Laser printers in private households

If you want to purchase a printer, you can basically choose between inkjet printers and laser printers. While the inkjet printer is ideal for photographs, the laser printer is generally regarded as a printer for multiple printers. But can the purchase of a laser printer also be worthwhile for private households? Generally speaking, there are many points in favor of purchasing a laser printer and some points against it.

The appearance of laser printers

If you look at the outer shape of a laser printer, it is difficult to find an indication of whether a laser printer should be used for private or business purposes. In general, a laser printer looks similar to an inkjet printer if it was ordered by a buyer. The inkjet printer is characterized by the fact that it has an edged shape and usually a square shape - this is a similar case with laser printers.

The laser printer can also convince optically by additional paper inserts. While the inkjet printer usually has special compartments for separate photo paper, a laser printer can also have such functions. Here it always depends on the manufacturer and the model.

In the area of appearance, there is no pros and cons to the laser printer in the household.

The printing techniques in detail

While there are hardly any differences between the printer systems in terms of appearance, they become enormously important in terms of technology. Technically, inkjet printers and laser printers differ enormously.

The inkjet printer works with ink that comes out of cartridges. Ink can be pressed through a nozzle onto the paper by pressure or heat from the cartridge. The advantage is that photographs in particular can be printed to a very high quality. Unfortunately, not all ink cartridges are UV-resistant, which is why pictures can remain in the sun after a few weeks or months.

As a consequence, only expensive UV cartridges can be ordered, which are not always really useful. In addition, it must be said that images are always printed line by line with an inkjet printer. Printing usually takes more time than would be the case with a laser printer.

A laser printer does not use liquid ink. The laser printer works with a toner in which color particles are stored as powder. These powder pieces enter the pressure chamber via a nozzle. There is an image drum, which is heated by electric charges, so that the paint powder gets stuck in the right places. The image drum then moves over the paper and prints the image or motif in its entirety on the paper. The result? Printing can be done much faster!

Laser printers are ahead especially in the area of printing speed. An inkjet printer can only reach these speeds if particularly expensive models are ordered in the shop.

A disadvantage, however, is that the laser printer works with powder. This may seem indifferent at first glance, but with many prints in particular it ensures that a fine dust load is created. In the office, such laser printers are therefore parked in separate rooms or fitted with expensive filters. A laser printer in a private household can also have a filter installed, but is only necessary here if buyers really print a lot. In the everyday use the fine dust load is not to be noticed.

The quality of the prints

According to the test, a laser printer is particularly fast - but can the printer also produce high-quality images?

Experience shows that laser printers can print photographs on normal copy paper. Since the printer works with heat, however, printing on glossy photo paper becomes extremely difficult to almost impossible. For this reason, laser printers are not used when many photographs need to be printed. In this case, the inkjet printer is always the better alternative.

However, the printer with laser can convince with normal documents. Colour motifs or normal texts can be printed very precisely even in small dimensions. Together with the enormous speed, the laser printer is the better choice when mainly documents need to be printed.

Accessories for laser printers

Laser printers are equipped with toners, while inkjet printers work with cartridges. The toners are sold as printer accessories and provide the colors necessary for printing. At first glance, the toners are more and more expensive in comparison, which deter many customers in the first moment. However, if the costs are offset against the effectiveness of the printer, the cost per page is usually lower with a laser printer.

A laser printer can print up to 20,000 pages with one toner. An inkjet printer can only print up to 2,000 pages. The exact capacity depends on the manufacturer. Practice shows that there are simple toners and cartridges as well as XXL toners and XXL cartridges. However, experience has shown that these are mostly used in printers that are set up in the office.

It should also be mentioned that cartridges have the disadvantage that they dry out after some time. Especially when the printer is rarely used, cartridges tend to dry out the nozzles. Sometimes these dried nozzles can be softened by the printer's cleaning program, but usually the only alternative is to throw them into the trash. This cannot happen with a laser printer. Since there is no liquid ink in the toner, the toner cannot dry out. Even if the laser printer is rarely used, the laser printer is still more practical than using an inkjet printer.

General costs at a glance

As already mentioned, the cost of purchasing toners for laser printers is higher than if inkjet cartridges were purchased. However, experience from other customers has shown that the high prices pay for themselves over time.

If you want to buy a laser printer completely, you also have to expect higher acquisition costs. Laser printers are usually twice or three times more expensive than inkjet printers. But since customers always receive a complete toner with the purchase of the laser printer, the costs are already relativized after a few weeks.

Costs can only increase enormously if the image drum is defective. The change of the image drum is statistically rare. But should this image drum have to be replaced, an inkjet printer is better priced. However, it must be said that such a change is rarely necessary!

Laser printer for the private household - yes or no?

  • Fast printing speed
  • Low cost per page
  • No drying out of the toner
  • Very high quality document printing
  • High durability of toners and laser printers
  • High acquisition costs
  • Poor quality photographs