• Hewlett-Packard has been making desktop and laptop computers, monitors, PDAs and printers for over 20 years. In that time, the company has used a number of different types of technology to make printing possible. Because of this, several types of ink cartridges are compatible with different HP printers depending on the technology used in their development.
  
  

Inkjet Cartridges

• Inkjet cartridges are one of the most popular types of cartridges available in the printing market. The inkjet style of cartridge is simply a small case full of liquid ink toner. This case is perforated by the printer and ink is drawn out and applied as needed. Inkjet cartridges come in both pigment- and dye-based ink systems; the pigment-based use inks that sit on top of the paper while dye-based use a system where ink is used to dye the paper itself. The ink technology used by HP for its printers is called Vivera, and this ink has been designed to offer vibrant colors and long-lasting, photo-quality prints. Inkjet cartridges are used in several HP Deskjet, Officejet, Photosmart and PSC model printers.
  
  

Laser-Toner Cartridges

• Although some laser printers also use a liquid toner for printing, printers more commonly use dry toner in the form of a very fine powder. This powder is made of plastics such as acrylic and styrene and coated with pigment to produce different colors. When the laser printer begins to print, it spins a drum that magnetically charges the particles of toner and then uses heat to bond the toner to the paper. Although this process takes a moment to warm up, eventually laser printers can produce copies and prints faster than inkjet printers. This ink cartridge is common in industrial copiers and high-volume printers, and is used by HP in the LaserJet series of printers.
  
  

Dot Matrix

• Dot-matrix printers have been printing since 1970. Although in most homes and offices these printers have been replaced by more refined printers, dot-matrix printers such as the HP 2932A are still in use today, particularly in heavy-duty environments. These printers use tiny pins to plant ink into the paper. The dot-matrix printer requires a ribbon-style printer cartridge that coats a ribbon with ink powder as it rolls through the rear cartridge casing. This type of ink cartridge is closely related to word processor and typewriter cartridges.