Laser Printers Buyer's Guide

Updated: December 2008

Laser printer introduction

Despite promises of a paperless office, many documents created on computers are eventually printed. As a result, printers remain a critical component of any computer system.

Among the different types of printers, laser printers remain the fastest, most efficient way to reproduce text and images, commonly on plain paper, offering high resolution and quick speeds at a relatively low cost. Making sure you know what you need your printer to do will help you spend the right amount – and we can help.

Laser printers use an electrostatic process similar to a photocopier. The laser charges areas of a photosensitive image drum. Toner particles are then attracted to these areas of the drum. Rolling this drum against a piece of paper creates a printed image. In the final stage, heat is used to fuse the toner to the paper.

This BuyerZone Laser Printer Buyer’s Guide is designed to give you the facts you need to choose the right laser printers for your firm, by:

• Highlighting the key specifications and features you should look for
• Uncovering the often-overlooked, but very expensive, cost of maintaining a printer
• Benchmarking what you can expect to pay for a laser printer

Once you’re ready to purchase a laser printer, let BuyerZone connect you with free custom quotes from laser printer vendors.

Color laser printers
Color laser printers use the same principle as monochrome (black and white and grayscale) laser printers, but they include four toners rather than one – cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK), with a separate printing pass for each toner color. The colors are applied one at a time to the drum and are then adhered to the paper. For more information on color laser printers, see our Color Laser Printer Buyer’s Guide.

Search by State

Mentioned In...

See Also...

Advice and Tips