Hardware article and Tip

First a little history lesson.....
There was a time
long ago that printers had ribbons and used dot matrix printing to create tiny dots that
when looked at
were readable. Sometimes they were BARELY readable
however. Changing ribbons and printing wheels to change type face was a chore.

Then
in 1984
the first laser printer that used toner cartridges came into being. Quickly
no one wanted a dot matrix printer anymore. The laser printer caused ink powder from the toner cartridge to fuse onto the paper where the program told the printer to leave ink. The output was much clearer and much more professional in appearance. Very soon
dot matrix printers became known as "door stops".

By 1990
inkjet printers that used drop-in ink cartridges became readily available and very reasonable prices. These inkjet cartridges were very easy to change without any fuss. The cost to the user
compared to the laser toner cartridge
was significantly reduced.

So now it starts getting pretty cool....
Today
inkjet printers using ink cartridges are so affordable that every computer owner can afford to own their own printer that is capable of using photo quality inkjet cartridges or for less expensive printing
ink cartridges that are remanufactured or "generic" or non-original manufacture. These inkjet cartridges can even be refilled in many cases to save even more money.

The price of the machines themselves has dropped by buckets and what they can do is way cooler than ever before. Not only can you print but also scan
fax (many do PC-Fax which I’ll get to later)
copy
make your morning coffee
take out the garbage (ok not those last 2). Combining this many tasks obviously reduces the number of different machines in your home/office but in addition there’s only one manual you have to completely ignore instead of many (for the guys reading this). The PC-Fax thingy I mentioned Id actually like to discuss a little more about because I personally find this a fantastic feature. Basically it means that your printer/fax/everything else talks directly to your computer allowing you to send and receive faxes without any visible signs of paper involved. For example if anyone was crazy enough to want a copy of this article faxed to them I could do it directly from my computer without having to actually print anything out.

When using inkjet cartridges that are photo quality
it is sensible to use photo quality paper for your printing. This ensures the best quality print out resulting from your inkjet photo quality cartridge. While these inkjet cartridges will print on regular paper
it is a waste to place the more expensive ink cartridge into your printer and then print on plain non-glossy paper.

For every day printing in black and white or even in color
remanufactured or non-original inkjet cartridges work great and save money for you in the long run. As a general rule of thumb
you need to purchase twice as many black inkjet cartridges because there is
on average
more black printing needs for the average person.

Nowadays manufacturers are including more and more technology into their cartridges and trying to convince you that their ink has that extra special something. Epson uses DURABrite ink
HP uses Vivera ink and the list goes on. If you ever get bored and feel the need to work yourself into a frenzy just try surfing some of the major sites to compare exactly what one manufacturers ink does compared to the next. If you come away from this sane you’ll definitely know a lot more techie sounds words than you need to know now or in your next lifetime.

Many of the latest ink cartridges have cool gizmos in them like small chips designed to monitor the ink levels and tell you when its time to reorder and even little LEDs for those of you who want their printer to light up like a disco. The idea of the chip sounds great but there are cases where the chip is telling the printer to stop working too soon or even to not work at all if the cartridges inside are not original (there’s been at least one of the major players recently sued over exactly this). To try and counter this a ‘chip resetter’ can be purchased which basically tells the chip to do as its told and keep on printing regardless of how much ink it thought was left in the tank. As far as the issue with these chips and non original cartridges is concerned its actually illegal for a chip to stop your machine working on this basis but apparently this hasn’t deterred a few of the big boys. Whether a chip resetter will fix this problem is uncertain.

No one knows what will come next in the world of printing. Just as the dot matrix printer long ago became a door stop (mostly that is)
it is possible that within the next decade a new
less expensive
more user-friendly printing method that is even more cost effective than inkjet printers using drop-in ink cartridges will become archaic. For today
inkjet cartridges in low-priced printer provide the average household with all the affordable printing from their inkjet printer they need.

Whether you want to print graphics
brochures
or just letters
there is a printer that uses inkjet cartridges for you. Choose inkjet cartridges that meet your printing needs at affordable prices.

Bottom line is yep your ink cartridges are getting more high tech and cooler (heck in the old days theres no way your cartridge would actually light up with pretty colours for you and tell you when its about to run dry). The future is certainly going to be interesting seeing what comes next.....