Laser printers are great because they produce good quality copies quickly. But as you noted, prices vary widely – more so than with inkjet printers.

There are a number of things to consider. They'll affect the laser's price.

First, consider how much printing you do per month. Most home users don’t print much. On the other hand, business users print a lot. Look at a printer’s duty cycle. A low-end machine usually handles between 3,000 and 10,000 pages per month. A high-end machine may handle 150,000 pages a month!

Buy a printer with a duty cycle that most closely matches your needs. Don’t pay extra for a more rugged printer than you’ll use. But don’t buy one that won’t handle your monthly usage. It will break quickly.

Next, look at the amount of RAM installed. (Yes, printers use RAM, too!) If you print small documents one at a time, RAM won’t matter much. Pay more attention if you print long documents or documents with large graphics. More RAM will speed up your printing.

I would start with 16 megabytes of RAM at the low end. Some printers allow you to add RAM. This is good for more intense users.

One of the advantages of laser printers is their speed. Pay attention to speed ratings. But take them with a grain of salt. Manufacturers often exaggerate.