Frequently Asked Questions

What role does magenta play in what our C2660dn prints every day?

More than most offices realize. Magenta is a primary process color: it builds every red, pink, purple and orange the C2660dn produces, and it is a component in the majority of photographic and chart colors. That is why the 593-BBBS — the high-yield magenta cartridge for this machine, order code 593-BBBS — gets consumed even by offices that think of themselves as mostly printing blue corporate documents. Logos, highlighted tables and presentation decks all draw on it steadily.

How does the high-yield 593-BBBS change our ordering rhythm?

It stretches it. Rated at 4,000 pages, a single 593-BBBS covers roughly sixteen months of color work for an office printing 250 color pages a month, and about eight months at double that volume. Measured against standard-yield supplies for the same machine, that means fewer orders, fewer changeovers and fewer mid-job interruptions. The cartridge fits the same slot in the C2660dn and C2665dnf; nothing about the machine's handling changes — only the interval between swaps.

Can we replace just the magenta, or should the whole set go in together?

Just the magenta. The four supplies in a C2660dn — black 593-BBBU, cyan 593-BBBT, magenta 593-BBBS and yellow 593-BBBR — are independent cartridges with independent gauges, and they deplete at different rates because documents do not consume colors evenly. Replacing a cartridge that still has useful life left is money discarded. Swap the 593-BBBS when its gauge and your print quality say it is done, and leave the others until their own turn comes.

What does this cartridge cost per page, in plain numbers?

The listing price is $31.82 for one cartridge rated at 4,000 pages: about 0.80 cents per page, or $7.96 for every thousand pages. That per-page figure is the honest way to compare supplies — a cheaper cartridge with a third of the capacity would cost more per page, not less. At 0.80 cents, the high-yield 593-BBBS sits comfortably in economical workgroup territory, well under the per-page cost typical of small desktop color machines.

How will we know the 593-BBBS is genuinely empty and not just having a bad day?

Two signals together are conclusive: the C2660dn's toner gauge showing magenta at or near empty, and print quality shifting — reds going dull, pinks greying, warm tones losing saturation while cyan-heavy colors stay clean. A single odd page can be a paper or settings issue; a consistent warm-color fade backed by a low gauge is an empty magenta. Gently rocking a nearly empty cartridge side to side can redistribute the last toner for a short reprieve, but treat that as days, not weeks.

What protection do we have buying a compatible instead of the Dell original?

This listing is a compatible 593-BBBS built to Dell's specification — not a genuine Dell cartridge — and it carries our 1-year warranty together with 1-year free returns, with the claims process described on our shipping and returns page. Questions reach a person Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM CST. Your order ships from the closest of our warehouses in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Georgia or California, and the C2660dn's other cartridges are listed together on our Dell toner page.

The color codes look nearly identical — how do we make sure we actually ordered magenta?

Read the last letters, not the family resemblance. In this machine the colors run 593-BBBT for cyan, 593-BBBS for magenta and 593-BBBR for yellow — three codes that differ by a single character and are easy to transpose when reordering from memory. Before you confirm an order, match the code against the cartridge coming out of the magenta slot or against the printer's supply list. This listing is the 593-BBBS; if your outgoing cartridge says anything else, you are looking at the wrong color's page, however similar the box looks.

Right after fitting the new magenta, our reds look stronger than the other colors — is that normal?

Usually, yes. A fresh 593-BBBS goes in at full strength while the cyan, yellow and black around it may be part-used, so warm tones can look briefly richer than the cooler colors until the set rebalances through normal use and later changes. Judge it over a run of ordinary documents rather than a single page. What is not normal is a fault pattern — streaks, bands or one side of the page printing differently from the other. Rich but even color after a swap is a new cartridge settling in; uneven color is a reason to talk to support.

Why does one magenta last much longer some quarters than others?

Because magenta consumption follows the work, not the calendar. A quarter of text reports with the odd highlighted table sips at the 593-BBBS; a quarter of presentation decks, marketing pieces and photo-heavy documents drinks from it, because magenta is a component in most of those colors. The cartridge's 4,000-page rating is measured at standard coverage, so your real interval stretches and shrinks with the mix. The useful habit is to note fitting dates: two or three changes give you your own average, and busy color periods stop being a surprise.

Should we keep the empty magenta until the replacement has printed for a while?

Briefly, yes. Holding the spent 593-BBBS for the first days of its replacement costs nothing and buys you two things: a reference carrying the exact code for the next reorder, and a comparison unit if the new cartridge's output raises questions — swapping the old one back for a single test page settles whether a fault followed the cartridge or lives in the machine. Once the new cartridge has a week of clean work behind it, the empty has served its purpose and can go out for recycling with the office's other spent supplies.

About This C2660dn Magenta Cartridge (593-BBBS)

The high-yield magenta supply for the Dell Color Laser C2660dn and C2665dnf: one compatible cartridge, code 593-BBBS, rated at 4,000 pages for $31.82 — roughly 0.80 cents per rated page. Built for offices that print color daily and would rather change cartridges rarely. Ships from our Illinois, Pennsylvania, Georgia or California warehouse, backed by a 1-year warranty and 1-year free returns.