Laser printers and multifunction devices are an integral part of everyday work. We answer the most important questions and help you find the best laser printer.
Everyday work has changed. In many cases it goes without saying that part of the week is spent in the home office. A laser printer or, even better, a laser multifunction device often completes the office equipment and at the same time masters the print jobs that arise privately. In addition, this type of printer has always come into play when a high-throughput office machine for several users is sought.
However, there is no such thing as the perfect laser printer model for every requirement. At the same time, the abundance of different model variants makes it difficult to get an overview. Orienting yourself exclusively to well-known manufacturer names such as HP, Canon, Brother or Kyocera only works to a limited extent. Because delivery bottlenecks are currently making it even more difficult to find the desired model. In short: Orientation is required and we help with that.
What is a laser printer?
Whether for the home or in the office: Laser printers always come into play when the focus is on sharp text, document authenticity and fast processing of large print jobs. In contrast to inkjet printers, the printed image cannot be smudged with a laser printer because the toner is fixed to the paper surface with heat. Toner particles do not sink into the paper. This property gives fonts and graphics a high level of clarity, making it easier to read and understand content.
Especially those who print irregularly should look around among laser printer models. The reason: toner is in powder form and can therefore hardly age. After long idle times, shaking the toner cartridge(s) usually helps to restore the usual quality of the printouts. In contrast, a print head of an ink printer can be clogged with dried ink liquid after a long period of non-use. Numerous nozzle flushes are often required to restore the print quality – if this works, it costs paper and ink unnecessarily. But often even that doesn’t help and a new cartridge and/or a new print head is due.
When is a black and white laser printer worthwhile, when is it worth using a color laser printer?
There are different versions of laser printers: As a black-and-white laser printer, the printer produces shades of gray – from very light gray to deep black. The monochrome laser multifunction printer adds grayscale copying and color scanning to printing. A significant surcharge is to be expected for the additional functions. The monochrome printers and multifunction devices are suitable for users who can do without color. The devices are ideal for extensive print jobs such as invoices or texts at home and in the office.
The color laser printer is the counterpart that can also output colors in addition to grayscale. The laser technology is limited to four colors: cyan (blue), magenta (red), yellow (yellow) and black (black). There are no other colors, such as those often used in inkjet printers to increase the color nuances that can be displayed. Even borderless printing, which increases the photo character of printouts with inkjet printers, is not possible with laser printers. Therefore, color laser printers are less suitable for photo printing, but all the more suitable when it comes to high-quality color prints that combine text passages with graphics and images. The assignments are diverse and cover almost the entire spectrum of everyday office life – such as correspondence with a company logo, presentations or expert opinions. But even at home, almost everything that comes up can be printed out on a color laser printer – from handicraft templates and worksheets to printing out recipes. The costs increase, both in terms of acquisition and maintenance due to the additional toner.
What is to be considered when it comes to the printing speed of a laser printer?
Even with inexpensive black-and-white laser printers for the home, the manufacturers speak of speed values in the technical data that start at 18 pages per minute. That’s a respectable pace, but it’s usually appended with the suffix “up to.” The reason: there is the ISO/IEC24734 standard for time measurements. It provides for a set document package of four A4 pages each, with a PDF, an Excel spreadsheet and a Word document. It should be used with factory settings in standard resolution for the speed test of a printer in order to make it easier to compare different printer models.
However, not all print speed information is automatically based on the standardized method. Or it was slightly modified in favor of the respective model. In footnotes, manufacturers often reveal that they tested the printer at the lowest resolution (draft mode) or turned the page coverage. The indication of the printing speed is therefore a rather theoretical guide value, but serves for orientation and classification of the device.
As a rule, the tempo specifications apply to both black-and-white and color prints. Because most color laser printers have single-pass printing units installed. They ensure that all colors are transferred to the paper as it moves past the imaging units. In the multi-pass process, this happens four times – separately for each color. As a result, the working speed in color printing drops accordingly.
When it comes to the printing speed, it is also important to note which interface is used. Wired connections to the PC such as USB 2.0 or Ethernet LAN ensure trouble-free connections. Wireless connections via WLAN, on the other hand, are theoretically more prone to delays. The result: Printing starts later or is interrupted more easily. But that hardly ever happens in everyday life.
If you want to create extensive prints that need to be processed as quickly as possible, you should pay attention to the print speed in pages per minute and the FPO (First Page Out) specification for the laser printer. It shows how fast a device outputs a single page of text and is mostly given in seconds.
What is important in the cost per page of a laser printer?
Every laser printer and every laser multifunction device comes with a basic set of toner from the factory. These starter toners differ in filling level from newly purchased toners. The reason: they are intended to guarantee the commissioning of a printer, but are not subject to any further regulations. However, it is worth comparing the starter toners because it makes it easier to estimate when the printer model needs to be replenished.
Several aspects play a role when it comes to buying additional toner: In the case of compact entry-level devices, the toner cartridges often not only consist of a container for the powder, but also combine the transport roller and developer unit in one complete cartridge. This construction increases the price per side because it is more complex. Bargains are looking for laser printer models for which only the toner containers have to be bought later.
