Which is better laserjet or inkjet

As such, the cost per printed page is extremely high and you will end up having to replace cartridges frequently. However, when you break down the cost per page for each of these printers and compatible cartridges, this is where the pricing and savings become interesting. As explained, laser toner cartridges deliver significantly higher page yields than ink cartridges and last much longer. Where most ink cartridges will print between - pages, laser toners can print anywhere up to 10, pages each refill or replacement.

So, what first looked like a huge win for inkjet and it's replacement ink cartridges, the story starts to look at little different. That said, pixel-perfect photography printing is priceless. If seeing some real-world figures of ink cartridge replacements is throwing you, there is an alternative.

Should you want quality photo-printing, without the associated replacement ink costs, the good news is that manufacturers have alternatives to buying ink cartridges.

Introducing, ink tanks. Both Brother and Epson have reimagined replacement cartridges by creating a series of printers that can hold bigger volumes of ink. This means that you will not need to replace your ink cartridges very often at all. Ink tanks make use of a continuous ink supply system whereby you simply refill your tank with ink, rather than purchasing and installing a cartridge.

We have a complete article that compares ink tanks vs ink cartridges and you should check this out if you are heading in this direction. Additionally, if you are already sold on the idea of continuous ink, you should check out our article on the best ink tank printers available right here at CartridgesDirect. When it comes to differences in security between inkjet and laser printers, laser printers will typically come with greater support. Given that laser printers were built with the office in mind, the security detail is often impeccable.

With manufacturers, such as HP, leading the charge in secure printing , should security be on top of your bucket list, the laser printer will be the way to go. As for durability, laser printers are renowned to be more durable and will print large quantities of monochrome and coloured documents frequently.

This makes them a better choice for office environments where absolute pixel perfection is not a priority. To compound this, laser printers also have an average of 5 years of usage before they start to go a little funky. This is an additional two years when compared with what you can expect from an inkjet printer.

Phew, now that's a lot of information and congratulations if you reached this part of our comparison guide. When it comes to deciding whether you should buy an inkjet or laser printer, understanding how often, why and what you choose to use your print will massively help with your decision. To make the right decision, we ask our customers the following questions:.

Once you have the answers to these questions, choosing between inkjet and laser printers becomes a whole lot easier. If you are going to print frequently, laser printers will save you money over time. However, if you are going to be printing high-quality photos then you might want to consider the better quality of an inkjet printer for this specific purpose.

If you are still unsure about how to decide between an inkjet or laser printer, we have put together a list of common use cases for both of these printing devices. Take a look at our shortlist below:. Although primarily built for office use, the laser printer has become a great home alternative for busy households as a more economical choice. If you have children at school who will be using the printer a lot, then a laser printer may be the better option for you too.

One final question that we commonly receive is 'should I get a colour laser printer or an inkjet printer? If you require gallery-quality photos for an album or wall art, you should purchase a photo inkjet printer. However, if the quality is not an absolutely necessity and medium quality coloured prints will suffice, we recommend colour laser printers over inkjet printers for two reasons:.

Now that you have learned all there is to know about inkjet printers vs laser printers, let us summarise with a list of pros and cons. Remember to take into serious consideration both your current and future use before making a decision. In summary, deciding on whether you purchase a laser printer or inkjet printer really comes down to your usage. Inkjet printers are best suited for image-heavy documents that are small in size.

Whereas, heavy volume text-based documents are best suited for laser printers. Either way, with the right guidance from an experienced printer professional, you are bound to make the right choice. The good news is that printer technology is always improving and the gap between laser and inkjet printers closes every year. As such, should you be purchasing a fairly new model of printer, there will not be too many stark differences for disappointment.

If you have any questions, don't forget to hit us up in the comments or speak to us via live chat. Our team of printing experts would be more than happy to answer any questions you have regarding inkjet printers or laser printers. We hope you enjoyed our power guide. I have being using ink jet printers for years and quite happy. My problem is they dry up very quickly even if I don't use it for just one week!!!!

To start up again, I have to go to maintenance and clean up the head. When I do that, I waste the ink to do that. If I don't use the printer regularly , I can't even print 20 pages after cleaning the head and running out of ink!! The printer was cheaper to buy but I keep spending so much money replacing the cartridges because of regular head cleaning!!! Will I have that problem with Laser printers. This is the only concern I have because I do not use the printer that often.

