One day people will learn not to be ripped off by laser printers in the way most have learned not to be ripped off by inkjet printers. Unfortunately there is still the mindset that "it's laser, it must be cheaper to run than an inkjet".
Let's look at this "bargain" for a moment.
The Magicolor 1600W has the option of two sizes of colour toner cartridges - either 1,500 pages for £70 or 2,500 pages for £90 (black is a little cheaper, but you're buying this for the colour aren't you?). Wow, what bargain those prices are. The typical inkjet printer gives you 500 pages for £10, that's £30 for 1,500 pages or £50 for 2,500 pages - that's *half* the running cost of this laser printer. Replacing all four toners in the laser printer will cost you over £300. Replacing an inkjet cartridge for the same number of prints will cost you under £200. Look around and you'll find inkjet printers that'll do 900+ pages per cartridge (some will do much more), reducing the cost even further. We always question the high cost of running an inkjet printer, but no one questions it when a laser printer costs *more* to run than the inkjet.
Then there's the imaging unit - which costs more than the printer. It'll last for 11,250 colour pages (regardless of coverage). And then the fuser unit, which'll last longer than the imaging unit but, again, will cost more than the printer. These both increase what it already a very high cost per page even higher. Inkjet printers don't use imaging units or fuser units.
When you see how much more expensive it is to run a colour laser than it is to run a similarly-priced inkjet printer, you quickly see why the printer itself costs so little. Manufacturers have always been accused of selling inkjet printers using the "razor blade" selling technique. Now they do that for colour laser printers, but it's *even worse*.
If you're looking to buy a colour laser printer, or indeed any printer, always start from looking at toner costs, imaging units, transfer belts, and fuser units. When you've found each of these at affordable prices, only *then* look for a printer that uses them. You'll doubtless find the printer costs £500+, not £50+, but that's the price you pay for economical running costs.
And for those who say "it's worth buying just to get the toners", it isn't. Check out the reviews for this model. It's said that the printer come with starter toners which contain, at most, 500 pages worth - some say they're only 20% capacity. That's typical "inkjet thimble cartridge" capacity. You'll need to spend £200 - £300 on new toners almost as soon as you start using it. Is £55 still cheap?
There are significantly, and I mean significantly, cheaper ways to do your printing than using an entry-level colour laser printer, but if you really have your heart set on a budget colour laser printer, at least check out a place like these guys:
http://www.refilltoner.com to see if the cartridges can be easily refilled on the cheap.
