Laser Printer Vs Inkjet

Printing technology has evolved from a manual typewriter to high-speed digital printing. Over the past century, digital printing technology has introduced laser printers and inkjet printers. These two types of printers are suitable for home and official usage. After reading this research blog you can differentiate laser printer vs inkjet.

Take a moment to consider which one of them was invented first. The answer is a Laser printer.

Laser Printer

Xerox company invented laser printing technology in the 1960s. The printer operates using a laser beam, as its name suggests. The laser beam transmits the electric charge to create an image on a drum. The toner cartridge applies the image onto a paper using heat and pressure. Thus, it uses electrophotographic technology for printing. Also, these printers are reliable for use at home or in the office. Understanding the pros and cons of laser printers is necessary to understand the debate between laser printer vs inkjet. No matter what type of printer you may have, it is important to print a test page to check the proper working of your printer.

Pros of Laser printer

The following are some benefits of using a laser printer.

Print Quality: The printing quality of these printers is amazing. High-quality printing and high-definition text make it a widely used choice for official purposes.

Printing huge volume: These printers work smoothly to print the huge printing task of text documents.

Printing Time: The invention of the laser printer has revolutionized the printing press due to its speedy printing.

Reliable print: These are consistently good in quality and performance. It has won the confidence of printer users.

Long-lasting prints: The prints withstand fading and avoid blurring.

Text printing: These printers are good for printing text documents, especially on a large scale.

Cons of Laser printer

Not for photo prints: These printers are not suitable for high-quality photograph prints. Because, when it comes to printing photos it produces low-quality prints.

Expensive: These printers are costly when compared with other technology printers.

Costful Color Cartridge: Color laser printers use expensive toner cartridges.

Paper type: Heat-sensitive paper will not work in laser printers since it works with the mechanism of heat and pressure.

Warm-up timing: These printers take a few minutes to get warm-ups before use.

Inkjet Printer

Inkjet printers are widely used across the world. It is a digital printer just like a laser printer. However, it works on a different mechanism of spraying tiny ink droplets onto paper. Small nozzles move from side to side to perform this task. It is an affordable printer for all types of usage. Unlike laser printers, these printers have cartridges filled with liquid ink. The inkjet printer excels in printing photos. People commonly use inkjet printers to print passport-sized photographs. However, to differentiate laser printer vs inkjet, it is important to understand the types of inkjet printers first.

Types of Inkjet Printer

Based on operational technology, inkjet printers can be classified into the following two types.

Thermal Inkjet Printer

These are the widespread types of inkjet printers used across the world. As suggested by its name, these printers use thermal (heat) to vaporize the ink to eject out of the cartridge nozzles. The droplets of ink are not visible to the naked eye. Then, these droplets are sprayed onto paper to print the displayed document file. Thus, a thermal inkjet printer is good for printing text and graphics.

Piezoelectric Inkjet Printer

Piezoelectric inkjet printers are a special type of inkjet printer. These printers work on the mechanism of the “Piezo effect”. When piezo materials (special crystals) receive an electric voltage, they vibrate in response and generate pressure in the cartridge, which expels the ink from the nozzles onto the paper. Variation in electric voltage proportionally executes the pressure to form droplets of different sizes. Therefore, precise, high-definition, and high-quality graphics can be printed using this type of printer.

It is important to know that only a “Piezoelectric inkjet printer” can be converted into a Sublimation printer.

Pros of an Inkjet Printer

The following are some benefits of using an inkjet printer.

Photographic Prints: Inkjet printers are the best choice when it comes to printing photographs. Graphic designers and photographers can rely on inkjet printers.

Ink Variety: Unlike a laser printer, inkjet printers are compatible with pigment ink, dye ink, and sublimation ink. Based on our needs we can select the specific ink choice.

CMYK color: Color inkjet printers use four basic colors Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key (CMYK) colors.

Small and Affordable: Inkjet printers are small in size and affordable to use at home and in the offices.

Cons of Inkjet Printer

The following are some disadvantages of inkjet printers:

Not durable: They cannot withstand fading and blurring. On exposure to the Sun, the color changes their tone.

Print timing: These printers take time to print.

Noisy print: These printers make noise while printing on paper.

Costful Ink: The quality of ink varies and likewise the price. Injet is good for small-scale production, on large-scale production the cost of ink is so expensive to bear.

Nozzle clogging: These printers face a nozzle clog issue if not used for a long time. Therefore, to avoid this issue Print a Test Page once a week.

HP Laser Printer

As a case study, this blog post will discuss HP laser printer, to further understand the debate of laser printer vs inkjet. HP has introduced a wide range of laser printers to cater to the needs of its customers. Prices also vary depending on the scale of printing production and the size of printers. Therefore, the following are some categories of HP printers.

Black and White Laser Printer

HP black and white laser printers are the most demanding printers on the market. This is just because it caters to the demand of day-to-day printing tasks in offices and printing presses. The following are some of the series of HP laser printers:

HP LaserJet Pro M100-M200 series

This series can fulfill the need for the production of printing in small-scale businesses and at home. This series is cost-efficient and capable of producing high printing quality.

HP LaserJet Pro M400-M500 series

This series is compatible to handle the demands of medium-sized businesses. These series come with additional features that were not available in the previous series. For example, Wi-Fi connectivity.

HP LaserJet Enterprise M600-M700 series

This series is specially developed with the most sophisticated printing features. It fulfills the demands of large-scale production businesses and printing presses.

HP Color Laser Printer

HP color laser printers are reliable printers in the market. The variety in HP laserJet series has made it affordable and demanding based on different business sizes.

HP Neverstop Laser series

This is one of the best and most innovative series of HP color laser printers. It is cost-efficient for large businesses to render high-quality printings. This printer is specially innovated to reduce the printing cost. Especially in a high-volume color printing press or large-scale printing production firm.

HP Color LaserJet Pro M250-M450 series

With the mobile printing option, this is the most demanding HP color laser printer. It is good for both medium and large size businesses alike. Also, it is known for its high resolution and dynamic color printing quality.

HP Color LaserJet Enterprise M650-M750 series

When it comes to the security of printing, advanced printing features, and the best quality printing. This series of HP color laser printers is recommended for large-scale businesses or high-quality printing presses.

For more information on the HP LaserJet series visit the official website of HP.

Conclusion

Overall, as we have discussed, the laser printer and inkjet printer both have their own merits and demerits. The primary difference lies in their mechanism of working. The laser printer uses a heat-pressure mechanism to print on paper. Whereas, inkjet printers use the mechanism of spraying tiny droplets of liquid ink. It is a daylight fact that inkjet printers are widely used printers across the world. Whereas laser printers are most demanding for medium and large-scale businesses. Also, as a case study we have discussed the HP laser printer in this blog, its types based on color, and its series based on budget and needs. Thus, after reading this blog you might have understood that the debate of laser printer vs inkjet is subjective, meaning that the choice is determined by needs and budget of customers.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)