Leaving a laser printer on

[nxh]

what's better leaving it on all the time or turn it on only when used.

 

[nxh]

if i have it on all the time, would this waste more ink versus if i turned it on only when i wanted to print.

 

[mdchesne]

it's toner, not ink. and no, you wouldn't waste toner. I don't see how you think you could... it's not going anywhere and the only thing leaving it on does is keep the ionizer(whatever that thing in there that gets 100C+) warm.

 

[sandeep108]

It depends on your model. Most of the laser printers have a power save mode. After 15-30 minutes it goes into standby mode (similar to monitors) and consumes only 3-10W of power. As a downside, after resuming, they do need a minute or two to warm up the fuser and print.

Many of the latest models do even better - they have 'instant on' fuser tech. The fuser and consequently power consumption increases to 250-300W only when printing, and can immediately print - in 15-20 seconds. Such models may always remain in a 'standby' mode, consuming 3-10W of power.

There is no question of consuming ink or toner. These are consumed only when printing.

 

[corkyg]

A lot depends on usage. My laser stays off unless I need to print something - because that may only be every few days. There's no real need to waste energy for that type of usage.

There are some new color lasers, however, that are recommended to be left on in a standby mode. This is usually stated in the user's manual.

 

[jackschmittusa]

Have had mine for maybe 3 years, and it is hardly ever off.

 

[wseyller]

Originally posted by: sandeep108
It depends on your model. Most of the laser printers have a power save mode. After 15-30 minutes it goes into standby mode (similar to monitors) and consumes only 3-10W of power. As a downside, after resuming, they do need a minute or two to warm up the fuser and print.

Many of the latest models do even better - they have 'instant on' fuser tech. The fuser and consequently power consumption increases to 250-300W only when printing, and can immediately print - in 15-20 seconds. Such models may always remain in a 'standby' mode, consuming 3-10W of power.

There is no question of consuming ink or toner. These are consumed only when printing.

This is correct

also with the color printers, each time your turn the printer on it must go through a calibration to make sure color settings are right. It will actually waste toner doing this as well. Different colors will be applied to the imaging drum in patches. A calibration light will disperse a beam of light to the patch of toner that was applied then bouces back into a calibration sensor. It will then adjust the settings accordingly. This is a long process too.