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HP is one of the oldest printer manufacturers still in business, and their printers have long been considered some of the best. Is this accurate, however, or do people just assume they’re good because their name is so well known?

HP’s inkjet printers cover a wide spectrum. They have photo printers in various sizes, business printers, value models for home use and a number of specialized models for various applications.

In any given category, HP tends to be one of if not the best print quality when compared to the competition. A big part of the reason for this is the technology they put into their cartridges.

While most brands of ink cartridge contain only the ink, the grand majority of HP ink cartridges come not only containing the ink but also with the printhead, a printer part that sprays ink onto paper during printing. Other printer manufacturers have the printhead installed as a permanent part of the printer.

Over a period of time, as the printer gets used more and more, this printhead can start to deteriorate and the quality of printing can suffer because of it. Eventually this printhead will wear out and need to be replaced. In most cases, replacing the head costs as much or more as buying a whole new printer so at this point the printer often gets thrown out and replaced.

By putting the printhead on the cartridge itself, HP avoids this problem of the head wearing out. Over the course of months or years, the print quality will stay pretty much the same as it was when the printer was brand new because each time the ink is replaced, so is the printhead.

There are a couple of drawbacks to this system, however. The first is that the cartridges tend to be a little more expensive than some of the competition’s. Each time you replace the ink you’ll have to pay a little more, but this added cost will even out when you consider you would eventually have to pay to repair or replace most other brands.

Another drawback is that refilling HP ink cartridges is not very effective. The printhead that comes installed in the cartridge is not designed to work longer than the ink will last, so reusing the same cartridge will typically result in reduced print quality.

While refilling an HP cartridge once doesn’t tend to affect the print quality dramatically, further refills usually produce problems.