Difference Between Line Printer and Laser Printer

Line Printer vs Laser Printer

Summary: Difference Between Line Printer and Laser Printer is that Line printer is a type of impact printer which is high-speed and printer an entire line at a time. While Laser printer is a high-quality, high-speed type of non-impact printer. They use individual sheets of paper that are stored in one or more removable tray that slide in the printer case when they work with personal computers.

Line Printer

Line printer is a type of impact printer which is high-speed and printer an entire line at a time. Their speed can only be measured by the number of lines (lpm) they can print. Many line printers can print as many as 3000 lines per minute.

Laser Printer

Laser printer is a high-quality, high-speed type of non-impact printer. They use individual sheets of paper that are stored in one or more removable tray that slide in the printer case when they work with personal computers. They can print graphics and text easily in high-quality resolutions which ranges from 1200-2400 dpi. Laser printers are more costly than ink-jet printers but that are some models available at affordable prices for home user. They can print faster as compared to ink-jet printers. Manufacturers of printers state that laser printer for home and small business user typically prints black and white text at the speed of 15-62 ppm. Color laser printers print 8-40 ppm but laser printers for large businesses print more than 150 ppm.

For small office user and home user laser printer cost ranges from few hundred dollars to few thousand dollars but the cost depend on the quality, speed and type of laser printer. And laser printers for large businesses can cost several thousand dollars. Color laser printers can be slightly higher priced otherwise they costs equivalent to black-and-white laser printers. They operate similar to a copy machine, laser printer uses a laser beam and powdered link to create images. Laser beam and powdered ink called toner. B&W laser printers use one toner cartridge but color printers use multiple cartridges. One cartridge for black and one or more cartridges for colors, when toner runs out, you replace the toner.