Monochrome Laser Printer Review

Sizing up reviews of monochrome laser printers

Color inkjet printers are more popular for home use, but if you mainly print text pages or don't need color printing, monochrome laser printers offer sharper, cleaner printouts. Additionally, monochrome lasers print faster and cost much less to operate than inkjet printers.

Because of monochrome laser printers' particular niche and proven technology, models tend to be on the market longer than comparable inkjet or multifunction printers. That also means that manufacturers are slower to release new models, and that reviewers tend to look at monochrome printers only sporadically. The best reviews for black-and-white laser printers come from sources that regularly evaluate laser printers and offer a way to compare models.

PC Magazine's reviews are balanced and comparative, but there are more reviews here for color laser printers than monochrome printers. On the other hand, the number of monochrome laser printers reviewed has increased in the past year, and the site has multiple writers evaluating the category.

British magazine Computer Shopper's reviews are helpfully comparative, with detailed descriptions of text and image quality. While most reviewers offer vague general descriptions like "very good," Computer Shopper's Simon Handby says, "The B4100 prints excellent text with crisp and tidy outlines, but its toner seems more dark grey than black, robbing characters of their full impact." Other computer and consumer magazines, such as PC World and Consumer Reports, have decent reviews that fall short in key areas. They have too little or no recent coverage of monochrome laser printers, and reviews aren't comparative or overrate the importance of features relative to print quality.

Some review sites that previously ranked highly in the ConsumerSearch monochrome laser report have been downgraded because they have fallen behind in their coverage. For instance, Australian consumer magazine Choice does the best job of evaluating cost of use when it compares a dozen inexpensive monochrome laser printers, but none of the models in its most recent test are widely available anymore. Likewise, X-bit Labs, which has the most thorough tests of printers online, could no longer be included here because its last roundup of nine monochrome laser printers is over three years old.

Most reviews overrate the importance of speed. We found that only a minority of reviews cover any of four major buying considerations: projected printer reliability, actual as opposed to interpolated resolution, printer paper paths and whether the printer comes with a full or starter toner cartridge.

This last point can have a major impact on your wallet. For example, good reviews reveal the false economy of the Lexmark E120n (*Est. $140). This older model is small, cheap and fast, and reviewers agree that output quality is at least good. PC Pro admits that cost per print is high, but nonetheless recommends the printer. However, PC Magazine's review notes that the Lexmark laser printer comes with a starter toner cartridge that only contains 25 percent of the toner contained in a full cartridge. Replacement toner cartridges cost about $75, making the cost per page around 3.3 cents. A similar monochrome laser printer, the Brother HL-2170W (*Est. $120), has a lower cost of consumables, so text pages cost about 2.7 cents per page.