A printer is a clever piece of technology that relies upon using quality consumables in order to function properly. This includes both the paper or card used but most especially the inkjet cartridges or toner cartridges fitted. These can come in many different forms including black, colour, original (OEM) and recycled or remanufactured cartridges. Over time, the cost of buying cartridges can be expensive, especially if you use your printer all the time. Here are a few simple tips that you can use to help you get the most out of your printer.

- Before you start to print, ensure your printer options are set to “draft” until you are ready to print the final document, as the draft setting does not use as much ink

- If you are not printing colour documents, set your printer to the black and white option.

- Ink cartridges from Original Equipment Manufacturers such as Epson or HP are high quality, but you can save considerable money by using compatible inkjet printer cartridges not supplier by the OEM. Tonik brand ink cartridges are available for hundreds of the most popular printer models. They offer a high quality print standard, and are fully guaranteed throughout their normal lifespan. Quality remanufactured ink cartridges such as those sold by Tonik have been checked and refilled to the original standard. They are a low priced and environmentally positive solution.

- Bulk purchasing will help to reduce the amount you spend on ink cartridges. You receive extra discount for buying multiple quantities of every OEM and Tonik cartridge you buy from the Tonik website. Do consider however, how long these cartridges will last. Do not buy more than 3 or 4 months supply at once as any cartridge deteriorates in quality over time. Make sure that you “rotate your stock” if you buy further supplies when you already have some back-up cartridges in the drawer for the same reason ie. use the oldest first.

- You do not need to print every page that appears on your computer or indeed every part of every page. Try to use your discretion and print only the most important final drafts of documents. If you need hard copy of a particular passage of text on a web page, copy and paste that text into Word or another suitable programme and print that off. Web pages may well fail to print every part of the page anyway, and if they do there will often be hugely wasteful full-colour borders or header illustrations that are also printed.

- Alternatively print web pages in black and white rather than more expensive coloured ink

- Use “Print Preview” to check your work. Reduce the size of the printed area wherever possible when you do print. Try to re-use the other side of the paper when printing rough printouts.

- Make sure that you use all the ink in the cartridge. Do not be put off by the ‘low ink’ alarm on your printer. There is generally quite a lot of ink left when the printer says you are running low. The alarm is there to warn you that the ink will run out soon and to re-order, so do make sure you have a spare ready for when your print quality actually begins to deteriorate. Be careful not to run out of ink completely, however especially if you have a Canon or Epson printer. These brands of machine rely on the ink to cool the print heads. If the ink runs out completely, the print heads will overheat and may incur damage. Many printers have a system in place whereby the printer stops working altogether if any cartridge is empty. Don’t assume that because you only want to print in black that it will not matter if the colour cartridge is empty.

- Check the cost of the ink or toner cartridges before you buy any new printer. Check especially that you can buy compatible cartridges and that there is not an exclusive deal between the PC retailer and the OEM which means you will pay a great deal more for the cartridges than Tonik supplies a variety of laser toner and colour ink cartridge brands at very affordable prices. Check out all the ink cartridges and laser printer cartridges available on the site www.tonik.co.uk and purchase your value ink cartridges today.