Following an explosion of technical advances over the last few years, the workplace has been transformed into a treasure trove of technology. From work reports to emails, internet research and meeting agendas, the vast majority of office tasks are now computer processed. This transformation has picked up the pace of office work, but with it comes a necessity for office supplies that can handle high-speed professionalism. A prime example of this is the humble office printer; something so often taken for granted quickly attracts attention when the ink runs out just as a critically important document must catch the afternoon post. As workplaces are becoming more and more reliant on their printers, it stands to reason that good quality components should be chosen to keep these machines in optimum condition. Generally, when considering printer maintenance, one would assess the type of paper in use. Although this is of the utmost importance, there is, nevertheless, another item that may well have been overlooked: namely, the brand of replacement toner cartridges selected. In fact, the selection of toner cartridges has the potential to generate significant savings. Consumers looking into buying a home printer have already caught on to this fact. Shoppers are becoming more and more adept when it comes to assessing the long term investment criteria of the goods that they buy. This involves not only calculating the average initial investment of the printer itself, which has actually gone down in recent years, but also in forecasting the inescapable cost of the toner cartridges necessary to continue its use. If offices can be considered as larger, more reliant consumers of printers, it is time to ensure that they also are employing this strategy when it comes to their office supplies. A good choice of toner cartridge from the offset may prove to be invaluable in the future, as the use of substandard components could mean elevated maintenance costs later on. The decision itself, however, is not as simple as one would think, as there are multiple options available. The first of these options is inescapably to buy the same brand of components as the printer. This is known as OEM, or purchasing from the Original Equipment Manufacturer. This decision is usually highly recommended by both their representatives and their promotional literature, and it may even be stated that printing quality could be affected if the original brand of toner is not used. What these companies neglect to mention, however, is that equivalent products do exist. These are often of an equal standard to their branded counterparts, but come with a much lower price tag. These products are known as compatible toner cartridges and are produced by a third party manufacturer to the same specifications as the branded model. Thus, they are homogeneous of the OEM's products and conform directly to the model of printer in question, delivering results of a similar quality. More often than not, they even include the model reference numbers of the branded printers to which they correspond. A prudent switch in supplier, therefore, has the potential to generate significant monetary savings for almost any company, with little to no compromise in quality.