Which printer is better to buy for home and office. Which is better, an inkjet or laser printer

Home computer without a printing device looks flawed and limited today, so disputes about printers among users are constantly supported by new questions, thoughts and answers. In general, the price of even laser color printers has dropped significantly today, and you can buy them not only for office use. And somewhere in the distance, 3D printers are already imagining ...

Rich choice - big headache, when you want everything more and cheaper. In particular, which is better - a laser or inkjet printer, MFP or separate units in the form of a printer, scanner, copier, etc.? Let's try to consider the pros and cons of each approach. For example, what is good about the MFP: many of its nodes are combined in a single device, which can greatly reduce the price. Usually the set includes a laser monochrome printer, copier, scanner. The device takes up little space on the surface, which is a plus. High integration of components plays a negative role in the event of a breakdown of one of the components: in this case, all other functions cease to work. Many of them, by the way, are quite controversial. For example, do you really need a copier in the machine, because it can be replaced by a printer with a scanner? Although it will take longer, this copying operation is performed much less frequently than is commonly thought. Perhaps the best solution is to purchase a simple printer and a separate scanner, and in the sum of the costs, they will not greatly overshadow the cost of an MFP.

The main question: inkjet or laser printer needed for home? It must be said right away that the time for bulk purchases of color laser printers has not come: their prices are too high for most customers. Thus, you have to choose between full-color and mock-up printing. If you have ever worked with old HP laser printers, you can confirm - this is the "everlasting option". Older printers include LaserJet 5, 6, 1100, 1200 series laser printers and the like. It is almost impossible to find them in stores, but buying from advertisements is quite, and it will be cheap and practical.

The secret is that they used high-volume toner containers, and no chips with limits were installed to replace the drum unit. Parts for these printers have been officially marketed for 25 years, and printers are repaired anywhere. Moreover, consumables can be taken from Canon, as well as "Chinese" - there are no special complaints about powder paint. A refueling station costing 100 rubles guarantees printing up to 3-5 thousand sheets with a traditional 5% filling. More recent models such as the hp laserjet p2035 have faster print speeds, up to 30 pages per minute at 1200 dpi in A4 and custom sizes. Also the ability to print on thin, thick and rough paper, envelopes, labels, transparencies and heavy media, including in the toner save mode. The user will receive an excellent typewriter for printing, which can be used for years without fear that something will dry in it, like in inkjet printers. The latter are cheaper, but you need to print on them at least once a week, otherwise a dried up cartridge will not allow printing at all, and a complete replacement of the kit will cost 50-70% of the cost of an inkjet printer. This alone suggests that monochrome laser printers will always be popular.

This question is also asked by managers of small offices when they choose office equipment for printing documentation. Today, manufacturers have saturated the market of printing devices so much that it can be very difficult to decide which is the best for printing documents - an inkjet or laser printer, for this you first need to study all the advantages and disadvantages of different models.

Many users are not aware of the differences between these products. To quickly deal with all the ambiguities, we suggest carefully reading this article, where you will find answers to numerous questions.

Before choosing a device for printing documents, you need to understand their principle of operation:

A laser device is based on transferring the contents of cartridges onto a sheet of paper. First, a magnetized roller applies toner to the main drum, and then the pattern is transferred to paper, where it adheres firmly to the surface when exposed to instant heating in a special device. The whole process happens pretty quickly.
The inkjet counterpart works on a special ink that is directed to the desired location through capillary nozzles, creating text or a complex image. The print speed is noticeably slower, but the quality is much higher.

When comparing, it is necessary to take into account all indicators, and not only the positive and negative qualities inherent in each of the species. For example, the laser version is characterized by the following advantages:

simple use;
enough high speed print;
double-sided printing is possible;
long operation;
low cost of printing.

His opponent has its advantages:

fairly low sound impact on others;
high quality printing in color;
low power consumption;
the budgetary price of the product.

As a result: the choice of the device remains purely individual, because the office needs a fast and inexpensive option to maintain, such as a laser, and in home environment inkjet, and even with CISS will be much more priority.

Features, pros and cons of each

On the laser device, the drum surface is charged with a plus sign, and the coloring powder spills out of the cartridge when rotating, focuses on the plus points - as a result, the desired pattern is created. Then a quick, specific processing fixes it to the paper.

