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• What You Need to Know
• Laser printers are characterised by their fast printing process.
• They work much faster than inkjet printers.
• Mono laser printers only print in greyscale, colour laser printers in colour.
• Toner cannot dry out, but it emits microparticles.

Printing on a piecework basis

A laser printer is a boon for anyone who has to print a lot of documents on a regular basis. Accordingly, they are mainly found in offices and universities. These waist-high all-rounders spit out hundreds of pages in a few minutes and can also be used as scanners. For private households, there are smaller devices that are only slightly inferior to the big ones in terms of performance and range of functions. If you have to print a lot at home, you can save a lot of time with a laser printer.

The main task of laser printers is to print text, and this is where the devices come up trumps. They work much faster than inkjet printers. When printing, they achieve sharp contours and a rich black, so the pages are very easy to read. The printouts are immediately smudge-proof and UV-resistant. Even when in contact with water, the ink does not run. At the same time, modern laser printers are extremely economical, which is why the toner rarely needs to be changed.

How does a laser printer work?

A laser printer uses the photo facsimile process. Its most important component is the coated image drum. At the beginning of the printing process, the image drum is electrostatically charged. In the following step, the charge is erased at the points where toner is later applied to the drum. This is done by exposing a laser beam that projects the text to be printed onto the drum.

Now the exposed image drum is brought close to the developer unit. This component is used to apply a thin layer of toner to the drum. The image drum then comes into contact with the medium to be printed, usually printer paper. A so-called transfer roller generates an electrostatic charge on the back of the paper, which causes the toner to transfer to the paper.

Finally, the toner must be fixed to the paper. For this purpose, the paper passes through two rollers. One of these rollers has a heating rod inside that heats up to about 180 degrees Celsius. As the paper passes through the rollers, the toner melts and sticks to the surface. Finally, the laser printer ejects the finished sheet of paper.

Laser or inkjet printer?

If you are looking for a printer for home use, you will certainly ask yourself whether it should be an inkjet or laser printer. The two types of device print in different ways. As described earlier, toner is a powder, while ink is a liquid. Both printing methods have advantages and disadvantages.

Laser printers work very quickly and print text more sharply than inkjet printers. A large volume of printing can be handled quickly. The print is also light and water resistant. Laser printers are ideal for anyone who prints more than 2,000 pages a year. They are just as suitable for occasional use, because compared to inkjet printers they have one decisive advantage: the toner cannot dry out. This means that the printer is ready for immediate use even after a long period of non-use. However, laser printers are less suitable for printing presentable photos, as the images tend to have colour errors, over-blasting and streaks.

With inkjet printers, a print head equipped with ink nozzles transfers the image onto the paper. This method is particularly good for colour printing. Some laser printers are not even capable of colour printing. An inkjet printer is the first choice if you want to print high-quality images. It is just as good for occasional document printing, but it lags behind the laser printer in terms of speed. In terms of price, an inkjet printer is usually cheaper than a laser printer with comparable features.

Important buying criteria

A laser printer should first and foremost work fast. If you only print text documents, you can get by with a black-and-white printer. However, it often pays to buy a colour laser printer, which is more versatile. Make sure that the device of your choice is WLAN-capable.

Black and white or colour?

Many laser printers only print in black and white or greyscale, as their main task is to reproduce documents. They are therefore also called monochrome laser printers. There is only one toner cartridge in the printer, which contains black ink. This not only means lower follow-up costs than with colour printers, monochrome devices are also cheaper to buy. They are also convincing in terms of print quality and speed. As a separate device that prints only text, a monochrome laser printer is a sensible purchase.

In the working world, however, graphics, diagrams and presentations play an important role. Without colour, these often do not achieve the desired effect. Colour laser printers are all-rounders when it comes to documents of all kinds. They work with the four colours black, magenta, cyan and yellow. However, the purchase costs are higher than for a monochrome printer. In addition, the four toners generate follow-up costs that are not negligible.

Speed

The print speed provides information about how fast a printer works. Most manufacturers state how many pages their device can print per minute. When it comes to printing large volumes of documents as quickly as possible, print speed is a crucial purchase criterion. A slow printer can slow down the workflow. In private use, however, this is less important in most cases. Normal laser printers print at least 16 pages per minute, with many mid-range devices having a print speed of 20 to 25 pages per minute. Very fast laser printers manage around 30 prints per minute.

Warm-up time

Many models are not ready to start immediately, but need some time to warm up. This can lead to delays in printing. Such warm-up times also occur when waking up from standby mode. Waiting times of up to 40 seconds can sometimes occur.

Paper sizes

Laser printers for private use are designed for A4. The A-3 format is usually only found on larger models that are used commercially. For everyday use, A4 is perfectly adequate, as documents in the EU are always in this format.

Some laser printers can be set to smaller formats than A4, such as A5 or A6, which corresponds to the postcard format. Modern laser printers often offer the option of selecting different types of paper. The printing process is then adapted to this. These include envelopes, heavy paper, glossy paper, transparencies and labels.

With laser printers, the paper is usually drawn in from a paper cassette. This can be pulled out and refilled. If you print a lot, you need a cassette with a large capacity. The printer should hold at least 250 sheets of paper. Large devices can even hold more than 500 sheets.

Wireless printing

The printer’s interfaces are an important purchase criterion. Laser printers have at least one USB port. The printer is then connected to a computer via a cable, or printing is done directly from a USB stick. However, it is more convenient for users if there are other connection options.

A WLAN printer is simply connected to your home network. This way, any device within range can have documents printed. This allows for more flexible placement of the printer, as it no longer needs to be in close proximity to a computer. Multiple devices can be connected to the printer at the same time.

