Do laserjet cartridges last longer and therefore less expensive than ink cartridges? I am an infrequent user.
3 Likes
Have you looked at?
When you say infrequent, is that twice a year, twice a month, or more often? And just one or two pages, or more?
There are cheap inkjet and cheap mono (black print only) laser printers.
My personal experience with the reliability of cheap inkjets is variable. Some don’t like not being used (power off) for months at a time. Alternately we’ve had great service out of just two mono laser printers, over 18 years. The starter toner cartridges they come with are good for several hundred normal pages.
The purchase price of a basic laser printer such as Brother HL-L2305W is typically less than a cheap inkjet and set of replacement cartridges. Cheaper inks and cheaper toner cartridges are available from various specialty ink stores.
3 Likes
Yes laser toner cartridges print many times the number of standard pages and don’t need the print head replaced. Consequently laser printers work out significantly cheaper to own in the long run.
Have a look at Multifunction and basic printer reviews and you can see that the toner costs/annum are significantly cheaper than the inkjet ink costs.
6 Likes
So am I. My experience with spasmodic use of inkjet printers was blocked jets: I changed to a colour laser printer, over 8 years ago (Fuji Xerox DocuPrint) - it hasn’t had any problems. I buy the toner cartridges (cheaply) online - no problems there either!
6 Likes
Thank you Mark-m, Meltan and evansrish3. You have confirmed my thoughts on lasers. I did look at Choice’s guide.
6 Likes
Laser. I’m an infrequent user too and found that when I didn’t use the Ink jet for a while it would say the cartridges were empty as they’d dried out. I wasted so much money buying ink cartridges for very little printing. Swapped to laser ages ago and I’m still on the starter cartridges that came with the printer. So much better and so much more cost effective. They are quite cheap these days
6 Likes
Hi @RubyW, welcome to the community.
I was also surprised how affordable mono lasers have become over time. The refilled laser toner cartridges have also been cost effective, similar cost to a single high capacity inkjet cartridge in some instances.
4 Likes
We buy high capacity (2000 page) non-OEM ones online for around $15. OEM ones are about 6x the cost. Far cheaper than and ink cartridges with similar capacity.
If we need colour prints, we go to a retailer (e.g. Officeworks) to do the prints.
3 Likes
