Top 6 Color Laser Printers

Color laser printers that are network ready and offer options such as duplexing are rare at this price. The Minolta 5400 DL prints at 27 ppm in both black and white and color and handles a wide variety of media. It also boasts a 2400 dpi resolution for sharp images and automatic color correction. Add the fact that this color laser printer gives up to 12,000 prints per toner cartridge, and has a duty cycle of up to 60,000 prints per month and you can see why this is my top pick.

This color laser printer also comes network ready and has the printing quality, speed and duty cycle that makes it a great addition to the office. The Samsung CLP-600N prints at 20 ppm in both black and white and color with 2400x600 dpi resolution. It has a duty cycle of up to 45,000 prints per month. My only beef is that duplex printing is manual, but manual is better than nonexistent.

Automatic duplexing and a range of connectivity features win Brother's HL-4070CDW Color Laser Printer a high spot on this list. Besides built-in wireless networking, the HL-4070CDW also has an Ethernet network interface, a Hi-Speed USB 2.0 and a parallel interface. Printing is fairly fast at 21 ppm and of excellent quality. Its duty cycle of 35,000 prints a month is lower than some of the other color laser printers listed here, but that's probably not a big concern for a small office.

If you want print speed (21 ppm) and quality but also want to save on the costs of a color laser printer, this is the one for you. Besides costing a bit less on the initial purchase than most of the other color laser printers reviewed here, the high yield replacement toner cartridges available for this printer can cut down on your operating costs, too. What I don't like about this printer is the lack of any duplexing option and the small paper capacity. Although you can build it up to 300 sheets by buying an optional paper tray, that's still pretty low.

Speed and print quality are the main selling features of this color laser printer. Lexmark's C532dn prints at 24ppm black and 22ppm in color at 2400x600 dpi and can put out the first color page in 11 seconds. It comes with integrated duplexing, is network ready and has a duty cycle of 75,000 prints. There's even an Eco-Mode that you can use to cut down on power consumption. Then why is it so far down on the list you ask? Price. Still, this is a fine color laser printer choice if you can find it at a good price.

This is the bargain color laser printer on this list, so you don't get higher-price features such as print speed (17 ppm black and white and 4 ppm in color), duplexing or a long duty cycle (24,200 pages per month). The Xerox Phaser 6110B does, however, have 2400x600 print quality, optional networking, and some advanced print features such as watermarking. This is not the printer for a busy office but it's a fine choice for the small or home office.