Printers

Printers

Most users looking for a cheap device and who only occasionally print text or graphics should pick an All-In-One printer. Most of these multifunction printers include colour inkjet printer, scanner and fax function in one device, and often for the same price or lower than a dedicated device. However, the buyer must keep running costs in mind, since manufacturers don't make a profit anymore from the sales of the devices themselves, but by selling the necessary printer cartridges and cartridge refill kits. Recent reviews often warn against this cost trap. Therefore, ultimately the choice of a printer depends heavily on the printing habits of the user. Those who print large amounts of text and give little importance to graphics or colour images, should in all cases pick a monochrome laser printer. For small print quantities even newer laser printers can be worthwhile: the B&W ones are only marginally more expensive to purchase, their running costs are lower and above all, they are much faster than inkjets. For colour printers, however, the criteria are not so clear: while colour laser printers have become more affordable, the difference in cost is still large enough to make the running costs of inkjets preferable for low to medium-high printing volumes. Also, inkjets have the lead when it comes to quality.

Trends and development

Whoever thinks that there is nothing happening in the field of printer hardware besides the eternal struggle between lasers and inkjets, is dead wrong. The last few years have brought many changes. Still relatively new to the market are the so-called LCD / LCS printers, which stands for "Liquid Crystal Display / Shutter". These photoelectric printers work on a similar principle to laser printers, but instead of a laser beam they use a bar with 2400 LCD elements to write on the printing drum. These LCD elements are triggered to let the light from a strong lamp pass through or darken it. In addition to these LCD/LCS printers, wax and money printers are also starting to show up. These “solid ink” printers don't use any ink or toner, but heat-liquefied gel or wax. The advantages of this technique are low printing costs, low toxicity from the colour sticks used by these printers and unmatched colour fidelity, since these solid inks are barely affected by the medium they print on.

Nevertheless, the dominance of laser printers and inkjets remains unchallenged in the printer arena. That doesn't mean there is nothing going on. Quite the contrary: manufacturers are constantly optimising their devices and printers are closer to one another in performance and services than ever. Because of this, procurement prices have been falling constantly for years, to the point that a time can be expected to come in which laser printers will also be worthwhile for occasional printing. Inkjets in turn will remain attractive to buyers despite their rapidly declining price advantage, something that will be especially bound to printer services and performance: this holds true for inkjets, which some time ago were sluggish compared to laser printers, and whose modern models reach now half the speed of laser printers or more. The best of their class can even keep up with current laser printers. Significant improvements have also been achieved regarding printer durability. Particularly critical points for inkjets are resistance to light and water, so laser printers are usually recommended for outdoor use. But this must not be necessarily so: the best inkjets can also compete now in this respect with laser printers. Special papers can further improve the durability and quality of prints – but this also means a cost increase. When printing in colour, the cost per printed page is often three times higher than that of laser printers, and in the case of black and white even four to ten times higher.

Third-party inks reduce costs

But those high costs don't necessarily have to speak against inkjet printers. Many vendors produce refill ink, which is considerably more affordable than the original manufacturer's. These inks cost only a fraction of the price and thus reduce printing costs significantly. However, as nearly always, quality has its price. When printing on the cheap, a loss of quality in the printed image is to be expected – this includes colour, as well as differences in brightness. But even here there are exceptions to the rule – in fact, there are expensive third-party inks which provide even better images in tests than the original ones. Admittedly, this is extremely rare. Those who want to play it safe and seek optimum print quality while saving costs should consult reviews of alternative inks carefully.

But printer manufacturers have come up with something new again: some new printers have cartridges with a built-in chip. The device thus detects which ink is being used and whether it is “legitimate” or not. If it is not, the device simply will not print. This is certainly not done with the consumer in mind but the company's own benefit, since they would like to force all users to buy their expensive original inks. Those who do not wish to tinker are forced to accept the high cost of printing – or just switch to another printer.

Power consumption: Printer

Whether inkjet or laser printer, all devices are the same in the end: most of the time they are just waiting for a task and while consuming a great deal of power in standby mode. Over the years this can add up to amazing amounts of money. Therefore, a low standby power consumption is definitely one factor that should be considered when purchasing a printer. Inkjets have the edge here – the best devices currently generate around one third of the cost of laser printers. This is very different when the supposedly “turned off” state is considered – unlike most laser printers, inkjets, photo printers and especially all-in-one devices are rarely actually unplugged. Although from the outside they look to be turned off, they continue to draw considerable amounts of electricity. It is thus worthwhile to choose devices that can actually be turned off – or to purchase a separate power strip with a power switch.

This category contains tests on Printers.