Laser or inkjet, what to choose for yourself?

This question is also asked by the heads of small offices when they choose office equipment for printing documents. Today, manufacturers are so saturated with the market for printing devices that it is very difficult to decide which is better for printing documents - an inkjet or laser printer, for this you first need to study all the advantages and disadvantages of different models.

Many users do not know the differences between these products. To quickly deal with all the ambiguities, we suggest that you carefully read this article, where you will find answers to numerous questions.

How a laser printer differs from an inkjet counterpart

Before choosing a device for printing documents, you need to understand their principle of operation:

1. The laser device is based on the transfer of contents from cartridges to a sheet of paper. First, the magnetized shaft applies toner to the main drum, and then the pattern is transferred to paper, where it sticks firmly to the surface when exposed to instant heating in a special device. The whole process is pretty fast.
2. Inkjet counterparts work on special inks, which get to the right place through capillary nozzles, creating text or a complex image. Print speed is noticeably lower, but the quality is much higher.

When comparing, it is necessary to take into account all indicators, and not just the positive and negative qualities inherent in each type. For example, the laser version is characterized by such advantages:

• simple use;
• fairly high print speed;
• double-sided printing is possible;
• long exploitation;
• low cost of printing.

His opponent has its advantages:

• fairly low sound impact on others;
• high quality printing in color;
• low power consumption;
• budget price of the product.

As a result: the choice of the device remains purely individual, because for the office you need a quick and inexpensive option to maintain, such as a laser, and in the home environment inkjet, and even with CISS will be much higher priority.

Features, pros and cons of each

On a laser device, the drum surface is charged with a plus sign, and the coloring powder wakes up from the cartridge during rotation, focuses on the plus points - as a result, the desired pattern is created. Then, a quick specific processing fixes it on paper.

Benefits:

• low cost of a printed page;
• high speed drawing;
• You can print voluminous text materials;
• not afraid of increased loads;
• no need to frequently refill cartridges;
• prints are resistant to moisture;
• prints on any paper without loss of quality.

Negative qualities:

• very high cost;
• high energy consumption;
• Do not refill cartridges at home;
• the toner is very unhealthy, it is necessary to ventilate the room after printing.

Instead of needles, like the matrix type of printers, an inkjet analogue uses a head with paint, and the image is created using a set of dots.

Advantages:

• low price compared to the laser option;
• low consumption of electric energy - more than 10 times;
• all models are equipped with a card reader that allows printing directly from the camera without a PC, and some models can receive images via Wi-Fi;
• excellent quality color printing;
• supports various digital media;
• ink is not harmful to health;
• wide range of models;
• compact sizes.

Minuses:

• high cost of printing each page;
• frequent replacement of cartridges with heavy use;
• often use the device, otherwise the ink will dry out;
• quite high sensitivity to print settings and the quality of paper used;
• slow speed;
• If moisture gets in, the printed material will be damaged.

Based on the data presented, each user decides which office equipment to buy for his needs.

Which is more effective for black and white printing

Printers come in various modifications, so choosing the best option for your home is a rather complicated matter, it’s even more difficult to buy such a device for the office, where quality, speed, and most importantly, the clarity of the print play a paramount role. Requirements for office equipment are improved and increased every year.

Experts say that laser counterparts have a fairly high resolution, unique contrast and high brightness. To verify these judgments, you need to print a document that has different fonts in the text, for example, the main 12, and a small one of sixth size. The inkjet version will merge the small text together, and the laser, which relates to electrographic technologies, will print the entire text clearly, retaining all the smallest details.

Laser printing technology is based on xerography technology, which was founded in the late 30s of the last century. The main emphasis was placed on the individual properties of the photosensitive material. We will not go into technical nuances, because there are too many specific terms that will not be understood by all readers.

The laser provides ultra-fast movement of the carriage, and the text as a result is of high accuracy and a fairly large resolution, so you can print simultaneously on the page graphics and small explanatory text. An individual PostScript programming language is specially designed for laser devices.

The language for describing pages (Postscript) is recognized by Windows and Linux operating systems, but the American company Hewlett-Packard (HP) has created its own development of a language for managing PCL printers, which provides more options for printing unique texts. Therefore, devices from HP are distinguished by the best quality and reliability among a galaxy of laser products.

Color printing - what products are needed for it

Here, inkjet printers with CISS are undoubtedly leading, laser analogues in price and photo printing are far behind. If you are looking for a printer to print color photographs, simple text so that the price is not high, then you should choose the inkjet option, because it has no equal in color reproduction.

To really save on very expensive ink, install a CISS, after that you can safely print any documents and color photos. For working with text documents at home, the MFP Epson XP-420 is suitable, and the multifunctional model XP-620 is ideal for printing photos.

For office work, the MFP Epson WorkForce WF-7610 or WF-7110 with a maximum print format of A3 + is suitable. Professional photographers need the Epson 1500W, Stylus Photo R2000, or R3000.

Which is the best MFP - color or laser

Specialists in this complex field of activity give such recommendations:

1. If you have a small office, then you need to purchase the Ricoh SP 3600SF model, it also scans documents quite well.
2. The Ricoh MP 305 + SP does a slightly worse job at digitizing documents, it is a fairly advanced laser, but it cannot print color copies.
3. If you need a laser unit for black-and-white printing at home, then Brother DCP-L2520DWR is what schoolchildren, students, and also working on the Internet remotely need.
4. To place a color product of the MFP class in a large office, you need the OKI MC853dn model - it uses LED-type printing.
5. The OKI MC342dnw color printer with Wi-Fi text reception system will be suitable for installation in a small office.
6. The HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M177fw is suitable for home and small office work, but it is not recommended to load it heavily.

Each leader or user makes his own decision, but we only propose to consider the best models for different uses.

How to make a choice

The basic selection criteria are the same, no matter what type of printer you prefer:

1. Choose a brand that has been tested over the years of operation, and which has long established itself in the international market only on the positive side.
2. Carefully read the warranties from the manufacturer, and also find your city in the list of service centers so as not to travel far away in case of equipment failure during the warranty period.
3. Find out the cost of spare parts and consumables so that it is not burdensome for your financial capabilities.
4. Manufacturers on the packaging indicate the maximum number of prints per month, so when buying it is quite easy to navigate, for example, if you need about 6 thousand pages per month, then buy a device with a maximum of up to 7 thousand to create the necessary supply.
5. Functionality You need to buy a device only with those functions that you will use constantly, so as not to overpay for unnecessary options.
6. Service. There is no need to constantly spend money on refilling cartridges or buying them, buy models where the change can be done independently or immediately install the CISS.

No one will definitely answer the question of which printer is better - laser or inkjet: it depends only on personal preferences and product features.

findings

If you want to choose an excellent printer, first decide what you need to print: if only black and white, feel free to take the laser version, and for color photographs - only an inkjet unit with high print quality.