A while back I wrote an article about the "Future of Ink Cartridges", which stirred up some interest to say the least. The reason for this was that you would no longer need a toner cartridge to print a document or a photo. Enabled printers will change the way the world thinks about printing and image making. They won't require ink cartridges or ribbons, so they are extremely small and are not affected by gravity. They can be pocket-sized or be embedded into almost any electronic device.
But don't throw out your ink cartridges just yet. This may take some time to come to market. In the meantime, we can surely discuss what the impacts are likely to be for us, the consumer, and on big corporations, i.e. Lexmark and HP. For now, you will need your old fashion toner cartridges to print your documents. Not to worry, Tonerr.com can fulfill your printing equipment needs in the interim with great prices and many high quality brands.
What impact is this new technology going have on the consumer? Well, looking at the pluses, better quality prints and photo's than you get now with the old conventional laser printers. Why? The secret is in the paper. Special photo paper is comprised of dye crystals that are set in the paper. Before the printing process begins, the dye crystals become clear, making the paper look like a regular piece of white photo paper, but when run through a special-enabled printer, heat triggers the dye crystals to add color. The result is a high quality digital print or photo, and the best part, NO INK CARTRIDGES.
Mobility is another new plus. You are going to be able to take a picture with your electronic devise, say an I-phone, and be able to print a copy or photo at that instant. You will be able to send a digital photo from a cell phone using the Bluetooth wireless system. About 30 seconds later, a wallet-size color photo will emerge from a tiny slot on the end.
Cost may be a plus. The cost of a small printer that uses this technology will be around $100 as a ball park number, but that could potentially change. Remember the Polaroid camera. Its cost was high when it first came out, so even though technology has come a long way, it would still be spectacle about its cost. The camera is expected to cost roughly $200.
What is the impact going to be on the major printing supply companies? What would you think? I think initially not much, but as the new technology this company is touting becomes known, the big company margins will start to suffer. Once this becomes widely accepted and sales are at a peak, they will eventually license their technology to all and get an additional revenue source as a result, while the Lexmark's Printer Ink of the world spin their wheels trying to get on board.
I think this new technology will be available sometime in 2008. So, keep checking my blog for more updates.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
The Future of Inkjet Cartridges
I do not know about you, but I do remember the days of the first Polaroid camera that would develop a black and white or color picture in just one minute. Wow, at that time, it was great. You did not have to wait days to receive your pictures. I know I am dating myself, but there is a reason why I am telling you this story. There could be a similar story brewing for the future of inkjet cartridges.
Have you heard of "Zink"? No not Zune, Zink. Well, you may hear of this a lot in the not so distant future. Zero Imaging, or as it is referred to as zero ink (ZINK), is a new technology that is literally inkless. It is creating the future of digital printing. You will be able to produce high quality prints and photos without a ribbon or ink cartridge. So how do they do it? What is their secret?
The secret is their patented paper. This technology houses dye crystals inside the paper with a polymer layer outside. Before printing, the embedded dye crystals are colorless, so Zink paper looks like regular white photo paper. The Zink printer uses heat to activate and colorize these dye crystals. The printing process is now radically simple. Just add paper and press "print". The result is high quality, long-lasting, durable, and affordable images.
You can read more about the company through their web site. What is so unique about this company is that it is going mobile. Mobile you say? Yes. Zink plans to make it possible for you to be able to take pictures using your cell phone and printing the result instantaneously, at that moment, not when you get home in front of your inkjet printer. This is a market that could potentially be huge!
Have you heard of "Zink"? No not Zune, Zink. Well, you may hear of this a lot in the not so distant future. Zero Imaging, or as it is referred to as zero ink (ZINK), is a new technology that is literally inkless. It is creating the future of digital printing. You will be able to produce high quality prints and photos without a ribbon or ink cartridge. So how do they do it? What is their secret?
The secret is their patented paper. This technology houses dye crystals inside the paper with a polymer layer outside. Before printing, the embedded dye crystals are colorless, so Zink paper looks like regular white photo paper. The Zink printer uses heat to activate and colorize these dye crystals. The printing process is now radically simple. Just add paper and press "print". The result is high quality, long-lasting, durable, and affordable images.
