Lab

Personal mono laser printers

Modern inkjets can make impressive claims about speed and running costs, but when it comes to getting real work done there's still no substitute for the real thing. Laser printers offer an unbeatable combination of speed, sharpness and print permanence, coupled with a lower cost per page than an inkjet. Historically, the downside has been the high cost of the printer itself - 20 years ago the first HP Laserjet cost the equivalent of over £5,000 in today's money - but over time prices have steadily fallen, to the point where even a colour laser is now a realistic option as a personal printer.

In this Labs, we look at ten laser printers (five monochrome and five colour) all costing less than £209 excluding VAT - and in some cases substantially less. A printer in this price bracket could be suitable for a home business that doesn't keep its printer churning all day, but occasionally wants to run off multipage documents without waiting around for an inkjet. In the workplace, a personal laser at this price point is ideal for an executive who needs to print confidential documents that can't be entrusted to a shared printer. Several of the printers on test feature Ethernet as standard, so one of these offerings could appeal to a small workgroup with a limited budget.

Even if the price is appealing, a personal laser won't suit everyone; if you want to print photos then, despite the trade-off of speed and running costs, you should consider an inkjet. Several of the lasers on test produced impressive photographic results, but inkjet printers can mix liquid inks to produce an almost limitless range of vivid colours, while lasers must rely largely on dithering, inevitably impairing the results.

For many users, however, one of the ten personal lasers here could prove to be the right choice at the right price. To help you determine which would best meet your needs, we've put each one through our exhaustive speed and quality tests, and considered running costs in depth. Read on to find out which personal laser printers made the grade.