Lexmark’s inkjet printers have had a pretty rough ride from PC Pro in recent reviews and Greg Caster, senior development manager for inkjet R&D, admitted to me yesterday that its 2008 range was simply a step behind its competitors. To change that, Lexmark is finally moving to individual inks for its next all-wireless range of inkjet all-in-ones, and introducing a fantastic touchscreen interface that I’ll come to later.

But the real news for me - and for anyone who ever has trouble choosing a printer - is the way Lexmark’s eight-product line has been assembled.

Currently, buying a printer is a confusing experience, with too many competing manufacturers, each with too many printer ranges that contain too many similar models and accept too many different cartridge types. Even within a single manufacturer’s product range, the variation in quality and speed can be staggering.

So Lexmark is taking a different approach, one that makes choosing a printer so simple for consumers I can only beg and plead with Canon, HP, Epson and the rest of the inkjet world to flagrantly copy it.

Put simply, whether you buy the base consumer model for $99, the premium $399 business device or any of the six models in-between, you’ll get the same underlying print engine.

Go To Source » (232)

If you go by sales figures and consumer recognition, Canon and HP are the two top printer brands. This isn't a great surprise — both companies make well-built, fast, great quality printers and multifunctions to suit a range of homes and small businesses. Whether you're looking to print school assignments, lab-quality photos or business documents, there is bound to be a printer from either of these manufacturers to suit your needs. The question is: which brand is better and for what purposes?

Go To Source » (202)

In September, a soy-based toner created with soybean oil will be available for select laser printers.

For more than a decade, the Ohio Soybean Council has worked in partnership with Battelle to develop an environmentally-friendly toner using soybeans.

AgriTone replaces traditional petroleum based toner.

(SEE THIS) is releasing the AgriTone premium replacement toner cartridges.

They are a series of remanufactured laser toner cartridges containing toner that is 35 percent or more biobased.

In 2008 alone, the company collected more than 900,000 cartridges through its Empty Core Collection Program and recycled more that 1 million pounds of raw materials from its manufacturing process

Go To Source » (210)

Both Canon and Brother are well-known names in the world of printers. Moreover, their multifunction printers are also quite popular and are a great choice for people who want to conserve space and yet want all the functionalities on offer.

When it comes to printer sophistication, Brother MFC steals a march over its other competitors. Not only are they light in weight but also compact. Moreover, apart from the usual functionalities they can also record messages. My Brother MFC also performs the role of an answering machine. Moreover, the Brother MFC has a multitasking scanning function, which not only scans pictures and documents but also emails.

Go To Source » (162)

Hewlett-Packard, HP to its friends, has always been a very innovative, progressive company so it should be no surprise that HP has come up with a brilliant way to reuse printer cartridges and prevent them from filling up our dumps. HP recycles non-degradable plastic printer cartridges into printerheads for their Photosmart D5460 printers.

Go To Source » (155)

One of the most common questions heard in office supply stores is this: “I have an old printer. Can I use remanufactured printer cartridges as replacements?” The answer is not a simple yes of no. Each printer owner has to research the subject and make up their own mind whether they want to use OEM or remanufactured printer cartridges.

Go To Source » (131)

Preparing for a major launch of new inkjet printers next month, Lexington-based Lexmark International recently took a look back before looking ahead.

Later this week marks the 15th anniversary of the company's first Lexmark inkjet printer, the Lexmark ExecJet 4076 IIc.

Go To Source » (217)

For this one, Broida takes us through being able to get the Brother HL-2170W Wi-Fi laser printer for only $49.99. He warns us not to be surprised by the fact that a quick look at the product page will tell you that the printer is up for grabs for $69.99, a good $20 more than what Broida is sharing as the cost for the printer; it is not necessarily, however, going to be your initial cash outlay for the machine. Getting the price trimmed down to $49.99 is a deal that, according to Broida’s own words, will require you to “jump through a few hoops”.

Go To Source » (311)

What we may be writing next may seem funny, but believe us when we say that these things actually happen. We are far from being neat freaks, but we are not total slobs either (at least we don’t think so!). So what we see on a couple of our favorite shows – Clean House and How Clean is Your House? – can sometimes amaze us. Okay, so our idea of kicking back to watch TV is a bit different – but hey, we found a few tips on what your printer is NOT supposed to be based on the stuff that we saw people do.

Go To Source » (236)

We have talked about making changes to our printing habits to save on cash and using our printers to generate even more savings. But how about actually using our printers as a revenue-generating device? And no, we are not talking about printing your own greenbacks, although there are those who have certainly done so and (almost!) got away with it.

Go To Source » (334)