Inkjet versus Laser; which should you buy?

 Most documents these days live on laptop drives or cloud services, but you still need a great printer to print those monthly reports or your holiday photos. Printers have become less expensive and increasingly tricked-out over time. You can find a basic inkjet for below $100 or you could go wild and spend $400 on a model that comes packed with additional features. Read more below to help you find the best printer for your needs

 Inkjet Printer

If you typically print a combination of text, graphics or photos, and inkjet printer is the best option. Most can print almost anything and the particularly excel at photos in comparison to laser printers.

However, bear in mind that brand reliability and owner satisfaction ratings tend to be lower for inkjet printers. These ratings are based on data derived from CR’s member surveys.

Most inkjets output black-and-white text at five to 18 pages per minute but are much slower for color photos. 

The cost of a color 8x10-inch photo ranges from 50 cents to $2. Printing a black-text page with an inkjet varies but typically falls between 2 and 10 cents.

Some inkjets can also make borderless prints, most commonly on 4x6-inch paper. If you plan to do this often, look for a printer with a 4x6 or second paper tray, which makes it easier to feed paper this size.

Printing a 4x6-inch snapshot can take less than a minute and cost as little as 20 cents.

Laser Printers

If you print only text documents—and a lot of them—a laser printer makes the most sense. Laser printers produce sharp black-and-white text, and some do well with color type and graphics.

But laser printers generally are not well-suited for printing photos. Even models that print in color aren’t intended for use with glossy photo stock or other specialty papers, and the photo quality is quite poor.

Lasers typically can’t accommodate unusually sized papers, such as 4x6 or greeting cards, either.

Laser printers usually outperform inkjets in terms of speed, cranking out black-and-white text at a rate of nine to 25 pages per minute. And they have one other big advantage: According to data from our member surveys, laser printers tend to be more reliable than inkjets. 

Black-and-white lasers generally cost about as much as midpriced inkjet models. Laser cartridges, which cost from about $50 to $100, can print thousands of black-and-white pages for 1 to 6 cents per page. 

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