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Laser vs. Inkjet Copier?

I've been on the hunt for an all-in-one to replace my office's current HP (slow as hell, error-ific) 7210. I have done just about as much research as I can stand at this point and have narrowed it down to a 639 dollar Lexmark x502n and a 250 dollar Cannon PIXMA MP830. Besides the obvious difference being the hundreds of dollars more for the Lexmark, one is also a laser, and the other an inkjet. I've been thinking I need a laser because speed copying is what we are most interested in, though I'm not as familiar with lasers and worry about the initial cost combined with the cost of toner cartridges. The main uses of this machine will be for copying and faxing. It most likely won't be connected to any pc and will not likely be printing photos. We copy pictures out of books and copy documents. Laser or Inkjet? Which will benefit me longterm.

Public Comments

1. Laser printers generally produce much better quality print. The initial cost is, as you have pointed out much higher. The cost per page on the other hand, tends to be significantly lower with a laser printer. You will probably never use the printer enough to make up for the cost difference. Also, know that most color laser printers print tracking codes on all of your paper, and this CANNOT be turned off. IMHO, this is the best reason to use an inkjet printer. http://www.eff.org/Privacy/printers/wp.php
2. The laser will produce better images on stock paper. The inkjet may do slightly better on colour reproduction. You will be changing the inkjet cartridges way more often than the laser. The laser toner cartridges are 3000 pages for the colour, 5000 for the black. The bigger black ink cartridges is 360 pages in comparison. 14 times as many cartridge changes. That would also make the inkjet a bit more expensive to run, by about $50 per every 5000 pages.