Digital Prints

Warning: Putting third-party inks in your inkjet printer is not without risk. Besides potentially
ruining the printer, you may be in violation of the printer’s warranty, although the
OEMs have little legal foundation for this. Check the compatibility specs of any third-party
inks before using them.
Cost: One reason OEMs push their inks is because they make a lot of money on them.
Walk into any office super store and take a good look at the inkjet supplies rack (see Figure
7.5). It will quickly become obvious that all those $35 ink-cartridge packages (plus the
paper) are what provide the profits for much of the inkjet printing business. It’s the old
Gillette business model at work: Sell cheap razors but expensive blades.
If you feel like you’re feeding your printers liquid gold, consider using third-party inks
that can reduce your ink bill by as much as 50–75 percent or more. A flourishing miniindustry
has developed that provides compatible, non-OEM inks in various ways to consumers
who want to save a significant amount of money. For example, ink supplier
MediaStreet.com likes to point out that while a $100 bottle of champagne equates to $3.94
per ounce, a typical OEM desktop ink cartridge is about $24.00 per ounce. Using one of
their bulk-ink systems (see below) can save you up to 90 percent in ink costs compared to
single-use OEM cartridges, MediaStreet claims.
Increased Color Gamut and Permanence: Certain third-party, dye-based inks are designed
to exceed OEM ink permanence. Suppliers such as Futures, Lyson, Luminos, MediaStreet,
Pantone, and MIS offer extended-life dye alternatives to OEM inks (see Table 7.1). Thirdparty
pigment inks that either match or exceed OEM color gamuts and/or longevity predictions
are also available from several companies (see Table 7.2 later in this chapter).
Specialty Uses: There are some applications where the OEM inks just can’t do the job as
well as third-party inks. Multi-monochromatic black-and-white printing is a good example.
With the exception of certain printers like HP’s 3-black-ink Photosmart 7960, it’s difficult
to get the highest-quality black-and-white prints out of inkjet printers using stock
Chapter 7 ■ Choosing Your Consumables 219
Figure 7.5 Cartridge inks are a major
profit center for the inkjet industry.