I’m going to try and keep this post simple. Pointing out some of the pro’s and cons of inkjet printers vs laser printers.
Laser printers are coming down in price. So for the first time there is a decision to make – laser or inkjet.
First thing: What type of things are you going to be printing?
If you need to print photos, documents with high intensive coloured graphics, then an inkjet printer will probably handle these jobs better.
The SP100e available in the shop
If you need to print high volumes of documents with sharp black content, a laser printer is the way forward.
If you need to print a mixture of both photos and documents, and don’t have the space for two printers – inkjet printers are better.
So – The Pros & Cons
Inket Printer Pros
• Great for photos
• Usually have additional features such as scanners
• Smaller more light weight design
• Can print to many types of glossy paper
Inket Printer Cons
• Very expensive to run
• Require head cleaning
• Slow & Noisy
Laser Printer Pros
• Cheaper to run (although replacing the toner can appear expensive – the difference in cost price per page can be massive)
• Faster / quieter
• Designed to run off high volume of print jobs in a fraction of time with a fraction of the cost.
Laser Printers Cons
• Can’t handle some paper types such as glossy or parchment.
• Not as good with smooth colouring
How they work in 1 sentence: Inket printers spray dots of ink onto the paper as opposed to laser printers that use a laser beam scanning photoreceptors across the page.
Here’s an approx example of difference in running costs.
To print 1200 pages using black ink only:
Inkjet printer £85 (based on 6x HP 300 black cartridges)
Laser printer £45 (based on 1x SP100e toner)
Hopefully this answers a few questions if you are thinking about switching to laser.
For business or homework document printing – laser printers.
For home photo printing with occasional documents – inkjet.