Traditional wisdom is that laser printers are faster, more reliable, and less expensive to use, and that they have better output than their inkjet counterparts. But depending on what and how much you print, inkjet machines are often superior.

Granted, laser technology—which applies toner to an entire page in one fell swoop—is inherently faster than the way most inkjets apply ink to paper, with a relatively small printhead moving back and forth, laying down line after line. Medium- to high-volume inkjets typically top out at about 25 pages per minute (ppm), while comparable laser machines are often 10ppm to 15ppm faster. Higher-end, high-volume laser printers achieve print speeds of 50ppm or more (as do HP's PageWide laser-alternative inkjet printers, whose fixed printhead arrays don't travel back and forth across the page). But 25ppm is plenty fast enough for most business environments.

Aside from raw speed, are laser printers more reliable? Years ago, some inkjet printers were more prone to paper jams, clogged nozzles, and inferior output. But those days are over.

As to whether inkjet printers are more expensive to use than lasers, while you can certainly find exceptions, that hasn't been the case for some time now. Indeed, bulk-ink inkjets, most of which use large refill bottles or bags instead of small cartridges of ink, can be far less costly to use than their laser rivals.

Also, it's important to note that inkjet printers tend to use significantly less electricity than comparable lasers. In busy offices where the printer churns out page after page all day, that's an extra, if hard-to-quantify, "consumable" you could save money on with an inkjet.

Finally, the biggest misconception of all: that laser printers, as a rule, produce better-looking output than their inkjet competitors. Again, you'll always find exceptions, but this hasn't been cut-and-dried for quite a while. Where laser printers have always excelled, and to some extent still do, is in printing text or typesetting. Inkjet printers, on the other hand, usually print superior graphics, especially photographs.

This is not to say that laser printers don’t print well. It’s just that inkjets have made great strides. In addition, most inkjet machines can print borderless document pages and photos, making your photos and other marketing materials look more professional. Laser printers, on the other hand, must leave about a quarter-inch of margin all the way around the edge of the paper.

One aspect in which laser printers' toner output does prevail over inkjet output is the durability of the printing. A laser print typically lasts longer without cracking or fading, and is not prone to smudging or streaking if exposed to moisture. That's an advantage in environments where the longevity of hard-copy records, such as medical documentation, is important.

For more on this question, see our in-depth inkjet vs. laser explainer.

Until recently, the per-page cost of consumables (ink or toner) was based primarily on the print-volume expectation and price of the printer. Lower-end machines with relatively low volume ratings cost more to use than higher-priced, higher-volume ones. Nowadays, while you can still find plenty of printers that follow that model, several major printer manufacturers are offering alternatives—what we call "bulk-ink" printers.

These technologies (Brother's INKvestment Tank, Canon's MegaTank, Epson's EcoTank, and HP's Smart Tank Plus and Instant Ink) deliver running costs that are a mere fraction of the traditional replacement consumables model.

EcoTank, MegaTank, and Smart Tank Plus are all cartridge-free technologies. Instead of pricey cartridges that often contain their own expensive printheads and electronics, these machines also store their consumables in internal tanks that you fill from inexpensive bottles.

All three technologies deliver similar running costs of about 0.3 cent per monochrome and 0.9 cent per color page, with an exception being Epson's recent, small-business-focused EcoTank Pro brand, which offers both black and color pages for about 2 cents each. EcoTank Pro marks a change from the earlier bulk-ink model, which was to charge a premium (as much as three to five times the cost of a comparable cartridge model) for a consumer- rather than business-class printer with an uninspiring feature set and mediocre volume and capacity ratings.

Though they still cost three or four times as much as comparable non-bulk-ink printers, EcoTank Pro machines deliver the volume, capacity, and features most small offices require. So do many Brother INKvestment Tank and HP Instant Ink models—cartridge-based designs that aren't quite as penny-pinching as other bulk-ink printers, but cost less to buy.

In any case, unlike a few years ago, when your running-cost options were limited, today it's much easier to find a printer with per-page costs appropriate to your printing and copying needs, though it may require a little more research up front. That's where our reviews come in.

Just as many different types and sizes of businesses need printers, a multitude of business printers exist to serve them, with a dizzying array of overlapping capacity, volume, feature-set, and expansion options. At PCMag, we divide printers and AIOs into three loosely defined categories based on how much work they're called upon to do:

Entry-level or small office/home office (SOHO): These machines serve small, low-volume print and copy environments of five or fewer users, producing no more than a few hundred pages each month.

Midsize or small to medium business (SMB): These printers accommodate about five to 25 users in medium-volume print and copy environments, of up to a couple of thousand pages monthly.

High-volume or enterprise: Devices at this level are designed to crank out thousands of pages each month. Often part of a fleet, they offer staunch security options and are usually highly expandable, sometimes with multiple add-ons such as staplers, sorters, and high-capacity paper-input drawers and bins.

With the above information in hand, you're ready to start narrowing down the dizzying number of single-function and multifunction printer choices facing your business. We hope this guide helps you make the right choice, whether your company's in the Fortune 500 or on the kitchen table.