Laser Printers or Inkjet Printers? A Buyers Guide

Should you buy an inkjet or a laser printer? Often people buying a new printer are confused about whether to buy a laser printer or inkjet printer. The short answer is it depends on what you’ll be using it for, and how much you’ll be using it. Inkjet printers have a lower initial purchase cost but cost more to run because the ink is more expensive when measured on a per page basis. Laser printers cost more but their running costs are lower and they have a better print quality because in general they have a higher resolution (expressed in dots per inch - dpi). If you want to print photos at home however, you are best to choose a photo quality inkjet printer. Inkjets are great for home use and for photo printing. Lasers are good for high-volume applications, like offices, or for applications that need high print quality. Inkjet printers transfer tiny droplets of ink directly to the page. A laser printer creates an electrostatic pattern on a drum that attracts ink powder that is subsequently fused onto the paper. This is more complex technology so means a higher price than for an inkjet printer. If you examine the same page printed on both a laser printer and an inkjet, you will be able to see that the characters on the laser printer produced page are sharper. That said however, inkjet printers are getting better all the time in terms of the sharpness of printed characters. Another aspect to consider is how heavily you will be using a printer. Printer manufacturers express the durability of a printer in terms of duty cycle in pages per month. For example, a typical laser printer will be capable of a duty cycle up to 7,000 pages a month while a typical entry level inkjet printer is capable of up to 500 pages per month. Some of the more recent inkjets provide excellent color clarity and brightness, and are very well suited for printing photographs. While inkjet printers themselves are cheaper, their ink is more expensive per page printed. Ink cartridges need to be replaced fairly often if you print a lot, especially if you’re printing pictures or photos. The manufacturer’s stated pages per cartridge measurements are very much dependent on what you printing. They are based on only a small percentage of the page actually being covered in ink. Toner cartridges for laser printers have a higher unit price than inkjet cartridges, but have a higher capacity so that the cost per page is lower for lasers.

Which computer printer technology would you go for?

A computer printer is a device that produces human readable text or graphics in electronic form. The following printer technologies are found in modern printers • Toner based printers: Toner based printers are very similar to photocopiers. They refer to the method used to adhere to the media. They are known for high quality prints, high print speed and low cost per copy. The most common example of toner based printers is laser printers. Their cost effective benefit has made them dominant for home and office applications. Another fine example of toner based printer would be LED printer which uses an array of LED’s instead of a laser to cause toner adhesion. • Inkjet Printers: Inkjet printers are cheaper than laser printers but they are expensive to run as their cartridges need to be frequently replaced. Inkjet printers are widely used at homes and by small business users. They have an excellent all round printing capabilities from black and white to color prints. Inkjet printers ensure high resolution photo prints offering high quality photographs. Inkjet printers are comparatively much slower than laser printers. Another disadvantage of inkjet printer is that the pages take a long time to dry before they can be actually handled. • Impact Printers: Impact printers rely on a forcible ink to transfer ink to the media. They are similar to typewriters and have a limited capacity for reproducing text. A daisy wheel printer is a specific type of printer where the type is molded around the edge of a wheel. Impact printers are basically of two types’ letter quality printers and dot matrix printers. • Line Printers: Line printers print an entire line of text at a time. These printers were the fastest in impact printers and were used for bulk printing in large computer centers. They were never used with personal computers due to their operating system. They have now been replaced by high speed laser printers.

Computer Printers - Cut Your Costs

When you buy a new computer it almost always comes with a free printer. The free printer is almost always an inkjet model. The printer manufacturer gives these to the computer manufacturer for a knock down price as a loss leader. What most people never consider is the cost of replacing the inkjet cartridges in a few weeks time, and on a monthly basis after that.

The actual laser printer has now fallen to a price where it is comparable to an inkjet printer, even for home use. Many families have 2 printers, an inkjet, for color work, and a laser as the default printer.

Even if you have to pay for a laser printer its running costs will work out a lot less than the free inkjet. Once people take the cost of ink into account a monotone laser printer is only about a third the annual costs of an inkjet. The best thing you can do is to set up your laser printer and the free inkjet. Make sure the laser machine is set as the default printer. Unplug the inkjet to prevent it being used unnecessarily.

What about refilling the inkjet cartridges? Forget it, the quality of the refilled is just unacceptable.

Remanufactured laser cartridges are worth considering, especially for every day and internal use like as an Internet printer. Laser toner cartridges are highly engineered for precision use. Yet many people just throw them away, rather than sending them away for re-use. Re-use is always less costly to our environment than recycling. Re-use involves replacing worn parts and refilling the cartridge with toner powder. Recycling involves, breaking up the cartridge and melting the various plastics down separately.

There are many companies offering this service and once you find one that provides quality remanufactured cartridges for your model of printer, you would be well advised to stick with that company. You can always find cheap, allegedly remanufactured laser cartridges, but these are just refilled and often have none of the worn components replaced.

Insist on a "money back if not satisfied" guarantee.