Technology and real-world factors all play a role in the debate between traditional printing technologies, and things have changed in unexpected ways in recent years. Laser printers were out of reach for most consumers and small companies twenty years ago. They were unable to print in colour due to the high initial investment required. Colour inkjet printers were less expensive but less precise, and printouts were prone to smudging or smearing. Despite recent advancements and a mountain of data to the contrary, these truths became prejudices about the two technologies, which are still ingrained in the IT market’s psyche today.
What is the Distinction Between an Inkjet and Laser Printer?
Before you buy a printer, you should consider the differences between colour laser printers and inkjet printers.
Inkjet printers use either dye or pigment inks, which are both liquids. While dye inks may smudge due to moisture, pigment inks are smudge resistant. Laser printers, on the other hand, use toner, which consists of very fine powder particles that are melted during the printing process. In terms of print quality, both office laser printer and inkjet printer technologies offer similar output for office documents with regard to text, charts, graphics, and images. The difference arises when you need to print photo-quality images, where specialized inkjet professional photo printers will offer much higher quality than a laser printer.
What Variables Should You Consider While Deciding Between Inkjet and Laser Printers?
There are various variables to consider when selecting whether to purchase an inkjet printer or a laser printer. Another factor more important than the printing technology is whether you are looking for a black-and-white or colour printer.
In the past, colour was extremely expensive both to purchase and maintain. However, nowadays the price differences between the initial investment cost of a colour machine and an equivalent black-and-white one have become negligible. Concerning maintenance costs, there will only be small differences.
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Price
The good news is that NPC has inkjet and laser printer models to suit every budget. Both types of printers have a wide variety of multifunctional capabilities such as print, copy, scan, and fax. Inkjet printers are normally less expensive to acquire and maintain, whereas laser printers are more expensive to purchase and have higher maintenance or repair costs due to the many parts needed, such as drum/imaging units, developers, fuser units, and ITB.
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Quality
While inkjet office printers, especially inkjet photo printers, are known for producing high-resolution colour prints, laser printers can also produce solid colour and black-and-white prints. Most office laser and office inkjet printers will create clear and vivid printouts for invoices, quotations, office documents, and presentations. This applies to office printers or business printers. Cheaper consumer printer models for both technologies, however, will understandably offer lesser quality.
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Build and Durability
Again, discounting the cheapest consumer inkjet and laser printers, an office printer’s durability is totally dependent on how it is used and on the level of after-sales service support and maintenance provided. Proper maintenance can extend the life of a printer up to 10 years and more. An important benefit of inkjet printers is the optional 3-year and 5-year warranties, which can offer you peace of mind. Laser printers generally only have a 1-year warranty.
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Print Speed and Volume
When you need those documents, how quickly do you need them, and how many do you need? Laser and inkjet printers are ideal for small enterprises, mid-sized offices, and larger workgroups since they can produce high-volume prints quickly and efficiently. Both technologies offer equipment with print speeds ranging from 20 ppm to 100 ppm. For higher print volumes, you will need a higher speed machine, as in the printing industry print volume is directly correlated with a device’s print speed.
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Page Yield
Toner and ink cartridges come in a variety of page yields, allowing you to choose the best option for your printing needs. High-yield cartridges are available for both inkjet and laser printers, allowing you to print more pages before replacing the cartridges. This can help lower printing costs and the total cost of ownership. A higher capacity print cartridge will always offer a lower cost per printed image. Page yield for both technologies can range from 2,000 prints up to 86,000 prints per cartridge.
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Extra Features
If you will be using your printer primarily for commercial purposes, laser and inkjet all-in-one printers may come with extra or optional features such as additional paper trays, wireless network connectivity, automatic document feeders, high-speed scanning, high-capacity ink or toner cartridges, and booklet finishers.
Choosing a Business Printer
The major distinction in office printers is whether you need to print on A4 size paper or on both A3 and A4 size paper. While many A4 business printers are available, both for inkjet and laser, the A3 models tend to be the higher speed, higher volume, and heavy-duty machines.
Better Output
Businesses no longer only print black-and-white text, and consumers have rarely ever done so. When it comes to most types of print output, such as black-and-white text, images, colour illustrations, and charts, both inkjet and laser printers will offer very similar output. The main difference is with photographic quality images, where the inkjet technology used in professional photo printers will offer far superior quality and outperform its laser counterparts.
Ultrafine print head nozzles and multiple colour inks, usually 10 or more, in today’s inkjet printers mix and arrange ink droplets in patterns of small dots, providing far more detail and a wider colour spectrum or gamut than laser toner. When your images are enlarged, the greater detail and more accurate and brilliant colours become even more obvious.
Service Support
NPC’s wide range of quality inkjet and laser printers are offered with free delivery, installation, user training, a 1-year service contract, and a 1-year warranty. After the first year, we offer service and maintenance contracts that can be renewed on a yearly basis until the end of life of your equipment. Additionally, we offer one-time service call and break-fix services for all the equipment we sell.
Conclusion
Inkjet printers were previously strictly used for low-volume family and home-office environments, while laser printers were ideal for businesses. With current advancements in technology, inkjet manufacturers have built lower-cost and very reliable high-volume printers that are surpassing the capabilities of laser printing technology. As a testament to this, many inkjet printers have optional 3-year and 5-year warranties, whereas laser printers only have a 1-year warranty. In the end, it comes down to personal preference, as some clients prefer inkjet printers while others prefer the older laser printer for their office environment.
