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As far as I've heard, a laser monochrome printer could deliver better sharp results compared with ink printers, when it comes to text printing.

Assuming that all I need to print it's black text (from small to very large letter sizes) or vector shapes on white or color A4 paper, 160..220gr/m2 thick, which would be a better solution, a laser (e.g. 4800 x 600 dpi) or an inkjet printer?

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  • It depends entirely on the particular quality of each printer.
    – DA01
    Commented Feb 8, 2016 at 15:42
  • Indeed, I've said something about the laser but nothing about the inkjet printer. Let's suppose that we compare the same category of printers if we can say it like that.
    – user124853
    Commented Feb 8, 2016 at 16:24
  • What do you mean 'category'? My point is the better quality printer will print better. Whether that happens to be a laser printer vs. inkjet isn't really the primary factor.
    – DA01
    Commented Feb 8, 2016 at 18:27
  • Category reffering at something around 4800 x 600 dpi in both cases (inkjet/laser), considering both being monochrome printers.
    – user124853
    Commented Feb 8, 2016 at 19:14
  • So, all things being equal, I'd say laser will be sharper on uncoated paper, inkjet sharper on coated paper.
    – DA01
    Commented Feb 8, 2016 at 19:30

2 Answers 2

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Laser printers tend to print faster (most noticeable with high volume), and sharper text. It’s for this reason virtually all offices use laser printers.

InkJet printers however tend to be better at printing color, especially photos. One downside is that if you use highlighters to mark your printed documents, the inks will smudge a little.

They are similarly priced, it just comes down to your preference.

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In my personal experience (web and logo mockups for agencies and clients), laser printers consistently outperform inkjet at the expense of increased operation cost (ink, initial cost of printer, etc.) If I could I'd go laser printers with every print job I would in a heartbeat, but the cost is a little prohibitive. :)

Inkjet will do most of what you need, but if for some reason you need extra sharpness, then laser seems to be the choice to go... It's up to you to determine if it's worth the additional cost.

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  • Thank you for your feed-back, sounds great for me, because indeed, I need extra sharpness for b/w projects, taking in consideration printing at a local shop the other multicolor projects. Actually, I am not so sure about the way a laser printer will handle the vectors (e.g. exported from Adobe InDesign as .pdf or .tiff), in comparation with an inkjet printer—that's why I've asked. Is there a special protocol/language that have its limits in laser printer cases?
    – user124853
    Commented Feb 8, 2016 at 6:13
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    In general, laser printers are cheaper to run on a per-page basis than ink-jet.
    – DA01
    Commented Feb 8, 2016 at 15:42
  • @user124853 your file format really has no bearing on quality between different printers. All that matters is the quality of said different printers.
    – DA01
    Commented Feb 8, 2016 at 15:43

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