I picked up a nice used HP laser printer for $2.72 at a thrift store. Are these a health hazard if I only print a few pages at 5% coverage about 10 times a month in a well ventilated house? I print receipts and shipping labels when I sell things online.
I also have a nice Brother All In One (that people here recommended to me) that uses ink and works like a charm, that I sidelined for the time being. I may hook them both up and use them both. I always kind of wanted a laser printer and now I have one. It even has 65% of the toner left in it. Generic toner is about 3 for $22 and last about 2000 pages per cartridge.
I don't have a quantitative professional answer for you but I would find it hard to believe that laser printers are actually bad for you. I wouldn't give it a 2nd thought.
I wouldn't worry about it either. If you were working at a print shop without good ventilation where the printers never stop 24/7 maybe there would be some free floating toner in the air, but not with limited house use. My wife has printed tens of thousands of pages through mine over the last 5 years and I am not worried.
We have a few of them around the office here. I have never heard any complaints nor health issues. (And 1 of the users is a chronic complainer!)
Lasers may take a bit to warm up, however when they get going, they fly! And you don't have to worry about ink drying out.
