The Best Laser Printer For Business Use

by Allison Wilson on November 8th, 2009

You can usually find two kinds of printers on store shelves.

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. In this article you’ll learn how to choose the best laser printer 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 drag 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. Choosing the best laser printer really depends on what you will be printing with it.

Laser printers can print over eight thousand pages with a single toner cartridge, whereas inkjet can only print out 170 pages on a single cartridge. With these facts lined up, it’s obvious which is best in an office environment. If you are printing 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 replaceable cost more: an inkjet cartridge costs $35 while a toner cartridge costs $115. This brings up the topic of why exactly a black and white 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. To be able to print over 8,000 pages with an inkjet you would need 47 refill cartridges for a total of $1,647.00.

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 amazing output 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.

Whether for home or business, there are a lot of printer choices out there. Determine which is the best laser printer for your usage.

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