You can print cheap, or you can print well, and if you’re going for long-term documents, you’ll want to go well. A new year-long study out today shows that while discount, third-party ink is great for short-term printing, maybe even better than manufacturer’s ink, it tends to fade after a year. In fact, the brand name ink looks up to three times better after a year.

It’s a thorough study and worth the read if you do a lot of printing on ink jets. Of course, it doesn’t detail laser printers, which is a wiser choice to use overall.