Ink & Toner Information Website

Lexmark is one of the best known manufacturers of printers and you can either buy a new inkjet cartridge or an ink cartridge refill if you use this type of printer. Here are a few of the most popular Lexmark cartridges.

Lexmark Cartridge 1
The Lexmark cartridge 1 contains cyan, yellow and magenta ink. The colors also combine for black ink, so you do not need an additional black cartridge. It will print everything from basic text to high quality photos and prints equally well on plain paper and glossy photographic paper. This cartridge also gives crisp text and sharp graphics. It is also compatible with the one-cartridge only Lexmark Z735, X2350 and X3740 printers and will print about a hundred and ninety pages. There is a smart chip in these cartridges telling the printer how many pages have been printed but you can still refill these cartridges a few times.

Lexmark 3 Ink Cartridge
The Lexmark 3 ink cartridge contains only black ink. This cartridge is suitable for the X2480, X2580, X3480, X3580, X4580, Z1380 and Z1480 printers. It delivers true, rich blank ink and will print everything from documents to black and white photographs on either plain or glossy photographic paper. You can get a cartridge refill if you are on a budget. It is best to refill this cartridge when it is between a third and half full. Waiting until it is nearly empty can burn out the print head.

Lexmark 28 Ink Cartridge
This is a black ink cartridge which is capable of printing up to a hundred and seventy five pages. It is compatible with Lexmark X5070, Z1300 and Z845 inkjet printers. These cartridges are able to generate top quality printing using pigment-based ink for water resistant and fade resistant text and graphics. Refills are available for these printers too and they work very well.

Lexmark 48 Cartridge
This is a black inkjet cartridge which is compatible with various Lexmark printers, including the Z700 series, P700 series, P3150 and P3120. This cartridge will print up to two hundred and twenty five pages, using pigment-based ink for high quality and lasting print. It is suitable for printer users who print occasionally or moderately. This ink is suitable for high resolution prints and offers fade resistance for document storage. The microscopic ink drop size means incredible detail and print clarity.

Lexmark 90 Ink Cartridge
This is a photo color ink cartridge which can print up to four hundred and fifty pages in full color. You can use this ink cartridge in most of the printers in the Lexmark Color JetPrinter range, Lexmark OptraColor printers and various other models. The high quality ink in the Lexmark 90 ink cartridge offer the very best quality for printing graphics and photos and the colors come out equally well on plain or glossy photographic paper.

Tired of purchasing new cartridges for your printer? Don’t worry, In this article i will show you the importance of ink refilling and how you can save a lot of money which you are currently spending on purchasing new cartridges.

The printer is a very well thought out machine that is easy to operate and is very very good to make your work a lot more easier and faster. It also consumes ink which will cost you a lot money if you want to replace the whole cartridge but ink refilling is popular nowadays, that it has even given birth to lots of ink-refilling stations. Ink refilling is where a printer becomes either a means offprinting affordable or making lucrative profits for manufacturers. It is an effective way to make great savings on your printer ink. The need to provide ink refilling is especially acute in the case of color ink cartridges, because typically one color will run out of ink before the other colors are depleted. With a strong awareness of recycling today, ink refilling is a demand service.

Refilling applies to nearly all makes and models, with or without integral print heads, (although some printers will need to have the cartridge chip override codes). Refilling means recycling your ink jet cartridge. Refilling is good for the environment and can save you a lot of money on your cartridges costs. Ink refilling is popular nowadays, that it has even given birth to lots of ink-refilling stations. You can actually do the refilling yourself provided you have the materials and the knowledge how to do it. Once again you will save big time by refilling your own cartridges, its a process that will not take much of your time, and with the easy to follow instructions you will be done in minutes.

Separate ink refilling is important mostly for intensive printing of unbalanced (monochrome) color images which are typical of studio and art photography. With a strong awareness of recycling today, ink refilling is surely killing the need of cartridges at crucial stages, one can easily afford some cash for purchasing ink.

It is not very much difficult to integrate ink in your cartridge, read some manuals and you will be on your way, don’t waste too much money, just refill your existing cartridge. In short words, I have just explained about the importance of ink refilling, it’s uses and how much efficient it is in now a days.

That’s the order that you should use when choosing a printer. First consider the cost of the ink cartridges, second consider if your have a choice of aftermarket inks and then third, choose the printer that you want to use that uses those ink cartridges. Most everyone goes in reverse – they find a printer first and worry about ink costs later – it’s more expensive to do it that way!

If you ARE trying to save money on printer ink cartridges and if you’re not careful, you’ll end up saving money on cartridges and ink for your printer that will cost you more money in the long run.

WARNING: 99.% of compatible ink cartridges contain poor quality inks.

While there is little to be concerned about when it comes to imported products from China in general, you must seriously consider what you are doing if you’re looking to save money with cartridges and ink for your printer that are not made by the printer manufacturer.

Replacement Printheads are expensive!

So you should consider the source of your compatible cartridges and ink for your printer CAREFULLY! As this could really cost you quite a bit of money by having to replace your printheads. Most Epson printers require you to replace the ENTIRE printer, while HP allows you to replace the individual cartridge or printhead.

