There are different reasons to have an ink vs. laser jet printer. Ink printers are often times cheaper to maintain while the ink for a laser printer is often more expensive. You could go to an office supplies store and talk with some of their tech support staff to gain some guidance and insight and then go home and research further on the internet until you find one that meets your needs.
Inkjet printer cartridges use liquid ink and are ideal for high-quality photo and color printing, while laser printer cartridges use powdered toner and are better for fast, high-volume text printing. Inkjet cartridges are usually cheaper upfront but may need more frequent replacement, whereas laser cartridges last longer and are more cost-effective over time.
Laser printers produce excellent quality documents much more quickly than their inkjet counterparts. However, the cartridges for laser printers can prove to be very expensive. Laser printer cartridges are available in generic form and are the same quality as the brand name version. These cartridges are less expensive because they have been manufactured by a company other than the printer's original manufacturer.
The original purchase price of a color laser printer is very comparable to an inkjet printer. The additional difference in price comes when you purchase the ink cartridges are the laser cartridges are higher in price.
"On almost every level, laser jet printer cartridges are superior to inkjet. They have longer life, they produce better images. The biggest drawback is their price, which can be 5 to 10 times greater."
Brother laser printer cartridges are special because they can be refilled by the user rather than taken to an expensive ink store or the user having to buy a new one.
The reason why it's difficult to produce a portable laser printer is becuase of its hardware. Unlike a inkjet printer, a laser printer uses scanning and takes ink from more advanced technology than inkjet cartridges. There's a reason why laser printers are so expensive!
By definition a laser printer uses a process of electrostatic digital printing in which a laser beam is passed over a charged drum in order to define an image that is deferentially charged rapidly producing graphics and text of a high quality. A mono (or monochrome) laser printer is a laser printer that only has one ink toner cartridge, almost always black. It is a black and white printer. It may also be possible to get different color cartridges but only one can be used at a time so it is still a monochrome printer. Specialty ink cartridges are also available such as magnetic ink cartridges (MICR) for printing the bottom of a check. A color laser printer is one that has multiple ink toner cartridges so that it can print in various colors The toner cartridges are usually yellow, magenta, cyan (like yellow red, blue). The better laser printers will have a separate black cartridge for monochrome printing. Other black printing is done by combining all three ink color to get black which is wasteful and expensive.
The HP q2612a is a high quality printer cartridge used for laser quality printing. They last longer than inkjet printer cartridges and provide a better quality of printing for various projects.
The printer cartridges laser printers use is essentially identical to the cartridges used by copy machines. A dry black powder called toner is attracted to a printer drum by means of an electrostatic charge. The drum then transfers the toner to the paper. At one time, the price for this technology was totally prohibitive for anyone other than large businesses. Today, laser printers that produce stunning documents and images can be purchased for under $200.
In my opinion, a laser printer is better than an inkjet or ribbon (dot matrix?) printer.
It all depends on what you are going to be using the printer to print. If your are basically going to print text documents than black and white is the better way to go and the cartridges are less expensive.
Laser printer ink is lesser quality than photography ink, so it is less expensive. However, if you need really detailed color in your photos, photography ink is still a better by than laser printer ink.