You won't find a better looking document than one printed with a laser. Oh, inkjets do a pretty good job, but the ink can smear and the page never looks quite as sharp as one from a laser printer or copier. Laser printers, copiers, and fax machines are getting cheaper and cheaper too, which is a Good Thing -- but laser toner, the dry ink that the laser welds onto the page to produce that sharp copy, is still horribly expensive.

How bad is it? Well, you can get a decent laser printer for less than £150, but toner cartridges can cost more than £90 each! A 2,000- to 4,000-page capacity might sound pretty good, until you find yourself needing to print a thousand memos or Quickbooks checks a day. Not such a good deal then, is it?

But fear not, there's a solution: and we're not talking about going back to dot matrix. You don't have to buy a new cartridge every time the old one taps out; it's just empty after all. You don't change your car's engine when you run out of petrol, do you? Of course not! All you really need to make your toner cartridge as good as new is a laser toner refill kit. Fortunately, toner refills are easy to come by, print yourself up a Quicken business check and you're ready to buy it! Even better, topping up your cartridge with a toner refill can be absurdly simple.

How many times can I pull this trick, anyway?

While toner cartridges aren't made to last forever, they're not as cheap-jack as you might think; most are meant to be recycled, and can be refilled several times. You may be able to finagle four or five uses out of some, especially those without imaging drums. Basically, then, by topping up the toner when necessary, you've gotten 3-6 cartridges worth of use out of one cartridge, for the price of two or less. Sure, when this cartridge wears out you'll have to buy a new one, but you can do it secure in the knowledge that you'll be buying new only every once in a while, and you'll be paying far less than the next fellow for toner.

Published with permission (FCDMInc

Teach me!

Refill toner can save you a significant amount of money, whether at home or in the office: how does some 87 percent sound? All you need to save this money is a good supply of toner, some do-it-yourself attitude, and a few tools. In some cases, you won't even need the tools. Some cartridges come complete with a filler plug: you unscrew it and pour the new toner right in. Sometimes, its as simple as turning a few screws before the toner filler plug is revealed in all its glory.