You can read more about the company through their web site. What is so unique about this company is that it is going mobile. Mobile you say? Yes. Zink plans to make it possible for you to be able to take pictures using your cell phone and printing the result instantaneously, at that moment, not when you get home in front of your inkjet printer. This is a market that could potentially be huge!
Monday, October 26, 2009
Are YOU Paying Too Much For Toner?
1. Do you ask yourself, "Is my laser printer cost effective"?
2. Do you wonder, "Should I purchase Original Equipment Products or Compatible Printer Ink?
3. And, "Am I saving all I can when purchasing Toner, whether it be by the price you pay or Other Than Just Price?
If you answered YES, it might be costing YOU more for the printer ink you are buying. But don't feel bad! I will try to take the confusion out of the printer ink buying process. Whether you have photo printers, laser printers, or inkjet printers, you know that Toner cartridges are incredibly expensive. Part of the answer is identifying the most cost effective printers and part lies in the various types of toner cartridges on the shelves. For example, did you know that toner can be purchased in various forms? The different types of toner: OEM, Compatible and Re-manufactured.
The Benefits-OEM vs Compatible Printer Ink Toner
OEM, or Original Equipment Manufacturer, laser printer toner cartridges produce the replacement ink jet or laserjet toner cartridge for copiers and printers and normally will put the manufacturer's name on the product, such as Canon, IBM, Sharp, Lexmark, Brother or Epson.
Then there are compatible laserjet printer cartridges, and inkjet printer cartridge that are specially manufactured to meet or exceed OEM specifications with higher standards of quality and reliability, which produce professional printing results. With only new components, these cartridges are an economical alternative to expensive name-brand printer cartridges and supplies. This provides you with big savings over brand-name printer cartridges.
Remanufactured Toner Ink Cartridges
The third type of cartridges are remanufactured toner cartridges, include remanufactured toner cartridge and remanufactured ink cartridge. These are original manufacturer's brand printer cartridge, which have been through one cycle of service and have been recharged. All ink jet printer cartridges have been thoroughly cleaned along with the print head nozzles. Then the cartridge is filled with the same ink formulation, checked to ensure that it contains the correct internal atmospheric pressure, inspected for any possible shell leakage, tested for all electrical circuitry and finally used in an actual print test. If the printer cartridge passes these rigid standards, it has been re-manufactured. You can save plenty with remanufactured ink jet cartridges and remanufactured laser jet cartridges. This, coupled with printer ink discounts, all adds up to one word, SAVINGS!
2. Do you wonder, "Should I purchase Original Equipment Products or Compatible Printer Ink?
3. And, "Am I saving all I can when purchasing Toner, whether it be by the price you pay or Other Than Just Price?
If you answered YES, it might be costing YOU more for the printer ink you are buying. But don't feel bad! I will try to take the confusion out of the printer ink buying process. Whether you have photo printers, laser printers, or inkjet printers, you know that Toner cartridges are incredibly expensive. Part of the answer is identifying the most cost effective printers and part lies in the various types of toner cartridges on the shelves. For example, did you know that toner can be purchased in various forms? The different types of toner: OEM, Compatible and Re-manufactured.
The Benefits-OEM vs Compatible Printer Ink Toner
OEM, or Original Equipment Manufacturer, laser printer toner cartridges produce the replacement ink jet or laserjet toner cartridge for copiers and printers and normally will put the manufacturer's name on the product, such as Canon, IBM, Sharp, Lexmark, Brother or Epson.
Then there are compatible laserjet printer cartridges, and inkjet printer cartridge that are specially manufactured to meet or exceed OEM specifications with higher standards of quality and reliability, which produce professional printing results. With only new components, these cartridges are an economical alternative to expensive name-brand printer cartridges and supplies. This provides you with big savings over brand-name printer cartridges.
Remanufactured Toner Ink Cartridges
The third type of cartridges are remanufactured toner cartridges, include remanufactured toner cartridge and remanufactured ink cartridge. These are original manufacturer's brand printer cartridge, which have been through one cycle of service and have been recharged. All ink jet printer cartridges have been thoroughly cleaned along with the print head nozzles. Then the cartridge is filled with the same ink formulation, checked to ensure that it contains the correct internal atmospheric pressure, inspected for any possible shell leakage, tested for all electrical circuitry and finally used in an actual print test. If the printer cartridge passes these rigid standards, it has been re-manufactured. You can save plenty with remanufactured ink jet cartridges and remanufactured laser jet cartridges. This, coupled with printer ink discounts, all adds up to one word, SAVINGS!