Advantages:

low cost per printed page;
high speed of drawing a picture;
you can print bulky text materials;
not afraid of increased loads;
frequent refilling of cartridges is not required;
prints are resistant to moisture;
prints on any paper without loss of quality.

Negative qualities:

very high cost;
high energy consumption;
you can not refuel cartridges at home;
toner is very harmful to health, you need to ventilate the room after printing.

Inkjet analog instead of needles, as in matrix type printers, a head with ink is used, and the image is created using a set of dots.

Advantages:

low price compared to the laser version;
low consumption electrical energy- more than 10 times;
all models are equipped with a card reader that allows printing directly from the camera, without the participation of a PC, and some models can receive images via Wi-Fi;
excellent color print quality;
supports various digital media;
ink is not harmful to health;
wide range of models;
compact size.

high cost of printing each page;
frequent replacement of cartridges with intensive use;
you need to use the device frequently, otherwise the ink will dry out;
fairly high sensitivity to print settings and the quality of the paper used;
slow speed of work;
moisture will damage the printed matter.

Based on the given data, each user decides for himself what office equipment to buy for his needs.

Which is more efficient for black and white printing

Printers are various modifications, so pick up the best option for home - a rather complicated matter, it is even more difficult to buy such a device for the office, where quality, speed, and most importantly, print clarity play a paramount role. Requirements for office equipment are improving and increasing every year.

Experts assure that laser analogs have a fairly high resolution, unique contrast and high brightness. To check these judgments, you need to print a document that has different fonts in the text, for example, the main one is 12, and the small one is the sixth size. The inkjet version will merge small text together, and the laser, which belongs to electrographic technology, will print the entire text clearly, retaining all the smallest details.

At the heart of laser printing technology is xerography technology, which was founded in the late 30s of the last century. The main emphasis was placed on the individual properties of the photosensitive material. We will not go into technical nuances, since there are too many specific terms that will not be clear to all readers.

The laser provides ultra-fast carriage movement, and the resulting text is highly accurate and fairly high resolution, so graphics and small explanatory text can be printed simultaneously on the page. An individual PostScript programming language has been specially developed for laser devices.

Language for describing pages (Postscript) recognizes operational Windows systems and Linux, but the American company Hewlett-Packard (HP) created its own separate development language to control printers PCL, which gives more options for printing unique texts. Therefore, HP devices are distinguished by the best quality and reliability among the galaxy of laser products.

Color printing - what products are needed for it

Inkjet printers with CISS are indisputably leading here, laser counterparts in price and photo printing are far behind. If you are looking for a printer to print color photos, simple text, so that the price is not high, then you should choose the inkjet option, because in matters of color reproduction it has no equal.

To really save on very expensive ink, install a CISS, then you can safely print any documents and color photos. For work at home with text documents, the Epson XP-420 MFP is suitable, and the XP-620 multifunctional model is ideal for photo prints.

For office work suitable for MFP Epson WorkForce WF-7610 or WF-7110 with a maximum print size A3 +. Professional photographers require an Epson 1500W, Stylus Photo R2000 or R3000.

Which is the best MFP - color or laser

Experts in this complex field of activity give the following recommendations:

If you have a small office, then you need to buy the Ricoh SP 3600SF model, it also scans documents well.
Ricoh MP 305 + SP copes a little worse with digitizing documents, it is a rather advanced laser, but it cannot print color copies.
If you need a laser unit for black and white printing at home, then Brother DCP-L2520DWR is what schoolchildren, students, as well as those who work on the Internet remotely need.
To fit a color MFP-class product in a large office, you need the OKI MC853dn model - it uses LED-type printing.
OKI MC342dnw color printer with Wi-Fi text reception system will be appropriate for installation in a small office.
The HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M177fw is suitable for home and small office work, but it is not recommended to overload it.

Each manager or user independently makes a decision, but we only propose to consider best models for different uses.

