PC World decided to do some real lab testing to see just how much ink is still in the cartridge even though the printer certifies that its empty; and the results confirm what you may have suspected: Many manufacturer-branded (OEM) and third-party (aftermarket) vendor cartridges leave a startling amount of ink unused. In fact, some inkjet printers force users to replace black ink cartridges when the cartridge is nearly half full.
They tested using multifunction printers from four major manufacturers: Canon, Epson, Hewlett-Packard, and Kodak.
Printing experts claim that if ink cartridges run completely dry, it will bring significant damage to the printer. Other observers point out that the quantity of leftover ink is often only a few milliliters but printer owners are probably throwing away a lot of usable ink. And that’s a problem, when you consider how expensive the precious fluid is. An average black-ink cartridge contains 8 milliliters of ink and costs about $10 which translates into a cost of $1.25 per milliliter.
Source: PC World
Chapter: Tech :: 21 January 2009
