The debate over laser versus inkjet printers is one that is not easily resolved. The two methods differ in terms of initial costs, lifetime costs, and print quality. Your usage requirements will typically determine which type is more likely to be the most cost-effective for your particular needs.

Differences in Laser versus Inkjet Printers

Inkjet printers have a much lower initial start-up cost. The machine itself may cost hundreds of dollars less than a laser printer and each individual ink cartridge costs less than a new toner cartridge, think $20-$30 per ink cartridge as opposed to about $50-$100 or more for a toner cartridge. This often leads the average consumer to believe that an inkjet printer is a more economical choice.

This may be true if you very seldom use a printer and only for small printing jobs. However, a typical ink cartridge only produces from around 170 to 300 pages. A laser toner cartridge produces 3000 to 5000 pages before a replacement is needed. Comparing laser versus inkjet printers, laser printers are capable of handling larger jobs, producing a better quality output, and producing faster results.

Laser versus Inkjet for Personal Use

As stated above, inkjet printers themselves cost less than their laser counterparts and replacement ink cartridges are not very expensive. An inkjet printer may be the most economically sound for use at home or even for personal use in an office if your printing needs are of a very small frequency and quantity. If you tend to print or copy material on a daily basis, use a lot of colored ink, or sometimes have to perform fairly large or elaborate printing jobs, a laser printer may pay for itself in all those bypassed frequent ink cartridge replacements over time.

Laser versus Inkjet for Small Business Use

For business purposes, when printing, copying, scanning, and faxing are likely to be a larger part of day-to-day operations, the higher start-up cost of laser versus inkjet equipment will probably prove to be worth it in the long run. Let us say your company prints an average of 30 pages per day. That comes to a total of 7,800 pages per year. At $20 per ink cartridge, your company will spend $520 a year on ink. For the same printing needs, you would spend less than $200 on toner for the year.

Before making a final decision, consider the overall nature and capacity of what will be expected of the machine. With that information in mind, you can then make a well-informed decision regarding whether laser versus inkjet will better suit your needs.