The printing speed of inkjet printers differs greatly from that of laser printers, and the requirements for efficiency have to be exchanged depending on the application. Taking the entry model as a benchmark, inkjet printers (such as Canon PIXMA MG3620) produce black and white documents at 9.9 pages per minute (ISO standard), while comparable laser printers (such as HP LaserJet Pro M15w) produce at 19 pages per minute. That is a 92% difference in speed, and ink jet would print a 30-page document in 3 minutes and 02 seconds. Laser only 1 minute 35 seconds, time cost savings of 48%. Yet, high load inkjet speed reduction is noticeable, ongoing print after 50 pages due to the overheating of the nozzle (temperature >45°C) can trigger the cooling mechanism, speed decreases to 6 pages per minute (40% decline), and laser printers (for example, brother HL-L2350DW) with fixing roller constant temperature control (180°C±5°C), It can maintain a maximum speed of 32 pages per minute (fluctuation <2%).
In cost-effectiveness, the upfront purchase price of the inkjet printer is as low as 300 yuan (HP DeskJet 2332), while printing one page costs approximately 0.1 yuan (compatible with ink), whereas the upfront cost of laser models (like Lenovo LJ2206) is 1,200 yuan. Single page cost is just 0.03 yuan (original toner cartridge). If the average monthly printing volume is 500 pages, the three-year total cost of ownership (TCO) of the laser is 1,200+0.03×500×36=2,340 yuan, whereas that of the inkjet is 300+0.1×500×36=2,100 yuan, despite the fact that the former is faster but the total cost is 11% higher. IDC 2023 reports that 68 percent of small and medium-sized businesses choose laser for speed needs, while 72 percent of home users choose inkjet (with a focus on color output and occasional use).
Technology generations close the speed gap, e.g., the Epson WorkForce Enterprise WF-C21000, which uses PrecisionCore jet technology to increase black and white output speed to 25 pages per minute (close to low-end laser levels). Yet the device costs as much as 12,000 yuan (only 6,000 yuan for the same laser model) and requires special waterproof paper (20% more expensive) to take advantage of the high speed. Market data show that in 2022, 15% sales growth in high-speed inkjet printers were concentrated in the print service market (e.g., book printing, short run), its continuous 100 pages per minute production capability (web feed) versus conventional offset printing set-up efficiency of 300% (no time for plate making).
Power consumption and maintenance affect long-term efficiency, inkjet printer standby power consumption is only 3W (10W printing), laser standby power consumption is 30W (300W printing), if used 8 hours a day, laser annual power consumption is (30×16+300×0.5) ×365=262.8 degrees (power cost 157 yuan), Inkjet is only (3×16+10×0.5) ×365=24.7 degrees (electricity cost 15 yuan), power saving 84%. However, the inkjet head is more likely to be clogged (25% failure rate after half a year of disuse), and the cleaning or replacement cost is approximately 200-500 yuan, while the laser toner cartridge durability is up to 2,000 pages (5% failure rate), and the maintenance cost is 60% lower.
The speed gap is magnified in the extreme cases, such as printing high-resolution photos (4800×1200 DPI), which takes 4 minutes and 30 seconds for inkjet (Epson SureColor P700) and cannot be printed directly by laser (transferred to special photo paper with color accuracy ΔE>5). On the other hand, for printing large volumes of text, laser printers such as the Kyocera ECOSYS P5021cdn have a peak monthly duty cycle of 50,000 pages (up to 3,000 pages for midrange inkjet models), which is perfect for 1,666 pages of print daily for logistics companies. According to the consumer survey, 70% of the users feel that the speed of the inkjet printer is fine in the home environment (<100 pages per month), but the percentage of education business (test paper printing) choose laser considering speed is 89%.
Marketing strategies support differential positioning, i.e., HP launched “Instant Ink” subscription plan (inkjet users pay 10 yuan a month to receive 100 pages, and the additional pages are charged at 0.01 yuan), while laser competitors (e.g., Fuji Xerox) promote “per page” rental mode (pay 200 yuan a month to receive 3,000 pages). Cost and speed cross comparison shows that if the daily average print volume exceeds 75 pages (27,375 pages per year), the total efficiency benefit of the laser (time saved + consumables cost) will recover the initial investment difference and be the preferred solution for fixed demand environments.