Shopping for a printer these days can be confusing, so you may need a bit of guidance. Five years ago, buying a printer was a bit more cut and dried, but today, disparities in price and technology have closed, so you have to compare not only the cost of a printer and its supplies, but also its print speed, print quality, and how you plan to use it. If you can compare the criteria for both the laser and the inkjet, the answers should point you in the right direction.

PRICE OF PRINTER AND ITS SUPPLIES
You have to look at not only the initial cost out of the box, but also the price for consumables such as inkjet ink and laser toner. Just comparing the machines, the inkjet printer is by far the cheapest because of its simpler technology over the laser printer. If you plan to use the printer for light print work at home, an inkjet is the most attractive option.

With a laser printer, its technology translates to better efficiency, meaning you would not have to purchase toner replacements nearly as often as an inkjet. The initial outlay for a laser printer is higher—but operating costs are lower due to fewer replacement toner expenses. It makes sense to purchase a laser printer if you plan to print high volume.

PRINT SPEED
The laser printer wins hands down in the speed category against inkjet printers, particularly for text. With inkjet printers, the printer heads have to move back and forth, spraying ink out of tiny nozzles to print images whereas laser printers have the entire text or image printed on their drum before a transfer to the paper medium – no back and forth movement needed. Laser printers have more efficient technology and print speed is one way they excel.

QUALITY OF PRINT
DPI or dots per inch has long been the judging tool as to print quality. The higher the DPI, the better the print quality is. Laser printers overall produce a cleaner, crisper print because the efficiency of their static charge technology and the ability to imprint and fuse the entire text or image onto the paper. With inkjets, the ink is liquid and sprayed as droplets onto the paper, and no matter how tiny or close together these nozzles are, sometimes there is still tendency for inkjet-based print jobs to appear fuzzy or even bleed.

The exception in print quality comes down to the inkjet printer's ability to produce more vibrant photos. While laser printers (the color ones) do well for color in text, clipart and graphics, they do not hold a candle to the inkjet's photo printing capabilities. Using quality waxed or special photo paper with inkjets produces pictures that rival photo lab quality, depending on the brand of printer you get.

There are several advantages and disadvantages to both the inkjet and laser printer. How you use the printer, along with how much you can afford, is going to lead you to the best printer within your means and preferences.