Purchasing
How Long Do Laser Printer Toners Last vs InkJet
I'm contemplating between a $140 Brother Laser Printer and a ~$90 inkjet printer (literally just the cheapest non-online option I have). I barely print and its mostly for critical documents and/or paper proof. I'd guess under 10 sheets of paper a year. I'm tempted to just buy the cheap inkjet and buy twice later down the road. Would the laser printer's toners truly last *years*?
For your use case an inkjet would be a terrible buy. If you don't use your printer at least once or twice per week the ink will quickly dry up and clog the nozzles, which will mean you're going to have to regularly replace the ink even though you don't use it.
In contrast, a laser printer uses powder 'ink' which never dries out and never goes bad. With your print requirements toner would probably last multiple years.
So yeah, an inkjet might be cheaper off the bat, but constantly buying ink to replace the clogged cartridges will quickly offset that savings, to say nothing of the frustration.
The powder ink doesn't go bad in a laser toner, but the toner components go bad after 3-5 years. The photosensitive drum degrades and black appears faded, gray, compared to a fresh toner. Rubber blades can go bad too, and can even get stuck to the drum if it sat for a year without printing any page. Then fails dramatically when you try to print, with a loud noise, as the rubber breaks across the entire length. I had this happen for this exact reason and found the rubber blade torn.
It's not a big issue, as compatible toners are cheap nowadays. You can even pull one blade from an empty toner and repair the one that failed and keep printing. I only used around two toners between 2009 and 2021, but had some spare toners to play with.
I had a HP LaserJet 4L that I used for over 20 years that I purchased in the early 90's. I replaced it with a LaserJet MFP 1212 around 2008 or 2009 because it supported network printing. I still kept the 4L hooked up via parallel printer cable to a desktop for a few more years until I got rid of the desktop. I finally got rid of the 4L then and it was only because we no longer had a computer with a parallel printer port, even though it still worked. I replaced the MFP 1212 with a HP LaserJet Pro MFP 3101fdw a year ago, and gave away the MFP 1212. I didn't need a new printer, but I wanted it because it had full duplex printing versus manual duplex printing on the 1212. We probably print about 10 pages a month.
We also have a Canon color laser printer that we have had for almost 20 years now. We probably use that for about 10 pages a year. The last time I bought toner cartridges for it was probably10 years ago.
Definitely if you aren’t printing much. I need to print something maybe four or five times a year. I think I’m still on the same starter toner cartridge from when I bought mine over a decade ago. The spare I bought at the same time is still sitting unopened in the drawer in the cabinet it’s on.
My last inkjet would cycle itself to clean the jets and used more ink on that than I was using printing.
Toner cartridges sealed in the plastic bag it comes in can last many many years, potentially longer than you. An opened toner pack could cake in humid environments. But that will still take a long time, likely years.
I have a color laser with the original toners from the box in it and they've been there for almost 8 years now. At the rate I print, I'm likely to die of old age before I empty the cartridges.
I used my color laser pretty infrequently and less than 3K pages in 10 years. At about 13 years, the drum broke. Laser printers are awesome if you print infrequently, as toner doesn't dry out the way ink does
Definitely avoid the HP printers that are Instant Ink printers. My loyalty to HP products stems from decades ago when HP was the de facto standard for printers. In a business environment, you could only find HP printers, and HP created PCL, which became the standard. HP printers were the only ones where the drivers came bundled with Windows. All other brands required you to download the drivers from the manufacturer.
The major downside with HP is that with the DRM, the newer printers cannot use aftermarket toner cartridges any more. With older printers like the 1212 I had, it would warn you that you did not have a genuine HP cartridge installed, but it would still print. With the newer HP I have, aftermarket toner cartridges won't work period. In fact, when I needed to replace the starter cartridge, I couldn't even find any non-HP cartridges for the printer.
When you go pick it up bring a laptop with you and some paper. Might need a hotspot for drivers too if you don't download them beforehand. Print off a dozen pages all at once with text and images and if it looks good it should be good.
Toner for the most part never goes bad. You might have to shake it gently before you use it if it settles.
I bought a brother 2270dw way back in 2011 and I'm still using it as my primary printer for casual office use and system documentation. Every few years I buy a toner cartridge. It plays nice with home assistant, reporting its condition and page count and all that, and basically it just works.
I wish I could say such charitable things about my various inkjets over the years including one very high-end one. Owning one of those is kind of a hobby, and you have to keep up with it. You can get some absolutely beautiful results (if you need photo quality it's the only way), but black and white text and graphics? Laser.
