Today there are 2 different types of toner that are used in printers. There is a dry toner and then a liquid toner. The dry toner powder is made of plastics. This plastic powder is heat activated right before it is used by the printer. The toner is primarily composed of acrylic and styrene, plus there are pigments. These pigments are added to the toner to produce different colors. Also there are the carriers. A carrier is added to help charge the toner, so that the ink will stick to the paper. Next there is the liquid toner. This type is composed mostly of pigmented plastic resin or a dye. The resin particles are suspended with an insulating liquid dye that causes it to produce colors. Interestingly both toners have their own set of benefits.
Dry toner does not have to penetrate the paper's fibers to work. This allows for a greater range of materials that can be printed on. Thus, it doesn’t require drying time and, in turn, there will be no smudging. The printed document or medium can be handled and used immediately. The dry toner does not use harmful solvents; because of this, it is safer for the environment and people. The colors have an increased stability over liquid toner, and it requires less toner to print each copy. The printer doesn't require warm up time when you are using a liquid toner. Both images and text are less likely to fade, because the ink penetrates the paper, photo paper or card stock. Usually the ink toner cartridges are less expensive as well. Now, for the laser printer cartridges. Every brand of laser printer has a toner that works better with that particular machine. Toners have different forms and compositions as they are made by different ink manufacturers. Most people won’t get this far into analyzing the toner, but these things will matter more if you are involved in high quality photo imaging.
The price of a laser toner cartridge is higher than that for ink jet printers; on the other hand, it prints many more documents than the ink jet cartridge. Refills for laser toner cartridges can also be purchased. There are refill kits for the various brands and also less expensive compatible toner cartridges. The refilling kits come with all of the parts to refill the cartridges. These kits of the affordable replacement cartridges can be found online at places like InkMart.com. From 20% to 70% can be saved by using these online sources, plus they offer free shipping.
Also note if you usually make just black and white text copies, your printing budget will much cheaper. This is because the black toner costs a lot less than the color. Before using an aftermarket toner cartridge, it is best to research and find out about any problems with a cheaper version being used. Most quality manufacturers of refills will go by the OEM specifications. It’s always best to buy refills from vendors like InkMart.com who only use remanufacturers that closely follow the original equipment specifications and whose products are OEM certified.
