INK CARTRIDGES

INKJET Hope Stationery carries a broad range of inkjet cartridges, including those for all the most popular brands and models of inkjet printers. If you have an older or less popular model, or a very new model of printer you may find that we do not have your cartridges in stock, but they can usually be supplied within 24-48 hours. Once we have been asked for a cartridge we will usually keep it in stock. On the other hand, if you need a cartridge which is not in high demand, or you use only one a year, we may decide that it will be on a special order basis. This ensures that your cartridges do not sit on the shelf for a year. We also have a large number of compatible cartridges which sell for a lower cost. Compatible cartridges are not available for all printer models, or we may not stock them because we have found them to be unreliable. Please ask for information about your specific requirements.

For a list of inkjet cartridges which we generally have in stock Click here

For more general information about printing with an inkjet printer Click here

LASER TONERS Due to the large number of toner cartridges on the market, their considerably higher cost, and significantly lower demand, we do not stock toner cartridges; however most toners can be made available with the same time constraints as the inkjet cartridges, 24-48 hours. There are compatible cartridges available for many models of laser printer. Please ask.

PRICING For both Inkjet and Laser Toner cartridges we offer pricing competitive with the closest major office supplies box store.

A CAUTION Please be sure of either the manufacturer's numbers of your cartridges, and/or the brand and model of your printer so that we can find the correct cartridge number in the database.
CARTRIDGES ARE NOT RETURNABLE ONCE OPENED.

INKJET CARTRIDGES AVAILABLE

Bk=Black, C=Cyan(blue), M=Magenta(red), Y=Yellow, G=Green, R=Red, PC=Photo Cyan, PM=Photo Magenta.

BROTHER LC41 Bk,  LC41 C,  LC41 M,  LC41 Y,  LC51 Bk,  LC51 C,  LC51 M,  LC51 Y, 

CANON BC02 Bk,  BC 05 CMY,  BCI-3e Bk,  BCI-3e C,  BCI-3e M,  BCI-3e Y,  BCI-6 Bk,  BCI-6 C,  BCI-6 M,  BCI-6 Y,  BCI-6 LC,  BCI-6 LM,  PGI 5 Bk,  PGI-8 Bk,  PGI-8 C,  PGI-8 M,  PGI-8 Y,  PGI-8 LC,  PGI-8 LM,  BCI 21 Bk,  BCI 21 CMY,  BCI 24 Bk,  BCI 24 CMY,  PG 40 Bk,  PG 41 CMY,  PG 50 Bk,  PG 51 CMY,  PG 52 Ph, 

EPSON S020189 Bk,  S020891 CMY,  T07 Bk,  T09 CMY,  T017 Bk,  T026 Bk,  T027 CMY,  T028 Bk,  T0321 Bk,  T0341 Bk,  T0342 C,  T0343 M,  T0344 Y,  T0345 LC,  T0346 LM,  T0346 LBk,  T0361 Bk,  T038 Bk,  T039 CMY,  T040 Bk,  T041 CMY,  T0422 C,  T0423 M,  T0424 Y,  T0441 Bk,  T0442 C,  T0443 M,  T0444 Y,  T0441 Bk,  T0482 C,  T0483 M,  T0484 Y,  T0485 LC,  T0486 LM,  T0601 Bk,  T0602 C,  T0603 M,  T0604 Y,  T0691 Bk,  T0692 C,  T0693 M,  T0694 Y,  T0695 Multi,  T0781 Bk,  T0782 C,  T0783 M,  T0784 Y,  T0785 LC,  T0786 LM,  T079 Bk,  T0881 Bk,  T0882 C,  T0883 M,  T0884 Y

HP 02 Bk,  02 C,  02 M,  02 Y,  02 LC,  02 LM,  14 Bk,  14 CMY,  15 Bk,  17 C,  20 Bk,  21 Bk,  22 CMY,  23 CMY,  27 Bk,  28 CMY,  29 Bk,  40 Bk,  45 Bk,  49 CMY,  56 Bk,  57 CMY,  58 Ph,  74 Bk,  74XL Bk,  75 CMY,  75XL CMY,  78 CMY,  92 Bk,  93 CMY,  94 Bk,  95 CMY,  96 Bk,  97 CMY,  98 Bk,  99 Ph,  110 CMY, 

