Finding the right printer for you: LED printers

By Sarah Meyer, PrinterComparison Editor | | 4025 Reads

Need help deciding on what type of printer fits your needs? Check out the PrinterComparison.com series, "Finding the right printer for you." Building on our handy buyer's guide of the same title, in this article we'll focus on LED printers.

All about LED printers

An LED printer is similar to a laser printer in that it fuses dry ink (toner) to your print medium through heat. The difference is that an LED printer uses a Light-Emitting Diode array (hence the name LED) instead of using precision lasers to affix the toner to the imaging drum or belt.

Because this process is less complex, LEDs often have the advantage over laser printers in cost, efficiency and reliability. The LED printers are cheaper to manufacture (less moving parts) allowing companies to pass on lower prices to consumers in a typically expensive color laser market. LED printers often feature a more compact design allowing for a better fit in home offices and small businesses as well as another way to save on costs.

Laser printers win the battle when it comes to print resolution, however. While many laser printers feature resolutions of 1200 x 1200 dpi, LED printers often have a lower resolution of 600 x 600 dpi or uneven resolution of 600 x 2400 dpi as seen on Brother’s latest LED line or 1200 x 600 dpi on OKI's new LED printers.

We’ve reviewed LED printers and this seems like a minor issue that would put off larger businesses with high resolution needs. When it comes to getting professional color document on a small scale, an LED could be a great, not to mention less expensive choice, for a small business.

Major brands

Brother
OKI

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