Inkjet VS Laser Printer – Which is The Best For You?

Whether for your organization or for your small work area at home, getting a printer that makes the documentation process easier can be a great idea. Despite being a great asset, printer sometimes can cause stress when stops working, just before an important meeting or presentation. However, if you want your printer to work seamlessly, make sure you make the right choice, depending upon your printing requirements as well as features available in the market. When it comes to printers, there are two main categories people usually get confused with; Inkjet and laser printer. While deciding to buy a printer, knowing the major difference between these two can take you halfway there, and you can make a suitable decision for smooth working whether for business or home. Here are the major strengths and weaknesses of laser and inkjet printers to help you purchase the right one. Technical Aspects: Usable for low volume prints, inkjet printer uses ink and is ideal for homeowners, on the other hand, a laser printer works on toner and is good for high volume printing. A laser printer has a drum, storing the cartridge – combining toner powder onto paper with a heat that can reach up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and inkjet printers sprinkle liquid ink by microscopic nozzles on the paper. Purpose of Buying a Printer: If you are looking to buy a printer for a small business/home where there is no need for quick printing or when you need high-quality photo printing, then inkjet printer is the right option. However, if you want black and white documents at a greater speed, then laser printers would be the right answer. Print Quality: As mentioned above, inkjet printers are great in printing colour photographs but not ideal for texts. Due to the liquid ink, the print quality gets affected from ink bleeding while printing text and makes the page look blurry, but laser printers do not suffer from any such problems as they are ideal for black and white text printing with toner, which produces sharper and high-quality text without smudging. Volume & Speed: Laser printers are higher in speed and are designed to print from 15 to 100 pages per minute while on the other hand, inkjet printers are quite slower with almost 2-10 pages per minute, (based on the printing capacity). When it comes to printing volume, it simply means print counts at a given time. Since laser printers are faster, they have a higher monthly print volume. Pros & Cons of Inkjet Printer: PROS: Great for photos and image. A low start-up cost, making it less expensive than laser printers. Inkjet ink cartridges are affordable than toner cartridges. Inkjets can print onto many types of paper and even fabrics. No warm-up needed before the start. Inkjet printers tend to be lighter and easier to maintain. CONS: The ink is water-based, so text prints are blurry. Ink cartridges need frequent cleaning. Inkjet printers are still very slow for regular printing. Inkjet printers sometimes produce grey, foggy text on plain office paper. Pros & Cons of Laser Printer: PROS: Laser printers are faster than inkjet printers. If your print jobs are mostly texts with random graphics, then a laser printer is the right choice. Ideal to manage high-volume print jobs. CONS: They take time to warm-up before starting. Toner is cheaper in the long run but the cost of the printer is more. Toner leaks are a common issue. Not good for photo printing. So, if you are looking for office printers, then stick to buying the latest laser printer for hassle-free printing cost and affordable rates. However, you need to consider all these points before investing your money to purchasing the best printer for your business.