Inkjet vs Laser Printers

[pigpen65]

What does everybody have? Since the beginning i've always had inkjets, for pure lack of funds. Good quality and usually pretty fast. The big downfall of course is the ridiculous cost of replacement ink. I've tried the cheap "fill it yourself" kits. Usually work pretty good, but it's a huge damn mess and the replacement ink is never as good of quality as the manufacturers. Anyways, the point of me writing this thread is to bring some attention to the fact that laser are coming down in price, real fast. I recently purchased the new DELL 1700 personal laser and it's the best investment i've ever made. Fast as any i've ever seen at 25 ppm, and 6000 page replacement toner carts can be had for as little as $70.

Anyone else have any experiences with shopping for printers lately?

[OBF]

We bought an HP Photojet last year after our daughter was born. The color quality is surprisingly good for a home printer, as long as you print on photo paper. It also does well with regular black and white prints.

[gilchristfan]

It depends what you use it for too, and how often you use it. The main drawback with inkjets is durability. If you are using it for business, laser printers can usually handle 30,000 pages per month. Inkjets would never come close to that. (There is an old IBM laser in our office that's about 7 years old. Its held up extremely well o a lot of abuse).

If its just for home use, the cost and flexibility of an inkjet can't be beat.

[Fogwrestler]

It depends what you use it for too, and how often you use it. The main drawback with inkjets is durability. If you are using it for business, laser printers can usually handle 30,000 pages per month. Inkjets would never come close to that. (There is an old IBM laser in our office that's about 7 years old. Its held up extremely well o a lot of abuse).

If its just for home use, the cost and flexibility of an inkjet can't be beat.

Ditto.

For personal use, inkjet wins hands-down, unless money is absolutely no issue whatsoever, in which case you are actually on the Bills roster :bigsmile:

[pigpen65]

Ditto.

For personal use, inkjet wins hands-down, unless money is absolutely no issue whatsoever, in which case you are actually on the Bills roster :bigsmile:


Not nessecarily. In the long run the cost per page for laser vs inkjet isn't even in the same ball park. That's considering only black and white of course. If you're talking about color, than laser will still take a while to come down to sub $200. For me personally, i never need anything in color, so a $179 laser is a great investment. The only thing i need color for is a digital photo every once in a while. And at 29 cents a piece from target you usually can't find that quality on an inkjet anyways.

[Fogwrestler]

Not nessecarily. In the long run the cost per page for laser vs inkjet isn't even in the same ball park. That's considering only black and white of course. If you're talking about color, than laser will still take a while to come down to sub $200. For me personally, i never need anything in color, so a $179 laser is a great investment. The only thing i need color for is a digital photo every once in a while. And at 29 cents a piece from target you usually can't find that quality on an inkjet anyways.

Can you give us a few select choices for best inexpensive laser printers, both b&w and color, for text and pics both?

Appreciate the effort, thanks !

[Psychosis]

I've got officejet. Works like a charm.

[pigpen65]

Can you give us a few select choices for best inexpensive laser printers, both b&w and color, for text and pics both?

Appreciate the effort, thanks !


Hey Fog. First thing is to take a look at Cnet's buyer's guide. It does a great job of showing all the pros and cons of Inkjet vs laser. Make sure to hit all the links on top (in particular the one about breaking down specs, and not always basing your buying desicions soley on them;, many times the manufacturers purposely inflate them.)

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-7604_7-1016838-1.html?tag=dir.prntbg

Unfortunately, most of Cnet's reviews for the actual products are outdated by a year or so. The good thing is that for the most part, the companies that had highly rated products last year, still have the best rated products with their newer lines. Ex: Cnet's top rated personal laser printer is the samsung 1710. The newest samsung model, 1750 ($79 at best buy after $30 rebate), pretty much doubles all of the 1710's specs. How can you go wrong?


While i have had great luck with the dell 1700 ($179) i recently bought, it's kind of hard to recommend it. It's incredibly fast, prints very clear text, and has competitively priced toner replacements. The big problem with any dell product is the horrible customer service. As a cost cutting move, Dell contracted with a technical support company in India. Literally, calling them for help is a waste of time as most of the tech's do not speak english (I know it sounds ridiculous, but it's the god's honest truth.) The good news is that exchanging products through dell is relatively painless. They send you a new unit with a return slip. You pack the old one in the box, slap the sticker on it, and send it back.