If you need multiple copies of the same document, which do you think is better?
Assume that the costs are yours to recover, that quality is moderately important, that they’re black and white, and that you need them relatively quickly.
Printing on a digital copier is the best of both worlds. If that isn’t possible, copying off the glass on a digital copier will preserve most of the half tones (quality).
Printing on a laser printer is most expensive and slowest.
If I had to choose between an inkjet or a photocopier, I’d choose the latter. Between a moderately fast laserjet and a photocopier, I’d choose the laserjet.
It all comes down to time, really. If I have an inkjet printer and need 100 copies, it may well be faster to print one and talk down to the copy machine. Though, being a lazy bastard, the opportunity cost of having to WALK OVER to the copy machine as opposed to just clicking a few times to raise the number of copies is a doozy:) Quality is going to be the best by printing multiple copies directly.
Inkjet printers will have the highest per-page cost, the copier the lowest. A laser printer will be somewhere in between, probably leaning towards the copier.
In general, the old mantra is “It’s not a printing press” referred to how you shouldn’t use a desktop printer to run off dozens and dozens of something as a copier or (if you’re doing more than ~500 copies) an offset press can do it faster and cheaper.
How many copies do you need? - Desktop printers aren’t made for doing large quantities.
How tolerant are you of flaws? - Walk-up copiers tend to have dust, fingerprints and other icky stuff on them that will show up on the pages. Full-serve shops (Kinkos, OfficeMax) tend to keep better care of their machines behind the counter.
How soon do you need them? Walking a couple blocks to Kinkos to have it copied may be faster than waiting for a desktop printer.
I think the key here is this:
I was looking for a good argument to stop a coworker from using the printer instead of using the copier. And that’s about the best one, which at this point lacks detail. I wonder if there’s some good cites around to back me up.