Until recently, color laser printers were both too large and too expensive for anything but corporate use. Now, they have shrunk in size and in cost -- you can now get a color laser for under $1,000, something unheard of only a couple of years ago. Here are the top color laser printers, according to the major review sites, for consumer, home office, and small office users.
The Lexmark C510 combines a reasonable price, good performance, high-quality text and color printing for an excellent printer for home- and small-office use.
Affordability is a big factor in printers, especially when you're considering a color laser printer. The HP Color LaserJet 2550L is a winner in this regard. It is also a winner, according to many reviewers, in the quality of its color printing, which is unusual in a low-cost color laser.
It's nice to find a solid inexpensive laser printer -- especially one that offers color. And especially one that also offers good performance and top-quality printing. The only caveat is its photo/graphics printing which, like other low-cost color lasers, leaves a bit to be desired.
All of our reviewers admired the performance of the Dell 5100cn, while two out of the three reviewers we surveyed thought the print quality was excellent. In addition, they all admired the expandability and duplexing (double-side) feature. On the whole, this looks to be an excellent small business color laser.
Reviewers felt that the Konica Minolta magicolor 5430 DL offers good performance, and it includes some nice paper options, including an optional duplexer (for double-sided printing). Text quality was excellent, but reviewers reported that color print quality could use some work.
