Printer Ink Cartridges

Printer Ink Cartridges

At the top of this page, we have a selection of the most popular printer models on the market – if one of them is yours, simply click it to filter by compatible ink cartridges. If your printer isn’t on the list, consulting its instruction manual will be helpful here. If you don’t have the manual, a quick Google of your printer will be enough to sort you out.

Colour printing typically uses inks of four colours – cyan, magenta, yellow and black. Some photo printers offer additional hues such as violet to improve colour accuracy, as well as grey and/or light grey cartridges. You might have assumed that greys and light greys are only for monochrome, but they are actually often used in colour photo printing to improve tonal gradations – the transitions between light and dark areas of an image.

While third-party versions of ink cartridges and bottles do exist, in general, it is best to buy ink cartridges from the same manufacturer that produced your printer. This will ensure optimal compatibility and ink efficiency, and lessen the likelihood of malfunctions or printing errors.

Depending on what you tend to print, you will almost certainly run out of some colours of ink quicker than others. The vast majority of modern printers will be able to inform you which ink supplies are running low and need replacing, usually on the LCD display.

Some printers use disposable ink cartridges, while some use refillable ink bottles or tanks. The majority of home printers will likely use cartridges, which contain a microchip that enables communication between printer and cartridge, ensuring exactly the correct amount of ink is used at the correct time. Cartridges are the smaller and cheaper option, generally rated for several hundred photo prints – though there are some high-capacity cartridges that can manage more.

Ink tanks or bottles can hold more ink at a time, and are also refillable, making them more environmentally friendly than disposable cartridges. You’ll get many more prints per refill with a tank printer – however, they are more prone to drying out if left unused for long periods than cartridges are. That’s why they tend to be used most in business settings, where prints are being made daily or close to. If your printing setup is for sporadic home use, you’re likely better off using cartridges.

If you’re worried about waste, it’s worth being aware that many local recycling centres will now accept printer cartridges. There are also some charities and community groups that collect them to give to recycling services to raise money, and you can also send them free to The Recycling Factory, which collects more than eight million cartridges per year.

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