What’s a Toner Cartridge?

It’s the consumable element of a laser printer. It contains the material (toner) used to produce the picture onto the paper.

What’s a Laser Toner?

In contrast to ink, the toner is a dry powdery substance. During the laser printing process, the toner powder is electrically charged (static) so that it’s attracted to the printer drum (similar to a balloon being rubbed against your hair and then placed near small paper scraps). The toner is then transferred to the paper after being melted by the fuser, creating an everlasting image on the paper.

What’s an OEM Cartridge?

OEM cartridges or Original Equipment Manufacturer cartridges are the type of cartridge that’s produced by the company that manufactures your printer. Of course, the manufacturer of your printer recommends you use their official cartridges and will claim that their products work better than the competitors or the lower priced compatible brands. Sadly, OEM cartridges are very expensive, sometimes even more expensive than the printer itself, because that is how the companies make a lot of money. They subsidise the printer, then charge extra for their ink/toner.



What’s a Compatible Toner Cartridge?

A compatible toner cartridge is one that’s fabricated from all new elements, however, they might not be the same brand as that of your printer. As an alternative, the components in compatible toner cartridges are similar to those produced by your printer brand. Such a printer cartridge is normally lower in cost and is often a really good alternate. These cartridges are typically available at any office supply store or perhaps a big mall like Target or Wal-Mart.

What’s a Refill Toner Cartridge?

Refilled toner cartridges are known by a number of names. It’s possible you’ll hear them called recycled, refurbished or re-manufactured toner cartridges. A lot of these cartridges are recycled by companies specialising in this process.

Some toner cartridge re-manufacturing companies acquire authentic OEM cartridges that can no longer be used. They’re then disassembled and used to create new products. Other firms will pick up used cartridges from their customers so they can use them once more passing the savings along to their clients. Either way, old cartridges are disassembled and the components that don’t work are changed with components that work.

How To Select a Printer Toner Cartridge?

OEM toner cartridges are usually the most costly component of a printer, and often, there isn’t a difference in quality between an OEM cartridge and a compatible or remanufactured toner cartridge. In numerous instances, the OEM firms are actually manufacturing their cartridges using components which might be recycled, but you’ll still be paying the same price as a brand new one. If any brand tells you that using an appropriate or re-manufactured cartridge will void your warranty, they’re breaking the law. Even using a refilled cartridge will not void your warranty (however we do not recommend using refills).

The compatible cartridges are the so-called “generic” cartridges. They’re normally built utilising components which were recycled from old cartridges. If these are bought from a company that has been in the business for some time and has a very good reputation, you’ll get the same or sometimes even a higher quality than that of the OEM for usually a much lower price.

However discovering third-party ink/toner for your specific printer model could be a challenge, particularly if your model is very new, very outdated, or not very popular. Before driving around the city to search out the right cartridge, do some homework online.

You’ll find many websites that help you find them online. We recommend v4ink.com, which has an ink and toner cartridge finder. Click on the hyperlink to search for a suitable toner cartridge from V4INK based on your printer model. You can find cartridges for almost all printers for e.g Canon, Brother, Samsung, Dell, Lenovo and/or HP printers.