How to choose a color printer for home use. How laser printers work

Over time, all owners of a desktop computer or laptop have an idea to purchase another printer, a scanner, and maybe even an MFP (a multifunctional device that combines a printer, moneybox and scanner). After all, schoolchildren and students constantly have to print essays, term papers. But working people also need a printer, print out lesson plans, receipts for payments or money orders. But there are still people who are fond of photography, since it is not enough to photograph - you also need to print!

Today we will talk about what is a printer? How to choose a printer for your home so that it meets all your requirements. Which printer is better to buy: an expensive or budget option, branded or unknown brand, which is better to buy a color printer or subsequently install a CISS (continuous ink supply system). And, finally, we will find out which printer is better: laser or inkjet, discuss the advantages and disadvantages and give a verdict.

What is a printer and what is it for?

So, what is a printer? This is a computer peripheral device (i.e. not located in), which is designed to print illustrations, text, photographs on paper from an electronic form. The process of transferring information from a PC to a solid medium (paper) is called printing, and the directly received document is a printout. Imagine that you urgently need to print out any statement, complaint, appeal, invoice, abstract, and just the necessary illustration. It is precisely in such situations that it becomes clear what is a printer for... Agree, it is unpleasant for the sake of printing one page to leave the house and go somewhere in 2 blocks. Therefore, if you have a computer in your home, a printer is a must!

Asking the question - how to choose a printer for home, someone consults with friends, someone with consultants in specialized stores, and someone compares models and reads reviews on the Internet. Printers are dot matrix, laser, inkjet and sublimation (thermal) printers. They differ in cost, print speed, size, and color (i.e. the printer will print in black (monochrome) or multi-color). Which printer is better to buy only you have to determine. After all, if in a computer store they tell you about a model, you buy it, and later it turns out that you needed a completely different printer, then it will not be very pleasant. Let's say you were sold an expensive Epson Stylus Photo R2000 inkjet photo printer,

this is good. The bad news is that you are not doing photography, and you needed a simple laser printer, such as the HP LaserJet P2035

because you print once a month, and then only half a page.

So, which printer to choose? First you need to decide for what purpose you need it. If you are a schoolboy or student and print quite a lot of documents, it makes sense to purchase a laser or inkjet printer. It should be noted that you can use a laser printer from time to time, but in an inkjet printer ink dries up from a long idle time. If you are engaged in or decide to do photo printing, then definitely, you should purchase an inkjet printer, printing on original cartridges is quite expensive, so experts recommend installing CISS.

But here, again, the question of ink arises, with the CISS installed, it is recommended to print a test page of the printer once a week, unless of course you have not printed something else this week.

What is CISS and what are its advantages?

I would like to tell in more detail about. The continuous ink supply system successfully replaces the cartridge, making the printer more efficient. Ink is automatically fed through special tubes, which positively affects the print quality and saves you money. To work with CISS, you need to buy paint on time, which is much cheaper than buying new cartridges, and pour paint into special containers. You can install and fill the CISS yourself, but I recommend, in the first couples, to invite a specialist. It should be noted that CISS cannot work with all inkjet printers, since it is more profitable for manufacturers to sell original expensive cartridges.

The cartridge is a special plastic box. It stores ink (for an inkjet printer) or powder (for a laser printer). Manufacturers release cartridges to fit only a specific printer model. The price category is quite extensive and is formed depending on the functionality, size, capacity of consumables.

Dot matrix printers are too noisy and print speeds are much slower than laser and inkjet printers.

Of course, at the moment there are new faster and quieter models, but they are unreasonably expensive. They are used mainly in banks, government and educational institutions.

Dye-sublimation printers are mainly used for printing on DVDs, CDs and plastic cards, although thermal printers print better images, they are rarely used for home printing, since consumables are too expensive.

Also, such printers are used to print images on T-shirts, mugs, etc.

Another disadvantage of such a printer is the extremely slow output of a photo, a 10 x 15 cm photo is printed for about 3 minutes, but the advantage is a durable image, due to a protective layer that prevents ink evaporation.

The Epson Stylus Photo 1410, Epson Stylus Photo P50, Sony DPP-FP55, Canon SELPHY CP730, Xerox ColorQube 8570N, Canon Selphy CP800 and Epson Stylus S22, Epson Stylus Office T1100 models have proven to be the most optimal in terms of price and quality.

