Introduction
There has always been a sizeable gap between inkjet and laser printers in terms of both speed and quality. Laser printers were always faster and inkjets always had superior print quality. While we've been able to depend on these age-old truisms for a long time, things have become less black-and-white in recent years. Inkjets have become faster, and laser printers are able to produce much higher-quality photo and colour prints. The price difference between the two types has also decreased through the years. The cheapest laser all-in-one in this test costs about as much as the most expensive inkjet all-in-one.
Now Epson and HP come with the claim that their models in our current test are up to 50 percent more cost-efficient in use than their laser-powered counterparts. Epson doesn't pull any punches and even claims that their inkjet in this test is just as fast as a laser printer. Bold claims, which we will gladly put to the test.
Can an inkjet printer print as fast or even faster than a laser printer?
The participants
We asked Brother, Canon, Epson, HP and Lexmark to provide an inkjet all-in-one aimed at the small office market segment, and they happily obliged. Brother provided the MFC-J6510DW, Canon sent the PIXMA MX885, Epson the WorkForce Pro WP-4525 DNF, HP the Officejet Pro 8500A Plus and Officejet Pro 8600 Plus and Lexmark sent us the Pro 915.
In order to compare the fast inkjets with their laser all-in-one brethren, we picked two that we were reasonably impressed by. The HP Laserjet Pro M175nw and the Samsung CLX-3185FW will provide comparison material.
