Laser printers have long been considered a staple of the workplace, but due to the high cost, large size and lack of color printing options, they haven't been a terribly popular choice for the home user. But those days are growing shorter as laser printer manufacturers release printers more suitable for the home, not only in initial cost, but in size and color printing ability as well. So for those still not convinced there's an alternative to inkjet, we present:
Top 10 Reasons To Go Laser
1. Breaking through the initial cost barrier
Laser printer costs are going down every year, to the point where the difference in comparable products is now less than $100 in many cases. "But inkjet prices are going down too!" you say. Sure they are, but as the difference in initial costs grows more neglible, the next area to look is...
2. Replacement ink/toner, and cost per print
So the printer was cheap, as many inkjet printers are these days. But how much will it cost to fill it? Inkjet cartridges aren't cheap, and color cartridges tend to yield anywhere from 100-450 pages depending on usage (going long times between printing can lower that yield significantly). Granted, black ink tends to go a little farther -- the HP 45 Inkjet Cartridge, for example, claims to print 830 pages, but that still doesn't hold a candle to the 2000-page yield of the HP 12A LaserJet Toner Cartridge. Sure, the toner cartridge costs twice as much, but prints more than twice the pages, requires fewer changes, and creates less waste. Color laser cartridges cost more than black, but with 15,000 pages able to be printed from a single color cartridge, the value is still pretty clear.
3. Higher print speed
Pages are printed much faster on a laser printer than on an inkjet, which is especially helpful in a networked situation where more than one person is using the same printer, or in cases where you're just plain tired of waiting on the printer.
4. Less bleeding and no drying time
Inkjet printers are improving in print quality all the time, but there's still the inescapable fact that an inkjet functions by squirting wet ink onto a page, requiring at least some amount of drying time. In contrast, a laser printer uses heated rollers to fuse a powder to the paper, meaning there's nothing wet to bleed or smear.
5. More add-on options
It's more common to find accessories for laser printers, such as hard drives, optional sheet feeders and paper trays. And on the same note, because of the low initial price of inkjet printers, parts are often difficult to find for many inkjet models, making it necessary to replace the entire printer should something break.
6. Flexibility with print quality
Most inkjets don't have settings that allow you to set the print quality, which means no way to limit the amount of ink used. And considering what we said earlier about the cost of inkjet ink, that can make for a pretty expensive grocery shopping list.
7. More precise and efficient printing
A laser beam is more precise than an inkjet, making it easier to get those high-precision, high-resolution text and black line graphic prints. And not relying on drops of liquid ink (which can bleed, smear, or evaporate) means less ink wasted!
8. Quieter operation
Most laser printers are quieter than inkjets. That, combined with their higher printing speed, can keep them from being an annoyance, especially when printing often or around other people.
9. Longer lasting cartridges
When inkjet cartridges aren't used for a while, they can sometimes dry out, leaving you without ink when you need it, or forcing you to print several copies of the page before you get enough ink flowing to be legible. Laser toner, since it's actually in powder form rather than liquid, won't dry out the same way, again causing less waste.
10. Then last, and certainly also least...
No matter how you say it, the words "frickin' inkjets" don't sound nearly as evil as the words "frickin' lasers."
The author, Amy Sage, is employed by MyInkPro.com.
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