Inkjet printing has been in competition with the laser printer since the early 1980s, when both technologies began to emerge as consumers looked for faster, less noisy and more professional-looking alternatives to impact printers.
Although inkjets were commercially available in the 1980s, it took nearly 10 years before the prices were reasonable for the technology to be widely available in the marketplace. Inkjets took an early lead with consumers who wanted laser-printed quality at cheaper prices. Today, that lead has diminished, but the popularity of inkjets remains strong, particularly among home office and PC customers.
Most inkjets work by squirting tiny bits of ink thousands of times a second directly onto the print surface. Inkjets typically require longer drying time than laser-printed copies, and use of high-quality paper produces best results.
Inkjets these days produce image quality that is reasonably close to laser printers, at a substantially lower cost. For home office users with modest printing requirements, inkjets are still a very sound choice.
