"Ink or Toner" is a debate which is a topic of interest to the printer users for long. Though most of them do not have very clear answers to why toner is more beneficial, there is no doubt that majority of the printer users indeed are of the view that toner suits their needs better. This article aims at discussing the advantages of both ink as well as toners, so that it helps the printer users to choose a product which is more beneficial to them.
It is a fact that for many of the users, the transition from ink to toners has already happened. However, it is also true that for most of them the transition has happened without really knowing the pros and cons of ink as well as toner based devices. Discussed below are some of the advantages of ink as well as toners.
Low cost is indeed the biggest advantage of ink based printers. Perhaps the price is the most important factor which has led to the movement of the ink market towards four colour processing as well as from small to large size printers. Many users still believe that the choice should be based on time and quantity factor and they still choose to go with ink as they are of the thought that inkjet printers produce quality images because of the smaller particle size of the materials. Inkjet is also more user-friendly when it comes to tougher substrates. Ink based printers are also more favourable for tasks or applications like imprinting of objects. This is because of its considerably lower price when compared to screen printing. Also the results achieved through ink based devices are of very high quality. In a nutshell, Ink based devices are still considered to be more beneficial when it comes to print quality and efficiency in the long run.
Toner is a powdery substance which is usually made of carbon or synthetic polymers. Till recently, the use of toner based printers was limited to applications which involved black and white output. However, things have changed for toners as they are challenging offset for the colour market in terms of production speed as well as quality. The primary reason for the evolution of the toners is the industry wide move towards digital imaging. The toner based printers not only concentrate on providing quality images but also focus on improving the speed and efficiency of laser-imaged applications. There is no doubt that ink particles are smaller than toner particles, but when it comes to being clean and user friendly, toners have an upper hand. Most of the toners are based on specialised fuser technology which gives flow and viscosity which is similar to that of ink. The advantages of toners also include longer document life, lower cost and high speed.
