The dream of a paperless office has proved elusive in this information age. In many offices and homes, printing documents is still an essential part of transferring and storing information. As a result, computer printers are now used on a wider scale. With so much printing to do, some wonder if the recent availability of refilled cartridges will still give the same quality of work as new toner cartridges and if it is worth the price tag.

For one thing, refilled cartridges cost much less than new toner cartridges. Refills can cost less than 60% of the price of new toner cartridges. This has made refilled cartridges to be very competitive with new ones. Environmental activists also have had a say claiming refilled cartridges reduce the number of empty cartridges going to the trashcan. Reconditioning of these cartridges is also cost effective for the manufacturers and with improvement of this art; refilled cartridges may prove to be very economical for these companies.

Refilling cartridges requires mechanical ability and skill. Thus, it can be a challenge to an average printer user who is not used to opening up a printer and locating the toner cartridge, leave alone opening it up and doing the refill. If not done properly, a refilled cartridge can have leakages. Another reason for a leakage could be over-refilling the cartridge or not securely fastening the enclosing rubber plug found on most cartridges.

Refilled cartridges also have a problem of erratic nozzle checks. This problem occurs if the vent holes have blockages. This is a very common problem in refilled cartridges and usually gets worse with each refill. Sometimes if a refill is done too fast, the foam that is found in the cartridge is not saturated and may need a couple of hours to become saturated. Eventually though, a replacement will need to be done. New toner cartridges rarely experience this problem. Dealing with the toner directly can be quite messy sometimes. Ink spills and other inconveniences are usually part of the process and as a result. That is why the manufacturer or a dedicated workshop individual does refills.

New cartridge toner provides higher quality printing compared to refilled cartridges. Color print-outs using refills tend to fade quicker and do not have the same sharpness as brand new ink. As a result of this observation, many people stick to using brand new toner cartridges when doing high quality print-outs and color printing and revert back to refilled cartridges only when printing office work that does not demand high quality.

With the quality of refills continuously improving and the price of new toner cartridges dropping steadily, the battle between refilled cartridges and brand new toner cartridges is tight and hard to call. In the meantime, some industry experts suggest a dual partnership, where a printer is loaded with both types of cartridges, one for high quality documents like company brochures, important photos meant to last for a long time and for everything else, use of refills, which may prove to be cheaper.