Inkjet printers use an ink cartridge which holds the ink that is transferred onto the paper surface during printing. Computer stores would advertise the yield of pages that the ink cartridges for a particular printer model can. This is something that you have to look into carefully before making your selection for which model of printer you will be getting to make sure that your purchase would be worth your money.

What is Yield of Pages?

The yield of pages commonly advertised among the features of a particular printer unit refers to the number of pages that can be printed using one set of ink cartridges. It is calculated based on the standard of measurement that was published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) back in February 2008. Currently, there are three printer manufacturing companies that use this standard:

• Hewlett-Packard
• Kodak
• Canon

How to Compute for Cost per Page?

Printer manufacturers would often include in the printer model’s features the number of the pages that black ink cartridges and colored ink cartridges can produce. To get the cost per page printed, simply divide the number of the pages that is provided by the printer manufacture to the amount spent per ink cartridge. If the printer model uses separate ink cartridges for each of the colors used by the printer, get the total of cost of each of these ink cartridges. Divide the total cost of the colored ink cartridges to the number of colored pages that have been specified by the printing manufacturer.

Discrepancies in the Values

Many printer owners often notice the amount of pages that they print out using one set of ink cartridges is often lower than what has been specified. This is not a case of false advertising. Here are a few reasons why this happens:

• Coverage of printed surface. When printer manufacturers test ink cartridges, they only use 5% ink coverage. This means that for every page, only 5% of the total paper surface is covered by ink coming from the ink cartridges. To get an idea on how big this surface is, this is approximately 4.7 sq. in. on a letter-size paper. The higher the ink coverage per paper printer, the lower the amount of pages that could be printed out.
• Printer Maintenance. As the nozzles used to transfer ink from the cartridge to the paper surface is getting thinner, it is more prone to blockage and clogging. Although this could be cleaned by setting your printer to do so, the cleaning method often uses a large amount of ink from the cartridge. As a result, lesser ink can be used for printing.
• Paper Size. Printer manufacturers test ink cartridges using letter-sized papers. Using longer and larger paper sizes for printing would result in a reduction on the pages printed out.

Why is This Information Important?

Ink cartridges amount to a huge chunk of the cost of the total cost for owning a printer. Getting the most number of pages for a particular printer model would cost the total cost to be minimize since you do not have to keep buying ink cartridges. This is especially beneficial if you plan to set up a printing business.

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