Inkjet Printers: How to Distinguish the Inkjet Printer and Laser Printer

Nowadays, more and more people prefer to buy a printer at home, so that they can print at home instead of going out. But there are many kinds of printers in the market, what kind of printer do you need actually?

People generally categorize printer into three types: dot matrix printers, inkjet printers and laser printers. The dot matrix printers are easy to recognize. We mainly analyze the difference between inkjet printer and laser printer.

The inkjet printer

1. Conception

Inkjet printer is a type of printer that works by spraying ionized ink at a sheet of paper. Magnetized plates in the ink's path direct the ink onto the paper in the desired shapes. In the inkjet printing mechanism, the print head has several tiny nozzles, also called jets. As the paper moves past the print head, the nozzles spray ink onto it, forming the characters and images.

2. Advantages

Inkjet printers for family usually have a small size, it’s portable and easy to operate, people can print a perfect photo by using it with low price.

3. Disadvantages

The speed of inkjet printer is the biggest problem. For example, it needs nearly 10 minutes to print a photo.

The laser printer

1. Conception

Laser printer is a popular type of personal computer printer that uses a non-impact (keys don't strike the paper), photocopier technology. When a document is sent to the printer, a laser beam "draws" the document on a selenium-coated drum using electrical charges. After the drum is charged, it is rolled in toner, a dry powder type of ink. The toner adheres to the charged image on the drum. The toner is transferred onto a piece of paper and fused to the paper with heat and pressure. After the document is printed, the electrical charge is removed from the drum and the excess toner is collected.

2. Advantages

Laser printers have a very high speed in printing. When it comes to printing black and white text pages, laser printing is unbeatable. Even in low-end cheaper monochrome laser models you can expect print speeds of up to 20 pages per minute. Inkjets are significantly slower, with budget printers rarely printing more than 6 pages per minute of black text.

3. Disadvantages

Laser printers are not suitable for printing colorful pictures. A color laser printer is up to 10 times more expensive than a monochrome laser printer.