Every household needs a printer. It may be for personal or professional purposes. However, before buying one, you need to decide whether you want a computer laser printer or an inkjet printer. Both printers have different strengths and different weaknesses. Most households opt to buy inkjet printers without a second thought due to financial constraints. However, if you happen to have your eye already on laser printers, it is important that you know what to expect.
The first thing to expect, if you want to buy a computer laser printer, is that it is expensive. Depending on the model, any brand new laser printer can cost somewhere within $200 to $2000, and these are only for the consumer models. Laser printers built for industrial use are way more expensive. These printers are expected to have larger components to accommodate large size printing. They also have faster components in order to take on heavy jobs. Both the size and speed are expected to increase the cost of these printers.
As discussed earlier, most laser printers are expected to be large. This is due to the photo resistive component that is of similar shape to a roller. The larger the printing size, the larger the drum needs to be. This is because laser printers print page by page, unlike inkjet printers where they print by line. So if you plan on buying a laser printer that is capable of printing in A3 sizes, you may need to prepare ample space within the household.
Because of its printing method, computer laser printers make use of a heating element that elevates its temperature as high as 200 degrees Fahrenheit. The heating element is needed in order for the ink granules from the toner to fuse with the paper. Laser printers don’t use wet ink so it must need a process to transfer the ink to the paper. In this case, heat is used. If you happen to store this printer in tight spaces, you can expect the temperature to get higher. However, this is not something that air-condition or proper ventilation cannot fix.
Due to the heating requirements mentioned above, you can expect these printers to consume more energy compared to inkjet printers. However, it evens out since laser printers are known to have very fast printing speeds. So if you’re not using the printer, you should turn it off otherwise you will be wasting energy.
Though most of the things mentioned above about computer laser printers are a bit negative, buying laser printers are still worth it if only laser printers are capable of providing the printing requirements you have. As the major advantage of laser printers, they provide the best quality when it comes to printing crisp black texts. They produce darker shades of black compared to inkjet printers. This is important when you want to produce professional documents. Additionally, laser printers are generally faster than inkjet printers are. The fastest laser printer is capable of printing 200 pages in one minute. However, this printer is for industrial use and very expensive.
Laser printers are truly assets if they do the job that you need. However, if what you need can be done with inkjet printers, then it is advisable to buy inkjet printers instead. They are cheaper and smaller in comparison to laser printers.
