I need to buy a new colour laser printer for my office. The price should be 
less than £1000. Mine is a small business, based in the east end of London. I 
need to produce good quality paperwork. I would be grateful for advice on 
which printers I should consider and where I can buy them.
johnt

The "best" printer for your budget and application is always a subjective 
decision which depends on many factors. There are reasonable choices available 
now from all major printer manufacturers. I can only steer you in the direction 
of recent comparative reviews to help you make your decision. You have 
apparently already decided that you want a "laser" printer, so I will focus on 
those. However, depending on your application, you may want to seriously 
consider printers using other technologies. If you are primarily concerned with 
photographic image quality, then an ink jet or thermal printer may be a better 
choice. I suspect you are more interested in a general-purpose office printer 
which can do color charts and text at reasonably high throughput with 
occasional photographs added in. Color laser printers are usually the best 
choice for such users. As you consider prices, you will want to estimate your 
likely usage pattern (pages per month or over the estimated service life of the 
machine), and try to make an estimate of the cost of consumables and 
maintenance as well. If you print a lot, it may well turn out that a more 
expensive machine is cheaper in the long run if the cost of toner and other 
consumables is less. Try to estimate a cost per printed page for the typical 
coverage you expect to print.

You will also need to make some specific decision as to how you want your 
printer equipped. Most models are available with choices on amount of memory, 
paper handling options, paper size options, interface and networking options 
and so on. Make sure the model you are considering can handle you particular 
needs as equipped and that you include the price of any options you will want 
before you compare prices.

In the Comment by jk, PC World's "Top-10" list is given. Similar reviews can be 
found in other places. You can find a list of review sites by doing a Google 
search on:

://www.google.com/search?q=color+OR+colour+laser+printer+reviews

I like CNET's reviews at:

http://computers.cnet.com/hardware/search/1,10121,0-1063-401-0,00.html?
tag=srch&qt=color+laser&cn=Printers&ca=1063

CNET does accept targeted advertising on their site, so you always have to be 
careful about accepting recommendations about advertised products. You will 
also find that new models are continually being introduced (sometimes 
restricted to certain geographic areas, either when first announced, or even 
indefinitely). Thus, you should also check the individual company websites:

http://www.lexmark.co.uk/ecentres/index.html?business
http://www.hp.com/uk/printers/
http://www.xerox.com/go/xrx/template/011.jsp?
Xcntry=GBR&Xlang=en_GB&Xseg=corp&family=products&view=Product%
20Matrix&path=/taxonomy/GBR/Products/Printers/Color
http://www.minolta-qms.com
http://www.brother.co.uk/printers/index.html
http://www.canon-europa.com/products/products.html

for the latest news on newly released products. If you like the feature 
characteristics of a particular top-rated Lexmark model described at CNET, for 
example, you might check the Lexmark site for any recently released similar 
models, then check local sources (both on-line and off) for availability and 
prices.

Good luck making your choice!

PC World has a small guide to their "top-rated" colour laser printers, which 
is accessable at
  http://webcenter.pcworld.aol.com/computing/aolcom/article/0,aid,83943,00.asp

The page also has links to the latest prices and the full specifications for 
the printers as well as full reviews.

My experience is that most major-brand printers do a good job, but you tend to 
get what you pay for.  You should also examine the prices for cartridges, as 
these are generally expensive.  Test the printer before you buy, and also look 
into the paper type/price.

As I live in Norway I'm not too updated on where to buy printers in London, 
but I found a guide here:
http://www.ukshopsearch.com/computers/printers/shops/1/

Also look at kelkoo at http://uk.kelkoo.com/ which does price comparisons.

Hope this helps,
Jon