In our eight round head to head we will compare inkjets with color
lasers to help you decide which will be your next printer. We will
cover the cost of the device, cost per print, print speed, OS
compatibility, networkability, photo print quality, text print quality
and ease of use. To make a fair comparison we selected two printers
with a street value of around $500 Australian dollars the Fuji Xerox
DocuPrint C525A colour laser and the Epson R800.
Round One - Capital cost – winner Ink Jet. Although
color laser printers are now much cheaper inkjets still generally cost
less. If you consider our two reference printers, the $500 buys you an
entry level colour laser while for the same price you get the current
top of the line A4 inkjet from Epson. If your initial budget is limited
to under $200 then an inkjet is still your only choice.
Round Two – Cost per print – winner Color Laser. It
is no secrete that inkjets cost a lot to run and here we will do a few
calculations to prove it. Printing b/w text on the C525a costs 5.5
cents/page while on the R800 it costs 7.1 cents/page. The cost of
printing images is 22c per page and 37.5c on the laser and inkjet
respectively. These figures assume 5% coverage per colour and are based
on the manufactures estimates. The inkjet figures are best case
scenarios in draft or economy mode. In high quality mode inkjet’s cost
per page skyrocket. If running costs are important to you then the
laser is the only way to go.
Round Three – Print Speed – winner color laser According
to the manufacture’s specifications, both types of printers would
appear to be similar speeds. The specs of the R800 quote 17ppm and 8ppm
for mono and colour respectively while the Xerox C525 boasts a speed of
17.5ppm for mono and 5ppm for colour. If you turn off draft mode on the
inkjet the performance starts to crawl. Real world tests of high
quality test reveal a disappointing 2.1 pages per minute. Print speed
is defiantly not an inkjet’s strength.
Round Four – Os Compatibility - winner Inkjet A
drawback of some entry level laser printers (colour and mono) is lack
of compatibility with operating systems other than Windows. Printer
makers use GDI print emulation to offload most of the printer’s work to
the users PC. This means that printers need less processing power
making them cheaper but unfortunately completely incompatible with
either anything other than Windows.
While almost all inkjets
are Macintosh compatible, entry level GDI color lasers such as Canon
LBP-5000 or Konica Minolta 2500w are not. Luckily two very popular
color lasers, the Xerox C525a and Acuculaser C1100 from Epson, are Mac
and Linux compatible. If you don’t use Windows you can still get a
great color laser but you will have too shop around. Mac support is so
common in the inkjet world that a Mac user barely needs to check before
buying. This is another victory to the inkjets.
Round Five – Networkability – winner laser As
laser printing technology was originally aimed at office users a
network port a common, even in entry level models. A quick survey of
all the inkjets from Canon and Epson reveals that only one offers
network support out of the box (Canon Pixma iP5200R). If you need to
network your inkjet you will need to consider buying a separate print
server. This one goes to the colour laser.
Round Six – Photo Print Quality – winner inkjet Although
colour laser printers are now much better at printing photos they still
do not match the incredible results from high-end inkjets. For the best
results you will need to invest in the high quality consumables and
allow time for output. This is a no-brainer, inkjets take the crown
here.
Round Seven – Text Print Quality – winner laser Color
printers share most of their design and features with their monochrome
ancestors. Just like mono lasers color lasers produce sharp, dark and
consistent characters. Text printed on an inkjet on the other hand
often bleeds, exhibits white lines or is more grey than black. A laser
is the only option for professional looking documents.
Round Eight – Ease of use - tie In
an inkjet the paper path is much simpler. This makes paper jams less
common and easier to fix. On the other hand inkjets require ongoing
print head maintenance which is not necessary on a laser. This one
would have to be a tie.
Summary With three rounds going to
the inkjet and four to the color laser it was a fair fight but the
colour laser won in the end. As for selecting your next printer, it all
depends on how you prioritise each round. Clearly identify your needs
and select the type of printer that is right for you.
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