The world of toner, printer ink and printing technology is a great deal more complicated that it appears at first blush. With a multitude of printer options, from commercial-grade laser to desktop-sized inkjet and everything in between, there are host of factors that go into determining how long a printer ink cartridge will last, how good the images it prints will look, and what kind of wear and tear it will suffer. How often the printer is used, for example, can affect printer ink life. If used every day, printer ink can quickly be used up and can be extremely pricey to replace often. If used infrequently, the ink can dry up, resulting in an unexpected cost. One factor which is often overlooked when considering the life and usefulness of a printer ink cartridge is the type of paper used.



Just like printer ink, paper comes in multiple types, grades and is created by multiple manufacturers. Three important characteristics of printer paper are its weight, brightness, and finish, and each of these can affect how the ink applied to it is used, as well as how much of it will be required to produce a high-quality image. The weight of paper refers to its thickness; the higher the weight, the thicker the paper. Common personal-use paper has a weight of 24lb. Photo paper, meanwhile, is 62lbs on average. The higher the weight of the paper, the more ink it will take to produce an image and the harder used the ink cartridge will be. 



Paper brightness is rated on a scale from 1 to 100; the higher the number, the brighter the paper. Manufacturers will often place the words “bright” or “bold” on their paper, but be sure to look for the number when in need of the brightest paper. Anything above a 95 will be a bright, clear white. Paper brightness has little effect on ink usage, and ink will typically show up more obviously on bright paper than that with a more grey hue. Cheaper paper in this case can be harder on your printer cartridge.



The finish of the paper can be matte, semi-gloss or glossy. Matte paper has no shine, while glossy is often referred to as photo quality. The gloss is achieved by applying a coating to the paper which will result in sharper images and cause colors to display more vibrantly. A higher quality paper will need less ink to create a brilliant and clear picture, and can mean less ink use per page. While the cost of paper can be prohibitive for daily use, a higher brightness, higher gloss option will enable an ink cartridge to perform its best for the maximum amount of time.


Tags: printer ink, printer ink cartridge, printer ink paper, toner printer ink

This entry was posted on Monday, April 12th, 2010 at 1:56 pm and is filed under Buying Tips.