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Black and White vs. Colour Printers: Which is Best for You?

Whether you’re running a small business or home printing, deciding between a black and white (mono) or colour printer is a key step that can save you time, money and hassle. This guide breaks down the differences between mono and colour printers, helping you identify what suits your needs and showing you how to save on printing costs with the best consumables.

Key Comparison Table

Feature	Mono Printers	Colour Printers
Best For	Text-heavy documents, high-volume users	Photos, graphics, creative projects
Cost-Per-Page	Lower	Higher
Initial Price	Lower	Higher
Consumables	Single cartridge	Multiple colour cartridges (or one additional tri-colour cartridge)
Printing Speed	Faster	Slower

Key Factors

Below you’ll find a more detailed breakdown of the key differences between mono and colour printing. Consider which of these are most important to you to guide your decision.

User Needs

The type of printing that will work best for you will change based on what you’ll use the printer for. Each of these factors will be dependent on what type of print user you are. Here’s a basic overview of the two main types of printer user:

Home Users

Things you may want to print at home include photos, homework, crafts, important bills and forms. Home users typically need to use the printer on an occasional basis and will need to print far less frequently than those who are using a printer for work. The versatility of colour printers makes them ideal for printing photos, school projects and crafts.

Looking to print family memories? We have a useful guide on how to print your photos from your phone and a range of high-quality, affordable photo paper.

Business Users

Those printing in offices will need a machine which supports high-volume printing, due to a typically higher number of users and a greater need to consistently produce multi-page business documents. Mono printers are highly efficient and cost-effective, making them ideal for printing invoices, contracts and other daily business needs.

Explore our mono laser printers which are perfect for high-volume printing.

Cost Considerations

There’s predictably a difference in cost between black and white and colour printing. While the answer to which is more affordable seems obvious, it’s more nuanced than “mono printing is cheaper”.

Upfront Costs

First, you have the initial cost of the printer. Unsurprisingly, mono printers are usually more budget friendly. This is because colour printers feature additional technology designed for the handling of multiple cartridges.

Save money on mono printers from Cartridge People.

Running Costs

Not only are there less cartridges to buy with mono printers, but the black ink/toner cartridges used may feature a lower cost-per-page, thanks to lower prices. Colour ink cartridges often cost more and require replacements for each colour. There are ways to reduce the cost of your colour printing, however. These include using draft mode, which can greatly lower your consumable use. Save on colour printing with our Compatible Own Brand cartridges.

Overall, mono printers are more cost-efficient for businesses.

Print Speed

When comparing inkjet vs laser, laser printers generally feature quicker print speeds. This is because of the single-pass process (creating an entire image of the page at once), efficient toner application and optimised hardware. Additionally, colour print speeds are often slower than mono. So, if print speed is a priority for you, (like in a busy office), you should choose a mono printer.

Print Quality

Mono and colour printers both have their own advantages in terms of print quality.

Laser mono printers are better at producing sharp prints for text documents.
Colour inkjet printers are the ideal choice for printing photos and graphics where accurate colour reproduction is necessary.

To better understand the quality you can expect from your printer, check its DPI in the specifications. DPI stands for dots per inch and a higher number indicates that the printer can produce prints with a greater level of detail.

Page Yields

Black ink cartridges sometimes allow you to print more than colour cartridges. For toner, mono cartridges frequently feature higher page yields, better supporting high-volume, text-based printing.

Whether you want an inkjet or laser printer, if page yields are important to you when choosing between mono and colour, both types of printer frequently offer greater page yields with monochrome printing. This is thanks to the efficiency of a single-ink system. For those printing in high volumes, mono toner printers are the most cost-efficient.

Environment

Mono laser printers are typically better for the environment than colour inkjets because of their efficient toner usage and long-lasting cartridges with high page yields. A laser printer needs a lower amount of electricity to print a page than inkjet printers. Ink tank printers are more environmentally friendly than inkjet printers. Generating less plastic waste than traditional inkjet printers, ink tank printers use refillable tanks as opposed to disposable cartridges and are also more efficient with ink usage.

Making a Decision

Find answers to common questions on mono vs colour printing and printer recommendations in this section.

FAQ

What is a monochrome printer?

A monochrome printer is a device that only prints in black and white and doesn’t use colour ink or toner. Both laser and inkjet monochrome printers are available.

Will a mono printer be enough if I only occasionally need to print in colour?

Yes, a mono printer can be a valuable addition to your workspace if you find yourself printing in colour less frequently. Cut down on printing overheads with a mono printer and consider outsourcing your colour print jobs (e.g., at a library or asking someone who has a colour printer). Alternatively, if you’d still like to print in colour, choose compatible printer cartridges to save money.

Is a colour printer worth the higher ink cost?

The answer to this depends on what you print and how often. For example, when printing photos, yes, a colour printer is absolutely worth the higher print cost. This is because photo prints greatly benefit from the accurate colour reproduction colour ink cartridges provide. However, if you’re only printing plain text, a colour printer would not be worth the additional cost because the colour ink cartridges would go mostly unused.

Can I print in black and white if I have no colour ink?

Whether or not your printer can produce mono prints without colour cartridges will depend on your model. Some printers allow black and white printing without colour ink, while others need all the cartridges to have ink, even when mono printing. Consult your printer settings or manual for details.

Does printing in black and white save ink?

Yes, printing in mono can save you ink and therefore money as you won’t need to use the colour cartridges and can conserve ink.

Is it cheaper to print in colour or black and white?

Printing in black and white is cheaper, as you only need to replace one cartridge.

Mono and Colour Printers: Our Recommendations

Mono Laser Printer: Brother HL-1110 (accepts Brother TN1050 toner)

Colour Laser Printer: Brother MFC-L8690CDW (accepts Brother TN-423 toner)

Mono Inkjet Printer: Epson EcoTank ET-M3140 (accepts Epson 111 ink)

Colour Inkjet Printer: Epson WorkForce WF-2930DWF (accepts Epson 604 ink)

To Sum Up

Both types of printing have their advantages. Choose a mono printer to save money, for printing text and quicker print speeds. Similarly, opt for a colour printer for producing images and photos.

Need more advice on buying a printer? Read our comprehensive guide to finding the right printer for you, where we go over everything you need to consider when purchasing a printer. You can also find our expert top picks of the best small office printers.

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