Why laser printers?

**kato2274** · April 7th, 2005, 07:07 PM

Clickhere.

I don't understand why you ask questions here when you already have all the answers????

**arch0nmyc0n** · April 7th, 2005, 07:09 PM

well our you get what you pay for I guess... our colour laser was about $45,000 brand new about 10 years ago I'd guess)... and yes... it's quality is much better than any inkjet I've seen... bar none so far... now... speed... heh yeah it's a slow hulking beast of a machine... but it'll pump out a full 11x17 with 100% coverage in about a minute or so... once the rollers are prepared (multiple copies) it is about 15 seconds between copies... I've setup some of the $300 hp inkjet all in one thingies and our laser by far blows them away... you can think what you want but this laser is by far the best print job I've seen ever... we're a copying and computer joint so we have some really good equipment... and I dunno what $100 inkjets your using but hook me up if they're better than our laser...

all the bickering aside, your inkjet sounds like a nice one and probably is quite good but comparing it to a colour laser is getting into apples and oranges, they're two different processes of printing... each have pros and each have cons... as far as I can see they're about equal ... but you've obviously already made up your mind so talking about it further would just be a waste of both our time

**3fingersalute** · April 7th, 2005, 10:37 PM

Originally Posted by kato2274

I don't understand why you ask questions here when you already have all the answers????

Yeah, I think I have to agree. What exactly is it you are looking to gain here? You post a question, and then shoot down/argue every suggestion you are given.

Like I said before, if the quality of an inkjet is all you require, and are pleased with inkjet quality, then that's all that should matter to you.l

**InTheWayBoy** · April 8th, 2005, 09:17 AM

Yeah...keep buying your inkjets and let us keep using our lasers. I have to say, not to pile on more crap, but I do notice Click has a habit of doing this kinda threads...why this or why that...and then not really accepting any advice. But hey, to each his own eh?

A final note though, and one that I don't think has been touched upon, is that you can actually service a laser printer. Meaning, most parts are easy to diagnose and you can buy replacements for it. On inkjets you can't really do that...at least, not effectively. Print heads alone cost more than the whole friggin printer sometimes!

That, and laser printers generally...not all the time but most of the time:

1. Offer network printing support
2. Hold much more paper
3. Move a lot less (Ever put an inkjet on a wobbly table? It's fun!)

**TechZ** · April 8th, 2005, 01:33 PM

I think its cause Click has a business Inkjet, I've never owned one, they must be a heck of a lot better than the regular home ones.

Print heads alone cost more than the whole friggin printer sometimes!

This can be avoided by buying Hp's that have a new print head on each cartridge, but then you cant refill always, or the quality reduces over time.

And most co's now have a "life" on each cartridge, though they are being sued for that.

3. Move a lot less (Ever put an inkjet on a wobbly table? It's fun!)

This is one think I really hate about Inkjets, I've seen it and its very disturbing.

**Outcoded** · April 10th, 2005, 12:45 PM

I like lasers, they don't break often, and when they do, I know how to mend them.

Why do most businesses like them? Top quality text output. Even my £50 Samsung laser far surpasses any inkjet I've ever seen for this. The other factor is that they don't need their cartridges changing every few hundred pages.

Sure, inkjets have their uses, but I've always regarded them as dirty, unreliable, expensive to run, and normally beyond economical repair over the the most minor of faults.

**ClickHere2Surf.com** · April 10th, 2005, 01:20 PM

1. Offer network printing support
2. Hold much more paper
3. Move a lot less (Ever put an inkjet on a wobbly table? It's fun!)

Business inkjets have netwroking support and hold as much paper, but yes they do move a lot, especially this very high speed inkjet I have, but it's on the floor so it doesn't matter.

I think most people here are thinking of your normal home inkjet, most of those aren't as fast as laser, but my business inkjet puts out a full color letter sized page every 3 seconds, I don't know of any lasers that are that fast except maybe multi thousand dollar monochrome ones.

The other factor is that they don't need their cartridges changing every few hundred pages.

Again, the business ones print about 2000 sheets per cartridge.

Sure, inkjets have their uses, but I've always regarded them as dirty, unreliable, expensive to run, and normally beyond economical repair over the the most minor of faults.

If you've used Epsons, Lexmarks or Canons then you're absolutely right, they are terrible and extremely unreliable, but not so with HPs, the only time I had to return an HP in 15 years was after spilling a full glass of coke in one.

**arch0nmyc0n** · April 10th, 2005, 01:49 PM

you probably should have clarified what you were talking about when you refered to inkjets... you said that $100 inkjets could do a better job than a laser which is what I figured you were talking about... either way considering the business side of things I'd estimate our two printers are about the same... just don't go cutting out lasers before you've seen a real one in action... and you obviously haven't...

**ClickHere2Surf.com** · April 10th, 2005, 01:54 PM

I've seen B&W lasers in action many times, but I still stand by my statement that a $100 inkjet (on good paper) will beat the quality of even a $10 000 color laser, I have the print samples right here to proove it.

**arch0nmyc0n** · April 10th, 2005, 01:58 PM

print samples from what? you have print samples from all the companies that make colour lasers and all of their models? I don't disagree some colour lasers I've seen suck considerably... but don't toss them all into the same boat just because you have some sorry samples probably provided to you to make you like those inkjets more...

**ClickHere2Surf.com** · April 10th, 2005, 02:06 PM

No, I specifically requested color laserjet samples from HP when I was considering getting a color laser last summer, HP sent samples from all their printers from inkjets to lasers, maybe 15 print samples total.

I'm pretty sure they would have prefered they I bought an expensive laserjet over inkjet, but the print samples clearly show that none of the lasers beat inkjet quality, although the $10 000 models are fairly close, they still aren't as good as the inkjet prints on good quality paper (all samples from both lasers and inkjet were on good quality paper).

**Taz Devil** · April 10th, 2005, 02:18 PM

How about longevity vs smearing ink??? I work in graphics for a living, and for most things, we use our color laser. When I really NEED "true" photo quality, we send it to a local printer for about 50 cents a print (including labels if we need them). The few times I need "true" photo quality come out much cheaper in the long run using a professional printer, and then the laser printers give us 99% of what we need for day to day and distribution uses. Bottom line...ink jets will run; laser's won't. For home, I use ink jet, unless I want to make sure it won't run, then I go to the professional printer; I get what I need (very few times a year) versus having to maintain a professional printer at home that gives me all the quality you're talking about.

**ClickHere2Surf.com** · April 11th, 2005, 02:32 AM

I clearly said that waterproof prints (or smearing) was the one and only advanatge I can see to lasers, and I do agree it is a HUGE advantage, but too me it simply isn't worth 10x ink/toner costs, and many special papers can make inkjet prints water proof and I have confirmed this by running inkjet prints under running water with no smearing at all which I couldn't beleive, I don't know what miracle they apply to that paper but it works.