Then there is the capacity: the more toner there is in a cartridge, the longer it takes until the next purchase – the price per page falls accordingly. However, not every printer model can automatically be equipped with cartridges with XL ranges.
However, the side price can be estimated very concretely: The replacement cartridge with the highest range and the price due for it serve as the basis. Dividing the page coverage by the price gives the cost per page. With a black and white laser printer or combination device, about 2 cents correspond to a cheap price per page.
With color laser printers, the costs for the color page are added: they are made up of the added color cartridge prices, which are divided by the range in A4 pages. Cheap side costs are about 12 cents and below.
An alternative can also be manufacturer programs such as Instant Ink from HP, which apply to most of the manufacturer’s laser printers. Instead of paying for cartridges, customers subscribe to a certain number of printed pages per month. Subscription levels start at 50 pages per month. The printer, which is connected to the Internet, automatically replenishes the cartridges thanks to an automatic notification to the manufacturer. In the case of laser printers, however, the conclusion of a subscription should be considered carefully. Those who primarily print text pages will not save much. In the case of printouts with many graphics in high page coverage, the toner consumption can definitely be higher than with the standard page on which ISO/IEC19752 is based.
What are the follow-up costs apart from toner?
Laser printers and multifunction devices not only need toner to function smoothly over the long term. Depending on the model, there are additional consumables – including developer units, transfer belts, fixers or waste toner containers. For an exact calculation of the follow-up costs, these components must be included in the cost calculation. Since the technical data describes how many A4 pages the components can be used for, the calculation is similar to that for the page costs.
The energy requirement is also an important issue for laser printers. In contrast to inkjet printers, the laser counterparts quickly draw several hundred watts during printing due to the mechanics, including during other activities such as copying. Logos such as the Blue Angel indicate that the energy requirement is comparatively low . Printer models with this award also provide orientation with regard to the use of recycled materials – for example for parts of the plastic housing. At the same time, such award-winning printers also meet the requirements for interior spaces to be only slightly polluted with fine dust.
Which equipment is important for a laser printer?
In addition to working speed and output quality, the equipment is also an important purchase criterion for laser printers. In principle, the desired model should automatically handle duplex printing, i.e. double-sided printing, or at least have a driver setting for manual printing of the front and back of a sheet.
If you need a fax function for the multifunction device, you usually get an automatic document feeder with it. But there are also model variants that draw in sheets automatically without being able to fax. Since most of these laser printers come with a display for easier operation, significant surcharges can be expected compared to the basic models. However, the investment is worthwhile in everyday life because it makes the use of the laser printer easier.
If you need certain printer languages such as PCL or Postscript (PS), make sure that the desired laser printer can at least emulate them. The interface equipment is particularly important for entry-level laser printers: While USB 2.0 is always available and WLAN variants are becoming more and more common, printers with an Ethernet LAN connection are somewhat more difficult to find.
Driver support should also be considered. A check of the supported operating systems before purchase prevents trouble later. Current models always support Windows variants 10 and 11, but cannot always handle Windows Server or Linux. With MacOS drivers, it is also worth checking the support for the desired version in the technical data.
What should be considered when it comes to the volume of a laser printer?
The mechanics of a laser printer make noise. This is unavoidable. If you want to place the device on your desk, you should be aware of this. The larger the printer housing, the more powerful and therefore louder the device is often in operation. Sensitive users are advised to set it up further away. A certain distance can’t do any harm either, in order not to directly absorb the waste heat that is whirled outwards by the fans. The fans also produce a certain amount of noise, which can be annoying in the long run. However, current laser printers switch to sleep mode very quickly and turn the fans down to a minimum or completely.
Why are there different models in a series?
Most entry-level and mid-range laser printers and multifunction devices cannot be upgraded afterwards. That is why many manufacturers offer different equipment variants of a device series. It pays to research the differences carefully. In addition to the variety of interfaces, they also relate to the equipment with paper cassettes or printer languages.
Recently, HP has also been using different versions of the same model. They are differentiated by the suffix “e”. If this letter is found at the end of the model designation, the device can only be operated with the cloud service HP+ (HP Plus). It requires an HP Smart account, an Internet connection, and the use of only genuine manufacturer toner. In return, these model variants are significantly cheaper to buy than versions without the “e”. In addition, they often offer longer warranty periods and free toner supply via Instant Ink program for a certain period of time. However, this type of closed system is not for everyone.
Conclusion
The optimal laser printer model covers as many desired points as possible from the outset. Criteria that are not so important at the time of purchase often turn out to be very annoying in retrospect – such as a missing driver or a very meager control panel. It is therefore advisable to be as clear as possible about the application scenarios for the laser printer.
If the desired model is currently not available, it is worth checking out the other model variants in the series. You should also keep an eye on the duration of the manufacturer’s warranty. Since laser printers are usually in service for many years, a problem can arise during this time that is covered by the guarantee and therefore does not incur any additional costs.
