What you need to know about Lexmark Printers

Stop Buying 1/2-empty cartridges!

You buy a new Lexmark printer or multifunction machine, and it comes with a Lexmark #17 (Lexmark 10N0217) black ink cartridge. So that's the ink cartridge you look for when it runs out, right? Well, not if you want value for your investment. If you read all of your documentation, you will find that Lexmark calls the #17 (Lexmark 10N0217) black and #27 (Lexmark 10N0227) color ink cartridges "moderate use cartridges" rated at 205 pages and 140 pages respectively. Apparently, the term "moderate use" means "half full" in Lexmark terms. In fact, there is actually a Lexmark #16 (Lexmark 10N0016) black cartridge and Lexmark #26 (Lexmark 10N0026) color cartridge that are each filled to their true capacity and rated at 410 pages and 275 pages respectively. That's what you want if you can't find our special thINK4inc.com High Yield (HY) cartridges for your printer.

How about 300% more ink for just a few dollars more?

Did we say 300% more? Yes, some Lexmark inkjet cartridges are actually filled to only one quarter their true capacity. If your Lexmark printer came with a Lexmark #50 (Lexmark 17G0050) black cartridge, it is rated at only 255 pages of printing, while the Lexmark #55 (Lexmark 16G0055) is rated at a full 1100 pages of printing. There are actually no physical differences between the two cartridges. Lexmark has simply decided to only put one quarter the ink into the Lexmark #50 (Lexmark 17G0050) black cartridge.

How does Lexmark get away with it?

They count on you, the consumer, to do the simple thing and order or buy the cartridge that came in your printer. They have been using this trick for many years now, and the plan seems to be working. It works so well, that many office supply stores and big boxes like Wal-Mart, Costco and Sam's Club only sell the low yield (Read: BAD VALUE) cartridges. This will not change until consumers force them to change.

How do I run my Lexmark printer efficiently?

Whenever possible, Think4inc promises to sell only the high yield version of any cartridge. Think4inc carries both OEM (Lexmark brand) cartridges and remanufactured cartridges for your Lexmark printer. In fact, Think4inc's remanufactured Lexmark cartridges are always filled to maximum capacity for that cartridge, and often for around the same price as the Lexmark brand low yield cartridge.

For which cartridges can I find a better value or full cartridge?

Here is a list of Lexmark cartridges and the Think4inc number for both the High Yield Lexmark brand cartridge and the High Yield Think4inc brand cartridge.

*Lexmark prices and page yields from Lexmark.com as of June 15th 2006
*Think4inc brand page yields determined by fill capacity compared with Lexmark brand.

Think Hewlett Packard (HP) wouldn't be so sneaky? Think again.