# Ink jet vs laser cost per page



## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

First some facts. My printers are used for my home stuff so I don't print a lot but I probably do print more than most people. 90+% of all my printing is black and white. There are times when I print things daily but there are times where I'll go a week or more w/o printing anything.

A while back someone told me that while laser toner carts are more expensive that inkjet carts you get a lot more pages per cart. Which means when you view it in a cost per page its actually cheaper to use a laser printer.


Now the questions.

Is it true that as a cost per page its cheaper for laser?

Will the toner 'go bad' sitting idle in the printer for long periods? I've had problems with my ink carts drying out or leaking when left in a printer long term (I've tried all kinds; brand name, generic and factory refurbished carts).

Any brand of printer or toner manufacture to stay away from?


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## Kung (Jan 19, 2004)

Depends on how you look at it. If you're ONLY considering the cost of the ink or toner, then yes, it's usually cheaper for laserjet printers; you might have to pay a heck of a lot more for the cartridges, but it usually goes much further.

I say "depends" because the two printers utilize two different technologies, and as such, have different parts. I may be able to print far more with a laserjet printer....but if you ALSO have to replace the transfer roller and imaging drum on a printer, that's technically got to be figured into the cost.

In general, if I need to print a high volume of black and white or color, then yes, I'll default towards a laserjet printer. That said, when you buy either, you need to look at

- cost of the replacement cartridges
- print yield of the cartridges
- reliability of that particular printer


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

Toner doesn't go bad. I have an old Oki C5100N with carts that are over 8 years old and they work fine. I bought an EPSON multi-purpose printer scanner fax that is ink jet and within a year have had to spend over $50 in replacement carts. To keep the jets from clogging, it has to run through cleaning cycles.

A secondary issue is the use of dyes vs. pigments. The dyes in ink-jet printers are generally unstable and subject to fading or off-color. Toner can be less affected.

The downside of laser printers is that pages stored in warm conditions can have the toner melt and stick pages together.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

You can get a pretty nice black laser printer for $50 at eBay, used. That's what I use. I bought an HP P2015 for $50 (delivered price), like this one.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-LaserJet...311?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20f86c576f

The high yield toner cartridge (7,000 sheets) is about $15.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Pack-HP-Q...918?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item416944060e

Toner cartridges are said to have a shelf life of two years, but I've used older ones with good results.

There are a variety of good used commercial laser printers available at eBay. It doesn't have to be the HP P2015 model, but I'm partial to HP laser printers over other brands.


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## po boy (Jul 12, 2010)

Today, Printers are sold to sell ink!

When I was in business we ran 20 to 30 laser printers. New, they cost $800 to $1000 and toner ran $60 to $100 per cartridge. Inkjet printers cost a fraction of the cost of a laser printer. However, inkjet cartridges cost many times more than laser and delivered far less in printed pages. In a lot of cases a full set of Inkjet cartridges cost more than the printer.

I ran HP Laser 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10. There could have been some HP 7??? Those printers ran forever!


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## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

Ok, so are then any cheap color laser printers? I'll have to have something which I can use when I need to print color. I was just planning on getting a really cheap b&w one and keeping my inkjet to use for that as well as scanning/copying.


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

Check at Staples. I see they have an Oki C 331dn for about $250. With any printer, ask to see it in action and see the output. There is a lot of variation.
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## Shin (Mar 25, 2014)

Yes the laser printers toner for black and white at least are less expensive than the ink jet printers. I have never done the math for the color comparison, but it should be more economical per page too despite the significant up front cost.

Generally with ink jet printers, I have found the ink quickly dries up, so that even if you have plenty of ink, if you do not print regularly, you are out significant money each time you want to print as you have to buy a new ink jet cartridge. This is very inconvenient and costly. The clogging and unclogging procedure which only sometimes succeeds also wastes ink.

Laser printers don't have this problem at all. A black and white laser printer is not expensive, and so a good investment for people who print without using color, i.e. lots of documents. A color laser printer -- a color one's toner will have a significant upfront cost.

A minor note, laser printers are faster at printing than ink jet printers, and much more suitable for printing large documents regularly and swiftly, but they use much more electricity when they are on compared to the ink jets, so plug your laser printer in an outlet where it won't be competing with another large energy device.

You can find a b&w laser for $50 or less when on sale these days, toner included.


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## plowjockey (Aug 18, 2008)

Whatever you buy, don't waste good money on the manufacturers replacement toner cartridges.

Amazon or ebay, generic cartridges work fine and are 1/4 the cost.

I have this one but have not configured the wifi yet.

http://www.amazon.com/HP-LaserJet-M...29318802&sr=8-2&keywords=p1102w+printer+toner


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## gibbsgirl (May 1, 2013)

We have a brother HL-5370DW. I only buy black, no color. Prints on two sides. It's super fast, and an absolute workhorse. Had it for I think close to 4 years.

Reminds my husband of the printers we used to have about 15-20 years ago that just got the job one reliably and cheaply.

I got it on the recommendation of a homeschool supplier who sold e-books, and said it was the cheapest, best thing they'd found on the market. They recommended printing the books out for the kids to read instead of using endless screen time.

We calculated it to be between 1 and 2 cents a page for the cost of ink or toner and paper, and depending on if I was printing on one side or two.

I use it constantly and print several thousand pages of stuff a year. Have lots of curriculum stuff that we print out and have toted it back and forth to different sports club events when we've had to print schedules and sign-up forms, etc.


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## Shin (Mar 25, 2014)

Yes, with an inexpensive laser, printing stuff out.. let's keep the children away from the electronic screens.  

Who knows you might be saving money compared to the electricity cost too!


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