Many modern laser printers support the Cloud Print and AirPrint interfaces, which were developed by Google and Apple respectively. To use Cloud Print, you need to connect the printer to your Google account. The printer can also be configured and managed via the application. AirPrint only works with Apple devices. The printer can be easily connected to an iOS device via the home network, there is no need to install a driver.

Resolution

The resolution determines how detailed an image is and therefore plays an important role in printing as well as scanning. Sharp images and high-quality scans are only possible with sufficient resolution. The degree of resolution is expressed as “dots per inch”, or dpi for short. The value describes how many dots there are on one inch, i.e. 2.54 centimetres.

When scanning, different resolutions can be selected in the printer’s menu. For example, you can choose between 300, 600 and 1,200 dpi. For scanning text, 300 dpi is sufficient. The scan can then be read comfortably on a monitor. With a resolution of 300 dpi, an original is scanned in its original size, so to speak. This resolution is not suitable for enlarging. If you want to edit an image afterwards, you should choose a higher resolution. A high resolution is also advisable when scanning photos, for example 600 dpi.

Working memory

Laser printers have a working memory that handles data transfer. How fast a printer completes a job also depends on the size of the RAM. If the size of the file exceeds the capacity of the main memory, the print job can only be completed gradually. With complex graphics or PowerPoint slides, this can delay the printing process considerably. Basically, the larger the working memory, the more documents the printer can store temporarily.

A large working memory not only makes it easier to print graphics, but also speeds up the printing of multi-page text documents. Modern black-and-white laser printers have a working memory of at least 16 megabytes, which is quite sufficient for text documents. If you need to print graphics frequently, you should choose a device with a larger memory. Printing is much faster with 64 megabytes. Colour laser printers require even more memory. Such printers should be equipped with at least 256 megabytes.

Integrated scanner

The built-in scanner makes it easy to copy and digitise documents and is also needed for faxing. Most devices have a scan resolution of 600 to 1,2000 dpi, which guarantees good readability.

Most laser printers with a scanner have a flatbed scanner on the top of the machine. Since the flap opens upwards, you should measure the future location of the scanner beforehand. This will ensure that the flap can be opened fully.

Additional features

Many laser printers have additional features that make the machine more effective or expand its range of applications. These include, for example, the duplex function, which allows a sheet of paper to be printed on both sides.

Automatic document feeder

With many laser printers, the integrated flatbed scanner is only one way to digitise documents. They also have an automatic document feeder, often called a “feeder”. This tool automates the scanning process and makes it easier to scan several documents directly one after the other. Compared to the flatbed scanner, the flap does not have to be opened after each scan. The documents are placed in the tray of the feeder with the side to be scanned facing up. The automatic feeder then feeds in sheet by sheet. There is no need to supervise the machine during scanning.

Double-sided printing

When a laser printer is capable of printing on both sides, it is often referred to as “duplex printing”. With this method, after printing on one side, the paper is automatically fed in again and printed on the reverse side. This saves paper and thus not only protects the environment, but also your wallet. Paper printed on both sides also takes up less space in the file folder. The disadvantage of duplex printing is that it takes longer. In addition, the devices are larger due to the additional mechanics required and are more expensive than ordinary laser printers.

Sheet feeder

Another useful feature is the cut-sheet feeder. A single sheet of paper is fed into the printer separately from the rest of the printing process. This is useful if you intend to use special paper in low print runs. As a rule, the accepted paper weight of a sheet is higher with the single feed than with the feed from the paper cassette. This allows you to use high quality, thick paper, for example when printing greeting cards or invitations.

Frequently asked questions about laser printers

Laser printers emit fine dust and therefore have a reputation for being harmful to health. Many consumers are therefore rightly concerned about whether such a printer is right for their own household. Another difficulty is the disposal of toner cartridges.

Are laser printers harmful to health?

It is a proven fact that fine dust pollution causes health problems. It is also a fact that laser printers emit large quantities of ultra-fine particles that can be inhaled. The focus is also on volatile organic compounds, which are produced by the high temperatures during printing. They are suspected of causing cancer. People who complain about health problems at work often attribute this to the presence of a laser printer.

Studies show that most laser printers produce increased levels of particulate matter. But it is difficult to attribute complaints to the microparticles emitted by laser printers. A clear connection could not be proven so far. However, the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment concluded that a possible health risk cannot be ruled out.

A laser printer should therefore be set up in a separate room with sufficient fresh air supply, if possible. Setting it up in locations where people eat and drink should be avoided. Anyone who spends a long time next to the machine and touches a lot of freshly printed documents should wash their hands afterwards with soap and cold water.

How often does the toner need to be changed?

How regularly it is necessary to change the toner depends primarily on the device. As a rule, the service life varies between 2,000 and 3,000 prints. Keep in mind that some print jobs, such as elaborate graphics, use more toner than simple text. With most machines, you can easily check the toner level in the menu. Otherwise, an almost empty toner can be recognised by a streaky printout. With a black-and-white laser printer, only the toner for black needs to be replaced. Colour laser printers, on the other hand, have three additional toner cartridges for cyan, magenta and yellow.

Before replacing the cartridges, the laser printer must be taken out of operation long enough to allow it to cool down. Otherwise there is a risk of burning yourself on the machine. It is best to wear disposable gloves when changing the cartridges to avoid staining your hands.

How should toner cartridges be disposed of?

Empty toner cartridges do not belong in the residual waste or in the yellow bag. Disposing of them in this way is prohibited and may result in a fine. Toner cartridges are electronic waste that can be handed in at a recycling centre, at large electronics shops or at collection boxes. Almost all major manufacturers also offer take-back by post.