my friend has a brother MFC-7340 all-in-one b&w laser printer...he needs a new cartridge, and it says it will take the TN330 (regular) or TN360 (high yield) cartridge

the 330 (regular, 1500 pages) is $46: http://www.abcink.com/brother-oem-tn330-black-toner-cartridge-for-hl2140.html

the 360 (high yield, 2600 pages) is $27: http://www.abcink.com/brother-tn360-high-yield-black-toner-cartridge-for-hl2140.html

why would the high yield cartridge cost almost half the regular? i ask about drums because i get the impression that each cartridge will only fit on a particular drum...the DR330 seems to be the regular one, and the DR360 seems to be the high-yield...my friend said his printer has the DR360 in it, so i would assume he can use the high yield cartridge?

while we're at it, how do y'all feel about those refilling shops (cartridge world?) or DIY kits? worth it?

11/23/2009 2:39:00 PM

1) The 330 is probably higher priced because it's "OEM" ... go figure.

2) IMHO, "Ink Refill" isn't worth it. Yeah, sometimes you can get by with them, but they're hit or miss. And if it's a miss, you've wasted $$$. Last two times I was at Cartridge World, they poked a hole in the top, refilled, and put a piece of tape over the hole. But, both times, the ink seemed to have dried out after a few weeks.

I've even tried the DIY kits, and those are even more worthless. Lots of streaking and poor quality printing turned me off quick.

[Edited on November 23, 2009 at 4:25 PM. Reason : ohhh-pinions]

11/23/2009 4:25:33 PM

uh, your average joe shouldn't refill a toner cartridge on his own, because he'll make a huge fucking mess.


Ink for an inkjet and toner for a laser are two separate things. afaik, you can't go into cartridge world and get them to refill a toner cartridge for you. Maybe shit has changed, and you can, but you weren't able to in years past.

That being said, toner is toner. If you can get a remanufactured toner cart, get it refilled locally, or otherwise, you'll get the same result as a new one. Black powder is black powder when it comes to laser printers.



For Brother printers, the drums are also separate units, but that doesn't mean that a high-yield toner cart uses a different drum unit. The ONLY difference between a TN330 and a TN360 is the amount of toner powder inside the cartridge itself. The drum functions as the portion that fuses the toner to the paper, and has a different usage life.

[Edited on November 23, 2009 at 7:26 PM. Reason : .]

11/23/2009 7:24:48 PM