Compare the Best Laser PrintersSeptember 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

In total we found 226 laser printers ranging from $30 to $6,699. A new laser printer costs on average $828 and 80% of laser printers are priced between $169 and $1,943. The HP LaserJet M775z is the most expensive laser printer that we found at $6,699, and the Ricoh C261SFNW is the cheapest at only $30.

Laser Printer Brands - Price Range

HP laser printers range in price from $100 to $6,699, and the highest average laser printer price out of all brands is HP laser printers with an average price of $1,282.

The second highest average laser printer price out of all brands is OKI laser printers with an average price of $1,138. OKI laser printers range in price from $169 to $5,500.

Ricoh laser printers start at $30 and their most expensive laser printer costs $3,856. The average price of Ricoh laser printers is $924 which is the third highest average price of all laser printer brands.

Laser Printer Brands - Average Ratings

We have evaluated 87 expert reviews and 353 user reviews for laser printers and used this information to evaluate the average rating for each brand of laser printer. The top three laser printer brands are HP, Canon and Lexmark. HP has an average rating of 82%, Canon has an average rating of 76% and Lexmark has an average rating of 75%.

Biggest Laser Printer Retailers

The biggest laser printer retailer by number of products currently for sale is Adorama. We found 130 current laser printer offers from Adorama. The second biggest retailer is Overstock with 65 offers. That means Adorama is much bigger than Overstock when it comes to laser printers. eBay is the third biggest retailer with 65 current offers.

When Are Most New Laser Printers Released?

The most common period for new laser printers to be released in is between November and January. If you wait until November 2020 then you might be able to get better features on your laser printer. Also the price of the current laser printers may drop off just before the latest models are released in November. 43 new laser printers were released in January 2019 making it the biggest month that year for new laser printer releases. In August 2018, 19 new laser printers were released making it the biggest month that year for new laser printer releases. In 2017 most new laser printers were released in November, with 90 new laser printers released that month.

How Fast Do Laser Printer Prices Drop After Release?

In the first 6 months after release, laser printers drop in price by 13% on average.

If you are prepared to wait then you could save an average of $106 on a typical $828 new laser printer by waiting 6 months before buying.

Maximum Resolutions

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

The most popular maximum resolution amongst new laser printers is 1200 x 1200 DPI. We found 353 laser printers that are 1200 x 1200 DPI laser printers. We found 119 laser printers that are 600 x 600 DPI laser printers, making 600 x 600 DPI 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.

The print speeds of laser printers 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 is on sale for $1,829.76, has the fastest print speed and is a 75ppm print speed laser printer. The laser printer with the slowest print speed is the DELL C1760NW, which is a 15ppm print speed laser printer and is priced at $379.00.

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. 281 laser printers (45%) do are laser printers which support colour printing and 347 laser printers (55%) 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 Overstock. 49 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 Overstock. 75.4% of their laser printer prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.