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Laser Printers Buyers Guide

Information on Laser Printers and How To Buy the Best Laser Printer for Your Needs.

Laser printers, introduced by Xerox as far back as 1969, and made popular by HP in the 1980s, are a common type of printer for both home and business use.

They use the same technology as photocopiers, in that an image of the page is projected onto the rotating photoconductor unit (drum) by a laser beam. This drum, which is electrically charged, attracts the toner (dry ink particles), and then prints the image onto the paper, which is then fused onto the paper using heat.

Two of the advantages of laser printers are that they are usually faster than other printer technologies such as ink-jet and are also significantly better in terms of quality.

Due to this many businesses choose laser over ink-jet for their workgroup printing requirements, and the speed ranges from the entry level 14 ppm (pages per minute) up to more than 200 ppm.

The higher speed, high specification business printers offer more versatility in terms of functionality, such as stapling and sorting capability. Business printers however, are generally not appropriate for the home user due to the higher cost, the larger footprint, and the fact that they need routine maintenance at regular intervals by a professional engineer.

There is however a wide range of entry level laser printers available which are suited to the home or small business user. Many Small Office and Home Office (SOHO) users prefer laser printers over ink-jet due to the speed and quality. They often have a higher initial purchase price than ink-jet, but a lower cost per page, so it is important to calculate the total cost of buying the machine plus the cost per page over the lifetime of the machine.

Regular consumable items for laser printers can include photoconductor units, toner, developer and spare parts, depending on the model. Some entry level printers have an all-in-one cartridge, which combines toner and drum.

Laser Printer Guide - Table of Contents

Laser Printer Product Types

Monochrome Laser Printers

Two main types of laser printers are black and white (monochrome), or colour.

Monochrome laser printers use only black cartridges, whereas colour laser printers use cyan, yellow and magenta in addition to black.

Colour Laser Printers

Colour printing is more expensive than mono printing, as four colours (black, cyan, yellow and magenta) are needed whereas mono printing only requires black toner. However, many users, even in the home, now have a requirement for colour printing, from internet pages to presentations, as it adds impact to documents and brings them to life.

Duplex Laser Printers

Duplex (two-sided) printers save paper and are kinder to the environment than simplex printers, but this feature is not always found on the entry-level printers, and usually adds to the cost of a machine. Where available, duplex is either standard or optional depending on the model and manufacturer. The machine speed is usually slower in duplex mode, although some manufacturers now offer duplex printing at the same speed as simplex.

Laser Printer Technologies

There are two types of colour laser printer technologies, One-Pass or Multi-Pass:

With one-pass colour laser printers, the page make a single pass over all of the four toner cartridges, whereas with multi-pass printers it goes through the process four times. This means that the one-pass colour printers are significantly faster than the multi-pass technology, and often more reliable, as the paper path is shorter, however they are also more expensive.

Laser Printer Connectivity Options

There are key distinctions to be made between the types of connectivity that a printer offers:
Parallel Port	USB	Ethernet

Laser printers which connect to your computer via the parallel port. This technology is now outdated and it has effectively been replaced by USB connection, however some printers do still have parallel port connection as an option or standard.	USB laser printers connect directly to the USB port of the computer through a cable, not via any network. This type of connection is very easy for home users to set up, and is the preferred choice of many people as it requires little expertise, however it only supports one computer.	Ethernet or network laser printers connect to your home or office network using cables and RJ45 connectors. This type of connection is faster than USB, but is usually more suited to businesses than home users.
Wireless Wireless laser printers do not require any cable between the printer and the computer, therefore they offer more flexibility to the user. With many households running on wireless networks now, this type of connection is increasingly more popular.

Laser Printer Product Advice

What Type of Laser Printer Do You Need?

The main criterias to consider.

The basic entry-level laser printers are most suitable for the home user. The main criteria for choosing your laser printer (in addition to cost!) will be paper size, speed, duty cycle, connectivity and whether colour is required.

A3 can be useful, however, unless you have a specific requirement, it can add considerably to the cost. Most printers offer envelope printing.
Duplex (two-sided printing) saves paper, but is not always found on the entry-level printers, and usually adds to the cost of a machine.
The entry-level printers average 14-20 pages per minute mono, and 5-20 pages per minute colour, depending on the technology used, which is sufficient for most home users.
Printer manufacturers advertise a duty cycle for each printer which is the recommended monthly maximum, so consider how many pages you will be printing.
Minimum 600 x 600 DPI resolution is recommended, however this can often be increased if required with resolution enhancement.
Entry level printers often come with an all-in-one cartridge, which combines toner and other necessary consumables. Whilst this can work out more expensive, they can be easier for the home user than those models which need individual consumables and spare parts.
Many manufacturers offer draft or economy mode, which uses less toner and is therefore more cost-effective.
Ensure that the machine is compatible with your operating system.

