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Laser printer or ink jet, which is better,and whats the best Cheapest printer to get?

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1. laser is better ink jet is cheaper. Laser toner cartridges last 20 times longer than ink jet cartridges. so if you dont mind spending the money up front the go with a laser otherwise by an inkjet and have to get new cartridges every couple hundred prints
2. Buying a Laser printer will cost you a lot more but laser toner cartridges are lot cheaper per print than ink jet cartridges are. The toner cartridges will cost a bit more, but they last about 20 times as long. It really does depend a little on how much you will be using the printer.
3. Ink jet ink runs when it gets damp. It is also more expensive than laser toner (which is only pennies per page instead of dimes per page). If you want something to print black and white at high speed with fine detail then a laser printer is better. Right now (in Sunday newspaper) the lasers are about $50 after rebate for one that will print at high speed. Look at Staples for example.
4. If you are okay with Black and White printouts then Laser is the way to go. You can get a cheap laser printer that will print all you need for home for a few years without needing to replace the cartridge. If you need color and you print lots then you need to make sure which inkjet printers have reasonably priced ink. They work very hard to make this impossible to figure out. If you need color and don't print much you need to find an inkjet where the ink doesn't dry out if you don't print often - again impossible to figure out. Canon printers are rumored to be good for this. OEM ink is more expensive than refill kits, or office supply brands - if you are printing pictures to hang on walls, or keeping documents forever get the OEM stuff - it is worth it. If you are printing ephemera then get the cheap stuff and don't worry about it fading in 6 months - you've read used and thrown that map-quest map out long before it's disappeared. If you can find a place that sells end of line printers you can often buy them for much less than the cost of the cartridges they come with - this is sadly morally/ecologically bankrupt, and the cartridges that come with some printers are artificially smaller than the ones you buy (1/3-2/3 sizes are common) - be careful doing this. getting a printer for less than the price of a cartridge is only a good deal if you can sleep with yourself at night, and the cartridge is a reasonable size compared to the replacement.
5. Deskjet printers are cheap to buy but expensive to use. To print 5000 pages, an inkjet will cost over 7 cents per page; a home laserjet will cost about 2.5 cents per page; an office laserjet will cost about 1.7 cents per page. Inkjet ink dries and clogs the spray orifice, if you don't use them for a while. Many inkjet printers will try to clear the dried ink automtically, but this just wstes more ink. Laser printers use fine powder called toner, which doesn't dry out. These people REALLY know printers: http://www.bertl.com/web/index.do I suggest considering a refurbished or off-lease HP LaserJet printer. Tip: they accumulate total pages printed, total paper jams, etc. Look for one with a nice low page count. You can buy a decent 2200ND (network card, prints both sides) for about $160.