How to choose a printer for your home? Which is better?

Which printer is best for home? It should be a relatively inexpensive, high quality, economical printer that does not take up much space. I think you will agree that with all the positive qualities (high-quality two-sided printing, a large number of printed sheets per month, more than 100 thousand and the ability to print in A3 format), an office HP LaserJet 5200DTN printer with dimensions of 140 cm by 1 meter and weighing more than 50 kg you still don't need it. For home, you need to purchase a high-quality, simple and inexpensive printer. Only laser printers meet these requirements. Inkjet printers are much cheaper, but here's the catch, these printers are too expensive to operate.

Laser printer.

So, what is a laser printer? This is a type of printer that allows you to quickly produce high quality prints on plain paper. Text and graphics prints are resistant to fading, abrasion, and moisture. The quality of such images is high. The basic principle of operation is the process of laser scanning, then the imposition and transfer of toner, and then fixing it.

How to choose a laser printer, so that later you can enjoy the print and not scold yourself (for the purchase), consultants (for advice), friends (for help in choosing). Choosing a manufacturer (brand). When you buy a printer, you pay not only for the product itself, but also for the brand. And this is true, since it is branded items that have an excellent service system. The availability of spare original and compatible parts, consumables is worth it for you to overpay a certain amount for the brand. In my opinion, the best are HP, Canon, Xerox, Samsung.

Next is the choice of the printer model. First, decide on the monthly load, that is, how many pages you will be printing each month. Please note that if the recommended volume of printing is 6,500 pages per month, your printer will work no more than the declared period (since the load will be exceeded). In other words, if you need to print 5000 thousand pages per month, buy a printer with a recommended print volume of 6500-7000 thousand pages.

The complete set of the printer depends on your needs: duplex (double-sided printing, additional trays and memory, finishing devices and built-in hard drives).

It is very important to find out before buying a printer if you can refill it, some manufacturers put a chip on the cartridge to prevent refueling and force the consumer to buy new cartridges.

Jet printer.

Now we will answer the question what is inkjet printer... This is a peripheral device designed for printing not only documents, but also photographs, color schemes, charts. An image on special paper is formed from dots; inkjet printers use a matrix that prints with liquid dyes. In order to reduce the cost of printing and improve the characteristics of the printer, CISS are used.

Now we will analyze in more detail, which printer is better laser or inkjet? As mentioned above, many consider an inkjet printer to be the best choice for home, supposedly it is 2-3 times cheaper than a laser one, and it is easy to refill and ink is inexpensive. But let's look at this statement from the other side. Since inkjet printers are often bought for multicolor printing, you can refill the ink 1-2 times, and then you have to buy a new original cartridge, which costs like a new printer. A laser printer is much more expensive than an inkjet printer, but at the same time, it is much cheaper to maintain, since the toner for it costs between $ 2-7 and you can refuel it yourself. In terms of print speed, laser printers are much superior to inkjet printers, for comparison, 17 pages per minute for a laser and 7-9 for an inkjet. At the same time, the laser makes less noise, there is no need to worry about dried ink, the toner in the cartridge can be stored for up to a year. In an inkjet printer, you will have to constantly send a test page to print or clean the print head (if the CISS is installed, you will have to clean the nozzles).

The print quality is the same for both printers, but it should be borne in mind that high-quality printing on an inkjet printer is possible only when using paper with a special coating, the usual pattern or the edges of the letters "shaggy". Also note that inkjet printouts are prone to fading, smudging, and water.

In defense of an inkjet printer, I would like to say that it is much more environmentally friendly than a laser one, since ozone is released when printing on a laser printer.

Advantages and disadvantages of inkjet and azure printers.

Pros and cons monochrome laser printer:

• Plus: high print speed, low cost of consumables, ideal for printing large and small amounts of text, designed for high load when printing.
• Minus: not suitable for printing images, photographs.

Pros and cons color laser printer:

• Plus: high speed printing, printing images, color schemes.
• Disadvantage: high price, not suitable for photo printing, presence of elements with high energy consumption

Pros and cons inkjet printer:

• Plus: low price, in modern (and, as a consequence, more expensive models) high print speed, excellent color printing, low price of a set of cartridges.
• Minus: high cost per print, intensive replacement of cartridges, if not used, the ink dries up.

