Laserjet vs inkjet?

[OM]

I know this must have been asked a million times, but can someone
advise me of: laserjet vs inkjet?

Our usage is relatively small, but is it still worth us going for
laserjet for less than £100?

Some of the Samsung models sell for less than £50!
(With the damn ink cartidges then costing a further £45+ each time.)
: (

Are laserjets more cheaper to print on in the long run?

And how much can I save by getting a laserjet refill instead of the
real thing?
Is the quality the same in this case?
Are compatibles as widely available as the inkjets?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks.


OM

 

[MJP]

I know this must have been asked a million times, but can someone
advise me of: laserjet vs inkjet?

Our usage is relatively small, but is it still worth us going for
laserjet for less than £100?

Some of the Samsung models sell for less than £50!
(With the damn ink cartidges then costing a further £45+ each time.)
: (

Are laserjets more cheaper to print on in the long run?

And how much can I save by getting a laserjet refill instead of the
real thing?
Is the quality the same in this case?
Are compatibles as widely available as the inkjets?


For arguements sake let us assume that for 5% paper coverage the average
injet cartridge will print 500 pages and the average laser printer 3000
pages. This gives a ratio of 1 to 6.

Genuine toner refills as you say cost around £45 which on a page by page
basis would mean than an equivalent inkjet cartridge should cost £7.50.

A refill for a Samsung ML1210 is about £8.

Draw your own conclusions.

MJP

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Laser printers tend to be cheaper to run and more reliable. They
usually can have more generic toner used, as long as it is the right
type, to save money of consumables without risk of damage. Inkjets can
be more difficult.

Laser printers can sit unused for weeks or months without the toner
being altered or problems with clogging.

Laser printers can produce archival and waterproof text with regular
and cheap bond paper. Their only major problem is the toner can
transfer if the pages are stored in certain plastic sheets or in contact
with vinyl.

If you only need black and white printout, the laser printer will be
quicker, less costly, etc. The print quality for images may not be
quite as good as an inkjet.

Art

 

[OM]

thanks for both the above replies.
a follow on question: how about colour laserjets?
how do they compare cost wise?
i assume that you don't have seperate toners for each colour??
i've seen them as cheap as just over £200.
some of them have printing qualities of upto 2400dpi.

thanks.


om

 

[MJP]

thanks for both the above replies.
a follow on question: how about colour laserjets?
how do they compare cost wise?
i assume that you don't have seperate toners for each colour??
i've seen them as cheap as just over £200.
some of them have printing qualities of upto 2400dpi.

thanks.


om

As they say,never assume anything.All the colour laser printers that I have
used have separate toners for each colour. Typical prices for a single
colour toner for an A4 printer are £80 and for A3 £135.

MJP

 

[OM]

yikes!
y soo much?
surely this makes them less economical than inkjets?
how much do refills cost?

 

[MJP]

yikes!
y soo much?
surely this makes them less economical than inkjets?
how much do refills cost?

FWIW, for mono printing use a laser for speed and economy, for colour use an
inkjet.

Colour toner refills, i.e. bottled toner approx. £30-40 per colour.


MJP

 

[John Doe]

If you only need black and white printout, the laser printer will be
quicker, less costly, etc.

A laser may or may not be quicker. For infrequent printing
of a few pages an inkjet could generally be faster since there's
no need to wait for a warmup. And some of the cheapest
lasers aren't particularly fast either.

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Most inkjet printers, while not requiring a warm up, often have a start
up sequence to clean the heads which not only uses up ink, but also
takes some time.

Most monochrome laser printers will be faster with output than the same
document printed on an inkjet printer. And for multiple copies of the
same document this will almost definitely be so.

Art

 

[zakezuke]

When talking laser, color or otherwise, keep in mind that their yield
is measured in thousands of pages, rather than hundreds of pages. For
example looking at a modest price color laser picked at random (except
the Konica I know better) HP 2550L Color LaserJet Printer. The black
claims a yield of 5000 pages, each of the three colors claim a yield
of 4000. The cost of the cartridges will run you $100 each easily at a
local shop. The yield estimate is usually something like 10% of the
page or something small. Let's say you used all the colors to print on
each page. That would be about 10 cents a page and you might have a
few pages of black left over. The cost per page would go down if you
refilled the toner your self or buy refurbished cartridges. This
doesn't include the cost of the drum or other consumables such as
paper, just raw toner.

A referbished cart might cost you as little as $300/set lowering your
cost to 7.5cents/page for just the toner. Even lower if you find a
solution that takes raw toner.


Let's look at the Canon ip3000, a very modest printer and cheap to
operate, what I wish I bought. Last time I checked the official ink
was equivalent to $3500/gal. Official ink runs about $14 each with an
estimated yield of of 500pages on the black, 280p on the color. About
$56 for the set +/- a bit. Again let's assume they are talking yields
with 10% page used with ink. This is 20cents a page assuming you used
all your colors and had a bit of black left over. To print the same
mount as the color laser on the inkjet it would require $800 rather
than $400 and this is among one of the lower cost/page units on the
market. Again costs would go down if you went with refills and such.
This is just the ink alone and not the photopaper required to get good
results. That'll run you another 10/20 cents/sheet easily... so add
another 50% or 100% We're hitting close to a grand on consumables on
only 4000 pages. HP is even higher depending on model, Lexmark is
often higher stilll. $5000 or even $10000/gal isn't unheard of on
inkjets.

Most people don't print that much to notice. Burning a $100 of ink a
year isn't a big deal... and well it isn't really. But if you using
much more than that it's time to consider at least a B&W laser or color
one if you need it. .

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Although your basic premise is correct, there are some corrections
required in your descriptions.

Most printers are rated by using a 5% coverage per color, both laser and
inkjet. 5% coverage of a color is a very small amount, but, as long as
it is consistent with both types, the model holds.

You have to be very careful about cartridge yield with color toner
cartridges from laser printers. Many today do not provide full
cartridges sets when you buy the printer, such that a starter cartridge
might have only 1500 copies at 5% coverage, which can then be replaced
by a cartridge that may allow for 4000 or even 7500 copies at 5% upon
refill or a new cartridges. Lately, due to rising consumer frustration
and litigation, color laser manufacturers have renamed their cartridges.
They now call the starter cartridges "standard" size, and the more
full versions, "high yield". They offer both as replacements, so that
way no one can complain they are providing a partially full cartridge
with the original printer. However, ironically, the way they protect
themselves from actually selling many of the "standard" cartridges is by
pricing them so that they are poor value compared to the "high yield"
versions, so people will go for the high yield on replacement.

I was recently looking at some older computer magazines (circa 1993) and
the prices on color printers was about 5-10 times higher for the
printers as they are today. For instance, the HP 1200C inkjet printer
sold for $1500 US.

The whole model for sales has altered now. Consumables pay for the real
costs, the printers are basically free.

Art

 

[zakezuke]

Most printers are rated by using a 5% coverage per color,

I stand corrected... they are never clear on this issue nor are they
clear on quality. And I do forget that some of these printers come
with sub standard toner sizes.

 

[Burt]

for infrequent printing an inkjet runs the risk of the ink drying in the
head and causing clogging. If black text is what you wish to print and use
is infrequent a laser printer is the way to go. My daughter bought a
Brother on sale last month for bout $100 US.

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Obviously, that depends on the printer, the climate, the ink and what is
meant by infrequent. A page every second day or even less often, may be
more than adequate to keep an inkjet printer running, but I would agree
that start up inkjet functions an waste a fair amount of ink.

Art