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Difference between Standard and XL ink cartridges

Most ink cartridges come in two varieties; the standard capacity and the ‘XL’ high capacity, but whats the difference?

Despite the name, most standard or XL ink cartridges have exactly the same external dimensions. The key difference between the two is the amount of ink which is contained within, and therefore, the number of pages which can be printed before changing the cartridge.

For example:

The standard capacity HP 304 black cartridge contains 3.5ml of ink, giving an approximate yield of 120 pages.

The high capacity HP 304XL black cartridge contains 8.4ml of ink, which give a page yield of approximately 300 pages.

The same is also true of the tri-colour HP 304 cartridges. The standard capacity HP 304 colour cartridge contains 4ml of ink, with the HP 304XL colour cartridge containing 8ml.