Compare the Best Laser PrintersNovember 2019

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

We currently list 307 laser printers ranging from £24 to £3,212. On average, a new laser printer costs £434 and 80% of laser printers are priced between £90 and £903. The Ricoh SP112 is the cheapest laser printer at only £25, and Lexmark CS923DE is the most expensive at £3,212.

Laser Printer Brands - Price Range

HP laser printers start at £64 and their most expensive laser printer costs £3,196. The average price of HP laser printers is £701 which is the highest average price of all laser printer brands.

OKI laser printers start at £125 and their most expensive laser printer costs £2,910. The average price of OKI laser printers is £643 which is the second highest average price of all laser printer brands.

The average price of Xerox laser printers is £633 which is the third highest average price of all laser printer brands. Xerox laser printers start at £60 and their most expensive laser printer costs £2,620.

Laser Printer Brands - Average Ratings

We have analysed 367 expert reviews and 2,897 user reviews for laser printers and used this information to calculate 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

The biggest laser printer retailer by number of products currently for sale is Ebuyer Business. We found 172 current laser printer offers from Ebuyer Business. The second biggest retailer is Amazon UK with 145 offers. That means Ebuyer Business is slightly bigger than Amazon UK when it comes to laser printers. Ebuyer is the third biggest retailer with 131 current offers.

When Are Most New Laser Printers Released?

August to October is the most common period for new laser printers to be released in. August was the biggest month in 2018 for new laser printers, with 19 new laser printers released that month. 90 new laser printers were released in November 2017 making it the biggest month that year for new laser printer releases. The biggest month in 2016 for new laser printer releases was October, with 39 new laser printers released that month.

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.

That means a saving of £6 on a typical £434 new laser printer if you wait 6 months before buying.

Maximum Resolutions

'Maximum Resolution' denotes the largest resolution that the laser printer is capable of printing at.

Amongst new laser printers, the most popular maximum resolution is 1200 x 1200 DPI. We found 321 laser printers that are 1200 x 1200 DPI laser printers. We found 100 laser printers that are 600 x 600 DPI laser printers, making 600 x 600 DPI the second most frequently found maximum resolution amongst new 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 765DN, which is a 75ppm print speed laser printer and is available at £3,109.96. The laser printer with the slowest print speed is the Canon LBP7100CN, which is a 14ppm print speed laser printer and is priced at £130.86.

Colour Printing

'Colour Printing' denotes whether the laser printer has the ability to print in colour, or whether it's limited to black & white.

Most new laser printers are laser printers which do not support colour printing. 326 laser printers out of 572 on Kagoo are laser printers which do not support colour printing and 258 laser printers out of 572 are laser printers which 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. 133 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. 77.3% of their laser printer prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.