http://www.morfon.com/inkjet-ink-cost-comparison/
College Student’s Printer: Laser or Inkjet?
I just recently started college and have realized I want a printer in my dorm room. I’m wondering this: laser or inkjet?
I already have an inkjet at home that I could bring, but it seems the ink is always running out fast and refilling/buying new costs a lot. This is why I’m thinking about buying a laser printer, but I have a couple concerns:
- How much does toner for a laser cost compared to ink for inkjet?
- And how long does toner last in comparison to ink (number of pages on average?)
- If I were to get a laser, it would be mono. But would wireless networking be something worth investing in?
Thanks for the help!
I would really go with the laser over the inkjet. Inkjet printers do go through ink rather quickly as most will do a cleaning of some kind and ink prep each time the printer is turned on or is idle for a certain amount of time, all of which consumes ink, even though you’re not printing yet. You also run into the possible issue of the printheads getting clogged due to dust or dried ink at the nozzles if it isn’t used fairly regularly. Ink cartridge costs will be quite expensive over the long run.
On the other hand, laser printers don’t have ink that dries up, or printheads that get clogged, and they’re ready to go after a few minutes or weeks of not being used and are much more reliable. Toner cartridges do cost a fair amount, depending on the printer model, but they can also print from around 2,000 to over 5,000 copies per cartridge (again depending on the printer model and cartridge toner storage size capacity). The toner cartridge cost, though initially expensive, will actually work out to be cheaper in the long run over inkjet ink cartridges per printed page, especially since inkjet ink is wasted every time the printer starts, whereas lasers don’t need to do that. You can also find pretty good prices on toner cartridges from 3rd party vendors rather than the manufacturer toner, which will be much, much cheaper that inkjet printer usage.
As for wireless capability, it wouldn’t hurt to have it, and I suspect the cost difference is pretty negligible, just make sure to use the wireless security settings so that others nearby don’t have easy access to your printer.
Best of luck.
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