Compare the Best Laser PrintersNovember 2020

There are 2 main types of printers available on the consumer market - inkjet and laser printers. Both have strengths and weaknesses, and your choice will largely depend on what you plan on using your printer for. This guide will concentrate on information about laser/LED printers - for a detailed rundown of laser printers, please see the guide under the inkjet printer category.

Laser printers work by using a very fine laser to help minuscule particles of powdered ink (toner) ‘stick’ to the page in the shape of the letters and numbers to be printed. The page is then passed through between 2 heated rollers (a ‘fusing unit’), ‘burning’ the toner onto the page. Because the laser can move very fast, a laser printer can print at a very fast rate - far faster than any inkjet printer. Also, because the laser is extremely accurate, it allows for extremely crisp prints, with little chance of smudging or blotting.

Black & White vs. Colour

Laser printers are primarily monochromatic, since they only use a single colour of toner. However colour laser printers do exist - they work by having 4 separate cartridges and drums (black, yellow, magenta and cyan) so the paper is passed through each colour of toner in turn, building up a fully-coloured print as it goes.

Connectivity

Most newer models of laser printers have an array of network connectivity options to make printing easier and more efficient. Ethernet connectivity is now a common feature in modern laser printers - so data can be transferred over a network without having to plug your computer into the printer directly. This makes it far easier to share printers with groups: the printer can be placed in a central area and used freely by everyone around.

Additionally, many models of laser and LED printer also have wifi and/or bluetooth connectivity. These options mean that you do not even have to use a cable to use the printer - data can be transferred over wireless connection.

Finally, the newest models of these printers have support for cloud or app printing. These options allow you to send a document to print from anywhere in the world - from a browser over the cloud, or from an app on your smartphone. While you will pay more money for these options, the convenience they provide may be worth the extra expenditure.

Laser Printer Prices

We currently list 227 laser printers ranging from $27 to $9,012. On average, a new laser printer costs $891 and 80% of laser printers are priced between $169 and $2,175. The cheapest laser printer that we found is the DELL S2815DN at only $28, and the most expensive is the HP M880Z at $9,012.

Laser Printer Brands - Price Range

The highest average laser printer price out of all brands is HP laser printers with an average price of $1,424. HP laser printers start at $100 and their most expensive laser printer costs $9,012.

The second highest average laser printer price out of all brands is Ricoh laser printers with an average price of $1,179. Ricoh laser printers range in price from $130 to $3,856.

The third highest average laser printer price out of all brands is OKI laser printers with an average price of $1,096. OKI laser printers start at $169 and their most expensive laser printer costs $5,000.

Laser Printer Brands - Average Ratings

We have evaluated 407 expert reviews and 3,037 user reviews for laser printers and used this data to calculate the average rating for each brand of laser printer. HP is the top rated laser printer brand with an average rating of 86%. Lexmark is the second best brand with 75% and Ricoh is the third best brand with 74%.

Biggest Laser Printer Retailers

We found 132 current offers for laser printers from Adorama making it the biggest laser printer retailer. That is slightly bigger than the second biggest retailer, eBay for whom we found 128 current offers for laser printers. The third biggest retailer is Overstock with 87 current laser printer offers.

When Are Most New Laser Printers Released?

Most new laser printers tend to be released between November and January. That means that most of the latest laser printer technology was released in within the last 3 months, and now is good time to buy. In 2019 most new laser printers were released in January, with 40 new laser printers released that month. 19 new laser printers were released in August 2018 making it the biggest month that year for new laser printer releases. The biggest month in 2017 for new laser printer releases was November, with 90 new laser printers released that month.

How Fast Do Laser Printer Prices Drop After Release?

On average, in the first 6 months after release, laser printers drop in price by 12%.

A typical new laser printer costs on average $891. By waiting 6 months before buying you could save on average $110.

Maximum Resolutions

'Maximum Resolution' denotes the largest resolution that the laser printer is capable of printing at.

We found 358 laser printers that are 1200 x 1200 DPI laser printers, which makes 1200 x 1200 DPI the most common maximum resolution amongst new laser printers. We found 130 laser printers that are 600 x 600 DPI laser printers, making this the second most frequently found maximum resolution amongst new laser printers.

Print Speeds

'Print Speed' measures how long it takes the laser printer to print a single black & white A4 page at normal quality.

Across the range of laser printers, the print speeds range from 8ppm to 75ppm. The print speeds of the majority of laser printers range from 35ppm to 40ppm. The HP LaserJet Enterprise M612dn, which currently retails for $1,284.20, has the fastest print speed and is a 71ppm print speed laser printer. The laser printer with the slowest print speed is the Ricoh SP112SU, which is a 16ppm print speed laser printer and currently retails for $129.99.

Colour Printing

'Colour Printing' denotes whether the laser printer has the ability to print in colour, or whether it's limited to black & white.

The number of new laser printers that do and are laser printers which do not support colour printing is roughly the same. 295 out of 648 do are laser printers which support colour printing and 54% of laser printers are laser printers which do not support colour printing.

Which Are the Cheapest Retailers for Laser Printers?

The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying laser printers. For each retailer it shows the total number of laser printers where they currently have a market leading price. The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying laser printers. For each retailer we took all of their prices and looked at what proportion of those prices where the cheapest on the market. The cheapest retailer that we found was eBay. 90 of their laser printer prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.

Proportion of Laser Printers for Which Each Retailer is Cheapest?

Assessing how cheap each retailer is for laser printers by counting the number of cheapest prices for that retailer, makes the retailers that offer the greatest number of laser printer prices more likely to offer the greatest number of cheapest prices. The chart below considers the proportion of each retailer's laser printer prices that are the cheapest compared to other retailers. The cheapest retailer that we found using this approach was eBay. 70.3% of their laser printer prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.