In terms of output clarity, laser printers can compete with printing presses and outperform inkjet printers in terms of water-resistant durability. As essential pieces of office equipment, these things precede inkjet printers. When you assess a laser printer’s lifespan, you’re actually taking into account a number of performance and durability metrics that work together to determine how long you may anticipate it to last. You may assess a laser printer as an asset for your organisation by comparing its anticipated service life to the cost of purchasing — or leasing — and operating one.
Duty Cycle
Almost every output device has a rating known as a duty cycle, which is a gauge of how much output it can provide over a specific time period, often one month. This rating is frequently included in a laser printer’s specifications, especially if the model was created with office use or heavy-duty use in mind. Equipment with greater prices tends to have higher duty cycles. The duty cycle does not provide a warranty, like other measurements of equipment performance. Instead, it suggests the maximum quantity of work the device is capable of producing.
Toner Cartridge
Laser printers depend on toner cartridges that have a supply of the powdered media they employ for output, whether they print in colour or merely in monochrome (black and white). Toner particles are arranged into a picture by the laser’s static electricity build-up, which is then transferred to paper by a metal drum. Rather than using data from a sheet with lots of graphics, toner cartridges measure their life in printed pages. Some printer models come with more expensive, long-lasting cartridges that hold more toner.
Fuser
On many printer models, the heating element that fuses toner—a mixture of minute plastic particles and pieces of pigment—onto sheets of paper is a changeable, if expensive, component. Some variants come with 150,000-page-rated fusers. Your printer’s fuser may or may not be a user-serviceable component, depending on how it was built. For information on the fuser life cycle of your particular equipment, go to the specifications. This information can be found on the manufacturer’s website, in the user manual or other product material that came with your printer.
Repair Vs. Replace
When maintaining a machine in service necessitates purchasing a new model of printer or replacement parts that are close to the printer’s original purchase price, that is when the life of a laser printer is finally limited. These repairs may not define a life span limit when the device offers features that make it worthwhile to keep it in service, such as compatibility with an older computer operating system that you need for specialised software, or when the cost of parts and service fits your budget better than the cost of a new output device. Consider purchasing new hardware when your printer reaches the stage at which its gears wear out or its motor experiences issues.
