admin | 
06 2nd, 2009| 
Do a little research if you haven’t already purchased the printer. Some printers do use more ink than others. If you don’t want to do the research either have somebody else do it or ask somebody. Be sure you tell them what you plan to use the printer for.
Types of printers
There are many types of printers. The biggest difference is if they are ink jet or laser jet. Dot matrix is older but some still exist. I am not going too deep into that difference but it does make a difference. If you want permanent copy at a cheaper price you MUST take a laser jet printer. The ink in the Ink jet printers can smear and the cartridges are usually expensive. Although the initial cost is high for Laser jet cartridges the cost per copy is much lower. You also don’t need to change them as often. In fact, if you remove the cartridge and shake it you can extend the life of the cartridge by quite a bit.
How to adjust my settings
Unfortunately every printer has a little different set up. Here is how you can do it if your particular printer has the capability. In Windows XP, click on start. Go to Control panel. Select “Printers and other hardware”. Now select Printers and Faxes. Find your default printer. If you have more than one selection it’s the one with the check mark behind it. Now right click that icon. Click on Properties. When the screen opens it should be on the general tab. On the bottom of that screen you should see “Print preference”. Click that box. Another screen appears that should have several tabs. Find the selection that says “Print quality” on the “Paper/Quality” tab. Pick the level that you prefer. You may have selections such as: Fast draft, fast normal, normal etc. It should be noted that the location of these setting and types of settings may vary according to the particular printer you have. Once you have selected the setting you want click OK and return to the desk top or file you want to work with. Now test the printer to see if it is what you want.
Are there other ways to save?
Yes! Ask yourself if you really need to print the page or picture. If it is one picture it might be ok. If you need to print a lot of pictures take it to a service in your area. Wal-Mart (as an example) can print pictures at a very cheap rate. The reason it is so expensive is because it takes a huge amount of ink to do even one picture. Color cartridges can be very expensive. Very rarely does anybody read an email more than once. Instead of printing it just read it. If you do have to keep it, store it in a file within your email program or on disk or USB drive.
One way to save costs is see if you can find a refill kit. They are normally available in stores and online. Some stores (such as Walgreen Drug stores) now refill at least the major cartridges. This is usually much cheaper than any other method. They will also test the cartridges for you. If you refill the cartridges yourself it can be time consuming and very messy. Be sure you wear rubber gloves and old cloths that you don’t mind getting dirty.
Vista settings are similar. This also applies to previous versions of Windows.
