The following information is designed to be helpful and provides an explanation of some of the terms used in the printer cartridge industry.
Original Cartridges
Original printer cartridges are those supplied by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and as such are branded with the name of the manufacturer.
Compatible Cartridges
Compatible printer cartridges are not manufactured by the original equipment manufacturer but have been designed for use in the designated printer and to be fully compatible with both the printer and the original printer supplies.
Remanufactured Cartridges
Remanufactured cartridges can also be classed as compatible cartridges in that they normally start life as an empty original cartridge which then goes through a full cleaning and refilling process prior to being tested and repackaged by the remanufacturer.
Page life
Each cartridge regardless of whether it is original, compatible or remanufactured will print a certain number of pages as specified by the manufacturer.
The number of pages printed depends on the amount of toner or ink used on each page and this is defined by the image being produced.
To try and provide a benchmark, so that products can be compared, manufacturers generally provide page life data based on the number of pages that can be produced by a cartridge printing a standard test page. Generally a standard test page is defined as one with a 5% coverage of toner or ink and in doing this an accurate comparison of the page life of an original cartridge versus a compatible cartridge can be ascertained.