Jet Set Ink different.

Look at all the pretty colors. Warhol paintings. A bag ofSkittles. Care Bears. Your next printout. There's a reason theydon't make black-and-white TVs anymore. We've been watchingthe same slow phase-out with gray-scale-only inkjet printers. Colorinkjet printers are the beasts of burden of choice in many smallbusinesses. The initial investment is cheap; every company andtheir dog makes one; and you can dress them up with fax, copy andscanning functions. For our nefarious purposes, we'll stickwith straight-up, printing-only color inkjets.

We're not trying to steer you away from a laser printer. Ifyour business can afford one, go for it. They're usuallycheaper to keep up in the long run. An inkjet may cost $99 in thebargain bin, but soon you're bound to notice how you have toshell out $60 for new cartridges every other month to feed itsinsatiable appetite for ink. They may look cute and fluffy, but youhave to shop smart to keep them from biting your budget.

Higher dpi resolutions make for higher-quality printed images.This doesn't matter much when you're just printing out amemo or invoice, but it makes all the difference when it comes tographics and photo-printing. All the printers we assessed come withink cartridges and the appropriate software drivers, and cost lessthan $300. The Canon, Hewlett-Packard and Epson will work with yourMac as well as a PC if you spring for an optional USB cable or, inthe Canon's case, an optional USB kit.