Should You Buy Printer Inks in Bulk?

Once in a while, we here people complaining about how expensive printer ink cartridges can get. In fact, try searching online for the topic and several articles are bound to come up with about half of them offering some tips on how consumers like you can minimize your printer ink costs. As we browsed through some of these articles, we noticed that a handful of them tell their readers to buy printer inks in bulk to save on the costs. Is it really practical to buy printer inks by bulk? Well, it depends on the user and on how the user defines his/her money’s worth.

As mentioned, the main reason why it is recommended that you buy printer inks in bulk is to avail of additional discounts. Just like most consumer goods, buying printer inks in bulk reduces the price per unit so you end up with more savings. But you have to think again. In buying bulk printer inks, you pay a lump sum of cold cash for printer inks that you will EVENTUALLY use.

From this, we can see two issues that might arise. One is you’ve got to have several hundred dollars so you can buy printer inks in bulk. Yes, it is possible that you would EVENTUALLY spend this much money on ink anyway, but paying such a huge sum right now can take a toll on your budget.

Another issue is when you buy bulk printer ink even if you don’t print that much. This is not good because the ink cartridge is stocked for a long time. It may settle and in some cases, it settles on the print head. This may lead to other issues ink spills or poor print quality. Some ink cartridges can also become unusable when stocked for a long time because the ink solidifies or dries up.

Buying printer inks in bulk may be advantageous or disadvantageous, depending on your demands. It is advisable if you are into bulk printing but for minimal printing, it is not advisable since you might end up with more expenses or more wastes.

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Kyocera's Fastest Printhead

Snapshot printers are printers that do not need a desktop or laptop connection for it to do its job. You just have to plug them to an electric socket and insert your media (or memory) card or connect your camera to it to print your files.

This type of printers comes with small LCDs where you can view and select the pictures or files that you want to print. They come in small sizes so you can carry them around. Some of the snapshot printer models can also run on battery so you don’t have to worry about electric sockets anymore.

Less-expensive snapshot printer models only have basic editing features like red-eye removal, clip art options, sepia-toning and border features. The more expensive or high-end models offer more extensive features such as adding captions, drawing or editing the image and printing layouts from albums and calendars.

Snapshot printers normally use one of these two technologies: inkjet and dye sublimation. The first technology is the most common: inkjet. The second technology called dye sublimation transfers the ink from a continuous roll to the paper. The dye sublimation technology produces pictures (or printouts) that are almost dry unlike in inkjet printers where you have to wait for the ink to dry. Also, inkjet technology tends to use more ink and require more frequent ink cleaning and printhead aligning.

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Printer Tips at Work

Admittedly, the different departments in the workplace have different functions. The same is true for employees. In managing a workplace and its properties (including printers and copiers), there are printer tips to keep in mind to help you maximize your ROI and your profits.

1. Assign or get a printer in accordance to the work description and needs of an employee.

One important tip is to observe that printers with specialized or customized uses should be used by those employees trained for those particular uses. For example, printers with engineering functions should be used by engineers or the technical team. As such, it is advisable to group employees with the same functions or work description together so that it will be easier to share a printer.

This will also allow the company to save up on printer devices or supplies. For instance, work groups that have a lot of paperwork or documentations such as the administrative department should be issued a workgroup printer while the technical team, as mentioned, should be assigned an engineering printer. In this way, the company does not have to buy several workgroup or multi-function printers or engineering printers. Some departments or employees can make do with personal printers which are cheaper.

As we’ve said, this tip will also allow your business to save up on printer supplies. For example, employees that do a lot of printing can be given ink or toner cartridges with higher page yields or capacities, compatible or remanufactured inks and toners, or be issued with printer models that use cheaper inks and toners.

2. Plan where the network or shared printer should be placed to maximize the time and productivity of the employees.

The next tip concerns the location of a network or shared printer. In most offices, a network or shared printer is located at the corner of the room or down the aisle (or hallway). This can be time-consuming and may not be entirely ergonomic for some employees. For instance, a printer should be placed near the workstation or desk of the office secretary or administrative assistant because he/she prints a lot. Employees that do not print that much may be assigned to work areas farther from the printer. In this way, the productivity and time of each and every employee is not hampered just because they have to go and fetch their printouts from time to time.

Another possible solution to this scenario is for the company to provide personal printers to employees who need to print a lot. This can be beneficial not only to the employee involved but also to the other employees. If one particular employee prints a lot, this means that the other employees may have to take some time to wait as their printing jobs are put on queue. Providing a personal printer can help hasten the flow of print jobs of the employees.

3. Do Your Homework: Check out the costs of cartridge replacements, maintenance and other components and services for the printer brand or model that you are planning to buy.

