People like to save money, not matter what they are purchasing, so I often get folks that want to know where they can buy a cheap laser printer. I guess there are two ways to look at cheap. A cheap laser printer can either cost very little or be made with very little quality. I usually assume that one would rather buy the laser printer that costs very little versus buying the one that has low quality. Skimp on quality and you are asking for a whole lot of trouble, not matter how little you paid. Remember, you get what you pay for. That said, let’s talk about the cheap laser printer and how we can get our hands on them.

The least you can expect to pay for a laser printer, from a mid to large sized retailer, is between $300-$400.  At this price point you are going to get a single color (black) printer with some pretty slow print speeds (20 or fewer pages per minute). Don’t expect to get any scanning/copying functions, duplexing, wireless connectivity, or direct printing from USB type devices. You can expect a moderate duty cycle, the maximum number of pages the printer can print per month, in the 40,000 page range. There are some very reliable printers in this price range (HP Color LaserJet CP2025n, HP LaserJet P2015dn, Samsung SCX-4100), so even if you aren’t cheap and are just on a limited budget you’ll be able to get a quality printer.

Did you know that laser printer prices range from free to as high as $5000.00? How can the range be so large?

For you cheap laser printer seekers free is the ultimate, right? If you can get it for free you are a happy camper! To find a free laser printer you are going to have to spend some time looking around. Free laser printers are going to be found on Craig’s List or at liquidation sales. To find liquidation sales you are going to have to scour the Internet or newspapers for public postings. What you save in money you may spend in time. Still, it is very cool to be able to say you got yourself a free laser printer.

Okay, let’s get back to cheap. If you look on comparison shopping web sites you will often see a range of a few hundred dollars for any one type of printer. The same $300-$400 printer we mentioned above can be found online for between $200 and $575. Huh? If I can go to a mid to large sized retailer and get it for $300-$400, how can it be found online for $200-$575? That’s the power of the Internet. We’ll ignore the $575 part because that’s just not cheap enough. But the $200, now I’m saving at least $100.

The lesson? If you are cheap, check the Internet. You are bound go find the laser printer you want for a lower price than you would pay in a store. There are some trade-offs, but we are just talking about saving money so price is our only determinant.

Get out there and get yourself a cheap laser printer. Search the Internet, search the newspapers, look for store closeouts, or ask  your friends. Bottom line is that you’ll be spending some time researching this purchase in order to find the best deal, so be prepared. Good luck!