Different Types of Laser Printer Cartridges
There are two systems of consumables used in laser printers: 1.
An all in one cartridge containing both the toner and a photo sensitive drum.
2.
A system comprising a separate toner cartridge and a drum unit which are replaced separately at different intervals.
The all in one cartridge will be familiar to users of Hewlett Packard and Canon and some Lexmark laser printers.
Hewlett Packard, being the largest printer manufacturer in the world, has spread the use of this type of cartridge far and wide.
It is simplicity itself for the user as there is only one consumable and therefore only one thing to change.
And it makes trouble shooting very easy.
If your laser printer has an image defect change the cartridge.
If the defect goes away the problem is in the cartridge, if it remains the defect is in the printer.
Even with modern HP and Canon colour laser printers systematic trouble shooting can be done by changing each of the four all in one toner cartridges.
The separate toner and drum combination is used by a number of manufacturers including Brother, Epson, Oki and Panasonic.
Under this model a toner cartridge fits into a drum unit and while a toner may yield (say) 3,000 pages the drum could yield (say) 12,000 pages.
This system causes confusion with many users not realising that they put the toner cartridge into a replaceable consumable, i.
e.
a drum unit.
This confusion is the result of poor information being provided at the time of sale and is not the fault of the user.
While competition between manufacturers keeps the cost of printing comparable between similar models the disadvantage of the separate toner/drum model is the cost of the drum where, at the end of the drum life, a user may be faced with a drum replacement cost which exceeds the original cost of the printer.
The two industry heavyweights in colour laser printers, Hewlett Packard and Oki, use the different systems.
HP use all in one toner cartridges while Oki use a separate toner cartridge and drum for each colour, as does Brother with its current models.
Other manufacturers use different systems for colour, for example, four toner cartridges and a single image drum.
When considering colour lasers it pays to carefully check the cost of consumables as this is more complex than with black and white printers.
For example, in a colour laser printer, both the transfer belt and fuser unit are often consumables items and must be factored in to any calculation of the cost of printing.
An all in one cartridge containing both the toner and a photo sensitive drum.
2.
A system comprising a separate toner cartridge and a drum unit which are replaced separately at different intervals.
The all in one cartridge will be familiar to users of Hewlett Packard and Canon and some Lexmark laser printers.
Hewlett Packard, being the largest printer manufacturer in the world, has spread the use of this type of cartridge far and wide.
It is simplicity itself for the user as there is only one consumable and therefore only one thing to change.
And it makes trouble shooting very easy.
If your laser printer has an image defect change the cartridge.
If the defect goes away the problem is in the cartridge, if it remains the defect is in the printer.
Even with modern HP and Canon colour laser printers systematic trouble shooting can be done by changing each of the four all in one toner cartridges.
The separate toner and drum combination is used by a number of manufacturers including Brother, Epson, Oki and Panasonic.
Under this model a toner cartridge fits into a drum unit and while a toner may yield (say) 3,000 pages the drum could yield (say) 12,000 pages.
This system causes confusion with many users not realising that they put the toner cartridge into a replaceable consumable, i.
e.
a drum unit.
This confusion is the result of poor information being provided at the time of sale and is not the fault of the user.
While competition between manufacturers keeps the cost of printing comparable between similar models the disadvantage of the separate toner/drum model is the cost of the drum where, at the end of the drum life, a user may be faced with a drum replacement cost which exceeds the original cost of the printer.
The two industry heavyweights in colour laser printers, Hewlett Packard and Oki, use the different systems.
HP use all in one toner cartridges while Oki use a separate toner cartridge and drum for each colour, as does Brother with its current models.
Other manufacturers use different systems for colour, for example, four toner cartridges and a single image drum.
When considering colour lasers it pays to carefully check the cost of consumables as this is more complex than with black and white printers.
For example, in a colour laser printer, both the transfer belt and fuser unit are often consumables items and must be factored in to any calculation of the cost of printing.
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