In today’s post, we are ready to tackle the critical question – what is the difference between LED and laser printers? Which one is right for you?
We will explain the pros and cons of each category, touching on the exciting science and concepts behind them.
Our goal is to help you make an educated decision and get the best quality for your money.
Here’s everything about LED vs laser printers.
What Are Laser Printers and How Do They Work?
Laser printers use lasers to engrave images and text onto paper. The laser shoots out rays of light; they bounce off a mirror and hit the drum that rolls continuously.
This drum “prints “an invisible positive charge onto the paper and that charge attracts the negatively charged ink.
The ink is made out of powder, which is why it sticks to small details easily. Furthermore, powder ink lasts longer than liquid ink, which results in a money-saving opportunity.
The heating rollers make sure the powder turns to liquid so you get the same result you would with liquid cartridges.
Believe it or not, this whole process is speedy and you cannot catch it happening, not even if you dissect your printer – so do not try to!
What Are LED Printers and How Do They Work?
Does new technology equal better technology? LED printers are new, but they seem to be growing in popularity each day – are they worth it?
LED printers have light-emitting diodes that burn charges into the paper, causing the same effect – opposite ions attract the ink powder.
If the process is pretty much the same, why would you buy an LED printer? So far, no meaningful difference between LED and laser printers, right? Well, LED is a cheaper version.
The moving mirrors that laser printers require generally make them bulkier, and tougher to manufacture.
Furthermore, the mirrors seem to be prone to breaking. Whiles LED printers have fewer and smaller moving parts.
LED vs Laser Printers Compared
Colour Printing
A lot of people like to compare a Color Digital LED Printer vs. Laser Printer, but we first need to understand that colour printing and black-and-white printing differ as a process.
When printing something in colour, the light-drum-ion process we talked about before is multiplied.
There is one set-up for each important colour – cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. This is four times more hardware, four times more work, and four times the chance for something to break.
However, if we go back a little bit and remember that LEDs are cheaper than laser emitters, this also makes LED colour printing more affordable than laser printers.
Price
First and foremost, if we want to compare an LED printer LED vs Laser Color printer.
If you would compare them and make sure that the specifications are similar, you would notice a trend where LED printers are cheaper.
Why? The components are more affordable which in turn makes the LED printer affordable. There are no compromises or adverse side effects.
Size and Portability
As you can imagine, this is another LED vs Laser printers battle won by the LED models. Because the engine is more straightforward, it needs less space.
This makes LED printers smaller in most cases, but each manufacturer has its style of creating, and this makes printers different in size, weight, portability, and more.
Long Term Usage
Which one can you rely on more? Are LED printers better than lasers when it comes to a decade of use?
If you remember correctly, we mentioned that in LED printers, the mirrors do not need to move. That is why they are less prone to any damage – they have more stationary parts.
In addition to that, quality heavily depends on the manufacturer and the price point, so keep in mind that you cannot judge a printer purely by one specification.
Print Quality
The initial LED vs Laser Printers discussion started because people were wondering which type of printer provide us with the best result.
Is LED printer better than laser? Not really, and this might be the only aspect that makes a laser printer superior to a LED one.
The difference is subtle, and it is a result of the laser illuminating the paper in a more balanced manner.
You need about a few thousand LED lights for the same effect, and there will always be slight changes to each bulb.
Furthermore, LED printers have a fixed resolution, while laser printers can adapt their dot sizes and customize the decision according to your needs.
All in all, this makes them more useful for business events and everyday office use.
LED vs Laser Printers: Which One To Get?
To sum everything up, our LED vs Laser printers discussion ends as an open conversation.
Although LED printers have a higher number of advantages, and laser printers tend to be better only when it comes to print quality.
Keep in mind that this doesn’t matter to most people, as the difference is slight. In the end, it all depends on your preferences and the purpose you will be using the printer for.
That’s it on LED vs laser printers.