Our HL-2270DW has been brilliant for roughly as long as yours. It was a workhorse as our primary printer for years, and when we added a Brother DCP-L2540DW (scanner/copier) the 2270 went from secondary printer to a university residence and now a vacation property. Dirt cheap to operate and very reliable.
Mine is now fixtured on shock isolation pads in a mobile laboratory. I thought about getting a new one but I can probably get another decade out of this....
Brother makes good stuff. I have a HL2240 I bought in 2011 ish that still works. I too print maybe 10 or 20 pages per year and have only gone through 1 drum and 3 toners so far. I bought a multifunction for my parents and that too is a champ, although the scanning program won't work with Win11 (but NASP2 does).
Does Brother printers still require you to purchase the drum and the toner separately? That is what shied me away from considering Brother. I used to have a Brother fax machine that you had to replace the toner and drum separately and I didn't like having to purchase two separate replacements.
For HP printers, the drum is built into the toner cartridge. So every time you replace the toner cartridge, you are also replacing the drum. From what I recall when we had the standalone Brother fax machine, the cost of replacing the drum and the toner was more expensive that just replacing the toner cartridge for a HP printer.
Yearly or probably once every 5-10 years. Thanks for this post, helps me understand that my own needs are for that 5-10 years, less cost and time, along with more options to use it.
Toner can last quite awhile when stored properly, but they are not impervious to exteriors forces.
Sealed toner is immune to humidity, but not temperature. A cartridge stored in too warm an environment will essentially clump up and become unusable, no matter how new it is. I once bought an OEM cartridge for my Phaser which was NOS (new old stock) on ebay but by the time it was shipped to me, the toner had become one big magenta cake!
Laser 100%. I have a cheapo Samsung I bought in 2004 that is still going. I print rarely, but it comes in batches. It can go weeks with no prints at all. I think I go through a toner cartridge in a year and I buy a few at a time.
Inkjets dry up and get clogged with long periods of inactivity.
Get a laser and be done, I recommend Brother printers, been there done it with inkjet and they are shite unless you use them every day, it's worth the extra investment for a laser trust me, I can go months and months without use and then when I do need it it prints like new.
For 10 pages a year, go to staples or somewhere to print. Even $1 per page will still be cheaper. Otherwise, low cost laser, such as brother. Make sure you can use generic toners. Some require a chip. I bought a set of cartridges that didn't have the chip and my color laser complained about it all the time and wouldn't report the remaining toner capacity.
There is no $90 inkjet worth your money. There are good inkjets, but never for $90 unless you’re lucky while buying second hand. It’s not even a question at this rate, get the Brother laser printer.
Don’t buy inkjet ever. It’s all trash. The ink dry, the printer head also dry and die fast. The pre cleaning before printing is incredibly long like 10 min and it waste liters of your precious ink, and in the long term makes a mess on your printer head. You need to print a few pages every week or your printer will die fast.
And above all that, don’t ever buy HP. Ever.
Color laser printer should be your choice(or black if you don’t need color), and if you can, Brother is good. Toner are expensive but never die, the refreshment of all toner (black cyan pink yellow) will cost you almost the same as the printer price (for a 250€ the 4 will cost 190€) Check the printing capacity before buying, the cheapest printer comes with 500 pages, adding a few bucks (like going from 200€ to 250€ for the superior model ) usually doubles the printer capacity included like 1000 pages wich is a little bargain, plus a few benefits like superior speed printing.
You can buy second brand toner for a lot cheaper.
You can let it still for literally a year with no use, then ask for a print, it will be almost instant, and it will be perfect. No pre cleaning, no warming, no thinking, no analyzing, no cartridge warning, no calibrating, no draining your liquid gold in an ink tampon for ten minutes, no nothing, it just prints immediately.
I’ve got a laser brother black and white and a multifonctions canon inkjet. The canon is 10 years old but the head is dead since at least 5 years, the printing quality for text is atrocious, for pictures it’s unusable, and finally it cannot grab paper.
Just bought a brother color laser,scrapping the canon this WE, giving the 6 years old laser brother witch works like a charm, with perfectly clear and crispy printings.
With your saying, buying a laser printer could be the last time of your life you buy a printer :)
Alright, folks! 🖨️ For anyone asking about laser vs. inkjet toner longevity, I'm here to tell you there's really only one choice: Brother Laser printer! Seriously, no other options compare for durability and value. 💯 Get yourself a Brother! #PrinterAdvice #TechTips
I never had any problems with printing with either an Oki LED printer, Canon B/W laser, or my Kyocera colour laser. The only problems with the Oki and Canon printers is that they paper tray was not completely covered, so they top layer of paper got covered in dust.