Laser printers of the following models: HP LaserJet Pro 400 M451dn, Lexmark T650n, Xerox Phaser 4600N, Canon LBP-7750CDN undoubtedly deserve your attention. Which inkjet printer is better it's up to you, the main thing that you should pay attention to is the quality and speed of printing, price, comfort of use, here are several models that combine all of the above: Canon Pixma iP-4200, Epson L-800, Canon Pixma iX-6540, HP OfficeJet Pro K8600dn.

So the educational excursion on one more of the printing devices has ended. I hope that now you can easily navigate and not confuse inkjet, matrix and laser printers, and CISS will no longer be an incomprehensible abbreviation for you. Good luck!

At a time when modern technology "attacked" humanity on all fronts, a printer for home use has become a harsh natural necessity. It is much more convenient to print digital photographs at home than in the studio. If your kids are in school or college, this device becomes as indispensable as a kettle in the kitchen.

So, when choosing any device, you first need to answer a simple question - what is it for. Depending on whether you are going to print photographs or documents, we choose an inkjet or laser unit.

Types of printers

To begin with, let's dive into the thick of the variety of these devices. What are the printing devices:

• jet;
• laser, LED;
• inkjet photo printers;
• inkjet MFPs;

How are they characterized?

What are their features? An inkjet printer (for home use this is the best option) is perfect for printing images, color documents, small amounts of text. If you plan to use the unit exclusively for printing documents, feel free to purchase a laser machine.

Dye-sublimation photo printers are designed to delight amateur photographers. This color printer for the home produces high quality prints of 10 x 15 cm images. The MFP is a copier that can create documents and photos, as well as scan photo cards, documents and film. Dot matrix printer is a device for printing black and white documents, the characteristic feature of which is dot printing. It is practically not found on sale, it can be found in state banking structures.

Characteristics of printers and their types

And we'll start with inkjet technology. When choosing a color, you need to understand that there are three types of inkjet technologies. This:

• piezoelectric;
• bubble;
• thermojet.

An example of piezoelectric printing would be an Epson printer. The thermojet device is owned by Hewlett-Packard. Bubble printer has Canon (but not all models). By the way, in terms of performance characteristics, inkjet counterparts win. They are capable of printing up to 19 pages of color documents per minute, while for "lasers" this figure is 3-4 sheets.

Piezoelectric technology

These technologies are very, very similar to each other, but their main difference is the way ink drops from the print heads get onto the surface of a sheet of paper. Nevertheless, each species is endowed with its own advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of the piezoelectric method of image deposition include the ability to fine-tune the droplet size. This makes it easy to print at high resolution. In addition, this system is considered more reliable, but also more expensive. More precisely, the more expensive printhead of the printer. In the process of using low-quality ink, its nozzles can become clogged and it will have to be replaced. Among other things, when using any of the inkjet units, be it an Epson or HP printer, from time to time you will have to print something so that the remaining ink does not dry out and does not have to change the head.

Bubble and thermal inkjet printing

Bubble technology is as follows. Ink is ejected only by gas bubbles. They, in turn, appear as the ink is heated. This technology is cheaper than the previous one, and the print quality is high.

Thermal inkjet printing (Canon printer has it) is carried out during the process of increasing the temperature of the ink. They spill out of the print head under high pressure.

Despite the significant difference in technology, it is quite difficult for an ordinary user to see the difference between the results.

Photo printers: what are they and why are they?

Every day more and more people take pictures. Digital pictures are accumulated on media. They can be viewed, edited, improved. At the same time, the romance of tangible photographs, touchingly pasted into the album, disappeared somewhere. Therefore, photo frames are back in fashion, and with them photo printers. These are units that connect to a digital medium (camera) and print an image within a minute. There are devices that create standard A4 formats, but there are also compact models for displaying an image of 10 x 15 cm. The latter are needed when it comes to offline printing from a camera or flash drive.

Types of photo printers

Photo printers are of two types:

• sublimation;
• inkjet.

The latter are practically no different from those described above in terms of printing technology. I must say that stripes are referred to the disadvantages of inkjet systems. It can make itself felt to varying degrees in different models. As a rule, it is difficult to detect it, but it appears when the unit malfunctions or when some of the nozzles are clogged. As a result, the image becomes divided into horizontal stripes. Sublimation machines are free from this drawback.

