Laser and Inkjet Printers, what are the differences and which one is right for you

If you need to buy a new printer you will surely have come across the different types. Laser, inkjet, multifunction…but which one to choose? How can you understand for sure which machine is right for you? By following this guide you will be able to understand the various differences and choose the right model for your needs whether it is a small printer for home use or a large photocopier for a company.

The first question to ask ourselves is: what use should I make of it? In the technological field it is the first question to ask ourselves when making a purchase and the choice of a new printer is no exception. Understanding the use of a printer is crucial to your choice as it will determine the type of machine you choose. Purchasing the wrong printer or multifunction can lead us to spend a lot on a machine with a thousand functions and high management costs, which for our use will be superfluous or, on the contrary, to find ourselves with a machine with the initial cost and consumables very contained, but which does not fully satisfy our needs. Once we understand the use of our new printer then it will be time to choose the type.

Laser or Inkjet, which to choose?

There is no precise answer to this question as everything depends on the use we want to make of it, which is why we must take into consideration various factors that will determine our choice.
Laser and inkjet printers differ from each other in many aspects, one of the main ones being the operating mechanism which then determines their peculiar characteristics. Let's now try to determine our choice factors according to which we will then be able to best choose our printer.

• Print quality: The main factor to take into consideration is precisely this. Similarly to monitors or TVs, even in the printer sector we talk about resolution, which translates into sharpness of the prints, durability and readability of a printed document, all absolutely fundamental factors.
• Speed: Speed ​​can be a factor when it comes to companies running hundreds and hundreds of copies. A fast printer is certainly a significant help for an efficient office.
• Costs: in addition to the more obvious cost of the machine itself, management costs and copying costs must also be taken into account, especially if we intend to use our new printer in an office or copy shop.
• Size: Although it may not be crucial for some, the size of a printer can be decisive if you have limited space.
• Printing technology: this is certainly the main difference between a laser printer and an inkjet printer which will then determine their operation, maintenance and cost.
• Features: This factor includes all the additional features of a printer or MFP, whether it has automatic duplexing, scanning, fax, network printing, etc.

Print quality

Laser Printers . Printers that use this technology offer constant print quality over time in both black and white and colour, especially when it comes to text, where they give their best with unparalleled sharpness. However, it must be pointed out that the difference is also made by the type and quality of paper, in fact laser printers perform best on plain paper.

Inkjet. Unlike their laser counterparts, Inkjet printers stand out for their excellent color printing quality and especially for images thanks to their high resolution. In this case, using quality photographic paper we will obtain truly amazing results.

Already considering these first differences we immediately notice that understanding our needs is of fundamental importance. If we need to print high resolution images and photographs on high quality media but we do not use the printer on a daily basis then it would be better to choose an Inkjet printer, on the contrary if we need to produce a large quantity of prints mainly containing text and which are above all crisp and clear then we should choose a Laser. However, no one forbids us to mix the two technologies and therefore use them both for different purposes, to have maximum versatility

Speed

A printer's print speed is calculated in pages per minute (ppm), and can be a determining factor in choosing your new machine. Think for example of an office that shares the same photocopier, the faster the latter is, the more productive and rapid the entire office will be and there will be no unpleasant waiting queues.

Laser printers. In this field, laser printers are certainly the masters, when it comes to printing documents of many pages, in fact they are the best choice, just think of some models that can produce 100 pages in less than 2 minutes. The right choice certainly for offices or studios that need a fast machine or for those who make production their job.

Inkjet. Although slower on average, inkjet printers have made great strides over the years in terms of speed, giving their best with color or photographic documents on higher quality paper.

Costs

When purchasing a new printer, the price is certainly the first factor to consider, but we must understand that there are running costs in a printer that should not be overlooked. I refer you to our article which deals extensively with this factor. In fact, the cost of copying is decisive in the choice and depending on our use it could be the reason why we choose one type of printer rather than another or even a model or brand to the detriment of the competition.