LEXMARK 1 Bk,  2 CMY,  3 Bk,  16 Bk,  17 Bk,  20 CMY,  26 CMY,  27 CMY,  32 Bk,  33 CMY,  34 Bk,  35 CMY,  48 Bk,  60 CMY,  70 Bk,  71 Bk,  80 CMY,  82 Bk,  83 CMY,  13400HC Bk,  13619HC CMY, 

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT PRINTING WITH INKJET PRINTERS.

Inkjet printers are capable of producing high quality text and images by laying down dots of ink closely together. Even the lowest cost printer will produce good quality, though there are differences in quality between the lowest and the highest cost printers. Printer quality is defined by its resolution. In printer documentation this will be seen as something like "9600 x 2400 colour dpi". The last term "dpi" is dots per inch of ink the printer is capable of laying down on the paper, and the two numbers refer to the horizontal (9600) and vertical (2400) number of dots per inch. The first number is the dots produced by the cartridge used in that printer as it travels from one side of the paper to the other. The second number is the number of dots per inch the cartridge can write in the vertical distance the paper is moved by the printer paper feed system.

The two numbers used above are in the documentation of the Canon PIXMA iP4500 Photo Printer available at the moment for about $100.00, which is not an expensive printer. 9600 dots per inch is a lot of dots, capable of producing a very good quality print of your family photographs. However, if the resolution of your printer were the only relevant specification in printing your photographs we would have a lot fewer grandmothers tearing their hair out over their latest sad candidates for the family album.

In addition to the resolution of the printer one must also consider:
1. the quality of the paper;
2. the resolution of the image file being printed.

1. Paper This is the easiest problem to overcome. There are hundreds of different papers available to the consumer, but to achieve appropriate results one need only make a few simple decisions:

a. Do you need the print to have the weight (thickness)and look of a traditional photograph? If so, you need "Photo paper". This comes in matt, semi-gloss, gloss, and high-gloss, in a few different weights (thicknesses), defined as grams per square meter, lbs (per ream), millimeters of thickness. Some papers will give all three terms, others one, or even none if it is a very "economy" brand. You can use this set as a rule of thumb:
240g/sq.meter
10 mil
67lb
they are all the same - about the thickness of an index card.
The printer manufacturers usually have their own brand; it isn't necessary to match the brand to your printer.
Photo paper also comes in standard sizes, usually 4"X6", 5"X7", letter (8 1/5" X 11"), and larger sizes which will not fit in the standard home printer.

b. Is the image going to be used in a presentation folder, binder, project book, where quality is important, but traditional photo thickness may be a disadvantage? If so there are papers available, generally called "inkjet paper" which will allow high quality images, but are about the weight of a regular sheet of writing paper, about 20lb-24lb, 4/5mil, 70/80g/sq.meter. These have a finish which may appear like a regular sheet of paper but are often one-sided like photopaper. Make sure you print on the side with the inkjet finish. Inkjet paper generally comes in letter size (8 1/2" X 11") or larger.

c. Are you printing just text? Printers will produce reasonable quality text on just about anything short of bathroom tissue. At the high end, e.g. important applications to prospective employers, resumés originals which may be photocopied, presentations where you want to impress, where the number of prints will be small, the "inkjet paper" described above will give you sharp, crisp, text, as good as the best printed books, and will photocopy well. But you do not need to use such paper to produce a good quality reumé or letter. A good quality "parchment", "bond", or "linen" paper, all made to resemble traditional letter-writing paper, will allow good quality printing of text.

