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Well from my experiences.
Laser printers have come down a lot in cost, esp laser printers, how as has been pointed out the cost is in the toners, with a full replacement set costing more than the printer does, also replacement drums are not cheap, around £100 although they need changeing far less often.
When you buy a new laser printer it will come with a full set of toners, however they are 1/4 capasity ones so will not last that long.
One change in laser printers, is that older ones will come to the end of there internal print count and complane the toner is empty but will still keep on printing (you can often get another 500-1000 prints out of a supposedly empty cartidge.
We mainly have HP's at work but we have got a couple of brother's and they are very nice.
Other things to note are colour laser printers are Large, they create a hell of a mess if toners leak and the general toner build up you get in them, Also the toners are big so keeping a spare set takes up a good bit more storage room.
However the print quality is better than an inkjet and is a glossy water proof finish, you can also do fun things like get transfur paper so you can transfur images onto cloth.
Simular goes for inkjets, older models would still happly print black&white if the colour had run out, not any more.
The rate an inkjet goes through ink depends on the model some have very small cartidges that you can got through at a hellish rate.
One other to look at is the Xerox Phasers, these are Wax sublimation, compaired to a laser they are decent, you get a bit more speckling, like an inkjet, however it's a smooth glossy finish like a laser, they are also very fast.
They take little blocks of wax which are stored in what is basically a yogurt pot, a pack of 3 blocks (how they are sold) have around the same duty cycle as a laser toner but cost slightly less.
They are almost idiot proof, it's very easy to check of the wax level, you just open the lid and look, each block is shaped so you'd have to actually break it to fit the wrong colour in the wrong slot, refilling is so simple, lift up lid > pop wax block out of yogurt pot > drop into slot > close lid.
Down sides, Large, the same rough total volume as a laser, however lasers can be moore upright, which means the Phaser has a larger footprint.
The smell, they do give off a slight "Hot wax/burning candle" smell esp after a 50page plus print run.
Spill danger, these things are full of molten wax, they are large and heavy so no real worry about knocking it over (unless you stand it on something that is wobbly and cannot take the weight) however if you do need to move it you need to unplug it and leave it for 30min to fully cool down.
The Inital cost higher than a laser.
The one we have at work and I keep pushing for more of them, is the xerox phaser 8560, although this is the heavy duty cycle one.
How much are you looking to spend?
I can fully sugest the xerox phaser 8560n but it's around £500
for lasers Brother HL-4040CN is nice and you can get it now for around £220 this month (£75 cashback or exnend the warranty) http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/...=286542&CatId=
If you're looking at lowest cost, then the Samsung CLP-310 colour laser Printer is around £120
(I don't know what it's like for quality, however the samsung B&W lasers are good and the toner is cheaper than HP)
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Originally Posted by cotswoldcs
service) it's worked without issue for 6 or 7 years now