Why does a cheap printer cartridge last longer than a randed one?
Printer manufacturers make their money on the ink – not the printer. There has been a trend for printer manufacturers to put a chip into every print cartridge. Once this chip decides you have used enough ink it shuts down the print cartridge. The cartridge may still have ink in it, but it decides to stop working. If you add ink to the cartridge – it still won’t work. I can remember the days when I’d add ink with a syringe. After market ink cartridges have “reset chip” which I suspect is not just reset but possibly modified. This is how far printer manufacturers have gone to assure they make money on the ink.
