Compare the Best Laser PrintersAugust 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

Laser printers range in price from $26 to $6,699 and in total we found prices for 213 laser printers. On average, a new laser printer costs $850 and 80% of laser printers are priced between $178 and $2,078. The OKI C532DN is the cheapest laser printer at only $26, and HP LaserJet M775z is the most expensive at $6,699.

Laser Printer Brands - Price Range

HP laser printers start at $95 and their most expensive laser printer costs $6,699. The highest average laser printer price out of all brands is HP laser printers with an average price of $1,277.

The average price of Ricoh laser printers is $1,006 which is the second highest average price of all laser printer brands. Ricoh laser printers start at $30 and their most expensive laser printer costs $3,856.

The average price of Lexmark laser printers is $850 which is the third highest average price of all laser printer brands. Lexmark laser printers start at $60 and their most expensive laser printer costs $4,291.

Laser Printer Brands - Average Ratings

We have analysed 409 expert reviews and 3,110 user reviews for laser printers and used these reviews to evaluate the average rating for each brand of laser printer. The top rated laser printer brand is HP with an average rating of 86%. The second best brand is Lexmark with 75% and the third best brand is Ricoh with 74%.

Biggest Laser Printer Retailers

The biggest laser printer retailer by number of products currently for sale is Adorama. We found 113 current laser printer offers from Adorama. The second biggest retailer is Overstock with 87 offers. That means Adorama is significantly bigger than Overstock when it comes to laser printers. eBay is the third biggest retailer with 9 current offers.

When Are Most New Laser Printers Released?

November to January is the most common period for new laser printers to be released in. For the latest laser printer features you may be best waiting until November 2020. It's also worth keeping in mind that the price of the current laser printers tend to drop off when the next models are released. In January 2019, 43 new laser printers were released making it the biggest month that year for new laser printer releases. The biggest month in 2018 for new laser printer releases was August, with 19 new laser printers released that month. November was the biggest month in 2017 for new laser printers, 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%.

If you are prepared to wait then you could save an average of $101 on a typical $850 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.

1200 x 1200 DPI is the most common maximum resolution amongst new laser printers. We found 353 laser printers that are 1200 x 1200 DPI laser printers. 600 x 600 DPI is the second most frequently found maximum resolution amongst new laser printers. We found 118 laser printers that are 600 x 600 DPI 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 most laser printers range from 35ppm to 40ppm. The laser printer with the fastest print speed is the HP LaserJet Enterprise M612dn, which is a 75ppm print speed laser printer and currently retails for $1,249.88. The DELL C1760NW, which can be purchased for $379.00, has the slowest print speed and is a 15ppm print speed laser printer.

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. 280 out of 628 do are laser printers which support colour printing and 342 out of 628 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. 71 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. 81.6% of their laser printer prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.