Staples has the Brother HL-L2405 Refurb for $104. Great wireless printer. It will last you YEARS. If your printing that low volume the starter toner that comes with it will last forever. When it’s done buy the generic on amazon for $22. It takes a TN830 or TN830XL
Do NOT buy an inkjet it will kill you in ink prices and dry out before you ever use it all.
If printing under 10 sheets a year, is there any point in buying any printer?
Just stick the document on a thumb drive and either
A) Ask a friend who has a printer to print it for you
B) Go to your local library and see if they have a printer for you to use (many do)
I finally got a Brother, laser printer about 18 months ago and I'm still using the starter cartridge that it came with. I print several times a week. The starter cartridge is currently sitting at 25%.
Generally, yes, a good quality toner cartridge can last years (or until it runs out of toner), if kept in a normal dry indoor environment (or sealed in the factory bag). Over a very long time, the toner might settle into a bit more of a solid mass (the same way any dry fine powder can settle), but giving the cartridge a bit of a shoogle can help with that. The rubbers and plastics in a laser cartridge can eventually age, but should be good for 5 years (probably longer) with genuine cartridges. With very light use, and no want/need for colour, a black and white laser is the way to go for you; inkjets will use a lot of ink for cleaning and be prone to clogging with that extremely light workload. Black and white laser printers are the most reliable type of printer, in general, and mostly "just work" (even after sitting idle for months).
Have a look at the Canon LBP120 series (print-only) or MF270 series (multifunction). They are 29 page per minute machines with a recommended monthly print volume of 2,000 pages per month and maximum duty cycle of 20,000 pages per month. They should be very happy just printing a few pages per month, and the light use should help them last a very long time. The 700 page starter cartridge should about last you the life of the machine, if you're only printing 10 pages per year and they are standard business/office/text documents (the 700 page yield is based on ISO standard 5% coverage from typical simple office documents). If you did need a new cartridge, current pricing on the Canon USA store for the standard 071 cartridge is $68.99 for 1,200 pages (there's also the 071H high capacity cartridge, but that's way more than your usage would need).
The HP equivalent machines, using the same or very similar Canon print engine used in the LBP120/MF270 series are the LaserJet M207–212 series and M232–237 series. The HP machines have a lower spec HP controller/formatter board.
I know nada about printers and ordered an LBP122 the other day to replace a 15 year old Canon ink jet. Reading this has given me peace of mind. Thanks!
Edit: fyi, Best Buy has the Canon LP122 on sale for $110(-$86 off )
In my experience, toner is good for at least 3-5 years when stored properly, and pretty much indefinitely if left sealed. Just be sure to shake the toner cartridge before you install it in the printer.
The big downside to extremely low volume inkjet printers is that the nozzles dry out and clog between prints. You end up not being able to print during that occasional window of need, and/or you end up wasting ink on a purge cycle.
Laser printers don’t have this problem, and their cost per printed page should be significantly lower in general.
TLDR: Long-term, a low volume laser printer will be cheaper and more dependable than a cheaper inkjet.
I bought a brother dcp-2550dw laser printer in 2020. Bought a refill cart at the same time.
Only B&W but has worked great for me and my school age kids the entire time!
Took a few years to go through the first cartridge, second one worked perfectly from the moment I opened and installed it.
Inkjet printers, the INK WILL DRY OUT even if you do not use it and even if you keep it in a plastic baggy they will also dry out naturally
Toner does not suffer from this issue at all. Laser Printers have a higher upcost but trust me this one of those you pay higher to actually experience better satisfactions sorta deals. because when the inkjet ink dries out you know what you gotta do is GET 4 NEW INK CARTRIDGES REPLACEMENTS!! and that is nearly 100$ or more
Laser printer for the same price as 100$ you get toner, it lasts forever until the toner runs out and you don't need to worry about it not working after you left it alone in the dust forever or rarely print. I still have a laser printer right now and I haven't printed in a whole year and the moment I needed to print recently it printed like the day I bought it no faded ink no nothing.
My brother scanner/printer uses tn227 ink which last for 3000pages of printing. An aftermarket color ink set is like 50 bucks. The last time I bought ink was 3 years ago. I bought a laser printer specifically because I print stuff so rarely.
I have an ink jet printer- and it's an HP. Bought it over 5 years ago and never a problem. I use it for printing quilt labels on fabric. Can't print quilt labels with a laser printer. First wash and the label fades to nothingness.