How to make a choice

The basic selection criteria are the same, no matter which type of printer you like best:

Choose a brand that has been proven over the years of operation, which has long established itself on international market only on the positive side.
Carefully read the manufacturer's warranties, and also find your city in the list of service centers so as not to travel far away if the equipment fails during the warranty period.
Find out the cost of spare parts and consumables so that it is not burdensome for your financial capabilities.
Manufacturers indicate on the packaging maximum amount prints within a month, so when buying it is quite easy to navigate, for example, if you need about 6 thousand pages per month, then buy a device with a maximum of up to 7 thousand to create the necessary stock.
Functionality. You need to buy a device only with those functions that you will use constantly, so as not to overpay for unnecessary options.
Service. There is no need to constantly spend money on refueling cartridges or buying them, buy such models where you can change them yourself or immediately install CISS.

No one will definitely answer the question of which printer is better - laser or inkjet: it depends only on personal preferences and product features.

conclusions

If you want to choose an excellent printer, then first decide what you need it for printing: if only black and white versions, then feel free to take the laser version, and for color photos - only an inkjet unit with high print quality.

Modern printers are very affordable - you can choose a completely economical model for 4000-5000 rubles. But this is not so easy to do, especially if you are going to buy a color printer: which is better laser or inkjet?

The difference between a laser printer and an inkjet printer: which one is better?

Inkjet printers use liquid ink sprayed through microscopic holes (nozzles) onto paper, while laser printers use a toner cartridge (fine powder) that is heated by a fuser. The difference in approach to printing also leads to a different set of tasks that these two types of printers can perform. How do you know whether an inkjet or laser printer is best for you? You need to dive a little into the design features.

Inkjet printers

Inkjet printers come in three types: document printers, photo printers, and MFPs. They all print using the same technology: liquid ink from a cartridge is applied to paper in the form of tiny dots, from which an image is formed.

The inkjet MFP prints color images perfectly.

Printers for documents are the cheapest, their cost rarely exceeds 6 thousand rubles. They are best at printing text documents. It can be either black and white or color.
Photo printers are slightly more expensive and are focused on high quality color printing of small photos (up to 8x10). This is usually sufficient for home printing or small photo business.
Multifunctional devices (MFPs) at a relatively low price combine the functionality of a printer, scanner and copier, and sometimes a fax.

The advantages of inkjet printers include the following:

Small size... Most inkjet printers are relatively small and can fit in tight spaces. MFPs are slightly larger, but generally smaller than a laser printer and much smaller than a standard office copier.
Low cost... Inkjet printers are generally much cheaper than laser printers. If an inkjet printer breaks down, it is much easier to replace it with a new one.
Inexpensive consumables... Inkjet cartridges in last years fell in price. An ink cartridge costs about half the price of a laser toner cartridge. In addition, it is easier to replace.
Excellent photo quality... Photo inkjet printers can produce stunning results, producing images with vibrant colors and high contrast with almost no pixelation.

Inkjet printer: inside view.

Among the disadvantages of inkjet printing are the following:

Waste ink... In order to print one page, an inkjet printer requires much more consumables than a laser.
Slow printing... An inkjet printer copes with printing multi-page documents much slower than a laser printer.
Ink cartridge problems... At times, ink cartridges can leak and dirty the printer, hands and paper. In addition, ink cartridges tend to dry out if used occasionally.

Overall, inkjet printer is popular consumer choice for home use. Buy an inkjet printer if you:

choosing a printer for your home;
want to print photos;
are going to print small documents often;
are limited in funds.

CHIP recommends: inkjet MFPs

Laser printer

Laser printers are classified into document printers and MFPs. For printing, they use a dye powder (toner), which is heated by a laser and adheres to the paper to form an image.

The laser document printer allows you to print text documents quickly and very clearly.

Laser MFPs, just like inkjet printers, combine the functions of printing, scanning and copying.

Among the advantages of a laser printer are:

Economical use of toner... Consumables for a laser printer are more expensive, but they are enough for more long term than inkjet. In general, it is cheaper to print one page with toner than with ink.
High print speed... A laser printer can handle multi-page documents much faster.
Cleanliness and neatness of printing... Toner is a dry powder and will not smudge or smudge if you put a newly printed document in a folder, for example.
Clearer printing of documents... A laser printer prints fine print and detail more accurately, making toner-printed documents look much more legible.

Inside laser printer.

There are also enough disadvantages, however.

