The race is on between the inkjet printers and laser printers.
For years, inkjet printers seem to enjoy a competitive edge in the home printer market over their laser counterparts because of low selling price and good printing quality. But this may have begun to change.
In a test on 24 printers, the Consumer Council has assessed and compared 19 inkjet (priced from $488 to $3,288) and 5 colour laser printers (from $2,688 to $3,488).
On printing performance (considering both quality and speed), it was found that laser printers scored more superior than inkjet printers.
In printing a text document, laser printers took on average half the time needed by inkjet to perform the task. And in printing a photo, laser printers were on average five times faster than inkjet.
But in terms of printing quality of photos and precise colour graphic, inkjet printers were still comparatively better.
Inkjet also fared better in terms of ease of use, versatility, noise and power consumption.
It is a close race between the two types - in fact their overall score, on average, was a tie with equal rating.
Overall score is based on: printing speed and quality performance (55%), ease of use (20%), design and features (15%) and environmental protection (10%).
Nonetheless, consumers will do well to consider the ink cost as the test revealed that the cost varied substantially from model to model.
On the assumption of a weekly output of three letters, two colour documents and one photo, the annual ink cost of the test samples could vary by as much as three times ranging in estimates from $364 to $1,429 for inkjet printers.
In the case of laser printers, the variations could reach nearly two times ranging in estimates from $180 to $448.
Probably the best shopping guidance for consumers is to know clearly their own particular need: If it is always to print a large amount of text or simple graphic documents, the speedy and low cost consumables laser printers can better serve the purpose.
But if consumers need to print photos, greeting cards, etc. by themselves, and features and space do matter to them, then inkjet printers might be a preferable choice.
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