Sublimation units, which operate even at the lowest resolution, are not inferior in quality to inkjet counterparts with a significantly higher resolution. The negative qualities of sublimation models include the high cost of consumables.

They print much faster than their inkjet counterparts. In such devices, their main task is carried out as a result of heating the film on which the dye is applied. The latter evaporates, thereby making an imprint on a special paper. As the temperature rises, the pores of the paper open and the ink adheres tightly to it. The future photograph cools down, the surface regains its gloss and smoothness. The whole process is divided into several approaches, because in order to obtain the result, you will have to apply three main dyes in the correct sequence.

Laser printing technology

It is getting easier every day to buy an inexpensive laser printer. And no wonder, because the laser has recently been much cheaper for manufacturers. Many people buy these printers for the home. Printing documents using such a device is much more profitable than using an inkjet. This fact is explained by the fact that consumables per page are significantly cheaper. However, the printer itself is more expensive, the price of which is more than compensated for with large print volumes. One more point should not be overlooked. It should be borne in mind that if you buy a laser printer, the price of components and consumables (including toners) in case of repair will be lower than for an inkjet printer (at least 2 times).

The economic benefit from the purchase of such a device appears when the user needs to print large volumes of text documents every day - from several dozen to several hundred. For a couple of pages a week, an inkjet printer is sufficient. If you want a color printer for your home, then it is better to neglect the laser one altogether. The color print quality of the laser machine is poor. Good photos are unlikely to come out.

What to look for when buying a home printer?

1. Price. A good thing cannot be cheap. In addition, no one wants to closely communicate with service centers about fixing the purchased printer. Therefore, the price should be at least average (about 100-150 US dollars for inkjet and 200-300 for laser).
2. Functionality. Before purchasing a printer, you need to decide for yourself which features you plan to use and which can be neglected. In modern units (this especially applies to MFPs) there are a lot of additional functions that increase the price of the device.
3. Possibility of color printing. If you don't need it, feel free to buy. Even if the price is practically the same, you will have to change cartridges from time to time. Why do you need additional spending?
4. Quality assurance. Ask the store for the terms of the warranty service.

What else do you need to check with the shop assistant (applies to inkjet printers only)?

1. What is the average print speed.
2. How many copies will one set of consumables last on average?
3. Are there any consumables commercially compatible with this model that can make printing cheaper?
4. Whether the user can refill the cartridges on his own. Can ink be purchased from this (or any other) store.
5. Does this device have protection against refills on the cartridge.
6. Is it possible to install According to experts, this makes it possible to significantly save money and deprive oneself of the pleasure at an unexpected moment to see the absence of one of the paint colors.

It is strongly recommended to refill laser printer cartridges at specialized service centers. Without the necessary preparation, you can disable the cartridge, which costs up to 50% of the total price of the entire device. In addition, inhaling toner vapors is extremely harmful to the body. Yes, and this is a troublesome and dirty business.

Which company to buy a color printer for home use?

At the moment, there are many manufacturers of this technology. However, the most popular are the following companies:

• Hewlett-Packard.
• Epson.
• Canon.
• Lexmark.
• Xerox.
• Panasonic.
• Samsung.

Let's summarize!

When purchasing a printer for home use, keep the purchase goals in mind. Want to print colorful photos? Pay attention to the sublimation or inkjet photo printer. If you are planning to build a career as a photographer, and the quality of the created images is of fundamental importance, it is better to buy a sublimation printer. Shopping for work or school? Do you plan to print large volumes of black and white documents? In this case, a laser unit will come to the rescue. In any case, preliminary calculate the average cost of refueling the cartridges of the selected device and the average monthly costs for a specific unit. Find out if there are manufacturer's service centers in your city. This will save you time in the event of abnormal problems. Be vigilant, attentive and reasonable. Enjoy your shopping and good mood!

So, we found out the printing technology and the characteristics of the printers.

The printer has become an attribute of almost every apartment and office; we cannot do without printing. Before proceeding with the choice, let's first consider what kind of printer there are in general. The whole variety of printers is divided according to the principle of operation and purpose, among which the main:

• Matrix.
• Inkjet.
• Laser.
• Thermal sublimation.

