Generic Ink vs. Name Brand Ink: Do You Get What You Pay For?

Overview

Objectives/Goals I wanted to see if the results using name brand ink justified the additional cost compared with results using less expensive generic ink. Methods/Materials In order to compare results using generic ink and name brand ink I printed out fourteen photographs each using Epson Photo Paper and printing them out on an Epson Stylus Color 880 printer. After doing so, I obtained the opinions of forty-five people using side-by-side comparisons of the pictures. They were told that one type of ink that was used was less expensive than the other but were not told which one was which, then the people were asked to choose which photograph looked better. Results In only three out of the fourteen photographs, slightly more than half of the people felt that the photograph produced using name brand ink looked better than its generic counterpart. In the remaining eleven photographs, people either felt that the photographs produced by generic ink looked better than those produced by name brand ink or they simply could not tell the difference between the two. Conclusions/Discussion The side-by-side comparisons indicate that the majority of the people cannot tell the difference in the two types of inks, thus making the name brand ink's cost unjustified.

Competition history

• CSEF 2003 Materials Science (Junior Division Only) · Entry J1122

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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