What’s to love about black-and-white lasers? First off, they print black text with razor-sharp precision and impressive speed. And most of the documents that our readers print are black-and-white text, from contracts to permission slips to boarding passes. Also, laser printers tend to be simpler mechanically than inkjets and thus less inclined to break down.
And finally, toner costs for monochrome lasers are significantly cheaper than the ink costs for cartridge-based inkjets. For example, the yearly toner costs for the three printers below ranges from $15 to $19, according to our calculations based on estimates of typical printer use. That beats the annual upkeep for some similarly priced cartridge-based inkjets by almost $100.
Of course, your actual costs will vary with how much you print and the prices you find for the ink or toner. CR members can find these apples-to-apples estimates for annual ink or toner costs in our printer ratings. (You’ll see that inkjet tank printers can be the cheapest of all to operate.)
While you might associate laser printers with home offices or small businesses—and high prices—the reality is that some black-and-white laser printers are very reasonable, about $100 in some cases. That makes them an attractive choice for ordinary home use.
And our readers provide the real-world proof. In our ratings, laser printers do far better in both predicted brand reliability and owner satisfaction than inkjets. If you want a printer that’s likely to work longer with fewer hassles, consider a black-and-white laser.
Here are three black-and-white laser printers–none of them with copy, scan, or fax functions–from our ratings that perform very well and are inexpensive to buy and use. In short, the kind of printer you might actually come to love.