How To Tell The Most Cost Effective Printers
I can't provide you with a list of all brands and model numbers as that will be too cumbersome, but I can help you to identify which printer models are "cost effective". Before you purchase your next inkjet or laser printer, you will need to understand the importance of the term "Yield", which we will discuss in a moment. For now, let us take a look at the various elements that go into determining cost effective printers, or as I call it, the cost of printing "One Page".
We can identify two major costs. The first being the cost of the printer and the second being the cost of the ink. An inkjet printer usually runs anywhere from $50 to $300, while a laser jet can cost you $200 up to $6,000 depending on the type (Color vs. Monochrome).
As far as the purchase of ink, generally the cost of ink for an inkjet printer is cheaper than that of a laser printer. However, you will need to buy it more often than the laser cartridges you purchase for the laser printer. But does buying an expense printer cost you less in ink or does purchasing a cheaper Inkjet printer mean that it does not matter what the cost of ink is? Can we include a common denominator that will determine just how much your printer is costing you? Or better put, what is the cost of printing just "One Page"?
Well, for one thing, you will need to learn a new term called "Yield". This is defined as dividing the cost of the ink by the number of pages you can print with one cartridge (This information can be found in your printer manual, or you can look it up on the web). For example, if it costs you $40 for your ink cartridge and you can print 500 pages, then the yield is 8 cents per page ($40/500=$.08). Compare this with a laser cartridge that costs $150 which produces 10,000 pages per cartridge. The cost of this Printer Ink is like sticker shock compared to the inkjet printer, right? But this cartridge will only cost you 1.5 cents per page to print. By doing this simple calculation, you can better determine which printer is costing you less on a "cost per page" basis.
The YIELD calculation coupled with great prices for toner ink will provide sugnificant SAVINGS.
We can identify two major costs. The first being the cost of the printer and the second being the cost of the ink. An inkjet printer usually runs anywhere from $50 to $300, while a laser jet can cost you $200 up to $6,000 depending on the type (Color vs. Monochrome).
As far as the purchase of ink, generally the cost of ink for an inkjet printer is cheaper than that of a laser printer. However, you will need to buy it more often than the laser cartridges you purchase for the laser printer. But does buying an expense printer cost you less in ink or does purchasing a cheaper Inkjet printer mean that it does not matter what the cost of ink is? Can we include a common denominator that will determine just how much your printer is costing you? Or better put, what is the cost of printing just "One Page"?
Well, for one thing, you will need to learn a new term called "Yield". This is defined as dividing the cost of the ink by the number of pages you can print with one cartridge (This information can be found in your printer manual, or you can look it up on the web). For example, if it costs you $40 for your ink cartridge and you can print 500 pages, then the yield is 8 cents per page ($40/500=$.08). Compare this with a laser cartridge that costs $150 which produces 10,000 pages per cartridge. The cost of this Printer Ink is like sticker shock compared to the inkjet printer, right? But this cartridge will only cost you 1.5 cents per page to print. By doing this simple calculation, you can better determine which printer is costing you less on a "cost per page" basis.
The YIELD calculation coupled with great prices for toner ink will provide sugnificant SAVINGS.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
“If Staples is a Thing of the Past, So What is the Future? You Will Be Surprised!
Toner will definitely take on a different shape and form in the future, but for right now, we are somewhat stuck with using toner or laser cartridges. I often ask my loyal client base, would you prefer to continue to use printer cartridges to print your documents or some other simpler form, such as paper, and in the process receive a higher quality digital print. I think the answer would be quite obvious.
The History of Toner Cartridges
Toner has taken on many shapes and forms over the last 20 years. It went from an original equipment product, meaning brand named companies like Lexmark would be behind its manufacturing, to a compatible product that third party vendors would produce. This essentially means that the toner cartridge itself is used, but the parts contained in the Toner cartridge are brand new. In addition, the components of toner have changed over time as well. Toner is, by definition, a powder that contains many different attributes. When this powder is passed through a medium, such as a laser printer, it creates an image on the document you want to produce. But before the toner gets to your document, a heating process occurs in the printer, which melts the chemically processed ink onto your document.