Total Cost of Ownership

Looking beyond the initial price tag.

We all want our purchase to be as cost-effective as possible, and printers are no exception. However, you must not just look at the price of the machine itself, as there are several factors to be taken into consideration to calculate the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

Initial machine price, including optional extras, such as additional paper trays, memory or network cards.
Cost per page. Consider how much it costs to replace the consumables, and how many prints each cartridge will make, based on a calculation of price divided by yield for each cartridge. Most printers come with a starter cartridge in the box, so take this into your calculations. Include any additional spare parts or consumables necessary during the life of the machine.
The cost of servicing the machine if applicable.

Laser Printer Buying Tips

Do you want to be able to print/fax and/or scan on the machine? If so, consider a Multi-Functional Product (MFP), instead of a stand-alone laser printer..
If you are planning to install the machine yourself, consider buying a 'plug and play' machine. Plug and play means just that! You should be able to plug it in and start using it with minimal installation or expertise needed.
It is important to choose a machine that fits well in your workspace. Also, check where the consumables are located, and ensure that this is easy to access.
Laser printers are not recommended for photo printing (see photo printer category).
USB and network cables are usually an optional extra.
Many printers offer additional paper trays as an option, however these would not usually be required by an average home user.
Some models have features such as duplex and networking as standard, and some have them as optional extras, so when comparing prices between models make sure that you are taking this into account.
If you see D in a product code, this usually denotes standard duplex. N usually denotes standard network, and C usually means that the laser printer is colour. As an example Canon LBP7750Cdn is a network-ready, duplex, colour laser printer.
Colour laser printers advertise two speeds, for colour and mono prints. So for example, a machine advertised as 16/4 ppm will print at 16 ppm mono and 4 ppm in colour.

Popular Laser Printer Brands

	Canon laser printers range from inexpensive 14 ppm entry-level mono laser printers through to 33ppm, and a wide range of colour laser printers.
	HP laser printers from a leading brand, and the first company to mass-market laser printers in the 1980's. Hewlett-Packard offers one of the widest range of A4 and A3 laser printers, both mono and colour.
	Lexmark laser printers are available in both a home office and professional office series, they focus on ease of use, and have recently launched the Lexmark internet tool bar, a Firefox add-on which allows the user to print web pages and block advertisements, as well as other features designed to enhance productivity.
	Dell laser printers come in 16 ppm mono laser machines and upwards. Dell features a series of entry level machines required by home users and small businesses.
	Brother laser printers offer one of the widest selections for the home office, from 19 ppm upwards.
	Ricoh laser printers, although catering towards the business environment, Ricoh sell a wide range of mono and colour laser printer machines, which feature their proprietary RPCS drivers, which are icon based and geared towards speed and efficiency.
	Xerox laser printers from the forefather of the laser printer, Xerox markets an extensive range which is focused towards the colour market.
	Oki laser printers come in a wide range for both home and business use, including a large selection of models suitable for the home and small office.
	Kyocera-Mita laser printers focus on Total Cost of Ownership and are designed to save money.
	Samsung laser printers are becoming increasingly versatile, with mono print speeds from 16ppm to 43ppm, and multi-pass colour laser printers from 16ppm mono/4ppm colour.

Laser Printer Glossary

CMYK refers to cyan, magenta, yellow and black, the colour toners used in the colour laser printing process.

DPI is an abbreviation of 'Dots per Inch' and refers to the printing resolution. Generally speaking the higher the resolution, the better the print quality. An average laser printer will have a resolution of 600 x 600 DPI, however this can often be increased if required with resolution enhancement.

Duplex printing is where copying or printing is made on both sides of the same sheet of paper. This may add to the initial cost of the machine, however you will halve paper costs, plus it is a far more green option as you are using less paper from trees!

Ethernet also called IEEE 802.3, is a set of cabling and technology standards for local networks.

Footprint refers to the amount of space that a printer takes on the desktop or floor.

Monochrome black and white printing, also called mono.

PCL is the industry standard page description language, of which PCL6 is the latest version.

PDL page description language, through which the printers are controlled, the most common of which are PCL and Postscript.

ppm pages per minute, i.e. how many pages a machine can print at optimal settings.

Postscript is a page description language most commonly used by Apple Macs and desktop publishers. It is usually optional except on high speed printers and it is unlikely that this would be needed for general home use.

Simplex one sided printing.

SOHO is short for small office / home office, a description used for small businesses, often working from home.

USB stands for Universal Serial Bus, and is now an industry standard for connecting peripheral devices such as mice, keyboards and printers to your computer. The current industry standard is USB 2.0

Yield how many prints you can expect to make from a toner cartridge or other consumable item.