Jargon buster > Printer Ink Jargon Buster

The easy way to buy printer ink cartridges is to just check what description you have on your machine and match up with the code on the cartridge - useful really as all the letters and numbers in a cartridge product description can be quite confusing! 

If there are any terms you are unsure of, check the explanations below:

Colour/Black

A colour printer will contain 4 cartridges – Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, blacK (CMYK). These tend to be bought separately and replaced individually as they run out. The 4 colours mix to produce the true colour you see on screen.

A black & white printer only requires the black cartridge.

Inkjet or Laser Ink

There are 2 main types of printer – Inkjet and Laser – and they each require different types of cartridge. A Laser printer takes toner cartridges (these tend to be long and fit the width of a printer) and Inkjet printers take smaller, almost box shaped cartridges. Although each toner cartridge colour needs to be bought separately, a single inkjet cartridge can contain all the colours. Look out for ‘tri-colour’, 4-colour, 5-colour etc. descriptions beside the product.

UV Ink

A better quality type of ink that is used to print large scale (ie billboards) and onto a variety of different materials.

Dye Ink

A dye-based ink that produces better lines and images, and is suitable for clear photo printing.

Ink Sticks

A solid ink stick which doesn’t generate any packaging waste as with conventional cartridges – this is an environmentally friendly option, but do check first that your printer can take them.

Waste Toner

When you print, not all of the toner goes on the page, normally there is some left on the drum surface. This gets wiped away by the cleaner blade of the drum and discarded to a waste toner tank or bottle and is known as waste toner. A Waste Toner Unit is the container it is wiped into.

Page Life

How many pages a cartridge can print on before running out; the industry standard of one page is defined as having 5% printed coverage.

Printhead

The printhead is a sensitive piece of equipment found at the bottom of certain manufacturer’s ink cartridges (eg some HP, Dell and Lexmark products carry these). The printhead is how the cartridge communicates with the printer and as such must not be touched as any slight scratches to the nozzle could affect the ‘communication’. It arrives with a tape and is best not to remove until right before insertion in the machine.