Matrix

The simple principle of printing, invented in the early 70s of the XX century, is still used in some offices and businesses. However, it is completely unsuitable for home use due to poor print quality, increased noise and slow operation.

Inkjet

Quite common, print quality varies based on characteristics. These printers use ink cartridges with printheads to print.

Laser

They are used everywhere, both at home and in enterprises and institutions. Most of the machines we use are black and white. The image is transferred to the paper by the printing "roller" - the drum, charging its separate areas and attracting small particles of the coloring powder - toner.

Thermosublimation

More often used in the printing industry than for office printing. They are an alternative to inkjets, but with a higher print quality and level of color rendering, but they are almost never used for the home, since their prices are very high. Suitable only for those who are seriously interested in photography.

IFIs

Multifunctional devices ("combines") combine a printer, scanner and copier at the same time. It is very convenient, can be inkjet and laser, but not always cost effective. Sometimes it is more profitable to buy these devices separately.

There are also highly specialized printers, for example, for specific production purposes. But here they will not interest us.

Choosing a printer

Now the question has become, which model should be chosen, the technology and the number on the price tag. It all depends on your pocket, of course the most optimal from the point of view of convenience, we will IFIs, however, it should be borne in mind that if it fails, there is a chance to lose three devices at once: a scanner, a copier and a printer.

Let's dwell on the options with inkjet and laser printers. What is better for a home, for a family?

Home Laser & Inkjet Printer - Which Is Better

TO advantages of inkjet we can certainly attribute their relative compactness and low cost. For laptop owners, this option is probably preferable.

Print quality- high, but the speed is several times lower than that of laser printers. If your printing needs are small - several sheets per day - then this option is better.

Cartridges make up the main cost of such devices, therefore, if they fail (color or black), their replacement will be very expensive.

TO advantages of laser can be attributed to the speed of printing, almost silent operation, good quality, relatively low cost of prints. But the Achilles' heel of these printers is size, price and weight. And during operation, the unit exhales ozone, which is also not very pleasant.

If suddenly one of these printers breaks down, then it is much easier and cheaper to maintain will be laser.

Cartridge resource

After comparing the cartridge yields, it is obvious that laser(several thousand sheets versus several hundred inkjet sheets) in this regard win... However, there is also a drawback - the laser will most likely have to be refueled in specialized service centers, since at home it will unsafe(toner dust is harmful to the body), hence additional maintenance costs.

Jets you can also refuel at home using an ordinary medical syringe.

CISS for inkjet printer

The disadvantage associated with the resource of the inkjet cartridge can be leveled using a continuous ink supply system (CISS).

Ink flows through these tubes automatically and continuously... This system improves print quality and saves costs. The only concern is to add some ink sometimes and everything.

Pay attention to the connection interface

You can find devices that connect to your computer through the port USB, network ( LAN), on wi-fi channel and other options, or all of this in a complex. Previously used still LPT port but it is hopelessly outdated at the moment. Among laser and inkjet printers, you can easily select those that have the preferred interfaces for you. Wireless connection significantly increases the price of the device.

Paper density

A laser printer can print on virtually any paper, while not losing in print quality, which can not be said about inkjet. Usually, the heavier the paper, the thicker the sheet.

Both these and other devices are generally capable of printing on matte, glossy, office paper, but laser ones with different media densities will cope with this much better. But there are exceptions, expensive inkjet models have a lot to offer.

Types of ink for an inkjet printer

Distinguish water soluble and ink on pigmented basis.

The first ones are different low cost, color rendering high, but highly susceptible to sunlight and ultraviolet light. They will require a special photo paper... Pigment ones are based on a solid dye - pigment, waterproof, provide saturation and durability.

Ability to print on CDs and DVDs

For printing on discs at home, preference should be given to inkjet printers, the cost of such printing will be incomparably lower. Also for such purposes, you can use souvenir printers that can print on small parts.

Photo Printer

It all depends on the number of photos you print, if it is a couple of dozen, then it is better to use jet... As for the quality, here the model is beyond competition. sublimation type... If you print photos in large volumes, then it makes sense to use photo printer... Photo paper for lasers is more expensive than for inkjet models. Therefore, for the home, we recommend using the latter for these purposes.

Other characteristics

Other characteristics to look out for include color rendering, droplet size, and resolution.

