Inkjet Printers Are Trash

Why your next printer should be a laser printer

Alex Cranz
Debugger

--

Canon ink cartridges in a printer.
Photo: Gavin Roberts/PhotoPlus Magazine/Future via Getty Images

The inkjet printer has no place in a home.

Yet most people who buy a printer for their home buy an inkjet. They find the low cost, small footprint, and relatively stylish design of the inkjet printer appealing, so they buy it instead of a bulkier and more expensive laser printer.

But the inkjet printer isn’t meant for a home where it’s used sporadically and usually only for text documents. Ink dries out. The jets clog. You find yourself replacing cartridges as often as you’re adding paper. You end up miserable and anxious and unsure of when you’ll actually be able to print. That’s because the inkjet printer is designed to sell ink first and print things second.

Inkjet printers are like the batteries in a phone. When you’re using your phone daily, its battery feels like a dependable, if finite, resource. You know when you need to charge it, and you might even know for how long. But if you only used your phone once or twice a day, you wouldn’t be as aware of the battery life. You might find yourself charging it less often. Then one day you go to text a friend and find your phone shutting down. This is how I feel when I try to print after not using my inkjet for months. Both inkjet printers and phones are designed with the understanding that you’re…

--

--

Responses (10)