Printer ink is one of the most expensive things that you’ll run into when you set up your home office. Printer ink is more expensive than oil or vintage champagne. Printer Ink is made up of mixture of pigments and condensed surfactants, biocide along with fungicide, buffering agent, humectants & resin, de-ionized stream of water (May vary depending on the type of Ink).
Cartridges contain electronics to communicate with the printer and the printer driver (the software that enables your computer and printer to communicate). Cartridges use a sponge to hold ink, by overfilling you wet the upper portion of the sponge causing the ink to want to flow upwards, away from the print nozzles. Cartridges made by (or for) the printer manufacturers are expensive.
Printer manufacturers have become very aggressive in attempting to maintain their grip on the aftermarket for printer cartridges. Most manufacturers are using their “green” credentials with their return of used cartridge policies to stop empty ink cartridges getting into the hands of remanufacturers. By doing this they are able to maintain the high prices they charge without the fear of low cost competition.
On average, inkjet printers provide an ink efficiency of just 58 percent when used for photo printing purposes and 47 percent when used for printing business documents such as presentations. Durability is another important consideration for printed photos. The big three manufacturers (HP, Canon and Epson) all make archival inks for their middle and higher-end photo printers.
Especially in the case of photos, the combination of a manufacturer’s printer, ink and paper most often results in photos that look the best and last the longest without fading. Durability is an important consideration for printed photos. However, if you’re not printing photos and aren’t concerned about longevity, third-party printer ink is often just fine
Quality Comparison I have personally tested thousands of both brand new printer ink cartridges and refilled or remanufactured printer ink cartridges and without a doubt the originals, produced by the printer manufacturer, are better in print quality. However, printing at the maximum quality more than doubles the cost per print.
If you print mainly text pages, aftermarket printer ink is fine. Everyone knows that printer ink is a swindle: they sell you the printer cheaply (or not so cheaply for higher-end professional models),then sell the colors - unremarkable commodities, let us not forget - at prices that would make a perfumer blush.
