Laser printers can seem like complicated machines, unfathomable to anyone without an engineering degree. The average person simply prints his documents and gets on with his day, never stopping to wonder how his business memo materialised on that piece of paper.

Still, if you’re reading this, it’s probably because you did stop to wonder, and now you’re naggingly curious about the inner workings of your laser printer. So...

How Do Laser Printers Work?

Well, for one thing, they don’t just squirt ink onto the page like inkjet appliances. Ink and toner are two very different things, and the laser printing process is a little more intricate than printing with ink.

Laser printers make clever use of things like static electricity and oppositely-charged ions, but here’s an analogy that’s slightly easier to swallow: printing with toner is a lot like playing with glitter and glue. You probably did this when you were small; wrote your name in glue, covered the page in glitter, and then shook off the excess to reveal that the glitter had stuck to the glue in the right shapes, spelling your name out in glimmering golden letters.

Well, laser printing is actually very similar to that. Toner is the glitter that spells things out, and because the toner is positively-charged, it sticks to the negatively-charged parts of the imaging drum, which then transfers your images and/or text to the page.

So where does the ‘laser’ enter into it?

Ah, well, the laser is what creates the negative charge on the imaging drum, effectively telling the toner where to stick and what shapes to form. In our glitter analogy, the laser is YOU, squeezing glue onto the page to spell out your name.

This is a somewhat simplified explanation of the whole process, of course, but next time you look at your laser printer, at least you’ll have a reasonable idea of what’s going on in there!

Any other questions? Pop over to our Contact page and the City Ink experts will help you out!

Image by MrCrackers (view original here)

How to Cut Costs with Toner

It should come as no surprise to you that the rising costs of printing ink is somewhat of a concern to most. In fact, it was actually worked out that if you filled the fuel tank of a brand new £300,000 Lamborghini Aventador with Neopost’s printer ink, the ink would cost more than the car itself!

This is the kind of ‘oh my god - how much?’ reality we’re faced with, but the good news is there are alternatives! By purchasing a laser printer and then looking towards toner cartridges you may be able to make some significant savings on costs. We live in an increasingly digital age but sometimes hard documents are compulsory, so it makes sense to make the changes necessary to reap the rewards of more efficient printing.

Something that puts people off of laser printers is the cost of toner cartridges themselves, but remember, laser printers have a much lower cost-per-page yield than any inkjet printer, and while ink cartridges are on the surface more reasonable, they tend to run out a lot more quickly. It’s all about speculating to accumulate; spending that bit more initially will drive your overall costs down, and another little redeeming fact is that toner cartridges needn’t be that expensive anyway…

By using compatible toner cartridges you can still get high-quality, plentiful yielding toner but at a much lower cost than the branded originals. These toner cartridges are made by third parties for more reasonable costs, and we City Ink Express for example offer compatible options for pretty much every laser printer imaginable! 

It can be extremely frustrated when your toner cartridge runs out and your printer is out of action. Having to find a genuine replacement toner cartridge or a high-quality alternative spare toner cartridge to meet your printing standards can be a daunting task (unless you use City Ink Express of course), as well as being a very expensive affair indeed. However, we're here to tell you that replacing your toner cartridge needs not be a difficult and frustrating task, and can infact be an extremely rewarding act - both financially and consciously! 

Recycling your empty toner cartridges is a fantastic way for you to contribute to saving the environment. Once your toner has run out the empty cartridge is no use to you is it? Well rather than dispose of it, you can send it away or even arrange for a company to come and pick it up for them to refill it with new toner and then re-sell it, recycling the empty cartridge which is now of no use to you. Aside from the environmental benefits, many companies will actually pay you per toner cartridge - so you could indeed earn money whilst desposing of your waste! It almost seems to be too good to be true doesn't it? 

Here is a list of some of the top companies online who will help you recycle your toner cartridges. Some of these companies will collect your toner free of charge, so make sure you research and find the company that offers the right service for you.

• Recycle 4 Charity
• Infotone 
• The Recycling Factory 
• Office Green
• Office Xpress 
• Empty Cartridge Recycling Ltd 
• Take Back Ltd 

Of course, there are many more companies available online who will help you recycle your toner cartridge. 

If you own an Epson laser printer, we want to be your first port-of-call when it comes to replacing your Epson toner cartridges. We realise that you don’t have the time, care, or patience to scour the entire online market looking for the most suitable ink vendors, so we thought we would save you the trouble…

Here are 7 quick reasons why we think we deserve your custom when it comes to replacing your Epson toner:

• Our immense range means that whatever Epson device you own, we have a suitable toner cartridge for it – and even if you cannot find your particular model on our list, contact us and we’ll be happy to find you a compatible cartridge.

