laser printer or inkjet printer? which is better?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Giuseppe
  • Start date Start date
G

Giuseppe

First of all, excuse my poor english but i'm italian and i don't speak
english very well.....

then, I have to buy my next printer, I already own a brother mfc3420c, that
is a multifunction, so

i don't need to print color pages, and i need only a printer to print text
in the less expansive

way.

I thought that the less expensive printers are the laser ones.

and i looked at the brother hl1430, that costs 149 euro.
The toner is 48 euro, and the drum is 83 euro.
Whith the toner you can print about 6000 pages, and whith the drum you can
print 20.000 pages.

so, every page that you print costs 1.4cent.(calculated on 20.000pages)

the only negative aspect of this printer is that it can't print front/rear.

Then a friend of mine told me that there is a printer, the hp businessjet
1100d, that has less or more the same mantaing cost of the printers.

the hp is 190 euro.
a cartridge is 23 euro, and whit a cartridge you can print about 2000 pages.
the positive aspect of this printer is that you can print front/rear pages
automatically, and for me is very important (whith the brother you could do
it manually).
and every page costs about 1.3cent, calculated on 20K pages.

I'm so confused.........

is the hp 1100d a good printer?
 
Giuseppe said:
first mistake, with, not whith.......
sorry :(..........
Click to expand...

Second mistake - "less expansive" should be 'least expEnsive"

Hope that helps - but your English is better than my Italian - and I lived
in Roma for a year!
 
Usually the laser printers will cost less to operate, and have better print
quality, than the inkjet printers, but there are exceptions. The laser
printers are also much faster, if that matters to you.

Don
 
If you do not want color, laser is the best choice. If you need color,
ink jet is currently the least expensive way to go.

With most ink jets, the color cartridge(s) must remain in place, and
usually must be functional, in order to print anything, even black &
white. (There are exceptions to this). The ink cartridges can dry out
if the printer sits unused for a long period. There are frequent (and
sometimes noisy) delays before a print job starts, and noisy activity
when the print heads are again stored after the print job. There are
frequent cleaning cycles, some automatic and some manually initiated
by the user if banding problems arise. Banding (uneven solid color
areas) is a common problem when ink nozzle flow is impaired.

The toner cartridge in a laser printer lasts much longer than most ink
jet cartridges, although replacement is more expensive. The laser will
be much faster for full resolution print jobs. Print consistency is
the usual and expected pattern throughout the life of a laser printer.
Print durability is a hallmark of laser output - it consists of baked
on plastic toner particles which are unaffected by moisture and
handling. Inks can run when wet, although more recent ones have been
improved.

As you've discovered, cost per page can be similar between the two
technologies. Pages per cartridge is higher for lasers but so is the
cost per cartridge. The single unit laser replacement cartridges
(optical drum, developer, and toner all in one) are more expensive but
less fuss because everything is replaced at once. The separated
component style requires only the less expensive toner cartridge
replacement at normal intervals and then more expensive component
replacement (the optical drum for example) at much longer intervals. A
trade-off with the separated component units is the problem of
diagnosing which component is causing a problem.

We have both types at our house. My wife uses her laser printer to do
a lot of ordinary office style printing, sometimes many copies at a
time, for her various clubs and political activities. She also has an
ink jet printer on her system (a free add on when she bought a new
computer), but she uses it only rarely. I do more color printing of
things like web pages, graphics or engineering drawings and
schematics, mixed text and graphics, or an occasional photo. I
recently bought a combination printer-scanner-copier-fax ink jet
printer which is inexpensive (compared to buying the separate units)
and does many common tasks without consuming a lot of desk space.

Dick Ballard
(e-mail address removed)
Beaverton, Oregon USA (near Portland)
 
Giuseppe said:
First of all, excuse my poor english but i'm italian and i don't speak
english very well.....

then, I have to buy my next printer, I already own a brother mfc3420c, that
is a multifunction, so

i don't need to print color pages, and i need only a printer to print text
in the less expansive

way.

I thought that the less expensive printers are the laser ones.

and i looked at the brother hl1430, that costs 149 euro.
The toner is 48 euro, and the drum is 83 euro.
Whith the toner you can print about 6000 pages, and whith the drum you can
print 20.000 pages.

so, every page that you print costs 1.4cent.(calculated on 20.000pages)
Click to expand...

If you don't print color then laser is the best choice. TONER cartridge
can be refilled and it usually cost around $8-12 for the toner-kit (6,000
pages). Good or bad, I think any today cheap printer (around $100 or less
after rebate) would be a better printer than 5-10 years ago, and it would
last for many years.

Also, some laser printer if you look at the cost of toner cartridge and
drum you may find they are more expensive than the whole printer itself.
Example, I have a Brothers MFC laster printer which use DRU-400 (drum) and
many companies want around $120-150 for the drum alone, and I can buy the
bran new Laser Printer + Drum + Tone Cartridge for around $99 (after around
$50 mail-in-rebate).
 
If you don't print color then laser is the best choice. TONER cartridge
can be refilled and it usually cost around $8-12 for the toner-kit (6,000
pages). Good or bad, I think any today cheap printer (around $100 or =
less
after rebate) would be a better printer than 5-10 years ago, and it would
last for many years.

Also, some laser printer if you look at the cost of toner cartridge and
drum you may find they are more expensive than the whole printer itself.
Example, I have a Brothers MFC laster printer which use DRU-400 (drum) =
and
many companies want around $120-150 for the drum alone, and I can buy the
bran new Laser Printer + Drum + Tone Cartridge for around $99 (after =
around
$50 mail-in-rebate).
Click to expand...

You make a good point about printers with separate toner and image
drum replacements. It looks like OKI and Brother printers have this
more expensive system.

