WHY BUY GENERIC?
We all know laser printers print faster than inkjets, and the laser toner cartridges print relatively more pages than inkjet cartridges. Laser printers have become even more affordable to own than it used to be, not just for small businesses, even for home users. With their significantly faster printing capability and more prints per toner cartridge than its inkjet counterparts, now nearly every business uses laser printers to handle their everyday print jobs. Whether if you print invoices, paychecks, photocopies, homework, lecture notes or any kind of document, you need to replace your toner cartridges every now and then.
When it comes to replacing your toner cartridges, its no secret that all genuine toner cartridges are expensive! Very expensive! They are one of the costliest expenses associated with owning a laser printer. One easy solution is to go generic. Generic toner cartridges are cartridges that third-party manufacturers make for branded printers; they are absolutely compatible to their respective branded printers – no hiccups and cheap to run. They can produce similar quality and quantity of prints that are a much lower price per page. So why pay double or more for a genuine branded toner that produces similar quality and quantity to that of a generic one?
Why Buy Generic?
When it comes to cartridges, genuine or compatible, the average consumer seems indecisive as to which is the best in regards to both print quality, overall costs as well as making sure their beloved printer is not compromised in any way, or simply don’t know the existence of compatible toner cartridges at all. One of the major concerns with compatible/remanufactured/aftermarket/generic cartridges or however you want to call it, is “will it damage my printer?”; other concerns include “how is the quality of prints compared to my expensive genuine toner?”; “will it print just as many pages as my expensive genuine toners?”.
You are so used to using your genuine cartridges because your printer manual told you so. And now you are here reading this, which is good that you are giving compatible toners a chance.
A quick general knowledge of printer toner cartridges.
Although both ink (inkjet) and toner (laser) share the same purpose – to print; however their make-up and functionality are completely different. Ink is liquid that is sprayed on the print, while toner is powder that requires static electricity and a fuser to print onto paper. Basically, the static electricity draws the toner powder to the printer drum, then the fuser melts the toner onto the paper. (Picture).
Cartridge types:
- Genuine: A brand new original cartridge, or OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) manufactured by the same company brand that developed your printer. For example if you have a Brother printer, the genuine toner cartridge would also be created and manufactured by Brother. The toners they make are definitely expensive! With the amount of costs put into research and development, of course they have to somehow make their money back and also making massive profits, resulting in high consumer prices once a customer has committed to owning a printer.
- Compatible/Generic: A brand new cartridge manufactured from scratch by a third party manufacturer – an alternative to genuine toner. They are not affiliated with the original printer manufacturer. They have no such research and development overheads so they charge at much lower price.
- Remanufactured: An original cartridge which have been used once, returned, cleaned, all working parts replaced and refilled. The parts of the toner may experience wear during the printer process being replaced. Sometimes certain parts of the cartridge would be left as it is which raise the question of consistency and reliability.
Compatible vs Remanufactured cartridges:
The main areas of concern with generic cartridges are compatibility (chip & cartridge moulding), print quality, and page yield. Any defects in these would result in a series of problems, both to your printer and your print-outs. Our compatible toner cartridges are manufactured in ISO 9001 facilities by our trusted reputable third-party manufacturers. ISO 9001 is an internationally recognised quality management system standard, which ensures that customers receive consistent, good quality products and service.
Will generic toners damage my printer?
This is probably the major concern with consumers today who are interested in switching to generic toners to save money, but scared of compromising their printers.
A cheap poorly manufactured toner cartridge would generally produce the following kind of prints:
Greyish background:
Vertical line on every page:
Differences in print density across page:
One important point to consider: Problems don’t necessarily come from the toner you replaced. When it comes to laser printer, there are drum unit and fuser unit, which need to be replaced – although not as often as replacing your toner. If the time comes that your printer needs to change. In economical sense, and if your printer is a budget entry model that costs around $200 – $400, its more economical to just buy a new printer. Replacing a drum and fuser including labour costs can cost as much as buying a new one.
Will the ‘compatible’ toner cartridge be compatible?
They are absolutely compatible and their shells are carefully designed to work with your printer. So the cartridge installation process is essentially going to be identical to installing a genuine cartridge – that means it fits seamlessly into your printer. And then there is the chip that is attached on the cartridge, and it needs to be connected to your printer in order to produce prints. Without that important chip or if the chip is poorly manufactured, the toner will be completely useless or produce poor quality prints respectively. All our cartridges comes with a chip that is 100% compatible to the respective branded printers sold in Australia.
Now, why buy generic?
Compatible toner cartridges represent big cost savings and if they have been remanufactured by a reputable third-party manufacturer, they will always be equivalent and most likely exceed the yield of the genuine cartridges.
Is there any difference in print quality?
The short answer is ‘there shouldn’t be’. The toner powder used in our toner cartridges is extremely close to the genuine cartridges. You will often see just as good mono or colour reproduction, and accuracy of print, all at a heavily reduced price. Most consumer can’t see the difference.
Are compatible toner cartridges suitable for me?
If you run a small to medium business such as an accounting firm, clinic, retail, or a simply home user who prints documents. Whether if you print invoices, paychecks, photocopies, homework, lecture notes or any kind of document, you need to replace your toner cartridges every now and then. It doesn’t matter if you print frequently or rarely, compatibles will save you a huge amount of money. Many business owners are now turning to compatible toner cartridges in an effort to save money.
cartridge used, a small percentage still fail while under warranty. If your printer fails and is currently under warranty, we highly recommend that you remove the cartridge from the printer prior to sending it for repair. There is the impression that all compatible cartridge manufacturers (ink and toner) are somehow inferior to genuine cartridges. Truth to be told, few genuine make their own consumables, relying instead on outside suppliers.
Conclusion:
Compatible, no fuss, making your printer cheap to run, . Unlike solar or LED, which requires you to pay an upfront cost of installation and devices to save energy in a long run. Switching to compatible toner cartridge saves you money straight away. Words doesn’t do justice until you give generic toners a go!
