Photo: Stock.Xchng

When it comes to buying a good printer, a lot of people don’t know whether to buy a laser printer or an inkjet printer. Both printers come with their pros and cons, but at the end of the day the smart buyer should make their choice based on what they’ll be using the printer for.

Ink printing

Inkjet printers, though mostly being priced better than their laser counterparts, require frequent ink cartridge replacement which doesn’t come cheap. The printers are perfect for the buyer who intends to use the device at home, only printing a few documents now and then. In the home environment, printers which use ink rather than laser will also save space and are generally smaller than their laser powered counterparts. Though it currently looks like the laser is mightier than ink in this case, where the ink-powered printer excels is when it comes to printing photos. There are also even specially developed ink cartridges for use in photo-printing labs. Printers like the Epson Stylus Photo P50 live up to all the advantages which have been listed above and this model goes for £64, making it an awesome budget buy.

How the laser fares

Photo: Stock.Xchng

Laser printers have been scooped the ‘King of the printers’ seat, and are renowned for being able to print high volumes, very quickly. The cartridges used in laser-powered printers last longer than ink cartridges and offer lower printing costs relative to the amount of work they can produce. The quality of the text and images is also better when using a laser-powered printer, but one of the big cons is that the printers are rather costly. The entry-level Epson AcuLaser C1600 costs double the price of the Epson Stylus Photo P50, at a bit under £134, but then again can also produce close to double the work in half the time.

From this it should be clear that those looking for a printer that can do a lot of work and similarly keep costs low should go for a laser printer. Those just looking for ordinary printer to do odd printing jobs here and then should purchase an inkjet printer. Head to head, the laser is definitely mightier than ink and costs less in the long run, too.

Photo: Hewlett Packard

Hewlett-Packard, the world’s largest computer manufacturer with a mind-blowing 300,000 strong workforce, has somehow managed to elude being newsworthy over the last 12 months. The last few weeks, however, have been anything but quiet for HP, with news emerging that it has settled its dispute with inkjet cartridge vendors.

Patent infringement

In sync with a disturbing trend among major computing companies, HP sued inkjet vendors in the US over patent infringement on technology used in HP inkjet printer devices. HP alleged companies like CompTree Ink, SmartOne Services, Zhuhai Gree Magneto-Electric and InkPlusToner.com were bringing patent-infringing inkjet supplies from abroad and retailing them in the United States.

The complaint, which was brought to the ITC in September of 2009, has been settled outside of court with CompTree Ink and InkPlusToner.com both agreeing to stop selling the inkjet supplies as well as pay unspecified damages. HP expects a settlement to be reached soon with SmartOne Services, while Zhuhai Gree Magneto-Electric agreed to stop selling products HP alleged were examples of patent infringement.

HP’s lucrative printer patents

Photo: Xerox Corp

Outside of Xerox Corp, no other company owns as many valuable patents in document management as the HP Inkjet printer business unit. These patents have meant many companies inadvertently use HP’s technology in their printers, which has resulted in Hewlett-Packard filing similar suits many times over the years.

In March alone, HP has sued seven companies for patent infringement. The recipients of the lawsuits this time were the Mipo group with their Mipo Science & Technology, Mipo America and Mipo Technology, as well as Micro Jet, Sinotime Technologies, PTC Holdings and Mextec Group.

Hewlett-Packard has indicated that they are pleased with the outcome and the settlements, and have indicated they intend to continue their strategy of taking legal action against all competitors who infringe on the HP Inkjet printer technology.