Q: Anyone know anything about printers. I'm after a new one and am thinking of a laser printer. I'm planning on doing allot of colour printing and the quality needs to be good. The only thing is the toners look expensive for the laser printers, is the quality really worth the added expense over the standard ink jet printers. thanks for the help
A: In the last five years or so the manufacturers of printers have realized that they can make much more money by selling ink and toner cartridges, than selling their printers. I also see that they are making their toner cartridges smaller, but not reducing the price of them. Color laser printers are relatively new on the market compared to the now-standard choices of plain ink cartridge or toner units. I have an inexpensive (less than $70) one-year old Brother's HL 2070N toner printer to do correspondance and similar things that are done on black & white or grayscale. I also have a three-year old HP 7210 multi-function color-cartridge unit to do my color printing, scanning, copying and faxing. Both are on a home network. Considering my limited needs and the small investment, I'm very satisfied with both and they have performed without problems. I recommend (1) read reviews - check-out PC World mag, (2) buy a name brand, (3) do the "duo-printer" thing I did (two units), or (4) wait until the laser color units get their "kincks" out and come down it price. You're still going to pay an arm and a leg for cartridges.