I received the question “Do Laser Printers use ink?” via email a few days back and figured I would deliver a quick answer via a blog post. The quick answer is that they do not use ink necessarily, but they use something similar called toner.

For laser printers, the ink toner comes in powdered form and can be found in the printer cartridge. The laser printer uses an electrostatic charge to make the toner stick to the paper in the areas where you want it to print, then rolls it over a heated drum to fuse the powdered toner to the surface. So, just like an ink printer would use ink, a laser printer uses this powdered toner.

The toner cartridges for a laser printer are usually more expensive. Generally speaking, even with a higher priced cartridge, a laser printer is more cost efficient when it comes to how many pages you can print for the money. So, if you are doing a ton of printing, a laser printer might be for you.

Additionally, with a laser printer, you don’t have to worry about clogged printer heads or ink drying issues.