Owning a printer can mean a lot of savings at home. From printing out activities for a last-minute slumber party to creating glossy photo albums right in your home office, your printer can help you out. There are two main choices when dealing with printers. You’ll notice as soon as you walk into your local printing company that all printers are either inkjet or laser. This means they use either ink (for inkjet) or toner (for laser printers). While they each have their strengths, knowing what to pick means the difference between a cash sink and a fruitful purchase. This Vegas printing company has got your back! We’ve got the lowdown on what the difference is between ink and toner.
Ink: what fills up that cartridge?
To understand the difference between the two, it’s important to know exactly what each one is. As the name suggests, ink cartridges contain… well, ink. The type of ink depends on what recipe the individual cartridge manufacturer uses, but the general rule of thumb is the ink will either be dye-based or pigment-based. Dye-based ink has extremely strong colors dissolved directly into a liquid solution. Instead of a solution of liquid and colorant, pigment-based inks are comprised of a concentrated color suspended in a solution. Consider dye-based inks similar to when you mix Nesquik into a glass of milk – it becomes chocolate milk, a new solution (coincidentally, also a different color!). Pigment-based ink is similar to fruit suspended in Jell-O; each bite will get you fruit, but the fruit and Jell-O are two different components.
Technology meets color with laser printers’ toner cartridges
In contrast to ink, toner isn’t a liquid at all. Toner cartridges are filled with a very fine powder made up of ground polyester particles (otherwise known as plastic). Depending on your needs and what equipment you work with, the plastic may or may not be colored. Toner can come in four colors: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. These four colors can be layered on top of one another to create images in any color of the rainbow. While CMYK will create any color you need, it’s not unusual to save costs at home by only having black. Don’t be shy about asking your local Vegas printing company what they recommend for your needs.
Different compositions mean different uses for ink and toner
Their material makeup automatically makes ink and toner vastly different, but the real question is: which one is better? As a printing company with years of experience in the Las Vegas valley, we get to let you in on a secret. The secret is: neither is necessarily better than the other! Ink and toner each have their advantages. Ink cartridges work in inkjet printers, which use nozzles similar to tiny fire hoses to spray ink in precise patterns on the page. This makes it an excellent choice for those exploring artistic sensibilities at home. Printing photographs or graphic illustrations looks best when you allow ink to smooth into one another on the page. Laser printers are highly precise even when printing multiple copies. This makes them perfect for someone looking to run a lot of copies of something. Laser printers may not have as pretty of an output as inkjet, but they are significantly cheaper when working with multiple pages.
Choices for quality at-home printing!
Don’t be overwhelmed; your local Vegas printing company is here to help you choose the right equipment for you! There are major differences between inkjet and laser printers, but knowledge is power in the printing world. The important thing to remember is that you should tailor your printer choice to your individual needs. If you print a lot of documents, a laser printer that doesn’t have color capacity is a great and affordable route. Maybe you only print photos once a month for your scrapbooking habit; splurging on a stunning inkjet printer will bring you joy. No matter what it is, we can help… And we’re right in the neighborhood! For assistance with your next printing project contact Vegas Ink and Toner!
