FULL DISCLOSURE: I own an HP C3180 inkjet printer as well as an HP 1012 monochrome laser printer; and I long ago became a laser partisan.
Once upon a time, average consumers avoided laser printers because they weighed a ton, were too expensive, and as for the cost of the cartridges . . . well, let's not even go there!
So, inexpensive inkjet printers (some as little as $99) flew off the shelves and into the homes of blue collar workers and the dorm rooms of college students by the millions. After all, $99 . . . how could you beat the price? Then, a week or two later, the starter cartridge that came with the $99 wonder ran out of ink, and -- Oops! -- you suddenly discovered that the cartridge for that $99 printer was going to cost you $45, half the cost of the printer.
This is called the Razor and Blades Business Model: give away the razor (or in this case, the printer) and charge mucho-mucho for the necessary blades. Or, like the "free film for life" photo deals: sure, the film is free, but it must be developed by the film's manufacturer . . . usually at a premium.
Suddenly, inkjet printers didn't seem all that inexpensive anymore. A few years later, the price of laser printers came down, with many acceptable ones costing just over $100, and suddenly we were able to compare apples to apples, at least in terms of price.
The University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) put up a nice price comparison chart comparing the cost of each type over the course of one, two and three years.
Of course, the table only covers the cost of toner/ink, and laser comes out a clear winner. However, the laser printer example is monochrome, not color--but, I'll discuss color in a later post.
Although price is one factor, "page yield" (the approximate number of pages that can be printed before the cartridge must be replaced) can be a major consideration. And here, the laser printer also outperforms the inkjet printer at more than a 5:1 ratio: 400 pages (inkjet) vs. 2200 (laser).
Two other factors, not shown on the chart, but which are well known to anyone who has used both type of printers, are: print speed and the "smear factor." In almost every case, a consumer-level laser printer will outperform an inkjet printer by seconds per page, even when printing only black on white.
Likewise, the smear factor, which has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that this is a presidential year, comes into play when you try to highlight something on a page using , well . . . a hi-lighter. Ink smears, toner doesn't. Not only does smearing make it difficult to read whatever you considered important enough to highlight, but it pretty much ruins the highlighting instrument for any other use.While writing this post, I came across this May, 2008 article from PCWorld.com called: "Top 10 Reasons To Go Laser." It reiterates much of what I've written above, but in a more organized fashion; mine, however, is far more entertaining 8^)
Anyway, this is why I am a laser partisan.
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