Lasers printers lowered in price in the late '00s. In 2005, a very basic laser color printer cost at least $500. In 2010 you could buy a wide variety of laser printers for $150, while a quality inkjet cost $55. The cost of a cartridge pack for a color laser printer was about $200, while a single color cartridge for an inkjet was around $35. So even with the price drop, an inkjet is cheaper.

On the Other: Its the Volume that Makes the Difference

A typical color inkjet cartridge will produce in the range of 350 color pages. A laser toner cartridge will produce in the range of 4000-5000 color pages, ten times the volume for five times the price.

Bottom Line

Your decision to buy a laser or an inkjet printer should not be based on set-up costs alone. While the initial cost of a color laser printer is significantly more than an inkjet, if you print a high volume of pages, the laser will quickly overtake the inkjet. Therefore, cost efficiency should be based on the volume you plan to print. One last consideration: if you plan to print quality photographs, an inkjet produces much better photograph prints than a laser.

Source:

PC World:top ten laser printers

Toms Hardware:ink jet versus laser

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How Stuff Works:laser printers