• When you have selected your model, you’ll notice that we offer both original and compatible Epson toner options, meaning that you’ll probably be able to save a small fortune.

• Whether you’re making a purchase for the home or office, we are confident that our pricing is competitive, and that you'll struggle to find cheaper alternatives around.

• All of our ink and toner products are extensively tested, so just because you are paying less do not think you need to compromise on quality in any way.

• We realise that time is of the essence, so we offer a swift delivery service that can have your Epson toner delivered the next day providing you order by 4pm (which is later than most).

• When you purchase your toner from us, our relationship needn’t be over. Through our large number of potential mediums you can contact us and we’ll endeavour to help you with any printing related concerns you may have.

• Not only do we offer support via phone, email, and social media, we also have a thriving YouTube channel with hundreds of instructional videos primarily aimed at helping you install your shiny new toner.

If you own a HP laser printer, the chances are at some point you will need to purchase some HP toner cartridges – if you plan on maintaining a fully functioning printer, that is. When you do come to replace your HP toner, you will probably be peeved, puzzled, and perplexed at the array of options and various vendors available to you.

Never fear though! City Ink Express is the most comprehensive, well-priced, and highest quality ink merchants on the web – so seriously, why look anywhere else? If you need HP LaserJet 1320 toner cartridges, we’re your guys; if you need toner for a HP LaserJet P3015d printer, come on over to us; and say you are after some HP LaserJet 4250 toner, you get the picture…

The good thing is, when you do you do come to replace your HP LaserJet 1320 toner – for example – we offer a selection that affords you great choice. We offer both compatible and original HP toner options, so you can choose the ink that is right for both you and your printing needs.

Whether you’re looking for HP LaserJet P3015d toner, HP LaserJet 4250 toner, or any other HP printer model toner, you are sure to get the best deal on the market right here at City Ink Express. 

With such a broad range of colour laser printers now available on the market, choosing an overall winner is a difficult and daunting task. As such, we have narrowed down the market to our top 3 best buys; and the best thing is we have chosen these 3 purely based on you - the customer’s - reviews.

Dell 5130cdn

The Dell 5130 aims high, and in pretty much every category it succeeds! This colour laser printer boasts blazing speeds of up to 47 ppm (pages per minute), and a first-print-out time of just 8.5 seconds (10 seconds in colour). It also uses ColorbyDell technology to give you exceptional print quality, resulting in rich, glossy, and colourful images. Find high quality toner cartridges for this printer here.

Lexmark c522n

Another class-leading colour laser printer is the Lexmark c522n. This printer is also exceptionally fast, powerful, and packed full of features – though despite this, its intuitive interface makes it a doddle to use! Thanks to its 312MHz processor and 128MB of memory, this printer can also cope with heavy, demanding use. Should you need toner cartridges for your Lexmark c522n, why not check out our full range now?

Canon i-Sensys LBP7750cdn

The last of our top 3 colour laser printers bring us to the Canon i-Sensys LBP7750cdn – quite a mouthful, we know. This big boy basically ticks every box, and would make a welcome addition to any office environment. With speeds of 20.7 pages per minute this is also a seriously speedy printer, that also produces clean, crisp text, as well as deep, vivid colour prints. We also stock high quality toner for the Canon i-Sensys LBP7750cdn at seriously competitive prices.

To celebrate the sprinkling of warm weather we've been having we've decided to have a massive Spring Sale on some of our compatible HP toner cartridges! We've knocked a whopping 50% off all of the following compatible high-quality toner cartridges, so buy as many as you like while they're half price and you'll get free delivery on all! 

The toner cartridges which we're taking 50% off are..

For the HP LaserJet CP5225 

• HP Compatible Toner CE740A Black
• HP Compatible Toner CE741A Cyan
• HP Compatible Toner CE742A Yellow
• HP Toner CE743A Magenta

For the HP LaserJet CP3525N

• HP Compatible Toner CE250A Black
• HP Compatible Toner CE251A Cyan
• HP Compatible Toner CE252A Yellow
• HP Compatible Toner CE253A Magenta

For the HP LaserJet 3000dtn 

• HP Compatible Toner Q7560A Black
• HP Compatible Toner Q7561A Cyan
• HP Compatible Toner Q7562A Yellow
• HP Compatible Toner Q7563A Magenta

For the HP LaserJet 4700n 

• HP Compatible Toner Q5950A Black
• HP Compatible Toner Q5951A Cyan
• HP Compatible Toner Q5952A Yellow
• HP Compatible Toner Q5953A Magenta

So what are you waiting for? Snap them up while stocks last and enjoy your 50% off HP toner products today! 

