Why did my cartridge print fewer pages than usual

For some printers, when you buy a toner cartridge, you have the option of buying a standard yield cartridge or a high yield cartridge. The high yield cartridge will print more pages. But sometimes, the cartridge make and model you always buy will print fewer pages than it usually does. There’s a simple explanation for this.

Cartridges have an advertised page yield. The cartridge manufacturer calculates it as the number of pages a cartridge can print, if the pages have 5% coverage. This is always just an estimate.

If your cartridge says the page yield is 2,000 pages, it may print that many, or it may print more, depending on how much toner your printer has to put on each page.

If you print pages full of text or images, your cartridge probably won’t meet the advertised page yield, and will print fewer pages than you expect. This isn’t a problem with the cartridge.

Every cartridge gets the same amount of toner put in it, based on weight. How long you can use it depends on how much toner you ask the printer to add to each page.

Most printer cartridges have a chip on them that keeps track of how many pages have been printed. When you get close to the advertised page yield of the cartridge, your printer will tell you to replace your cartridge soon.

Some printers make it look like they measure the amount of toner left with a little cartoon of toner remaining in each cartridge. This is also just an estimate. The chip keeps track of the pages printed and the approximate amount of toner used on each page. That’s why sometimes when your printer tells you to replace your cartridge you can still get good quality prints for a while.

So if your toner cartridge didn’t print as many pages as the page yield said it would, think about what you’ve been printing. It could be that you just used up all the toner on fewer pages!

ETB only carries toner cartridges from reputable manufacturers. We ensure these manufacturers have multiple quality control measures for all their toner cartridges. Rest assured that you have received a “full” toner cartridge with the correct weight of toner powder. Page yield is always just an estimate.

As always, Your ETB Account Manager is happy to answer any questions you have about your printer consumables! 😊

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