Is Brother printers the only brand that uses 4 separate ink cartridges?

Thanks... glenda:D

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Originally Posted by digerdo2

Is Brother printers the only brand that uses 4 separate ink cartridges?

thanks...............glenda:D

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I'm not sure about all ink jet manufacturers. HP uses a black and a tri-color for their ink jet but for their color laser printers they use four separate cartridges.

There are a couple of schools of thought on this topic.

Most printer companies have gone with the CYMK ink solution.

Cyan (blue), Yellow, Magenta (red) and Black for color images. The fourth and usually larger cartridge of Black is used for text printing and black and white document printing.

It's a method used to conserve the black ink for color image and not to have to use the CMY colors to generate a composite black.

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Originally Posted by stingRay18

I'm not sure about all ink jet manufacturers. HP uses a black and a tri-color for their ink jet but for their color laser printers they use four separate cartridges.

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Thank you:D

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Originally Posted by donf

There are a couple of schools of thought on this topic.

Most printer companies have gone with the CYMK ink solution.

Cyan (blue), Yellow, Magenta (red) and Black for color images. The fourth and usually larger cartridge of Black is used for text printing and black and white document printing.

It's a method used to conserve the black ink for color image and not to have to use the CMY colors to generate a composite black.

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Would it not be better to have 4 cartridges instead of 1 tri and 1 black?
Just wondering.

I am looking for a printer and trying to muddle through all the info. Been reading through questions and I see a lot of problems with HP and Epson.

Thanks for your comments.

Glenda:o

Glenda,

Great question. To really answer this we must look all the way back to the development process for this type printer.

The development costs are fairly high, however, market pricing is driving the price of these printers lower and lower. Where is a company to recoup it's costs, Supplies.

When you use a tri-color pack or quad pack for color ink, you, the consumer, must replace the entire color pack if one cell, for example, yellow runs out.

Some companies like Lexmark and Canon use 4 independent ink cartridges so that if Yellow does run out you only have to replace yellow.

I hope that helps.

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Originally Posted by donf

Glenda,

Great question. To really answer this we must look all the way back to the development process for this type printer.

The development costs are fairly high, however, market pricing is driving the price of these printers lower and lower. Where is a company to recoup it's costs, Supplies.

When you use a tri-color pack or quad pack for color ink, you, the consumer, must replace the entire color pack if one cell, for example, yellow runs out.

Some companies like Lexmark and Canon use 4 independent ink cartridges so that if Yellow does run out you only have to replace yellow.

I hope that helps.

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Yes it helps a lot. My thoughts were running along with yours.

Thanks for all the info you have given me.

Glenda;)

And then there are those that don't follow the mold. I may have about 5 or 6 color ones and 1 black. My cartridges don't contain the heads, just ink. The heads wear out less and therefore is replaced as a single asssembly.

I know there is a Magenta and a light magenta, black and a yellow. There may be a cyan and light cyan as well.

There are actually advantages to both systems with some manufacturers.

Its true the advantage of an individual ink system is that you only have to replace the ink that you use up so there is less wasted ink. Most manufacturers have gone solely that route. However, with HP's multi-ink cartridge systems, the printheads are built into the cartridge. This means when you replace the cartridge, its almost like getting a new printer.

On the other hand, there was a study not too long ago that showed that there is a lot of waste between the cartridges and the reservoir on many mfgs. That survey found that HP's individual ink systems wasted the least ink.

There is also a cost tradeoff. The individual ink systems tend to cost more that multi-ink systems.

The consumer needs to examine how they use a printer before deciding what is best for them. Businesses, for example may use more of one color in brochures or other materials. Most consumers tend to use ink failry evenly, so even with a multi-use cartridge there isan't a lot of waste.

Every manufacturer has individual ink systems. Some have 4 ink systems, some 5, some even more. What's best depends on what you are printing.

Thank you scottgem and K.I.S.S for your info.

I would rather keep my old Canon bj 200e it works great but unfortunately I upgraded to a new laptop and it has Vista which is not compatible with my old Canon printer.

Soooooo I have been looking at printers. What a confusing, time consuming deal that is.
I can't decide on what I want to put my money into. Even the plain vanilla black printers are not that cheap, and then when I read the reviews it scares me all over again.

It's too bad my old destop decided to die, at least I could copy to CD's and then print them out on the desktop connected to the Canon.

Anyway I will keep looking. Any suggestions on brands would be appreciated.

I'm not crazy about Lexmark had one it didn't do much for me.

Thanks.
Glenda:eek:

Can you explain what you need your printer to do? Do you do a lot of photos or just documents? Do you need an all in one or just a plain printer? What volume of printing do you do?

If you let us know we may be able to suggest something. I can tell you I am high on HP. HP sells more printers then all its competitors combined. Many of the technologies used in modern printers was invented by HP. They have also won awards for their tech support.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

Can you explain what you need your printer to do? Do you do a lot of photos or just documents? Do you need an all in one or just a plain printer? What volume of printing do you do?

If you let us know we may be able to suggest something. I can tell you I am high on HP. HP sells more printers then all its competitors combined. Many of the technologies used in modern printers was invented by HP. They have also won awards for their tech support.

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This is were I am torn as what to do. I print docs at very low volume. So basic printer is what I need. But I am looking at all the neat functions and wondering if I should bite the bullet and go for a multi-function. Copy, print, scan.

It is so crazy that I have to buy a new printer "just to be able to print from Vista". I would be happy to stay with my old bubblejet.

Hope this answers your question.

What do you think about "Refurbished" printers? I noticed HP Stores has some.

Thanks... glenda:rolleyes:

Refurbs are good as they have a factory warranty. Blame Canon for not updatign drivers for Vista.

But if your needs are just low volume documents, then I would look at the HP Photosmart 4480. It can usually be found for around $70-$80. It's a printer, scanner copier. Does a nice job with photos and cartridges are about $30-$35 for the black and tricolor. If you aren't printing a lot of color stuff then the individual ink carts don't really have too great an advantage.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

Refurbs are good as they have a factory warranty. Blame Canon for not updatign drivers for Vista.

But if your needs are just low volume documents, then I would look at the HP Photosmart 4480. It can usually be found for around $70-$80. Its a printer, scanner copier. Does a nice job with photos and cartridges are about $30-$35 for the black and tricolor. If you aren't printing a lot of color stuff then the individual ink carts don't really have too great an advantage.

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Thanks... I will look around for it.

Glenda;)

What do you think of this printer? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16828113070