What is the difference between laser and inkjet printers?
Two entirely different processes — fused powder versus sprayed liquid — producing different strengths, and the right choice depends far more on how often you print than on what you print.
Inkjet. Sprays microscopic droplets of liquid ink onto paper.
Strengths: excellent colour and photo output, cheap hardware, handles varied paper types and thicknesses well, and compact.
Weaknesses: slower; ink is extremely expensive per page in cartridge form; and — the decisive problem — nozzles clog if the printer sits unused, with cleaning cycles consuming ink. An inkjet used once a month can waste more ink on maintenance than on printing, which is the single most common cause of inkjet frustration.
Laser. Uses a laser to write a charge pattern onto a drum, which attracts toner powder, which is transferred to paper and fused by heat.
Strengths: fast; sharp text; very low cost per page; toner does not dry out, so it tolerates long idle periods perfectly; and high duty cycles.
Weaknesses: more expensive hardware; colour lasers are good but generally inferior to inkjets for photographs; bulkier and heavier; and fusing heat means they cannot use some media.
How to choose, reduced to the essentials:
Print rarely? Laser, almost regardless of what you print. The clogging problem dominates everything else.
Print photos? Inkjet, ideally one with more than four inks.
Print a lot of text? Laser, for speed and cost per page.
Print a moderate amount of mixed documents? Either, with cost per page as the deciding factor.
The economics you must check. Hardware price is close to irrelevant; cost per page is the real number. Manufacturers have historically sold printers near or below cost and recovered it on consumables.
Tank and refillable inkjets changed this materially — higher upfront cost, dramatically lower running cost, and they still clog if unused.
Third-party consumables are much cheaper, with variable quality and occasional firmware resistance from manufacturers.