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By Lawrence White

There are a number of ways and method of use you can use to help you get the most out of the ink cartridges for your printer.

One of the simplest ways of saving ink is to set the printer options to ”draft” until you”re ready for the final end result, this is because ”draft” printing doesn”t use as much ink and therefore can extend the life of the cartridges. It is also wise to set the printer to black and white only printing, especially if you don”t have the need to print in colour.

Original Equipment Manufacturers, often referred to as OEM cartridges, are high quality and designed specifically for the brand of printer and whilst they may be more expensive they do provide the best quality end results of both clarity and longevity of the cartridges.

Compatible cartridges can save you money however, they can also cause damage to the printer heads and are viewed by many as a false economy as the difference between OEM and compatible cartridges does not always offer best value for money, more especially if you have to pay for the printer to be repaired.

Bulk buying is probably the most effective way of saving money. This enables you to but OEM cartridges so that you get excellent print quality without damaging your printer. As such you should lookout for online retailers who offer discounts on genuine OEM cartridges to save money. Printer cartridges do have a ‘’shelf-life” and typically begin to deteriorate after six months or so. Bulk purchasing for three to four months can be the most effective way of making savings. Stock rotation is also important to ensure you use the oldest cartridges first.

Another effective way of saving money is to only print what you actually needs. This may sound logical and yet many people simply hit the print button when in reality they only need the written text of a document, not all the coloured headers and banners. Alternatively just print entire pages in black and white rather than colour.

It also makes logical and economical sense to get as much ink as you can out of each cartridge. Most printers will tell you when the ink is running low, which means just that, it’’s running low not that there is no ink left. It’’s this warning which tells you to order more printer cartridges so that when the ink does run out you won”t be left without a replacement cartridge.

Some leading manufacturers have printers which rely on the ink to cool the print heads, therefore if you do run out of ink completely there is a possibility that the print heads will over heat and become damaged. It’’s important to get to know your printer’’s needs if you want it to work efficiently. Many printers do have a system where they actually stop working when any cartridge is empty, you shouldn”t assume that because you only want to print in black that is doesn”t matter if you leave the colour cartridges to run dry.

It would also be wise to check the cost of replacement printer cartridges when you buy your printer, as well as ensuring they are available from online retailers who offer discounts otherwise you could be spending far more than you need to.

About The Author

For further information and an extensive range of printer cartridges visit http://www.aosonline.co.uk/products/Printer_Cartridges/