The prices of inkjet printers and laserjet printers have never been lower. Similar to video console manufacturers who sell gaming consoles at below cost, knowing that they'll make enormous profits from the sale of video games, manufacturers of inkjets and laserjets sell their products at a low cost, knowing that they will profit tremendously from the sale of inkjet and toner cartridges. Indeed, it's been said that you'd have to spend over $5 billion to fill a swimming pool with ink from manufacturers' cartridges.

The expense of the cartridge is compounded by the growing use of inkjet and laserjet printers. The popularity of digital cameras has grown exponentially in the past five years, and consumers are increasingly opting to print out their digital photos at home. Businesses are utilizing desktop publishing software and high quality printers to produce brochures and marketing materials that they would normally send out to be printed. Likewise, everyone from scout troop leaders to health educators are using available technology to tailor educational content that can be printed on the fly using inkjet and laserjet printers.

This means that the market for inkjet and toner cartridges is booming. It also means that, in order to make an informed decision, the consumer needs to understand the emerging issues in the cartridge wars. To wit:

Black and white vs. color: When you go to buy a printer, you may be stunned at the number of brand options, which include InfoPrint, DocuPrint, WorkCentre, OfficeJet, Optra, and more. If you're primarily going to print documents, a printer with only a black cartridge will suffice. If, on the other hand, you're planning to regularly print photographs or brochures, a color printer might be a better option. If you decide upon a color printer, you'll further be able to choose from among printers that have a four-color cartridge, a six-color cartridge, or even more colors.

Manufacturer's brand vs. generic: Some manufacturers insist that only their proprietary cartridges are optimized for your printer. On the other hand, there are many who view that stance as simply a way for manufacturers to rake in the dollars, and who say that refilled or generic cartridges perform the same function for less money.

The coverage question: Many consumers experience sticker shock when they buy replacement cartridges for their inkjet or laserjet printers. Depending upon what you print, you may be in for a greater shock when your cartridge runs out of ink in a very short time. Typically, when a cartridge package indicates that the cartridge will print a certain number of pages, the assumption is that only five percent of the page will have ink on it - typical for a word processing document. If you're printing pictures, though, you're getting ink coverage of 100 percent, so your ink cartridge will run dry much more quickly.

Paper vs. ink: When it comes to ink cartridge quality, your photo or document will only look as good as the paper it's printed on. This especially applies to photos, where poor paper can cause an image to look muddy.