The LaserJet 1000 series from Hewlett-Packard was a line of black and white laser printers designed with fast, efficient printing in mind. These models were extremely popular among businesses and corporations, and while HP have now discontinued the LaserJet 1000 series, the printers are still being used in homes and offices all over the world.

Speed is one major advantage that laser printers have over inkjet models. If you need to print a massive, multi-page document, you’ll find that a laser printer gets the job done much faster – you won’t even have to wait for the ink to dry! Being unable to print in colour, the LaserJet 1000 printers obviously aren’t much use when you need to print photographs or images, but if you’re printing out business documents or ten-thousand word dissertations, something like the LaserJet 1320 is absolutely perfect.

Of course, the continued use of LaserJet 1000 appliances means that there is still a demand for LaserJet 1000 toner. If you still use one of these printers – and why wouldn’t you? – you’re probably well aware that, in spite of the  fact that the printers themselves are no longer widely available, compatible toner cartridges are still exceptionally easy to come by.

And if you need more toner for your LaserJet 1000 printer, you’re already in the right place! Here at City Ink, we sell a wide variety of HP toner products, and regardless of which HP printer you use, you’re sure to find the right cartridge at a very reasonable price.

If you have had a conversation recently with someone regarding printing ink we can pretty much guess how it went. The truth is printer ink is an expensive commodity these days – so much so in some cases it costs nearly as much as the printer itself. While at City Ink Express we sell a range of cost effective printing options, there are some more general things you can do keep the costs down.

Stay Conscientious

Think: do you really need to print that document off? The beauty of our computer-centric lives is that we can store and archive documents quickly and retrieve them with ease, so printing them out needn’t always be an option. There are times when you need to have a document in hand, but for the rest of the time stick it in a PDF, and stick that PDF in an email – it’s free remember!

Eco-Fonts

We’re not sure how many of you know this, but different fonts actually use more ink. For example, Century Gothic uses considerably less than Ariel, so much so that a company printing 250 pages per week would save $80 a year by switching (research according to a study conducted by Printer.com). Now we’re not saying make this change exactly, but certainly be aware of the potential savings.

Printer for a Purpose

 We are going to refrain from mentioning our particular printers, but what you should consider is that there is a printer for every purpose, and understanding this will help you save money in the long run. It may sound counter-intuitive, but it may be actually be cheaper in the long run to own two printers. If you are going to print off black text documents a laser printer is what you need, but then for any kind of photos a colour LaserJet would be appropriate; having a printer that can do both may seem sensible, but in everyday costs you’ll actually be paying more.

Purchasing a new toner cartridge over the internet may seem like decidedly risky business to some people. After all, there are thousands of different printer models out there in the world, and there’s no way to know whether or not you’ve bought the right cartridge for your model until...well, until it’s too late.

With so many mistakes just waiting to be made (what if you accidentally order a Brother DCP-9055CDN cartridge instead of a Brother DCP-9055CDW cartridge?!), you may well decide that it’s safer just to go to a shop.

But that would be the wrong decision, mainly because you’d be missing out on the great prices that online stores can offer. Just in case you’re sceptical about ordering your toner from City Ink Express, here’s a step-by-step guide that will make sure you get the right cartridge:

Step 1 – Click over to our main Toner Cartridges page.

Step 2 – Click on the button that corresponds to your printer manufacturer. For this example, we’ll say that you have a Brother printer, but we also cater to hundreds of models from HP, Canon, and other big names.

Step 3 – On the manufacturer page, find your printer’s specific model (e.g. Brother DCP-7055) and click on it to see a list of products that are suitable for your printer.

Step 4 – Choose your preferred product (we offer Original and Compatible options), enter your required quantity, and click ‘Add To Basket’.

Step 5 – Go to your basket and, if you’re ready to complete your purchase, proceed to the checkout.

It really is as simple as that! As long as you know the model you’re shopping for, it’s extremely easy to find a compatible toner cartridge. We recommend double-checking the model number on your chosen product before you finalise your order; a lot of the models have very similar names, so it’s always good to make sure before you part with any cash!