Yield of Toner or Cartridge?
When you buy a toner or a cartridge, it says 'Cartridge Yield' or 'Yield up to 00,000 pages'. Also, it says 'Approx'. Many customers have experiences where they don't even use near the 'Approx' amount of copies, but, the toner or cartridge needs to be replaced.
What is the standard for 1 page of yield? The standard of toner powder usage for ONE page is 5% usage of letter size paper. So, if you print a photo, you even print 1 page, but, the amount of the toner powder that you use is the same as 20 pages of standard use. If you have 20,000 yield for your cartridge, and print some photos, then, you might be able to print only 1,000 photos instead of 20,000 photos.
You should remember that the standard toner powder usage for ONE page is only 5% of toner usage for letter size paper.
OEM? Refurbish? Remanufactured?
OEM
is short for 'Original Equipment Manufacturer'. People also call this as 'Original'. It is made by the manufacturer.
Refurbished
product is a fixed product. It had one or more problems which made the product malfunction. So, it is fixed, tested and is resold.
Remanufactured
product is a recycled product. After using toner or cartridge, the body of toner or cartridge will be recycled. It has closer quality to the OEM, but you can save money and the environment.
Comparable
product is a 3rd party product. The brand and every parts do not belong to the manufacturer, but, it is possible to use for your printer or copier. However, it could be the cause of your printer or copier failure.
Why? The material for the body and the toner powder are high tech products. So, if you use comparable products for mass copy, the body could have a chance to start to crack or twist. Also, if you don't use the right quality powder, it will produce a lot of dust and can cause failure of your printer or copier. Especially, for the color toner, ONLY South Korea and Japan have the technologies to produce the right quality powder for machines.