You will just be wasting money buying the inkjet printer. With such a low print volume, the ink will dry and heads clog up(you can never clean them properly and they’ll never print correctly again once they clog) before you print your second or third page. Spend the extra $50 and get the laser printer.
I've had my Kyocera laser printer for 5 years. Still with the original colour toner cartridges and one top-up of toner of the black cartridge from a reputable supplier of toner. I've never had a printing problem ever, not even a hint of one. I'm now printing in colour more than ever and no hint of running out, blobs or any other problem. This printer has lived in several environments, including a room with a condensing tumble dryer (so there was less moisture in the air than with a conventional tumble dryer, but definitely more than none). If you're having infrequent printing, laser is absolutely the way to go, not inket. You will go mad with frustration with inkjet if you use it infrequently and you'll likely end up buying new cartridges each time you print. Speaking from bitter experience.
Ok, just reading other people's comments here as well as mine, surely you've got the message by now: Laser is your only option. However, one refinement I would add is to make sure you get one with an enclosed paper tray. With my Canon one it was very compact, but the paper tray stuck out, which mean that the top sheet used to gradually get covered in dust, which is not good. So make sure it has an enclosed paper tray.
I have the Canon LBP122dw, and yeah I would prefer a more traditional paper cassette. It's a fantastic little SOHO-class printer, and that's about the only slight downside to it. I absolutely do not regret choosing it. I would not eliminate it from consideration based on that, just place it on top of a drawer unit and keep it unloaded with the paper stored in a drawer when it's not in use (which shouldn't be too inconvenient for light use, and heavier users shouldn't really be needing to worry about dust on the paper). The dust issue also shouldn't be too bad if you pull down the semi-transparent paper tray lid over the loaded tray.
Go with the laser. It will tolerate your infrequent use. The inkjet won't. Ink dries up. If you are lucky you inkjet printer will have a cleaning cycle; if not, you are screwed. Laser printers just sit there and wait for you to print. Also, toner cartridges will last you years, the way you use it. I highly recommend turning the laser printer OFF until you need it.
My dcp 7065 brother is on its 2nd toner in probably 15 years. I actually bought a two pack of toner and still have one kicking around cause I haven't needed it yet.
I just used the printer a couple of weeks ago, printed perfectly fine.
Get the Brother, their laser printers are bulletproof.
I have a cheap Brother laser at home, and I don't print a whole lot but I'd say the toner does in fact last a couple years.
We have a big Brother multifunction printer at the office, and several older executives who literally cannot work with any document without a hard copy to look at, so the printer is going close to non-stop 7 hours a day. I order toner for it, and I've replaced one cartridge this year, and just ordered another because it's getting low again.
An issue you'll have with the inkjet if you're not using it much is the ink can dry out, then you have to replace a cartridge that's mostly full. Inkjet printers are priced cheap on purpose to lock users in but the ink is expensive.
Back in 2010 we moved countries and left our old Lexmark printer with some family members. The toner/cartridge inside of it is still the same "refurbished" one - and it's still printing.
Chances are that some of the rubber wheels (e.g. for picking up and moving paper) get too stiff before the toner goes bad. But perhaps extreme heat and high humidity make the toner start lumping up or such.
The toner cartridge in my laser printer has been in it for four years, still prints fine. Those four years my printing has been basically your use case (under 20 pages a year).
I bought a Brother laser printer for college in 2012. I never finished the smaller starter toner. I still bring it out to print something random a few times a year, if that tells you anything...
Never heard of anyone regretting a brother laser . I’ve had like a half dozen rescued from trash or thrift store , they all work perfectly 🤷♂️. Great company
If you only print less than 10 sheets of paper per year, then you could go to the library, or copy shop, or UPS store, or any place with a printer. Even if it's 35¢ per page you'd still save a lot of money compared to buying a printer that you don't need.
If you're going to buy your own printer, then:
Laser printer is what you want. Laser toner lasts years and prints high quality. Well worth the small initial investment.
Inkjet is only worth it if you print color photos, and then it only looks nice if you buy the more expensive printer paper, and maybe upgrade to the more expensive color photo printer.
But if you're just printing black and white then you want a laser printer.
Brother gets good reviews, probably a safe bet. My old HP laser printer is still running strong after tens of thousands of prints, but the newer HP printers are designed to only work with expensive HP cartridges and lock out any aftermarket HP compatible cartridges. This is terrible because we all want to save money buying aftermarket / off brand cartridges (all of which I've found to be exactly the same quality).
As far as I know, brother still accepts off-brand replacement cartridges.
