Looking for Color Laser Printer reviews

[SCDVD]

Is there a website that does reviews of color laser printers? I looking for a sub $300 printer. I know some are much better than others and I would like to read some comparative reviews. My most obvious concern is printing quality but other issues are also important such as the price of toner cartridges and the number of pages printed per cartridge.

[Krispy Kritter]

c/net, zdnet, and pcmag. You can also read user reviews on sites such as newegg.

[lordsmurf]

A lot of reviews are written by idiots, but I'm confident you're smart enough to see those SCDVD. Xerox and Konica-Minolta are favorites amongst professionals that need near-press or pre-press proof quality.

[orsetto]

You might want to check a few Mac-centric sites for color laser reviews: their review criteria tend a little more toward info you'd want as opposed to the typical generic "Consumer Reports" type of reviews floating around. For what its worth, when I was a Mac consultant I specified Koni-Minolta and Brother color lasers for most Mac/PC design clients. They're priced well for hardware and consumables and they perform well.

Xerox can also be good but be careful when shopping them: Xerox has an irritating habit of promoting their thermal-wax printers alongside their color lasers, without explaining the very big differences between them. The thermal-wax Xerox Phasers are uniquely suited to people who need fast color prints and need them many times a day, I have installed them for several design offices. But they are not at all suited for casual, occasional use and rarely for home users. The wax needs to be heated all the time, which burns electricity and creates a "melted crayon" odor which gets to be oppressive in a small room. If you don't use it to print, the wax eventually just evaporates leaving a waste lump. For graphics users who proof 30-40 pages a day, the base printer is cheap, consumables cost is comparable to laser toner and the speed/glossiness of the output is very handy. But the whole proposition collapses for occasional printing.

[SCDVD]

Thanks everyone. I was hoping to find a site about printers that is on par with camcorderinfo.com for camcorders. I will look around and try to sort the "idiot" reviews from the good ones.

[INFRATOM]

I'm not sure how practical this suggestion would be for you, but if your use is occasional good print for client or something, email it to kinko's and pick it up on the way. Besides everything else they use good paper. It beats the hassle and color cartridges are so expensive.