Before buying or installing a network or shared printer, it is better to investigate first on the costs of the components and other consumables associated with it. For instance, making a printer that uses expensive consumables available for everyone’s use can be a waste of money. One good example to demonstrate this is printing all-text pages or long reports on inkjet printers which costs more per page. In this case, it is more advisable to use a laserjet printer. Certain types of papers can also consumer more ink than the other types.

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HP Supports Green Campaigns

HP has just decided to go greener! During the Cairo ICT 2010, the printer manufacturing leader announced that they have devised and adopted a number of new environment-friendly goals. On top of these new goals is the pledge to enhance the overall energy efficiency of HP ink and laser printing products by as much as 40% next year. HP is also planning to increase the amount of recycled materials used in the production of their inkjet printers by 300% this year as compared to 2007 figures. Lastly, the printer manufacturer also intends to reach its goal of recovering 2 billion pounds of computer and printer equipment within this year.

HP’s decision to go greener is partly fueled by the company’s decision to help their customers reduce the environmental impacts of printing. HP representatives have constantly heard of customers who are looking for more energy-efficient and more environment-friendly products so the company has decided to take environmental responsibility to the next level.

As part of their efforts to produce technologies that have reduced environmental impacts, HP has released an enterprise printing assessment service and a carbon calculator and a more environmentally-sensitive policy governing paper manufacturing. The HP Carbon Footprint Calculator has been available to HP inkjet and LaserJet office printer users since May 2008. It allows users to monitor their energy consumption, paper use, and carbon output as well as the associated monetary costs of their current printing environment. As such, the HP Carbon Footprint Calculator reduces the environmental impacts of printing by instilling responsible printing in the office or at home.

Coinciding with these efforts is the launching of the new model of HP inkjet printer that is made entirely from recycled materials. HP considers the DeskJet D2545 as an important milestone. 83% of the printer’s total plastic weight is recycled material. It also uses HP 60 ink cartridges which are molded from recycled plastic resins. In addition, the company also launched the DesignJet T-Series, a new line of large-format printers that reduce carbon footprint.

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Epson Ink Cartridges Turned to Lamps

If Lexmark’s recycler is able to recycle Lexmark ink and toner cartridges to pens, Epson’s recycler has found another way to recycle discarded Epson ink cartridges: turn them to lamps and chandeliers.

Shops in Durham, North Carolina are now selling lamps and chandeliers made from Epson ink cartridges. These are manufactured by LowellAndLouise and boxlightbox, both located in the area. They make use of different colors available to create ambient lighting that will suit the preferences of customers. For example, ink cartridge colors used to provide light include matte black, cyan, light cyan, magenta, light magenta, yellow, light black and very light black.

The manufacturers recycle Epson ink cartridges by scrubbing them clean of residues, drilling holes to drain the ink and putting wires inside to power it.

All lamps and chandeliers are fully functional and wired to provide ambient light. Also available are single lamps, box pendants and eight-cartridge chandeliers that can be hanged at homes or in offices.

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A Short Discussion on Inkjet vs. Laserjet Printer

For those who are thinking of getting a new printer, watch this video to help you decide if you should get an inkjet or a laserjet printer.

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Small but Terrible: Tiny Printer Saves Big on Money and Environment

Fresh off the press, I’m sure people who are using Netbooks and smart phones will be thrilled to read or hear this news. PlanOn Systems Solutions, Inc., one of the world leader in scanning and printing solutions, has recently unveiled the Printstik PS905ME, the world’s tiniest printer.

Printstik makes it easier for people who are always on the go to take care of their printing needs. To date, printing documents when you’re out of the office or house or while you’re on vacation is a major concern among businesspeople.

PrintStik

Printstik allows a complete portable printing power. It is lightweight and completely mobile. A good plus factor for this is it works on rechargeable batteries so you don’t have to chase the electric socket or power source when you’re in the mall or in the beach. Printstik also utilizes thermal printing technology which means that it prints inkless so you don’t have to worry about running out of ink and toner.

When it says Printstik is the smallest and lightest printer in the market, PlanOn is not kidding. Printstik weighs only 1.5 pounds and with dimensions of 2 x 2 x 11 inches. It is small enough to fit into a 15-inch laptop bag or even in your tote bag or deep coat pocket. No worries over possible ink or toner leaks and spills since it use thermal technology to print. However, it only prints in monochrome or black and white. The Printstik can hold one roll of paper or about 20 sheets of regular letter-sized paper. It can readily connect to laptops, netbooks or any other type of computer as well as on smartphones.

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How to Create a Good Flyer

Flyers are one way of marketing and promoting your business products and services. Almost all types of businesses can make use of a good flyer design to attract potential customers. So what do you think are the factors that contribute to a good flyer design?

The first factor is the print design of the flyer. This should be simple, direct-to-the-point, and clean. The contents should be brief and easy to understand to send your message across to your customers. Do not to fill your flyer with words and images to avoid “cluttered look”. This makes sure that your readers will see your main points immediately and will not miss them. A white space of background for your content is important to make sure that it can be easily seen by the readers.

