Laser Printers vs Inkjet Printers

by Karl Smith

Like with many other things in the world of printing, laser printers have come a long way in the past few years. They have gone from being found almost exclusively in offices to being offered at $100 for a home user. When the printer manufacturers began marketing their laser printers to home users, people usually thought it was a pretty strange idea. The idea of laser printers they had was of big clunky machines in their offices where the toner cartridges cost a fortune. However, what home users didn't realize was that they could rid themselves of the hassle of repeatedly buying ink cartridges while saving money at the same time. Once you get past the initial sticker shock of buying laser cartridges, you will realize the numbers for an entry level laser printer versus an inkjet printer look something like this:Typical toner cartridge - $50-$60Page yield - 2,000-3,000 pagesAverage cost per page - 2-2.5 cents per pageTypical inkjet cartridge - $20-$30Page yield - 400-500 pagesAverage cost per page - 4-6 cents per pageAlthough these are just averages and may not seem all that different, in general if you are printing documents, it will probably cost you twice as much to run an inkjet printer than a laser printer. It is better to think of things in the long term when it comes to laser printers, because only then will you truly appreciate their value. If you buy a laser printer and then a backup toner cartridge at the same time, by the time you will have finished that second cartridge, you would have gone through roughly 10 inkjet cartridges.Laser printers also offer the benefit of speed. Although inkjet printers have improved their speeds in recent years, they still cannot match that of laser printers. You may not notice much of a difference if you print a one page document in draft mode on your inkjet printer and then that same page on your laser printer. Once again, you have to look at the big picture to see the benefits of a laser printer, because only when you start printing out projects with a large number of pages will you appreciate the speed and quality that a laser printer gives you.One more benefit of laser printers is their longevity. Most of them last much longer than their inkjet counterparts, as they are built for durability and don't have the delicate workings found in inkjets. These days you can probably still find many “ancient” HP LaserJets from 5-10 years ago still in operation, while the same probably cannot be said for inkjet and photo printers from the same era.So if you aren't into printing color, then you are probably better off going with a laser printer over a standard inkjet printer. You will appreciate the speed and low maintenance of a laser printer, while also saving money on printer ink in the long run.

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