Both the HP and Samsung printers have the drum and toner all in the
same cartridge, which saves money.

HP has a long reputation for laser printers but the Samsung might be
worth looking at if you are on a budget. Good luck!
 
--- trim
I'm so confused.........

is the hp 1100d a good printer?
Click to expand...

Quick correction. The HP 1100d is NOT a laser printer it is an inkjet.

The LaserJet 1012, 1015 or 1300 are laser.
 
To be simple, if you need photo quality colour prints, then go with a good
colour ink jet type printer. If you only need standard B&W printing, then go
with the laser.

I have 2 printers on my system. I am using an HP colour photo printer for my
colour pages, and photographic printings. I am using the laser printer for
my main printing jobs, that do not require colour.

In the end, the laser is costing less per print than the colour. It is also
much faster.

I found the laser colour printers to be much too expensive to use for any
type of printing, unless it is specifically required. A photo quality colour
laser printer is still too expensive to purchase and operate for the home,
or the small business, unless it is absolutely required.


--

Jerry G.
=====


First of all, excuse my poor english but i'm italian and i don't speak
english very well.....

then, I have to buy my next printer, I already own a brother mfc3420c, that
is a multifunction, so

i don't need to print color pages, and i need only a printer to print text
in the less expansive

way.

I thought that the less expensive printers are the laser ones.

and i looked at the brother hl1430, that costs 149 euro.
The toner is 48 euro, and the drum is 83 euro.
Whith the toner you can print about 6000 pages, and whith the drum you can
print 20.000 pages.

so, every page that you print costs 1.4cent.(calculated on 20.000pages)

the only negative aspect of this printer is that it can't print front/rear.

Then a friend of mine told me that there is a printer, the hp businessjet
1100d, that has less or more the same mantaing cost of the printers.

the hp is 190 euro.
a cartridge is 23 euro, and whit a cartridge you can print about 2000 pages.
the positive aspect of this printer is that you can print front/rear pages
automatically, and for me is very important (whith the brother you could do
it manually).
and every page costs about 1.3cent, calculated on 20K pages.

I'm so confused.........

is the hp 1100d a good printer?
 
You make a good point about printers with separate toner and image
drum replacements. It looks like OKI and Brother printers have this
more expensive system.

Both the HP and Samsung printers have the drum and toner all in the
same cartridge, which saves money.

HP has a long reputation for laser printers but the Samsung might be
worth looking at if you are on a budget. Good luck!
Click to expand...

I never owned neither HP or Samsung laser printer to compare the price,
but I have owned Brother and Epson laser printer and they both have Toner
Cartridge and Drum in separated units.

The toner cartridge yield around 3000-6000 depending on the model, and the
6000 pages Toner-Kit costs around $8-10 a pop, and it takes around 15
minutes to refill it. The Drum usually last for around 20,000 pages, and
the Drum-Kit for Brother costs around $40. I haven't replace the drum yet
to know how hard to take the older drum out and replace with the newer one,
but I don't think it's any harder than refill the toner.

Hmmmm... if HP has the Drum and Toner built into single unit then you will
have to buy a newer Drum and Toner Cartridge every 3000-6000 which would
cost more than Brother and Epson?????
 
I never owned neither HP or Samsung laser printer to compare the price,
but I have owned Brother and Epson laser printer and they both have Toner
Cartridge and Drum in separated units.

The toner cartridge yield around 3000-6000 depending on the model, and =
the
6000 pages Toner-Kit costs around $8-10 a pop, and it takes around 15
minutes to refill it. The Drum usually last for around 20,000 pages, and
the Drum-Kit for Brother costs around $40. I haven't replace the drum =
yet
to know how hard to take the older drum out and replace with the newer =
one,
but I don't think it's any harder than refill the toner.

Hmmmm... if HP has the Drum and Toner built into single unit then you =
will
have to buy a newer Drum and Toner Cartridge every 3000-6000 which would
cost more than Brother and Epson?????
Click to expand...


The life of the image drum can vary greatly depending on how many
pages you print at a time. Printing one page at a time results in the
lowest life; many pages per job gives the longest life. My experience
was that with single page per job printing the image drum gave me
about half of the rated life.

But $40 is pretty reasonable for an image drum, much less than older
models.
 
The life of the image drum can vary greatly depending on how many
pages you print at a time. Printing one page at a time results in the
lowest life; many pages per job gives the longest life. My experience
was that with single page per job printing the image drum gave me
about half of the rated life.

But $40 is pretty reasonable for an image drum, much less than older
models.
Click to expand...

I know the toner can vary but don't have much experience with the drum
itself so I wonder if if goes by the number of page instead of wear/tear?I
mean that no matter if you print one full page or few lines the drum still
have to turn the full turn, the toner when it gets low we can shake the
cartridge to get to the last 20-30 pages etc. But the drum it seems to
count to ZERO life and I won't think it will let to continue (?) mine was
getting to 2% left when I changed.
 
As mentioned speed may be a consideration. Usually, laser printers are
faster, but if you have to manually flip each page that will take time away.

There are a few other considerations. Laser printer inks (toners) do
not suffer from bleed through (where the ink soaks partially through the
paper and is visible on the other side). Some inkjet printers do have
this problem depending upon the ink formulation. You can overcome this
with special papers which are more opaque and higher density, but that
may increase your cost considerably per page.

Lastly, some inkjet output is not waterproof, if that is important, and
it may smear if it is subjected to water or even damp hands.

Art
 
Looked at a Samsung color laser today with build in duplexer at staples
under $1000. I think it was a model 500.
Was impressed with the quality of the plastic compared to the HPs.
 
Back
Top