unless purchased separately. In addition, the consumables for the machine can become expensive very quickly.

Unless you purchase the paper tray separately, paper is fed into this machine through a slot behind the front panel. This means that the panel must be left in the open position most of the time. Many owners of this printer do not like the configuration because it allows dust to get into the inner workings of the printer.

The drum of the HP Color LaserJet 2550L printer has to be replaced very often. For some consumers, the drum needs replacing every six months. The replacement drum cost about one third the cost of the machine when new.

Toner cartridges also must be replaced on a regular basis. These cartridges have a chip that counts down each print that is made. When the printer is set to print only black, the color toners count down for each print made. Therefore, consumers often report having to replace toner cartridges that are half to one third full, simply because their chip has counted down to zero. There are rumors that replacement chips can be purchased on the Internet that allow these still full toner cartridges to be used.

Color prints produced on the machine seem to be at best mediocre. Flesh tones are too bright and other colors are too dull. In addition, it is common for pinks to look purple and greens to look blue. Speeds of the prints are very slow by today’s standards. Color prints slow the machine to 3.1 ppm. Black text prints are excellent but only produced at 12.1 ppm.

The HP Color LaserJet 2550L set a standard that brought the prices of both black and color laser printers into the range of ink jet printers so that they could be affordable for many home computer users. While consumers may find many of these used machines being offered at low prices they should be warned that the cost of consumables and the fact that they must be replaced even when not empty makes this a less than desirable printer. It is also important to always have HP laser toners on hand. Compatible toner is the ink that the printer uses to print your documents. You can purchase HP Color LaserJet 2550L compatible toner online or in stores.

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