Compare The Best Lexmark Laser PrintersApril 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.

Cost

Compared to inkjet printers, laser printers are far more expensive - sometimes double or more the cost of an equivalent inkjet model. However while the initial cost is high, the day-to-day running costs are far lower: toner cartridges last far longer than ink cartridges, and are cheaper to replace. Both these factors mean that if you routinely print large amounts of documents, a laser printer will be far more economical over time compared to an inkjet.

Types of Laser Printer

There are 2 main types of laser printer on the market at the moment - laser and LED printers. Both work by the same process - using focussed light to trace a path for toner particles on a page. However while a laser has to track across the page from one side of a line to the other, an LED printer can use a static bank of LEDs to ‘flash’ an entire line in one go. This means that LED printers are far faster than laser printers which achieving the same high-quality prints. However since LED printers are a new technology, you can expect to pay more for an LED-enabled printer. If you find yourself regularly printing a lot of documents, the saving in time may well be worth the expenditure.

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.

Print Speed

Laser printers are far faster than inkjet printers, and are capable of a very high rate of pages printed per minute. That said, there is a large variety in printing speed within laser printers, with some models capable of printing pages twice as fast as other devices. This is especially true of LED printers, which are capable of an extremely high page-per-minute rate. All of our printers have detailed stats on the number of pages they can print a minute, broken down into monochrome and colour, as well as by quality (draft, normal, high-quality). This will allow you to make the best decision as to the laser printer that best suits your needs.

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.

Lexmark Laser Printer Prices

In total we found 67 Lexmark laser printers ranging from $59 to $4,699. The average price of a new Lexmark laser printer is $962 and the 80% of Lexmark laser printers are priced between $190 and $2,495. The Lexmark C2132 is the cheapest Lexmark laser printer at only $60, and Lexmark CX825DTE is the most expensive at $4,699.

Price Range of Lexmark Laser Printers

The average price of Lexmark laser printers is $962 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 $4,699.

How Good Are Lexmark Laser Printers?

We have evaluated 366 expert reviews and 2,889 user reviews for laser printers and used these reviews to evaluate an average rating for Lexmark laser printers of 78%. This makes Lexmark the 2nd best laser printer brand according to customer reviews.

When Are Most New Lexmark Laser Printers Released?

Over the last 3 years we couldn't see any obvious trend in the release month for new Lexmark laser printers. In January 2019, one new Lexmark laser printers were released making it the biggest month that year for new Lexmark laser printer releases. Seven new Lexmark laser printers were released in April 2018 making it the biggest month that year for new Lexmark laser printer releases. June was the biggest month in 2017 for new Lexmark laser printers, with five new Lexmark laser printers released that month.

How Fast Do Lexmark Laser Printer Prices Drop After Release?

Most laser printers drop in price by 11% in the first 6 months after release, however Lexmark laser printers tend to depreciate faster. On average Lexmark laser printers drop in price by 13% in the first 6 months after release.

That means that on a typical Lexmark laser printer costing $813 you could save on average $107 by waiting 6 months before buying.