Remember when you had to drag a floppy disk over to the local copy shop if you wanted to make a colour printout? Now anyone can be a printmaster.
Inkjet printers have brought affordable, high-quality text and colour printing to the desktop. They can print just about anything from basic text documents to high-resolution glossy photos. But while the cost of inkjet printers is decreasing, the cost of media (ink and paper) has only dropped ever so slightly. With this article, we'll show you how to boost your printer performance, conserve expensive supplies, and more.
Troubleshoot colour quality
Inkjet printers don't always produce an image with the same colours that we see on the monitor. When the colours seem off, there are a few things you can check.
- Always start by checking your paper and ink. While using the printer in draft or economy mode will use less ink, this can cause low contrast or washed-out colours. Draft mode is fine for a test print, but remember to set the printer back to normal or photo mode before making the final print.
- Be sure to install the right quality paper for your print job. For example, many printers will not produce a high-quality photo print unless suitable glossy media is loaded. In addition, make sure the paper is oriented properly in the tray so that the printing is done on the correct side.
- Also remember to check for the driver for your video card, as well as the latest printer driver (this shouldn't be overlooked because printer drivers take their image information from the video driver). Often just updating the video and/or printer drivers makes a tremendous difference in your overall colour quality. For more accurate results, it'll pay to install colour management software for better colour matching between screen and print.
- In some cases, colours may seem off if one or more ink nozzles are clogged. If your printer supports it, run a cleaning cycle to clear out the black and colour nozzles, then try printing again. If the problem persists, you may need to check the ink level(s). Replace the ink cartridge if one or more ink levels seem low.
Get faster printouts
Inkjet printers used to be slower than laser printers because they needed use successive passes of the printheads to produce images. However, with the more recent models nozzle count has increased significantly, widening the print swath (number of lines it can print with one movement across the paper width). That aside, you may be able to squeeze just that bit more speed from yours.
Print speed is often dependent on the printer's driver software. It's likely that your printer came with outdated drivers because it was still sitting on a warehouse shelf when the manufacturer last updated them. Even if you're sure you have the latest drivers, you should still periodically check for updates (especially for newer models) from the printer manufacturer's Web site.
Adding more system RAM and freeing unneeded disk space, in addition to defragmenting the drive, can also improve printer performance. RAM is needed to store the image in memory, and disk space is needed for the spooling files that hold the image data as it's passed from the system to the printer. Verify that your computer meets the minimum system requirements for the printer and its applications and make sure you have enough free RAM and disk space to accommodate any images you'll be printing. Just note that this can only get worse with All-In-Ones, where the drivers contain much more functionality.
Finally, most older parallel port printers use ECP/EPP mode for fast data transfers. If your computer has an ECP/EPP parallel port, be sure the port is turned on and configured through the BIOS setup and make sure you're using a suitable ECP/EPP printer cable. For the majority of you that has moved to USB, just ensure that the proper drivers have been installed. We reckon that there's a fair number of you still running USB 1.1 drivers even though you've got USB 2.0 hardware.
Save on supplies
It doesn't take long for colour inkjet printing to become an expensive proposition. The cost for ink cartridges can easily exceed 40 cents per page, with an additional 10 to 20 cents per page for the paper (depending on which type you use). If you're printing out a lot of practice runs to see what the final job will look like, much of that expensive ink and paper will wind up in your recycling barrel. Here are some ways to cut corners.
First of all, you can view most documents on the computer screen without having to print them out. For example, the File menu of most Windows applications offers a Print Preview feature that gives you a glimpse of what the final printed page will look like. This allows you to proof the basic layout and composition of your work without ever actually having to turn the printer on. This will in essence help you avoid a lot of trial-and-error draft printing.
However, you'll ultimately need to commit your work to paper. If you're doing draft work, (or the final result doesn't need to be perfect, such as if you're simply printing out an emailed invitation for handy directions to the party), set the printer to use draft or economy mode -- this uses far less ink than normal printing. And since black ink cartridges are typically less expensive than colour cartridges, do your draft work in monochrome or grayscale mode rather than colour. If your printer only uses three-colour ink cartridges, try setting drafts to print in the colour that gets used the least.
You should also match the paper to the job at hand. If you're running a draft print job, try recycling the clean backsides from your rejected print jobs or use regular photocopier-grade paper. When you're satisfied with the results, set the printer to normal or photo mode, load that expensive high-quality inkjet or photo glossy paper, and make your final print.
When shopping for media, opt for the high-capacity ink cartridges (if they exist for your particular printer model). High-capacity cartridges may cost more, but they often yield many more pages than ordinary cartridges. This can save a few cents per page, not to mention time spent replacing ink cartridges. Also, buying directly from the printer's manufacturer is usually just as expensive as buying retail. You may want to shop around for ink and paper at a computer or office superstores that offer better rates. But if you do find a good deal, don't stock up too much. Many ink cartridges have a shelf life of a year or so (much less once the cartridge is installed in the printer), so old ink may thicken or fade, resulting in poor print quality. If you end up with more cartridges than you think you'll use in a year, you may want to wrap the extras up tight and refrigerate them to slow down the aging process.
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