Color rendering- number of colors, modern inkjet printers can use from 4 colors and more. 4 colors are already enough to create a full-color photo, but most likely, when enlarged in size, it will look grainy... For quality improvement (if this is your top priority), you should choose a printer with more colors.

Drop size- here adhere to the principle - the spool is small, but expensive. Although, of course, start from the tasks that you will set for your printer. You just have to remember that the smaller the size drops of printheads the quality will be higher... However, when the drop decreases, you will lose in speed print. You will also have to use higher quality expensive ink.

Permission(dpi) is an objective characteristic that determines how clear the printed image will be. The bigger, the better.

Very often, before buying a universal printer, many begin to get confused in a large assortment of equipment, not knowing exactly which model and with what features they should choose. No wonder: Today's printing market offers a huge number of printers with different functions and printing technologies. Studying all kinds of models, you are likely to ask the question: which printer is better, laser or inkjet? First, we recommend that you understand the principle of operation of these devices and find out all the advantages and disadvantages of both technologies.

People buy a printer or MFP for different purposes. Professional photographers prefer high quality prints, and the same goes for photo labs, photo studios and design agencies. Office printers are purchased by managers based on their criteria - the capabilities of cartridges, the availability of the CISS function, and the printing speed. But most buyers choose universal printer... It is important for them that the device combines the basic functions: printing text files, documents, photos of various formats and quality.

If everything is very clear with a printer for narrow tasks (after all, the choice is made based on a specific criterion), then a universal model suitable in all parameters will have to be looked for. You can, of course, pay attention to ready-made multifunctional devices, but they are not cheap, and a copier with a scanner may not be useful to you. Nevertheless, we advise you to determine what exactly you will need a printer for:

• for home - printing of documents, text files, books, magazines;
• office needs;
• photo printing (amateur or professional);
• for study (printout of diploma and term papers, essays, tests, abstracts, etc.).

Are the purchase goals more or less clear? Then we choose the appropriate printing technology, carefully weighing the pros and cons.

How inkjet printers work

Inkjet printing is considered to be the most widespread in the world. At one time, inkjet printers have noticeably pressed matrix ones. In addition, it is with inkjet printers that color and photo printing "without leaving home" has firmly entered our daily life. It is cheaper, more practical and more convenient.

How do they work? If in traditional matrix devices the image was methodically applied to the ink ribbon using the thinnest needles, here the principle of operation is slightly different. To obtain a finished image in inkjet printers, there are special elements called nozzles (or nozzles). These are small holes that are extremely difficult to see with the naked eye. They are located directly in the print head of the printer, which also contains the ink bottle. It is through the nozzles that ink is transferred to the paper. Each ink drop is only a few picoliters in volume. The diameter of the nozzles and, accordingly, of the colored drop is negligible, comparable to the thickness of a human hair! Try placing a picture printed on an inkjet printer under a microscope, and you will notice that it is composed of a huge number of tiny droplets.

The number of nozzles is different - from 12 to 256 pieces, it all depends on the purpose and class of the printer model, as well as the manufacturer.

There are small cavities under the holes (nozzles) where paint drops from the main reservoir are directed. The paint is extruded using two methods.

Exists two options for storing ink in an inkjet printer.

How laser printers work

Laser printing may well be either color or black and white. Coloring substance - toner- reminds in its composition not liquid, but powder ink. A key element in the design of a laser printer is photosensitive drum... It looks like a semiconductor-coated metal cylinder. A semiconductor is sensitive to light, and it is on this property that the whole principle of operation of a laser device is based.

The drum unit has either a positive or negative charge. Charge depends on coronator- tungsten wire with gold or platinum sputtering. Under the influence of the current, an electric charge arises, forming an electromagnetic field, which is reflected on the drum. Instead of a corona wire, a device that creates an electromagnetic field can be charging shaft... It looks like a metal rod covered with excellent conductors such as rubber or foam.

Inkjet vs laser: pros and cons

So a laser or inkjet printer? Both have their own positive and negative sides. Let's compare both types according to several main criteria in order to understand the difference and find out which one is better.

Price characteristics

If we compare the cost of an inkjet and a laser printer, the answer is obvious: even a high-end inkjet printer with a bunch of features will cost less than an average laser printer. However, not everything is so rosy. The fact is that the maintenance of an inkjet printer will cost a tidy sum. You will regularly have to purchase a set of ink cartridges, and the cost of one standard set of ink cartridges in one and a half to two years will exceed the initial cost of the printer itself.