Toner Composition Today
Over time, technology dictated pretty much what form toner was to take on. For example, just as technology dictated how the computer evolved from this huge machine to a tiny hand held instrument with 50 times the power as the old huge machine, the composition and size of toner changed over time as well. I could talk to you about the composition of toner, but I think most of you would be board to tears. For the most part, it is important to know that toner is made up of a combination of plastic resins, coloring pigments and a host of other ingredients. More importantly and what was most challenging over time was its SIZE. In the early days of laser toner printing, the individual toner element was 12 microns, which is quite small. As time marched on and technology exploded, the demand for improved print quality became evident. This resulted for laser printers to become more efficient, but required that the composition of toner itself change to accommodate this advancement in the printer industry. Twelve microns became eight microns in a couple of years, then to four. One huge advantage to all this downsizing of toner particles was a higher “Yield Per Page". This meant that you would need less toner to produce the same result, therefore, lower cost. There is your history in some 300 words or less.
What About the Future of Toner Cartridges?
This brings us to the Future of Toner, which will be Non-Toner. What the heck is non-toner you say? Paper! You will see that toner will evolve again and its composition will be totally different than it is today. In fact, it makes sense that its components will be found in the paper you print and not toner contained in a cartridge. One company is doing this very well. It is the patented paper, which contains a combination of cyan, yellow and magenta crystals with a protective outer layer. The crystals are colorless before the print process, but when heat is applied, the crystals are activated. Time and temperature are the keys to releasing the magic of color from the crystals to an image on paper. The result is a digital quality print with rich deep colors, and yes, NO INK CARTRIDGE. By applying heat impulses from the printer head through to the paper over some a period of time will determine which crystals or color will appear as the image on this "special paper". There you have it, NO CARTRIDGES. YES!
The History of Toner Cartridges
Toner has taken on many shapes and forms over the last 20 years. It went from an original equipment product, meaning brand named companies like Lexmark would be behind its manufacturing, to a compatible product that third party vendors would produce. This essentially means that the toner cartridge itself is used, but the parts contained in the Toner cartridge are brand new. In addition, the components of toner have changed over time as well. Toner is, by definition, a powder that contains many different attributes. When this powder is passed through a medium, such as a laser printer, it creates an image on the document you want to produce. But before the toner gets to your document, a heating process occurs in the printer, which melts the chemically processed ink onto your document.
Toner Composition Today
Over time, technology dictated pretty much what form toner was to take on. For example, just as technology dictated how the computer evolved from this huge machine to a tiny hand held instrument with 50 times the power as the old huge machine, the composition and size of toner changed over time as well. I could talk to you about the composition of toner, but I think most of you would be board to tears. For the most part, it is important to know that toner is made up of a combination of plastic resins, coloring pigments and a host of other ingredients. More importantly and what was most challenging over time was its SIZE. In the early days of laser toner printing, the individual toner element was 12 microns, which is quite small. As time marched on and technology exploded, the demand for improved print quality became evident. This resulted for laser printers to become more efficient, but required that the composition of toner itself change to accommodate this advancement in the printer industry. Twelve microns became eight microns in a couple of years, then to four. One huge advantage to all this downsizing of toner particles was a higher “Yield Per Page". This meant that you would need less toner to produce the same result, therefore, lower cost. There is your history in some 300 words or less.
What About the Future of Toner Cartridges?
This brings us to the Future of Toner, which will be Non-Toner. What the heck is non-toner you say? Paper! You will see that toner will evolve again and its composition will be totally different than it is today. In fact, it makes sense that its components will be found in the paper you print and not toner contained in a cartridge. One company is doing this very well. It is the patented paper, which contains a combination of cyan, yellow and magenta crystals with a protective outer layer. The crystals are colorless before the print process, but when heat is applied, the crystals are activated. Time and temperature are the keys to releasing the magic of color from the crystals to an image on paper. The result is a digital quality print with rich deep colors, and yes, NO INK CARTRIDGE. By applying heat impulses from the printer head through to the paper over some a period of time will determine which crystals or color will appear as the image on this "special paper". There you have it, NO CARTRIDGES. YES!
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