Cartridge Yield

Cartridges have a “Rating” which is based on 5% coverage to benchmark each cartridge, this is equal to approximately 10 to 20 lines of text depending on the cartridge. For example a Canon EP-22 cartridge is rated to 2,500 pages @ 5% coverage. So if you only print short letters of around 15 lines you will be able to print around 2,500 pages. If you print letters full of text you might only get 1,500 pages. If you print a newsletter full of text and with graphics and large fonts then you might only get 1,000 pages.

Print Density and Resolution also affect the number of pages a cartridge will print (Yield).

Density: Is the thickness of the toner on the page, this can usually be adjusted with your printer driver, high density gives a thick application of toner with very dark print, therefore it lowers the yield. Low density applies minimal toner but you will loose print quality in such things as fine lines and grey scales, but the cartridge will print more pages.

Resolution: Is the number of Dots Per Inch (DPI) that are applied. The most commonly used is 600DPI which provides a good alround result. A higher resolution of 1,200DPI is great for graphics but makes no visible difference to standard text, it also consumes more toner. A lower resolution of 300DPI is fine for text but produces average results for graphics and large fonts, however it consumes less toner.