Understanding The Different Types Of Toner Cartridges For Laser Printers

In a laser printer the laser beam moves, and "prints" an image onto a electrically charged, rotating, photoreceptive drum. Toner, which is a kind of dry ink powder, is transferred from the toner hopper or cartridge, first onto the surface of the drum, and then from drum to paper. At this point the toner is still a fine powder, and is held onto the paper by static electricity. In the final step the paper passes through some heated rollers (the fuser). The heat causes the toner particles to melt, and to fuse with the fibers in the paper. Toner cartridges are the consumable items which contain the toner. Usually the printer will give some indication such as a "toner low" warning light, which tells the user it is time to replace the cartridge.

The replacement toner cartridges can be expensive, and can often cost more than the laser printer itself. This is because printer companies discount the price of the printer, in the hope that they will recoup their costs by the sale of genuine brand toner cartridges.

Some people notice this, and just discard the printer when it is out of toner, buying a new printer rather than a replacement cartridge. This is a false economy: the cartridges sold with new printers are often only 33% full.

When buying a replacement toner cartridge the owner has a number of choices. Firstly they can choose whether to buy "genuine" cartridges, which are also called "original" or "OEM", or whether to but "compatible" brands which are usually cheaper. Secondly they can choose whether to buy refilled, or remanufactured cartridges.

Genuine, original, or OEM cartridges are those manufactured by the printer company itself. As the company has often discounted the original cost of the printer, they hope to recoup their costs by selling consumables such as cartridges. The manufacturer will usually claim that the quality of their OEM cartridges is better than that of compatible brands.

This may be true in some cases, but not necessarily all. However when you buy a genuine brand cartridge you can be sure that the quality will be at least as good as the cartridge which came with the brand new machine.

Compatible cartridges are made by other manufacturers. The price is often much less than genuine cartridges, as the compatible manufacturer is not trying to recoup money discounted from the initial price of the printer. As we have seen, the quality may be lower than genuine cartridges, but the only real way to be sure is to buy one and check it out, or to ask a friend who has bought one. The other disadvantage is the manufacturer of the machine will often claim that the use of non-genuine cartridges will invalidate the warranty on the printer.

Lastly we have to consider refilled and remanufactured cartridges. These are both cheaper than brand new cartridges. The difference between them is simply that refills are just old cartridges, which have been refilled with toner. Remanufactures are stripped down, and any worn out moving parts are replaced. These therefore cost more than refills, but will be less likely to be unreliable.

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