2. Resolution of the file to be printed
Determining the resolution of the file to be printed is much more complicated than choosing the paper for the average home user.
Firstly, if it is just text, chances are that it will print just fine. If it is "text" off the internet, you can check whether it is in fact text by trying to "select" it (on the website) using your cursor. If it selects (usually the background will go blue or some other colour), then it is text. If you cannot select it, then it is probably a "picture" of text, and may or may not give you a good quality print, but probably will not reproduce well. There is more information about that below.
Pictures are a different matter.
Let me give you an example which may be useful:
I have taken an image of Hope Mountain from my digital camera which I stored unmodified from the camera as an image 8 1/2" X 11" at 180 dpi, and saved it as an image 6'X4" (approximately) at 400 dpi (nowhere near the 9600 dpi mentioned above!). The file size is 1,633kb, or 1.6mb.
Then I saved it at 6" X 4" at 72dpi (what those helper programmes will do when you tell them to send it in an email). The file size is 17kb!
Now images will vary depending on their content and the kind of file (file format), but you can use this information to help judge what you are dealing with.

Start off by trying to figure out where it came from. Here are some possibilities you may encounter and ways of dealing with them.
a. Pictures from your digital camera. Cameras vary of course, and I can only suggest some general parameters. Camera software (to be installed on your computer) usually comes with instructions for printing. If you follow these you should mostly be OK, though sometimes an advanced degree in technology may be necessary to understand the instructions. If your camera is capable of taking pictures at different resolutions, usually defined in terms of the number of images you can store on the memory chip, you can be sure that the larger the number of images, the lower the resolution. Read your camera manual!
I am in the habit of downloading my images to my harddrive for storage, and processing them in an independant graphics programme, such as Photoshop Elements, a relatively inexpensive programme (about $65.00), often bundled with printer and scanner software. I find this allows me more control over the images, and the programme will give me lots of information about the image files, and allow me to modify them for a variety of destinations. Another useful programme for this purpose is Gimp, which is available for free on the internet (Google "Gimp"). However, like most computer programmes, they will require some dedication to reading the instructions, or taking a class or ten to know how to use them.
You may find that your camera software is an easier route since many are designed for the average user, requiring only a choice between pressing this button and that one.
b.Pictures from friends and family. Here is where most of the problems arise, because you are dealing not just with your own lack of informatin and expertise, but that of your friends and relatives as well. It can really confuse the issue, especially if they really think they know what they are doing (but do not).
i. pictures sent in an email: most operating systems (Windows etc), programmes, and devices such as scanners and cameras, which have "easy" ways to send pictures in an email (just press this button), will automatically reduce the resolution of the image to 72dpi or 96 dpi (remember dots per inch?), so that the file will be small and easy to transmit over the internet. These images will not print well being very low resolution. Do not be taken in by how well they look on your computer monitor - everything looks good at 72dpi on your monitor - I will not even try to explain why that is.
Refering to my example above, if the picture in your email from a friend is just a few kb, you can be sure it is low resolution and will print poorly. If it is 1000kb, or 1mb or more, then it is probably a fairly high resolution file, and will probably print reasonably well (though nowhere near as well as an image from your local photo processing store). Your email with the 1mb file will also take a measurable amount of time (i.e. not instant) to download from your mailbox, even with high speed internet, and if you have dial-up you may still be waiting for it!
ii. pictures from websites where you can "share" your picures: if you just copy or save the pictures (right click the mouse and choose copy or save image as) then the image will be low resolution. Sometimes those websites will have a Print facility, but usually they cost a lot, and need to be shipped. I have never come across a website for sharing pictures which allows you to print good quality images yourself. That doesn't mean they are not out there, but if they are, then the uploading of the images in the first place will require a lot of time and computing power.
iii. pictures on a disk from a photo processing store: these will always have high resolution images, usually in a folder, accompanied by another folder containing "thumbnails", i.e. low resolution images that will show well on the monitor, but being smaller file sizes will not require a lot of time and computer memory to display them. Make sure you print from the high resolution image folder, not the thumbnails.

If you have specific questions about problems you may have printing, please do not hesitate to ask Jack at Hope Stationery. Remember your answer may be interrupted a few times while he serves other customers.