If you’re looking for compatible cartridges and ink for your printer, it is highly recommended that you use cartridges with American made ink. American made inks are typically formulated to replace the actual ink formulas found in original name brand printer cartridges, rather than just generic one size fits all inks. American inks have higher quality standards than import inks and it also supports the American economy, which in this time of crisis is greatly needed right now.

I highly recommend that if you consider the source of your compatible ink cartridges if you’re looking to save money on printing. If you are not careful and only buy based on price, you may spend more in the long run as you’ll have to replace your printer.

Quality compatible cartridges and ink for your printer can be hard to find in a market that is flooded with products that are only designed to be sold at the lowest price, without quality being a concern. I highly recommend that you only buy compatible cartridges from Using this tip as well as, being conservative with the amount of money that you spend on ink cartridges allows you to really cut your cost per print down. I only recommend original Hp 88 cartridges or that you use compatibles from a reputable supplier a reliable source.

Individual cartridges are not a new phenomenon to hit the printing world; in fact, they have been around for years.

HP was one of the first companies to have separate color cartridges for their printers, such as the early Designjet series and wide format printers. This system worked well but required a large printer to hold the cartridges, that were huge in comparison to what are used today.

Although HP has continued to manufacture this type of printer, they have been traditionally best suited for special applications or heavy printing. Individual ink cartridges were not to be found as an option in personal inkjet printers until 2001. Epson came out with the C80, and about the same time Canon came out with printers like the BJC- 3000 series.

This new, separate color ink cartridge system was a real innovation for small offices and home use. The printer’s footprint was equivalent to other contemporary 2-cartridge printers (1 black cartridge and 1 color cartridge) but had the advantages of the older large printers that used separate color cartridges. One of the best aspects of having separate ink cartridges in your printer is being able to replace a single color when it is empty instead of having to replace all colors. If you print multiple copies of the same photo or image, you’ll most likely use more of one color. This makes individual cartridges especially economical.

All in one or “tri-color” cartridges usually contain Cyan, Magenta and Yellow. Some cartridges also have Light Cyan and Light Magenta for a total of 6 possible colors in one single cartridge. The inks are not used at equal rates, so inevitably you will run out of one color (usually yellow) before the others, which renders the entire cartridge unusable. A lot of usable ink gets thrown out, which is a waste of money when you consider the cost per milliliter of ink.

Image quality on a color to color basis does not change with separate tanks but does allow for more colors to be added for photo printers. More colors to start with means it is easier to accurately replicate the original colors of the image.

Today’s high-end printers use more individual color cartridges in additional to cyan, magenta, yellow, light cyan and light magenta. Epson and Canon photo printers can use an array of additional colors like red, green, blue, matte black, photo black, light black and even light light black. These inks are designed to provide better halftones, so it is easier to reproduce photographs. Additional colors also produce more accurate and richer photos, especially in grayscale printing.

Human eyes see more than 9 million colors. Color has hue, intensity and luminosity, so it makes sense to start with a larger palette. Another benefit to individual color tanks is that they are generally larger capacity ink volumes. You have more of each color in the printer at a time, so they will last longer and you’ll spend less time changing cartridges.

In case you need more justification for using an Epson or Canon printer with individual tanks, the individual compatible cartridges are inexpensive, ranging from $4.87 – $6.87 each.

Color printing is the reproduction of an image or text (or both) in color, rather than in black and white. Of course, it is not quite that simple. There are different techniques used to reproduce color images and text. This article will discuss two of these methods and which process to use when.

Four-color process
The four-color process is used to print items that have a full spectrum of colors, such as a color photograph. The four colors include three primary colors – cyan, magenta and yellow, along with black (known as CMYK for short). Another full-color printing method, the six-color process, is newer and adds orange and green to the CMYK palette, which provides a bigger and brighter color range. The colors produced are known as process colors.

Spot-color process
Whereas the four-color process mixes four colors together in different combinations to produce different colors, spot color ink is used alone, rather than mixed, to make various colors. This can be used in combination with four-color inks if needed. Spot color inks are nearly unlimited in range and can be more varied than the color produced by the four-color process. Spot color inks can print colors from pastels to metallics and other finishes. The colors produced are known as spot colors.

Spot printing is generally cheaper to produce than process color printing, but spot colors are not appropriate for any material that includes a photo or a wide range of colors.
So how do you know which process to use when?

Use process colors if:
-you are using full color photos
-you need more than two spot colors (otherwise, your printing cost could get more expensive than process color printing)
-your document includes many different graphics with many shades

Use spot colors if:
-You have no full color photos – your photos only include one spot color and black
-you repeatedly need a color that CMYK can’t produce properly (for instance, if your logo is going to be printed over and over)
-you need colors that are more vibrant
-you want to use metallic or fluorescent colors
-you have a large printing area, such as a poster (spot colors cover well than process colors)

In addition, sometimes you need to use spot colors and process colors together, such as when:
- Your document has full-color photographs and you have your logo on the page, which includes a color that cannot be properly produced by CMYK
- You need to increase the intensity of a process color – adding a spot color ink will deepen the process
- Your full color publication is coated with varnish, and varnish is designated as a spot color.