Is there a way to tell ink percentage coverage?

D

David S.

New Member
I use Apache Open Office.

I recently complained to HP when their black ink cartridges weren't printing the 480 pages that were advertised. I was told by one of their upper management that, when they advertise 480 "pages," they define a "page" as only have 5% of its surface area covered in ink. Even then, they assume that you're printing fast draft quality.

The fast draft quality is easy enough to keep track of. But ... is there a program for Apache Open Office that tells me what percentage of the page is covered in ink, so I can more easily keep track of how much ink is left in the cartridge? After all ... even if I know how many letters I can fit onto a page, those letters are not just blocks of black ink; there are spaces inside the letters that are not covered in ink, like the triangle inside a capital A, or the space in between the legs in a capital R. All of these spaces need to be taken into consideration, so it's not a simple matter of "counting the letters."
 
F

Fatherboard

Member
The ink status of your printer will be shown in the printer status pane, usually when printing it will show ink levels in the box that comes up or you can open the 'my printer' icon on your start screen and with the printer turned on see it's status. The 5% figure given is the amount of ink covering in a block, ie., a solid black square covering 5% of the page surface. First time I've ever heard of that way of 'defining' ink coverage, must be an HP term.
 
D

David S.

New Member
1. That only gives me a bar. It doesn't give me an exact amount of ink.
2. That only gets updated after I print. It can't be used to plan my printing in advance.
3. Yes, I'm well aware that the 5% figure is "a solid black square covering 5% of the page surface." Letters will take up less ink on the page, and I want to know how I can calculate exactly how much!
 
beers

beers

Moderator
Staff member
It's impossible/impractical to give you exacting amounts of ink as you're requesting.

For the amount of labor you're spending worrying about it, you could just buy another cartridge and come out ahead.

Alternatively, keep things in a digital format.
 
F

Fatherboard

Member
Exactly, the indicated ink levels shown are only 'approximate' and not what may actually be left in the cartridge, when a printer informs you that your ink level in any particular cartridge is low or 'needs replacing' take notice and change it. Most printers now use two black ink cartridges, a small capacity one and a large capacity one and one will back up the other if one runs out, if the colour ones get very short and you ignore the low ink warning you will get washed out prints and colours different than that of the original image, it's not rocket science more common sense. The quality, GSM of the paper you use often influences how much ink is used and the quality of the print as well as your print settings.
 
voyagerfan99

voyagerfan99

Master of Turning Things Off and Back On Again
Staff member
They use toner cartridges which are more expensive than ink, but last for far more pages and toner doesn't dry out and clog like ink, as toner is already a dry powder.

Monochrome laserjet printers can be had for pretty cheap these days.
 
voyagerfan99

voyagerfan99

Master of Turning Things Off and Back On Again
Staff member
Depends. For my Brother HL-5250DN the high yeald toner can do 7,000 pages for $78 (amazon), which is about $0.011 per page.

Plus it also depends on where you buy the toner from. Amazon is normally much cheaper than anywhere else.

Color laserjet is a slightly different story. If you print in color a lot, it might be worth it. Color laserjets are more expensive and get better quality the higher the price. It has four toner cartridges in it (Magenta, Cyan, Yellow, and Black) which can be $50-100 each, again depending on where you buy it from.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top