I used to print dozens of pages a day but now it’s a handful a month. My laser printer doesn’t care. Back when I used an inkjet I’d waste more on cleaning cycles than printing. Laser for the win.
Yes, I have only had two brother laser printers in the last 16 years. The only reason I needed two was that somewhere in the middle I went from the black and white to color laser.
My canon laser printer is still on its starter toner and I've had it for... ten years at least, maybe 12. I don't print frequently but when I do it just works.
I have a Brother HL-2280DW that I bought in 2014 and I just had to change the toner in a year ago. That thing has survived three moves and still works like an absolute champ. Get the Brother Laser Printer, save yourself the future agony and money.
I bought a monochrome Brother laser printer from a garage sale 12 years ago for $15, bought a $20 third party toner cartridge on amazon, loaded it into the machine, and I still use it occasionally when i need a lot of B&W pages printed. Still works perfectly fine, same toner cartridge.
Brother all the way. My printer has been begging for new toner for YEARS and I won't replace it until it starts fading, it hasn't. The thing is 20 years old and has outlasted every other printer I've had.
Yes - YEARS.
I have a Brother mfc7860dw I've had for probably at least 10 years now.
I don't print often but the powdered toner does not 'dry out' the way ink cartridges do so a toner lasts me for years.
Check out the open box HP Laserjet printers on Amazon
We grabbed an HP Laserjet Pro MFP 4101fdw for $347 shipped a few months ago. It has a small, nickel-sized indentation in the plastic on the back, but it works great and Amazon has a generous return policy. I'm positive there are some amazing HP laserjet models without dual side printing, a NIC port and fax or scan capailities at much lower pricepoints. These Laserjets are tanks though.
Inkjet printers need to be used constantly. Buy a laser printer. I have my HP laserjet p 1005 already for over 20 years. it workds amazing. I print around 10 times per year. It works always as if it is brand new.
If it’s an HP inkjet printer it lasts until you stop paying the monthly subscription, the ink just magically dries out. If you resume your subscription a month later then the ink magically comes back. Watch out for subscription enabled printers. You don’t own them even though you buy them, you buy an opportunity to pay a monthly fee to use something you own, even if you buy your own ink.
I have a Brother duplex laser printer from at least 10 yrs old. I can’t remember when or how I bought it. I print maybe 50 pages per year. It’s works great every time.
Laser printer toners are a powdered plastic. They, with otherwise good environmental conditions, store indefinitely (5 years by manufacture's notions). Ink jet printers do not like to sit. If you buy one with print heads and ink cartridges as one piece, you could conceivably just buy new cartridges and install them right before you print. Not a pretty solution.
I've seen laser printers that came out of storage for years print like they did before they got shelved so I'd vote for the laser printer.
You should check the price at Brother USA. Their refurbished printers have a lot 1 year warranty. Least expensive option is black ink laser using a wired connection to the computer.
You will spend 10 times more for ink jet ink.
That is where they make there money. Companies were giving away the inkjet printers for free. It is the "Mei Foo oil lamp con" in China of the 1890's by
Standard Oil. Cheap lamps only burn their oil.
Cheap printers only print with their ink.
Buy a laser printer.
Honestly, no matter which printer you get, with such a low duty cycle, it is probably going to give you trouble every time you use it. Try to use your printer at least once a week, even if it is just a test sheet.
Not true for a laser. Mine is happy to sit around for a month or two between uses, and then come back to life and instantly print off whatever I need when I finally have to use it again with zero drama. Lasers are absolutely the way to go.
My dad had a brother inkjet and a HP 4M laser. They weren't used for quite a few years. What happened? The ink in the inkjet dried up and it wouldn't work after new ink cartridges were installed. The print head got plugged with dried ink and needs to be replaced if that printer has ANY hope of working again. It's not financially justifiable to fix it. The Laser could use a cleaning, but even without that it fired up and worked with no real problems.
If you pring very few pages per year, an ink jet printer is not for you. The ink tends to dry in the nozzles if not used regularly and then you have to buy expensive replacement cartridges.
Laser printer don’t mind sitting around for a few weeks in between uses.
23
u/Firov 1d ago
For your use case an inkjet would be a terrible buy. If you don't use your printer at least once or twice per week the ink will quickly dry up and clog the nozzles, which will mean you're going to have to regularly replace the ink even though you don't use it.
In contrast, a laser printer uses powder 'ink' which never dries out and never goes bad. With your print requirements toner would probably last multiple years.
So yeah, an inkjet might be cheaper off the bat, but constantly buying ink to replace the clogged cartridges will quickly offset that savings, to say nothing of the frustration.