Ink or Laser

I had a conversation over lunch about ink-jet vs. laser printers for the home office.

A quick look at Amazon reveals that a color laser printer can be had for less than $250. Examples:
HP Color LaserJet CP1210 Printer

Print accurate 600 x 600 dpi documents at speeds of up to 12 pages per minute (ppm) in black and white and 8 ppm in full-color. The 264 MHz processor and 16 MB of on-board memory help to keep the LaserJet CP1210 performing at its best over the long haul, and with a maximum monthly duty cycle of 25,000 pages, this printer can handle large-capacity jobs with ease. The large capacity 150-sheet paper tray ensures less time refilling paper.

Samsung CLP-315W Color Laser Printer

Vibrant, professional color is now within your reach with the compact, wireless Samsung CLP-315W color laser printer. This easy-to-use workgroup printer fits easily into an office network and look good while working quickly and quietly. This stylish printer also features a black control panel and delivers full-color printing at 4 pages per minute (ppm) and sharp monochrome laser text at 17 ppm. Along with its great design and compact size (just a 15.3 x 12.3-inch footprint), it's network-ready via both Ethernet and Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) as well as able to connect to a PC using USB.

There are even Color Laser all-in-one printers in the $300 price range:
Konica Magicolor 1680MF Color Laser All-In-One Printer

Meet the Magicolor 1680MF Konica Minolta's newest and smallest color laser all in one. With a height of only 14.8", this compact multi-tasker features professional-quality printing, copying and scanning all in one small package. Don't let its size fool you, this desktop dynamo delivers 20 ppm B&W and 5 ppm color. It also features 1200 x 600 dpi resolution and Simitri HD Polymerized toner for bold graphics and crisp text page after page.

This is just what I found quickly on Amazon, there are probably many more options at other sites, and plenty of multifunction options around the $500 price range. Worth checking out, as I hate the economics of the ink-jet printers.