The Similarities Of OEM And Generic Toner Cartridges
Remanufactured, OEM, and Generic toner cartridges are identical in one regard: they are all typically shipped with a shelf life of anywhere from 18 months to 2 years. Manufacturers often suggest that any toner cartridge not used within that time frame be tossed out and replaced with a new one. Is it really worthless after two years of use? Before we can answer this question, though, we have to pose another: what is printer toner? Toner was designed for one reason: to print things on paper. It is as simple as that. While many think that toner and printer ink are the same, there are a number of key differences in the way work.
Toner is a powder made up of plastic and carbon molecules. Toner melts when it comes in contact with the heating drum in a laser printer. The melted powder then adheres to the paper. Even though the concept is simple, it took a long time to create what is now called printer toner. Plastic was introduced a few years ago to decrease the particle size. Before that, it was impossible to get high resolution images from a laser printer. With smaller particles, a toner can produce higher resolution. So, why would a toner go bad after two years?
To understand, you need to take a look at how toner comes packaged. The package is actually moisture and light resistant. Printer toner is very sensitive to these elements, after all, and can be easily ruined if the packaging fails to do its job. If the cartridge gets wet or is exposed to a humid environment, it can turn into a useless mess. You have to be careful to keep it out of the Sun, too. Too much ultraviolet light can ruin a toner cartridge in no time. If it gets exposed to excessive heat, the toner will fuse together as if it were in the printer. It is not hard to see that toner is very sensitive.
If you are careful, though, there is really no reason why toner could not last a decade or more. If you bought a gross of toner to get a bulk discount, be sure to keep them in a controlled environment. The key is to keep them at 75 degrees Fahrenheit with a humidity of 50%. Incredibly, when you take them out of storage, you can still expect toner cartridges to outperform ink cartridges. Even if you do not use your toner all the time, it will get great results. If you use printer ink, make sure you clean the print heads on a regular basis if you do not print documents every day. If stored properly, your toner can last a lot longer than 2 years.
In all reality, though, no printer manufacturer is better than the other. Canon was used as an example. Dell, Lexmark, or Kodak 3-in-1s possesses many of the same qualities as Canon. Take a good look around the Internet. With so many printers to choose from, there's sure to be something that right for you. When you're buying the printer, you might as well invest in some high quality generic ink. Why pay for brand when generic can do the job for half the cost?
Toner is a powder made up of plastic and carbon molecules. Toner melts when it comes in contact with the heating drum in a laser printer. The melted powder then adheres to the paper. Even though the concept is simple, it took a long time to create what is now called printer toner. Plastic was introduced a few years ago to decrease the particle size. Before that, it was impossible to get high resolution images from a laser printer. With smaller particles, a toner can produce higher resolution. So, why would a toner go bad after two years?
To understand, you need to take a look at how toner comes packaged. The package is actually moisture and light resistant. Printer toner is very sensitive to these elements, after all, and can be easily ruined if the packaging fails to do its job. If the cartridge gets wet or is exposed to a humid environment, it can turn into a useless mess. You have to be careful to keep it out of the Sun, too. Too much ultraviolet light can ruin a toner cartridge in no time. If it gets exposed to excessive heat, the toner will fuse together as if it were in the printer. It is not hard to see that toner is very sensitive.
If you are careful, though, there is really no reason why toner could not last a decade or more. If you bought a gross of toner to get a bulk discount, be sure to keep them in a controlled environment. The key is to keep them at 75 degrees Fahrenheit with a humidity of 50%. Incredibly, when you take them out of storage, you can still expect toner cartridges to outperform ink cartridges. Even if you do not use your toner all the time, it will get great results. If you use printer ink, make sure you clean the print heads on a regular basis if you do not print documents every day. If stored properly, your toner can last a lot longer than 2 years.
In all reality, though, no printer manufacturer is better than the other. Canon was used as an example. Dell, Lexmark, or Kodak 3-in-1s possesses many of the same qualities as Canon. Take a good look around the Internet. With so many printers to choose from, there's sure to be something that right for you. When you're buying the printer, you might as well invest in some high quality generic ink. Why pay for brand when generic can do the job for half the cost?
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