Xerox Phaser printers are for business only
Most people are used to needing a toner cartridge to keep their laser printers spitting out their documents. But toner cartridges and the machines that require them have some severe disadvantage. First and foremost regarding toner information, cartridges aren’t the most eco-friendly products on the market. Recycling programs aside, every year millions of used toner cartridges wind up in landfills. The plastic components designed to hold and distribute traditional toner into a laser printer are all but useless when the toner has been depleted.
Enter the world of solid ink technology. Solid ink, exclusively available through Xerox in its Phaser series of Color Laser Printers has no cartridge. Instead, ink “chunks” in the four CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) are placed in racks through specially shaped holes in the printer. The printer’s mechanism warms the wax like chunks and as it needs it. The print quality is exceptional and the eco-friendly “no waste” design is remarkable. In fact, it almost looks like the prints have a “raised” quality to them very much link a professional offest printer. However, as of this writing, no solid ink printer has the capability to “print to the edge” of the paper. Although not different from any other color laser printer on the market, it would be nice to see someone tackle a printer with this functionality for home and small business use.
Originally, it was hard to find an alternative to OEM Xerox solid ink refills. Most vendors didn’t even know about toner information concerning solid ink technology because it was so different and new. However, there are now several reliable manufacturers that produce lower cost, equally effective solid inks refills you can buy through most ink and toner specialty stores, online via resellers or auction sites. All in all, Xerox solid ink technology is a cost effective, eco-friendly, and high quality means of getting great color prints.