Laser or Inkjet? which is economical in term of ink?

Question

I see in the market that laser printers' cost get cheaper and closer to the inkjets. I think about buying a laser printer but I want to now if it is a cost effective in terms of cartridge and ink price.
Did anyone used both laser and inkjet to compare the ongoing costs?

Answer 1

Laser is much more economical in terms of amount of pages per dollar that can be printed. However, the toner cartridges generally cost more but last longer and the initial printer cost is higher. I use laser printers almost exclusively now because I have found that I can save several hundred dollar a year by doing so. I print somewhere around 25,000 pages per year and usually use about 10 laser cartridges to do so where as I would use around 30 or so ink cartridges. Laser is much better in terms of cost if you print large amounts, however, if you print small amounts I would defiantly go with ink jet.

I have several Dell 1110 laser printers which you can pick up for $99 and the cartridges last for around 2,000 pages or so. The link below shows Dell's selection of B/W Laser printers. I also have a Samsung laser printer. I get about 3,000 pages per $70 cartridge with it.

Good luck in making your decision.

P.S. Ink Jet printers are headed the way of Dot Matrix printers due to the reduction in the price of Laser Printers. The only Ink Jet printers that will be around in 10 years will be for photo printing.

P.P.S. Also your ratings that the manufatures give you are on a 5% coverage basis. A page of double spaced 12 point font is close to 5%.

Answer 2

I did, and I'm convinced that it's hard to beat a black and white laser printer. The last one I bought was a Lexmark E120n for about $100 and it even had an ethernet network server interface built right in. You can get remanufactured cartridges for about $45 each and they're no hassle like the injet cartridges can be. Even color lasers are becoming available more cheapley as you know, but I'm sure the cartridges must be expensive, and you can always use your old inkjet for any color printing needs. Another good and inexpensive brand is Samsung.

Answer 3

Laser printers are for extensive office work. If you do tons of printing Laser is more economical. But if it is for pictures, printing out of the home ink jet is better. The drums for the laser printers are between a hundred to two hundred dollars a time plus the laser printers are twice or three times as expensive as ink jet. Check out Canon they have the best in both categories.

Answer 4

Laser printers and toners are more expensive than inkjet printers and cartridges but page by page lasers are more economical. To receive the cost benefit of a laser printer you would need to print hundreds of pages consistently not just 20 or 30 a month.

Answer 5

(Sheesh! I went to look at our records then came back to the keyboard and couldn't find your question for awhile!) For us, inkjet. My spouse is a photographer. Lots of intense color prints (photo cartridge often, so back and forth...). We use the store-brand instead of the manufacturer brand of cartridge, and have learned to wait for sales and *not* take the printer's word for it on gripes of "low on ink". Either way, laser or inkjet, they surely are expensive, though, groan...I guess "cost per" depends on what you're printing.

Answer 6

laser