Compare the Best Laser PrintersJuly 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 306 laser printers ranging from £17 to £3,699. The average price of a new laser printer is £454 and 80% of laser printers are priced between £96 and £867. The most expensive laser printer that we found is the Ricoh SP C840DN at £3,698, and the cheapest is the Xerox 6510 at only £18.

Laser Printer Brands - Price Range

The average price of HP laser printers is £645 which is the highest average price of all laser printer brands. HP laser printers range in price from £19 to £3,366.

The second highest average laser printer price out of all brands is Lexmark laser printers with an average price of £619. Lexmark laser printers range in price from £50 to £3,663.

OKI laser printers start at £141 and their most expensive laser printer costs £1,704. The third highest average laser printer price out of all brands is OKI laser printers with an average price of £568.

Laser Printer Brands - Average Ratings

We have checked 410 expert reviews and 3,092 user reviews for laser printers and used this data to determine the average rating for each brand of laser printer. The top three laser printer brands are HP, Lexmark and Ricoh. HP has an average rating of 86%, Lexmark has an average rating of 78% and Ricoh has an average rating of 76%.

Biggest Laser Printer Retailers

We found 179 current offers for laser printers from Ebuyer Business making it the biggest laser printer retailer. That is much bigger than the second biggest retailer, BT Business Direct for whom we found 108 current offers for laser printers. The third biggest retailer is Ebuyer with 88 current laser printer offers.

When Are Most New Laser Printers Released?

November to January is the most common period for new laser printers to be released in. If you want the latest laser printer technology 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. January was the biggest month last year for new laser printers, with two new laser printers released that month. In 2018 most new laser printers were released in August, with 19 new laser printers released that month. In November 2017, 90 new laser printers were released making it the biggest month that year for new laser printer releases.

How Fast Do Laser Printer Prices Drop After Release?

On average laser printers drop in price by 1% in the first 6 months after release.

If you are prepared to wait then you could save an average of £7 on a typical £454 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.

We found 324 laser printers that are 1200 x 1200 DPI laser printers, which makes this the most common maximum resolution amongst new laser printers. 600 x 600 DPI is the second most common maximum resolution amongst new laser printers. We found 101 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.

Comparing all laser printers, the print speeds range from 8ppm to 75ppm. The print speeds of most laser printers range from 35ppm to 40ppm. The HP 765DN, which is available at £2,087.20, has the fastest print speed and is a 75ppm print speed laser printer. The laser printer with the slowest print speed is the Xerox Phaser 6020, which is a 12ppm print speed laser printer and can be purchased for £76.99.

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. 257 out of 574 do are laser printers which support colour printing and 55% of laser printers 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 Ebuyer Business. 153 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 Ebuyer Business. 85.5% of their laser printer prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.