Best Laser Printers To Use In The Office

By Jack Twill

When it comes to computer printing needs in the home or office, there are generally two types of machine available on the market.

The most predominant on the market is the inkjet printer. These printers are more common in the home and use liquid ink along with small hoses that spray that ink onto the paper, which then creates the image or text on the paper. This type can be more expensive to maintain and printing will cost you more overall than the alternative, the laser printer. Here you will learn which type of printer is best for your needs.

Strangely enough, the technology used in laser printers is older than that used in inkjets. In many ways, a laser printer works almost like a copy machine in that it uses a toner cartridge full of black powder, and electrically charged rollers pull the oppositely-charged powder particles to the paper. Then a heat roller fuses, or melts the toner in place so it cannot smudge or be removed. All in all, the best laser printer for you will depend on what you will end up printing with it.

With laser printers able to print over 8,000 pages on a single toner, versus an inkjet printing 170 pages with a black ink cartridge. You can see that the best laser printer is the one that's going to end up in your office. If you are running reports, printing school work or literature, then this is the best laser printer for you. The downside is that a laser printer can cost $400, and you can grab an inkjet for $50. Even the ink cartridges cost more: an inkjet cartridge costs $35 while a toner cartridge costs $115. This brings up the topic of why exactly a monochrome laser printer would be better than a color inkjet.

Monochrome laser printer basics: PRICE: $150, TONER CARTRIDGE: $115, TOTAL COST: $265, PAGES THAT CAN BE PRINTED: 8,000

Inkjet, full color printer basics: PRICE: $50, COLOR AND BLACK INK: $35, TOTAL COST: $85PAGES THAT CAN BE PRINTED: 170

The big production different makes it obvious why so many large companies choose to use monochrome laser models for large printing jobs, and use a couple color inkjets for their smaller color printing tasks. The cost of printing 8,000 pages with a color inkjet printer would cost over $1,600 and take over 47 ink cartridges.

It is possible to find color laser printers, but they are harder to find and can cost quite a bit more than their monochrome counterparts. They require four toners, and each one together can be as expensive as a monochrome toner. And because there is less black toner in a four-color setup, you won't get the same amount of print outs as a monochrome laser. For the time being, color models have some more progress to go through before they are as useful as their monochrome alternatives. So while monochrome models are the best laser printers, color models are not quite there yet. - 30529

About the Author:

Sign Up for our Free Newsletter

Enter email address here