Expensive consumables... Toner cartridges are very expensive, at least double the price of ink cartridges. But, as already mentioned, they last much longer.
Big size... A laser printer, and even more so an MFP, is rather bulky. It's not easy to squeeze it into a tight corner.
Noise... Laser printers make a noise during operation that cannot be drowned out (inkjet printers have a silent mode of operation).
Very expensive color printing... Laser printer - not the best choice for photo printing, color toner is very expensive. Many inexpensive lasers do not support color printing at all.

We can say that laser printers are the best choice for printing large amounts of text. Therefore, they can often be found in offices, libraries, educational institutions... A laser printer is worth buying if:

Which printer is better to buy inkjet or laser?

As you can imagine, the answer to this question largely depends on the purpose for which you need the printer. If you will be printing in small volumes but on a regular basis, you might consider an inkjet model, which is cheaper and will allow you to print in high resolution (such as photographs). If you print irregularly or in significant volumes, while the resolution is not so important - it is better to choose a laser printer.

Which printer is better, laser or inkjet? Many people ask this question. How to figure out what type of printing device you need?

The first step is to determine what you need a printer for. There are not so many options:

For home printing (printing of documents, books, magazines, newspapers);
- for office work;
- for photo printing;
- for educational purposes (printout of abstracts, coursework, control, laboratory, etc.)

Having decided on the main tasks of printing, we will already do half the battle. Now let's choose which device the best way will meet our expectations. For this it is necessary to define the difference between a laser printer and an inkjet printer.

Inkjet printing

MFPs, printers and inkjet plotters are widely used in design agencies, photo studios and when creating large-format advertising products... They are also needed in enterprises that develop CAD and GIS projects. They can print high quality computer graphics and colorful photographs.

Inkjet devices are also suitable for home use.

Inkjet technology successfully realizes high quality and resolution of color printing up to 9600x2400 (dpi), and this is the key to excellent image detail.

With devices of this type, you do not have to worry about where to place the printing device. When comparing tabletop models, string technology is much more compact and does not take up much desktop space.

For the price, inkjets certainly win. Typically, inkjet MFPs and printers are orders of magnitude cheaper than laser devices.

The cost of an inkjet device directly depends on the number of colors presented in it. V modern models the most commonly used four primary colors are Magenta, Cyan, Yellow and Key Color. This set is quite enough for printing documents.

There are six-, nine- and twelve-color printers for printing photographs. With their help, you can get the maximum quality of color reproduction. Liquid ink mixes well with each other. This ensures smooth transitions of shades and accurate color reproduction.

The main disadvantage of inkjet printing technology is high cost of consumables and comparatively low speed print. Prolonged periods of inactivity can cause ink to dry in the print head, resulting in major repairs.

From all of the above, we compose list of advantages and disadvantages inkjet printing devices.

Advantages jet workers:
- a high resolution print;
- acceptable price;
- excellent photo printing;
- small size.

Flaws inkjet printer:
- high cost of consumables;
- the risk of quick drying of the print head during idle time.

Laser printing

Color laser printer or inkjet: what is the difference?. Let's take a closer look at laser printing.

Laser printing technology is widely applicable to text printout... You can use this type of printer both at home and in the office. The excellent quality / speed ratio makes laser devices indispensable for large to medium sized workgroups.

Laser prints are crisp and resistant to light and water. The printing speed of laser devices is an order of magnitude higher than that of inkjets. In addition, laser multifunction devices and printers are quieter than inkjet printers.

Laser printing technology uses powder toner... Therefore, the cartridges do not dry out. This makes the device easy to tolerate periods of inactivity.

Photographs from lasers are not very good. The color toner does not mix well enough to produce vibrant, saturated photos. At the same time, a color laser costs twice as much than a monochrome machine.

The main disadvantages of this technology are increased power consumption, high cost of the device and its cartridges, and ozone release. Lasers are large enough.

Let's highlight main pros and cons laser devices.

Advantages:
- high printing speed;
- resistance of prints to light and water;
- quiet printing.

Flaws laser printers and MFPs:
- increased power consumption;
- high price;
- large dimensions;
- the release of ozone when printing.

Inkjet and laser printers: a comparison

We have summarized all the criteria for evaluating a printing device in one table.

For comparison, we used three types of printers: inkjet, laser and inkjet + CISS. For each technology, we have assigned the appropriate grades on a 3-point scale.

