Laser printers can draw crisper lines than inkjets. Laser Printers cost less than inkjets in the long run. They are also the perfect choice if you want to print large documents. Ideally, from running cost and maintenance perspective, they are the perfect choice for anything above home office. One aspect that laser printers are poor at is when it comes to printing photos. Laser printers are best suited for printing text because of their ability to store device fonts.



Laser printers have the capability of printing on a wide variety of media types. They are the fastest type of printers and can handle huge volumes of input, and also, deliver large volumes of output.

Whether you want to go for a monochrome or color printer, it's a choice which you need to be making carefully. Color printers can be too expensive to maintain and use. Also, don't get attracted by few color printouts that you see from the printer. Checkout the price it takes to replace the cartridges. Also, make sure there is a separate black cartridge in the printer, as this saves color ink and makes using color printers more economical.

If the printer is to be used in an office, it is better to purchase a duplexing unit by shelling some extra money. The money you save in the form of paper, by allowing the users to duplex through the duplexing option - via the driver interface, will be more than the initial cost, if you were to go without a duplexing unit. You may want to checkout the connectivity options and the ability to upgrade the connectivity. If you plan to use multiple media types, you may want to go for a printer with multiple drawers.

A short checklist when choosing laser printers:-

1) Do you want to print lots of text documentation?

2) Do you want a very fast printer?

3) Are you going to use the printer in the office?

4) How many media types do you think you would be using - most of the time?

5) Are you going to use the printer to print text rather than photos?

6) Do you want color printouts and don't mind high running costs?

If you answered no to all of the above, a Laser printer is not what you need.If you answered yes to most of the them except (6), a mono laser printer with add-ons is your choice.

If you answered yes to all of them, the color laser printer with add-ons is what you are looking for.

John Gibb manages The site dedicated to computers and printers.