Laser printers. While on the one hand the cost of a good laser printer or multifunction printer is more often than not higher than inkjet printers also in terms of consumables, on the other hand it is largely amortized by the high number of prints that can be made. In fact, the copy cost of a laser printer is lower than its inkjet competitor. If our need is to have a machine that will print hundreds of copies a day, laser technology is certainly the optimal choice.

Inkjet. This type of printer has a much lower initial cost than its laser counterpart, just think of some models present in large-scale retail trade which cost a few tens of Euros and the same goes for their consumables. On the other hand, however, the number of copies that can be made with a single cartridge is only a fraction of those we could make with a laser printer. So in the case of inkjet printers the copy cost is certainly higher.

As is very clear, the maintenance cost of a Laser or Inkjet printer is strictly linked to the use we intend to make of it, which is why we must always keep our needs clearly in mind.

Dimensions

For many, the size of a printer could be a determining factor in the choice, in fact we may need to purchase a small Inkjet to place on a desk or we may want to purchase a multifunction that can print the A3 format and has many input drawers . This factor is completely subjective and there are no substantial differences between laser and inkjet since depending on our needs we will have to choose the machine with the right dimensions for our use.

Printing technology

Up to now we have listed various differences between laser printers and inkjet printers, but we have not yet focused on the most important one, namely the technology behind their operation. Let's now see, in an exemplary way, the functioning of the two types of printing and the components necessary for its operation.

Laser printers. In printers that use laser technology there are 4 parts that give life to the print: the photosensitive drum (drum), the laser, the toner and the fuser. Once our file has been sent to print, the machine will proceed to load the sheet of paper into rollers which will make it move. The Drum is now hit by an electrostatic charge, immediately afterwards the laser comes into play and begins to draw our print, eliminating the negative electrostatic charge from the drum. Now it is the turn of the toner, whose powder is magnetically attracted to the electrostatically charged areas and transferred to the sheet of paper, which, passing under the fuser roller, is heated, and it is precisely the heat that will provide for the fusion of the toner on the page (this is why freshly printed sheets are hot! This is broadly the printing process in laser machines.

Inkjet. The inkjet printing process, however, is completely different and uses the electrical force of a membrane to "spray" very small drops of ink onto the sheet. Let's look more specifically now at the procedure that always starts from when we send our file to print. The printer begins by taking the sheet of paper from the drawer, a membrane is made to vibrate using electrical impulses so as to be able to absorb tiny drops of color from our cartridges. The ink is now sprayed by very small nozzles which, together with the heads that pass back and forth over the paper, make up our print.

Now that we have seen the two printing methods, let's try to do the sums and understand the pros and cons of both. While in inkjet printers the entire printing mechanism, i.e. nozzles, membrane and cartridges, can be replaced with limited expense, on the other hand we must keep in mind that if the machine is not used for 1 or 2 months, the ink contained in the system tends to dry out and ruin the entire mechanism, which would require the replacement of parts or specific maintenance interventions. However, all this does not happen in printers with laser technology that use powdered toner, but you should know that parts such as the fuser or the roller suffer from wear and will have to be replaced, even after several tens of thousands of copies.

Functionality

Nowadays we have printers that integrate various functions within them, in fact even in this article you will have read the term "multifunction", whether it is laser or inkjet it makes no difference. By multifunction we mean a printer that integrates various features inside, one above all the scanner, to digitize our prints or photocopy documents or images. Other interesting functions may be the sharing of the printer within the network, the possibility of sending faxes, direct printing from USB support or wireless connection via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, or the integration of a duplex module to perform double-sided prints. back automatically. Whether you are buying your new printer for home use or for an office, carefully evaluate the additional functions, in fact you will almost certainly need to scan or print from a USB stick. Naturally the cost of a multifunction is higher than that of a simple printer, but it will certainly be repaid by its incredible versatility.

At this point we have understood the differences between laser printers and inkjet printers and understood that we cannot say which one is better than the other, since everything depends on the use we will have to make of it. It is wrong to think that laser printers are relegated to office use, as even at home we may need to make many copies, and vice versa many inkjet printer models are used in the professional graphics sector.