Corporate as well as personal computing has come a long way from the first personal computer sitting on top of a desk with floppy disk drives and dot matrix printers. Nowadays, a personal computer would most probably be a notebook for both the office worker and the small business entrepreneur. This would most probably be doubly true for personal computing purposes.
Whereas before dot matrix printers were used for small work groups or for personal uses, laser printers almost strictly for big corporate offices. It took some time for color to appear on the desktop, due to the diverse technologies and countless possibilities. The retail cost of a colored laser printer was also a concern, as quality colored printing only became available with bubble jet and inkjet technology. Color sublimation was one early alternative, the advantage of which was that the printout was dry the moment it gets out of the printer. The cost of the materials did not make it a viable consumer product.
The latest color laser printer technology has now enabled higher resolutions for better print quality. Additionally, because color laser printing uses dry printing technology, there is no chance that the colors will run when wet, or that the print will be blurred with successive color layers.
Color laser printers will continue to develop and be miniaturized to a smaller form factor or a small desktop footprint. This will enable personal color printing for any document, by any company staffer, at an affordable price. At the moment, the color laser printer’s main selling point is its quality, which comes at a price. Ultimatrely, the quality of color laser printers will be a secondary selling point to the affordable price.