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It is given that you buy cartridges from the printer manufacturers to ensure good quality. But then, are they making the papers too? The companies you buy other printer need to buy their paper from another company. Then they put their name on it.

Chances are that the exact same paper can be found under another name. If your printer uses a special ink, there might be advantages to using a manufacturer's brand of paper.

Remember that another brand will not hurt your printer. And it could be a lot cheaper. What are some considerations when choosing a printing paper?

Different purposes. The kind of paper you use can affect how your document will appear like. When you are printing important documents, best use inkjet or laser-specific paper.

For everyday use, it is ok to purchase inexpensive, low-weight paper. Avoid using papers that is so thin that it will tear easily. Look for your printer specs in your manual or online for the minimum paper weight that your printer can handle.

Re-use papers. Documents do not always turn out exactly as we'd like. But do not dispose of the papers yet. Instead, try to use the blank side for documents that you are just printing out as drafts for checking errors. You will find that by reusing paper, you are saving a lot less on new paper.

Test print photos. Photo paper can be quite expensive. Of course, you do not want to waste any of that high-gloss, high-cost photo stock.

Do a test print before you do a final run with photo paper. You can see if the size if the image was cropped correctly. Or if it is printing out in portrait or landscape mode. And other little things that we think we have done properly until we see that we actually have not.

Once everything is perfect, then do the final printing.

Consider photo service. If you are not in a rush to have your photos available five minutes after you take them, try to consider having them printed by a photo shop instead.

Because they deal in bulk, photo shops often charge a lot less per photo. A lot less than you would actually be paying if you printed it yourself. Just figure out the cost of the ink and of the paper.

You can get professional-quality prints without worrying about whether you should buy expensive photo inks in the first place.