Criterion	Inkjet devices	Laser Devices	Inkjet devices with CISS
Print text	2	3	2
Photo printing	3	2	3
Print speed	2	3	2
Device price	3	1	3
Cost of printing	2	3	3
Cartridge volume	1	3	3
Weight and dimensions	3	2	3
Noise	2	3	2
Resilience of consumables to downtime	1	3	2
Energy consumption	3	1	3
Persistence of prints	3	3	2
Health safety	3	0	3
Outcome	28	27	31

Obviously, the most profitable purchase will be an inkjet printer with a CISS. Laser printers are clearly lagging behind in terms of price and photo printing. But if you only need to print monochrome text documents in a very high quality, then the laser is what you need.

Are you looking for a printing device that can print both photos and text in good quality and at the same time will be in an accessible price category? The jet jet is the best choice for you.

When it comes to color reproduction, an inkjet printer is second to none. True, the cost of consumables in this case is very high. But there is a way out. The problem of the high cost of consumables is easily compensated for continuous ink supply system. With an inkjet, you can print both text documents and photographs.

In this article, we will tell you which printer is the best to buy for home use. Nowadays, the choice of printers is very large, but when buying, you need to take into account several factors, which we will talk about today.

Inkjet printer and laser. Their differences.

Tips for choosing a printer.

First, a printer is more often needed at home than a scanner and copier.

Secondly, in the event of a breakdown of one of the components of the device, you need to carry it for repairs, and you completely lose your home assistant. And the cost of such a complex is much more expensive than the printer itself.

Jet printer.

We do not advise you to purchase an inkjet printer for your home, although it is the cheapest one. Its main problem is that it uses ink for printing. And if the printer is rarely used, then the cartridge dries up and must be replaced. And its cost is pretty decent - about half the cost of the printer. And charging an inkjet cartridge is problematic (and sometimes impossible) and quite expensive.

Therefore, it is necessary to print on it at least once a month. In addition, text on printed sheets will blur when wet, just like any text written in ink.

If you intend at home constantly, and not periodically to print photos, then you can purchase an inkjet printer. The cost of one print on an inkjet printer reaches $ 0.25, which makes printing at home expensive and impractical. Photo printing in service center it will cost you less and without unnecessary problems.

Laser printer.

For home use, we recommend purchasing a laser black and white printer. He uses a special powder for printing, so the printed pages are not afraid of moisture. The cost of such a printer is somewhat more expensive than an inkjet printer, but it is irreplaceable when used at home. The cartridge is constantly in working order and does not require constant use. The laser printer is always ready to work, despite long periods of inactivity. The printing speed is several times faster than that of an inkjet printer.

You only need to choose when buying a laser printer with a non-chip cartridge. The cartridge containing the CHIP cannot be refilled. After it prints a certain number of pages, you need to throw it away and buy a new one. And it costs several times more than refueling an uncoated cartridge.

It makes no sense to buy a color laser printer for your home. It is quite expensive. And you will not print paid receipts for a communal apartment in color!

A color laser printer, like an inkjet printer, is purchased by those who are professionally engaged in color printing or photography at home. For the average citizen at home, a black and white laser printer is sufficient.

The best printer for the home.

We advise you to purchase one of the following models of printers from well-known manufacturers Cannon 6020,6030 and HP 1100, 1102. These are black and white laser printers that have almost the same design, are reliable and easy to use. They have interchangeable and non-chip cartridges (there is a possibility of refilling), as well as excellent feedback on operation. There are several similar models from other manufacturers, but relying on own experience, we do not advise you to buy them.

When buying, pay attention to the date of the printer and the country where it was made. This information is located on the back of the printer.

The process of unpacking and installing the HP 1102 printer.

1. First he removes the orange ribbons.

2. We take out the cartridge and remove the retainer from it.

3. We take out the check.

4 ... Reinstall the printer cartridge and close the top cover.

5 ... We insert into the printer (very important - we only insert into the printer) the cable for connecting to the computer (it is not included in the kit, you must buy it separately). During the installation of drivers, the program will offer to connect the printer to the computer. We connect the power cord.

6. After connecting the printer to the power supply, insert the driver disc and follow the instructions. If the disc is missing, you can download the drivers on the manufacturer's official website.

7 ... After installation, fill the printer with paper and print a test page.

See our video for a detailed installation. We hope you enjoy our selection.