If you print large amounts in black-and-white and are using an ink jet printer, you can save a considerable amount of money, and get better quality prints too, by switching to a laser printer.

I had been buying a new ink cartridge for the printer that came with my computer approximately once a month at a cost of $25. At that rate, my $90 laser printer paid for itself in under four months. It continued to serve me, at no extra cost, for another 11 months, for a savings of $285 in 5 months. And that’s not including the cost of those colour ink cartridges that I had to buy from time to time even though I didn’t use them, because once they dry up the printer won’t work.

Toner cartridges for laser printers aren’t cheap. When the original one ran out, a new one cost me $90. At that price it’s tempting to just buy a new printer, but there are good reasons not to. One is the negative environmental impact of trashing a working printer. But financially it also made sense to replace the toner, because according to my manual the cartridges that are sold separately last almost twice as long as the one that come with my printer. So I estimate that I’ll save close to $500 with the new cartridge.  (Note that I usually select “toner save mode”, which still produces a good quality printout.)

One word of warning. When I went to purchase my first replacement toner cartridge I opted for the store brand which was $10 cheaper and guaranteed to work as well as the manufacturer’ brand. It didn’t. After a few prints it began to streak my printouts, and no amount of cleaning or adjusting stopped it. Luckily the store took it back, no questions asked, the manufacturer’s cartridge worked fine, and no damage was done to my printer. But the potential $10 savings was not worth the trouble.

Ink jet printers do have their advantages. They have the functionality to photocopy, scan and print in colour. If you do these things a lot you’d be better off having one, perhaps in addition to a black-and-white laser. I’ve kept mine for scanning.

But if you find yourself going through ink cartridges like candy, a laser printer is for you.