There is now a Laser Color Printer for Every Office and Home

It used to be that the rule of thumb when investing in a good printer was inkjet for graphics and photos and laser jet when the primary goal was speed and the jobs were text-oriented. Today the laser color printer with multi-function capability is the way to go, whether would be nature photographer assembling images for a book or the small business owner looking for efficiency but also the opportunity to do some nice color presentations or sales materials.

There are a number of affordable and higher end color laser printers available through online retailers today. On the higher end, Hewlett-Packard (HP) offers the CP2025n. This model is geared to a small business or a work group within a larger firm. It has the ability to connect to others via a network, though not wirelessly, and is noted for superior quality in printing images. On the downside, this model simply is not as quick as some of the competitors and it does not have the ability to do two-sided printing.

HP’s CP2025n is user-friendly in the area of settings, how-to’s and valuable features. The accompanying software is adept at guiding the user through the learning process, which is not a walk in the park because of all of the various features. This printer is made to operate reliably and steadily through months and months of printing jobs. 

There still is not a really attractive laser printer on the market, design considerations have yet to become of interest to printer manufacturers. This holds true with this HP model. The color is, surprise, grey, and it is far from tiny at nearly 16 inches wide and almost 26 inches deep. It is no lightweight either, coming in at about 50 pounds; it is not a device that is going to be easily carried under one arm while climbing stairs. It retails at about $450.

At a couple hundred bucks less, Samsung offers the CLP-315W, which retails right around $250. It is a laser color printer with built in wireless features and it is one of the smallest printers of this type in terms of physical desk space needed. One money-saving feature of this model is that it has individual toner cartridges so they can be replaced one at a time. 

This Samsung laser color printer is dark black with a simple design. It is only a little better than 15 inches wide and just over 12 inches deep, definitely a winner in the desktop space saving category. Add to this its trim figure, not quite 25 pounds and this is a model that can be toted around just about anywhere by anyone. 

Where this little laser printer falls short of the mark is in a couple of key areas, image quality and speed. This Samsung can be nearly twice as slow in output as other color lasers of its class. Add to this the fact that its quality when it comes to prints is just shy of decent and the $250 price does not look quite as reasonable. 

A third option is the OKI C3600n color laser printer retailing for just shy of $400. It too comes network ready and its production speed is cited as impressive when compared to others in its class. It is draft workhorse, which is it is larger than just about every other printer of its type. This is not a model with many bells and whistles but it does score extremely well in the output category.

Unlike the previous two models, this functional box-like printer comes in a white matte finish. It is nearly 50 pounds like the HP. It also is not capable of wireless connectivity nor does it automatically do two-sided copying. Fast print speeds and excellent output quality add this printer to the list to be considered as a great laser printer choice.