The cost of one print on a laser printer is much cheaper.

Another important point: models with inkjet printing are very demanding on the quality of the loaded paper... In order for a print (for example, a document or photo) to be as clear and colorful as possible, you will have to use the best grade paper, which will also lead to further expenses. Lazerniki are not so sensitive to the quality of paper media and are able to realize their full printing potential on the most ordinary paper in the office.

Print quality

The difference between the print quality of both types of printers is not very clear. However, it is considered. that "inkjet" prints text, photos, banners, labels, postcards, etc. in high quality and high resolution equally well. But photo printing in laser printers is implemented much worse: color toner is worse applied to the surface, and as a result, the images are not so saturated and juicy. Generally, color rendering is lame... But the undoubted advantage of the laser device is the excellent resistance of the printed images to light and water. Also, the laser prints text documents in excellent quality at high speed.

Print speed

According to this criterion, the comparison is unequivocally in favor of laser printers. A middle-class laser printer prints about 15 pages in one minute. The speed of the "inkjet" depends on a number of factors: mode, print volume, resolution. If you need to print a text document in excellent quality or a photo at the maximum resolution, the speed of the inkjet printer is quite slow. In addition, the laser device is designed for more printing and less frequent consumable changes.

Consumables and refilling cartridges

The main consumable material for laser devices is toner. Powder toner cartridge can be recharged three to four times at most, after which it is recommended to replace the entire drum. An obvious disadvantage of the toner is that it is toxic, and during operation it also emits ozone into the atmosphere. The toner is usually refilled by specialists, so if another toner runs out, you will have to go to a store or service center for a new one or refill.

Inkjet printers, in turn, work with ink cartridges... They are easy to purchase and refuel. However, the refueling process itself is rather dreary: syringes, ink cans, numerous stains from paint. Considering not the largest volume of the cartridge, the procedure will have to be repeated quite often. The best option is a continuous ink supply system. Its main advantage is the low cost of prints and a huge resource of ink without the need to purchase cartridges.

Epson has implemented the CISS function in the form of built-in ink tanks. Ink tanks are much cheaper than replacement cartridges, have a long resource, they are convenient to use and they do not get your hands dirty with paint.

EPSON L132 Inkjet Printer with Removable Ink

Environmental friendliness

When wondering which printer to buy, laser or inkjet, think about such an important aspect as environmental friendliness. The point is that the heating elements in the laser device interact with the toner when the current is applied. Toner, as noted above, is toxic, and it is undesirable to inhale its microparticles. Also during printing from the "laser" ozone is released in considerable quantities, which negatively affects the environment.

Opportunities

If you need a printer with versatile functions, you want to print documents for study or home needs (site prints, term papers, abstracts, documents) and are not ready to spend a lot of money, then choose an inkjet printer. With a light load, you will not spend a lot of money, but the device will last a long time and will delight you with the quality and stability of work. In addition, the "inkjet" manifests itself well in photo printing. A quality inkjet printer perfectly prints high-resolution color photos for maximum detail and rich color. Of course, color cartridges will have to be changed quite often, but this will more than pay for the excellent color quality of images. Laser models, alas, are not so good at this. In addition, inkjet devices allow you to print on a variety of media such as rolls, banners, envelopes and labels. What is not a reason to open a home darkroom?

Bottom Line: An inkjet printer is optimal for both home and office. A professional color "inkjet" will be absolutely irreplaceable in a photo studio.

Laser monochrome printer useful in the office or at home. Everything here is ideal for standard office needs: high print speed to get a chubby stack of papers with documents, contracts, orders, books and scientific papers. Ability to print large volumes and stable operation of the device. The record low cost per print also looks attractive. By filling the cartridge once, you will be able to print a large number of sheets in excellent quality.

Summary: the operation of black-and-white and color "laser" is more justified in the office space than at home. He prints photos very mediocre, and the service and the cost of the printer itself are quite high.

So a laser or inkjet printer? As you can see, there is no definite answer to this question. We found out how these printing technologies differ from each other and figured out some of the nuances. Both types of devices have their pros and cons. You just have to decide for what purposes the printing technique will be used and, having analyzed all the pros and cons, choose the ideal option.