In terms of layout, good flyer designs employ the so-called “Z” design. With this, people will read your content from left to right, down and left to right again. This is effective because it is the natural way by which people read printed materials.

Always take time to proofread your contents and to check on the layout of the graphics before printing and distributing your flyers. A good flyer design does not have any typographical errors especially on the contact details of the business.

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Spotlight on Lexmark Impact S305

The Lexmark Impact S305 is budget-friendly. It is priced at $100, quite cheap for something that has the following features:

* an all-in-one printer that prints, scans and copies
* has wireless connectivity which allows printer sharing in a workgroup
* PC-free photo printing by inserting your memory card into the slot or via its PictBridge feature

Although the Lexmark Impact S305 seems packed with features, it still lacked certain elements such as a color LCD where you can view the photos that you are going to print (for PC-less printing) and PC-free web connectivity.

In spite of these, web experts seem to give Lexmark Impact S305 a thumbs-up. Justin Yu of CNET rates this as 4/5 stars because it has commendable print speed and print quality. The Wi-Fi settings are also easy to navigate and use plus the memory card slot is a big “come-on” to users and photo enthusiasts. The only drawback is the lack of auto-duplexer and ADF.

As a whole, the Lexmark Impact S305 gives you more than enough of what you need for a low price. However, keep in mind that this model is intended for budget-minded individuals and small homes or offices.

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Fuji to Launch 3D Printing in April

Some weeks back, HP announced their plans to develop and release 3D printers. Apparently, it seems like every printer manufacturer is thinking of the same thing. The latest to announce that they are also launching 3D printing is Fuji. Actually, this is not a surprise since Fujifilm has just released the first 3D point-and-shoot camera last fall so it is expected that the company will also develop a 3D printer that will complete this.

According to a press release, Fuji’s 3D printer system will be launched this April in the U.K. The aim is to provide a “portable system” for photographers and event organizing enthusiasts. The Fuji 3D printer has a dimension of 17.7 x 16.9 x 35.4 inches. It is can produce high-quality and high-resolution prints. According to Fuji, the print rate is equally satisfying as it guarantees that your prints will be out and ready in a few minutes (no exact time or print rate has been stated though).

As for the sizes of prints, the Fuji 3D printer is for photo printing. There are four possible standard sizes of prints, ranging from 4 x 6 inches to 6 x 9 inches.

The company hasn’t released an official photo or a description of their 3D printer yet.

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Wasteless Printer: Printer that Uses Recycled Paper and Recycles Paper

Talking about the different “green campaign” measures of the various companies, perhaps the most common measure that they do is to go “paperless” as much as possible. However, any type of business is not very likely to go paperless since the need to secure hard copies of some documents still arises from time to time.

Now, here is a possible solution to this concern: the PrePeat. PrePeat is a new desktop printer that uses sheets made from heat-senstive PET (polyethylene). Yes, it is made from recycled plastic. PET is the polymer materials used for manufacturing plastic bottles and some plastic bags. Aside from this, PrePeat can also print, then erase and reprint on the same page over and over. Each “plastic sheet” can be reused as much as 1,000 times. This eliminates not only the need for printer cartridges but also prevents more wastes from accumulating. It also contributes to environment conservation.

The only drawback of the PrePeat is its price. Right now, each printer costs about USD 5,517.00 while the plastic sheets which is currently available in reams (1 ream = 1,000 sheets) are priced at USD 3,300.00. With these current prices, individuals and businesses will surely shy away from using PrePeat but hopefully, its Japanese manufacturer can find some alternatives that can lower its selling price.

To give you an idea on how PrePeat works, here’s a link to the demo videop.

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Green Printing Tips

There are actually a lot of ways by which you can do "green printing". This video presents some suggestions that are easy to follow and will hardly cost you anything. Check it out.

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Why You Should Care About Envelope Printing

A document placed in a decent envelope can still lose its way. It may be sent to a wrong route or it can even stop dead on its tracks in the U.S. Post Office because your envelope printing is done incorrectly. When we say “done incorrectly”, it means that the labels or fields printed on your envelope are unacceptable or did not follow the USPS specifications.

USPS can be very strict on envelope printing. In fact, it does not only consider the prints but also the size, aspect ratio, thickness, contrast between the envelope paper or color and the ink, the information showing through the envelope window and other address or teaser information printed on the envelope.

So now you know why envelope printing has to be done correctly. This is like doing yourself a favor by avoiding all the hassles that you (or your document) might encounter. The best way to ensure that your envelope printing right is to consult the guidelines of the USPS on their website. Or better yet, you can take time and effort to show your envelope first to the post office branch near you so you can be sure that you’ve done your envelope printing correctly.

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