Inkjet vs Laser

When you’re looking to buy your first printer or even when you need to get a new printer or additional printer you may find yourself wondering “Inkjet or Laser?”.

In trying to sort out inkjet vs laser the question most commonly asked is “Which one is better?” but the correct question should be “Which one is better for me?”.  Let me explain by using a very simple example.

A man walks into a hardware store and asks the tool expert, “Which is better, a Philips head screwdriver or a flat head screwdriver?”.  The tool expert then asks, “What are you going to be using it for?”

That really is the bottom line not only for screwdrivers but for printers too.  The printer  you need to get depends on what you’ll be using it for and what you need it to do and the question of inkjet vs laser can really only be answered by looking at the following areas.

Documents or Photos – Inkjet vs Laserjet

One of the first things to consider is what type of output you will be using the printer for most of the time.
You may need it to print just black and white documents, documents with both text and color images or maybe you’ll be printing photos most of the time.

If you are going to use your printer almost exclusively for text documents you will be better off with a laser printer in most cases, especially if others will be seeing the documents.  The reason for this is that in almost all cases a laser printer will produce sharper text with cleaner edges, especially for smaller fonts.

For text documents with color images, a color laser printer could be the best choice – especially if the documents will be more focused on the text or will be used in presentations.

If you are printing flyers that are more focused on the color  images than the text and won’t be printing in high volume, you would probably be better off getting an inkjet printer but I wouldn’t recommend the lower-end inkjets for this.

When the main purpose of your printer is the printing of photos you will be best served with an inkjet printer.  The color quality for photos is usually much better from an inkjet than a laser and inkjet printers do better with thicker stock paper and glossy photo paper than most laser printers.  If you will be using the printer mostly for home or personal use then a lower-priced inkjet should do.  For more professional presentations of photos you should look at mid-range inkjets at least.

Speed and Quantity – Inkjet vs Laser

The next area that will help you with your choice concerns how fast you need your printer to be and what volume of printing you will be doing.

For a home printer that won’t be used as often and won’t be printing a high quantity of documents or pictures, an inkjet will be an acceptable choice.  Inkjet printers take longer to begin printing and print less pages per minute than laser printers (with the exception of some of the lower-priced models).

In addition to that, inkjet printers normally have less capacity for paper than most laser printers so if you have to printer a large number of pages at one time you will find that it will be easier to have the larger capacity trays which you find in laser printers.

If you need a printer with a faster response time and/or larger capacity paper trays then a laser printer will be your best choice.   When speed is your top issue and you get a laser printer, be cautious about getting a low-price printer as you may not see much difference in speed from some of the inkjet printers.

Size

Typically an inkjet printer has been smaller and so it takes up less space on your desk or work area and a laser printer had a bigger footprint.  This is still true although laser printers are starting to come out in sizes that are smaller than in the past (even though they are still larger than most inkjets).

Ink vs Toner Cartridges

Though ink cartridges are less costly than their toner counterparts, they do not last nearly as long and so are actually more costly overall.    In addition, if ink cartridges are not used for long periods of time there is a risk of them drying up which is not something you risk with toner cartridges.  One possible advantage of ink cartridges is that they can be refilled in many cases and there are inexpensive kits sold which can reduce the cost significantly – but you will need to know what you’re doing or else you can wind up with quite a mess.

Cost – Inkjet vs Laserjet

Sometimes this is the first thing looked at but until you know what would be best to provide what you really need from a printer you should first look at the above factors and then look at price.

That being said, cost can be an important factor to consider so I’m not taking it lightly.

The tricky thing about looking at the cost factor is there are 2 different areas of cost – initial or upfront cost and long-term cost.

The initial cost (when you first purchase the printer) is definitely lower for inkjet printers (although laser printers have down quite a lot in price).  This is definitely attractive because you can get a new printer or 2nd printer for a very reasonable price.

However, over the long-term the story is somewhat different.

Putting It All Together

By this time you should have a pretty good idea which would be better for what you need once you determined which you need and want:

• Printer for documents or photos
• Fast printer
• High monthly print volume or low volume
• Longer lasting toner cartridges or less expensive ink cartridges
• Lower initial cost with higher long-term costs or higher initial cost but lower long-term costs

Now that the issue of inkjet vs laser is (hopefully) settled, you can move on to other issues like whether an all-in-one printer, a wireless printer or portable printer would better suit your needs that a standard inkjet or laser printer.

You’re also welcome to check out the Printer Reviews, Best Selling Printers, Top Rated Printers and Printer Comparison Charts.