TCPglobal - news, views and issues on total cost of printing

Despite the fact that third party, or ‘compatible’, ink cartridges are priced to undercut the original cartridges from the printer manufacturer (often by a huge percentage), testing shows that the quality of the compatible inks and cartridges does not match the quality of the printer manufacturer’s original inks and cartridges, severely compromising the printed result and even the health of the printer itself. The user experience may be badly affected even if the costs of running the printer are reduced by buying the cheap ink.

This study had a feel about it of the fable, “The Tortoise and the Hare”! Hewlett-Packard’s Officejet 7610 may have a slower print engine according to manufacturer’s specifications than the Brother MFC-J4510DW and MFC-J6720DW but, in real-life printing scenarios, many print jobs are delivered to the output tray faster with the Officejet 7610 – and, in some instances, much faster.