May be 2 or 3 times a month. Thank you. Do you think that inkjet printers will ever match the speed of laserjet as technology improves? Wow, what an incredibly informative article. Thank you very much for putting this together. I do have one question though. If I was printing an average of documents a month, would there be any cost benefits of purchasing an ink tank printer? At the moment, it's looking like a laser printer is the way forward, but I want to save as much as possible.

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Inkjet vs laser printers summary: In short, the greatest difference between inkjet and laser printers is that laser printers use toner cartridges and inkjet printers use ink cartridges. What is an inkjet printer? Are OfficeJet printers inkjet? What is a laser printer? Print quality comparison. Print quality is subjective. After all, what determines a good quality print?

Monochrome Laser Printing Quality: Superb for black and white text documents. If you only want to print black, then yes, a laser is an affordable choice. But not if you want to do colour printing. Ink Printers can now print up to pages a minute and go 50, pages before needing more ink!

Ink is giving Laser a good run for the money. In their defence it costs a lot to design, manufacture and distribute a printer, they do need to get their investment back, somehow. Well, if you have no special printing needs, the best way is to look at the midrange printers. That is where you most often get the best economies of scale. You usually get lots of features with cartridges that are well priced and have plenty of ink in them. Beware printers with either a combination cartridge like a 3 in 1 type or a printer that has more than 5 individual cartridges.

If all that is too much for you, then drop into your nearby store and one of our staff members can explain it to you quite easily. We understand that you may have time constraints and monitoring printer service is something you may wish to outsource. We call it our 'Why Buy A Printer? Here is a list of top printers for home office set-up. They are affordable, compact and deliver high performance Nav Menu. Find a store. Call CW Branded Cartridges. The technology is slightly less complex, and therefore less costly to manufacture.

Besides this, most manufacturers sell inkjet printers at a loss, knowing that they can make up the difference in ink sales down the road. Sometimes it's cheaper to buy a new printer than to buy a full set of new ink cartridges!

The specific qualities of liquid ink and toner powder also affect how well-suited they are for certain types of printing. Inkjets, with their dye- and pigment-based inks, do especially well at handling color, particularly for images and photos, which are more likely to involve subtle shades of color.

The nature of liquid ink means that those mixtures are easier to reproduce on an inkjet rather than on a laser printer. Laser printers are not always built to handle photo printing, relying instead on halftone dots to create certain colors on documents. Even those laser printers that can handle the higher-quality color for photo printing require specialized laser-printer-ready photo paper to do it, making it much less convenient than using standard photo paper on an inkjet.

However, laser printers tend to be better suited to printing text, offering crisp, clear letter forms that can't be matched by most inkjets.

Inkjet printing will often bleed slightly, and while print is legible, the individual letters won't be as sharp in their detail when examined closely. Ink also has a tendency to smear, and since inkjet prints continue drying after printing, the possibility of smudged documents is a problem that inkjet users need to anticipate. Since laser printers use a heat-transfer method, the print is set and smudge-proof the moment it comes out of the printer.

Takeaway: Laser printers are better for text documents, especially at high volumes, but inkjets have an edge when it comes to printing photos. Another major difference is the cost of ink and toner. Liquid printer ink has been identified as one of the most expensive liquids on the planet, and is a highly engineered product. Designed to provide precise flow rates, to mix and bleed with predictable consistency and to dry within moments, all while providing colors that look just right — there's a lot involved in printer ink.

Because it provides a high-margin product that printer owners will have to buy again and again only encourages printer companies to keep you coming back for more.

Inkjet printers vary in the cost-per-page, but tend to fall within the same general range. Black-and-white text will usually run at cents per page, and color printing will run between 15 and 25 cents per page. A new trend in inkjet printing takes aim at ink costs by replacing expensive plastic cartridges with refillable tanks and inexpensive bottles of ink.

The result is dropping printing costs down to less than a cent per page, as seen with the Canon Pixma G MegaTank winner of our Tom's Guide Award for working from home.

It may cost a little more to buy than most inexpensive inkjets, but at just 0. Toner, on the other hand, tends to be less expensive on a per-page basis for laser printers. Though no less carefully made, the fact that toner comes in powder form makes it a much simpler substance to ship, store and use. While individual toner cartridges are more expensive than ink cartridges, they print hundreds of pages, far exceeding the print yields offered on inkjet printers.

As a result, plain-text printing costs dip below the 5-cent per-page mark, and color printing sits right around 15 cents. Jump to a high-capacity cartridge, and that cost drops to 2. Toner also stores better over the long term.