laserjet printer vs inkjet

[lukey121]

This may be a very silly question but I know nothing about computers or printers. What is the difference between a laserjet printer and an inkjet printer.

[almcd007]

Check out this website :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_printer

for all your prinitng answer needs

[vehelpfulguy]

A laser printer works like a photo copier and has a "toner" (black dust) that is fired on to the paper and sticks there.

Ink jets have small cartridges containing a liquid ink that is squirted onto the paper (different companies do have slightly different technologies).

Ink jet printers tend to be cheap to buy (particularly for colour) but expensive to run. Sometime one cartridge can cost the same as the whole printer.

Often companies sell their printers at a loss, but make their money on the ink. Which is why you see cheap ink jet printers in Tesco, Sainsburys, W H Smiths etc

Lasers tend to be cheaper to run (cost per page) but the printers are more expensive to buy, particularly for color. Mind you replacement toners are expensive.

I bought a Samsung B/W laser a few years ago for about �35 (the model was being replaced) and it did me loads of pages, but a new toner cartridge will cost me over �50.

I have the cheap laser printer (Samsung) that I use for black and white printing, but an ink jet for colour.

[vehelpfulguy]

To give you an idea of price for lasers

Here is a low-end B/W laser from Samsung (there are other makes) at about �80

http://www.staples.co.uk/eng/Catalog/cat_sku.a sp?Description=UK_CL_Laser+Printers&CatIds=217 97,21810,21841,21852&webid=389233&affixedcode= WW

And here is a Samsung color laser, at about �140

http://www.staples.co.uk/eng/Catalog/cat_sku.a sp?Description=UK_CL_Laser+Printers&CatIds=217 97,21810,21841,21852&webid=382484&affixedcode= WW

Some laser printers do come with a network card built in so you can plug it into a router (or network) so more than 1 person can print to it.

Here is an example of a network ready printer (which also does Duplex, which I dont think any ink jets do)

http://www.staples.co.uk/eng/Catalog/cat_sku.a sp?Description=UK_CL_Laser+Printers&CatIds=217 97,21810,21841,21852&webid=4m510&affixedcode=W W