Pretty in Ink Which color printer is the fairest of them all? Depending on your business needs and your budget, the possibilities are endless.

Entrepreneurs with growing ventures lead colorful lives. So whynot put it on paper? Whether you're one person or a heavilypopulated networked office, there's a color printer that willcome in on budget and fit your needs. We've divided up colorprinting options into five categories: inkjets, photo printers,lasers, solid ink and portable. We've also scoped out at leastone example of each, but don't hesitate to investigate eachcompany's full product lines. With the wide range available,you're bound to find one or two that fit your businessperfectly.

Budget-friendly color inkjets are tempting for their low initialprices and ease-of-use. The Epson Stylus C82 clocks in at just $149(all prices street). The drawback is that consumables, particularlyink cartridges, will add up over time. Still, for occasional colorprinting and basic black-and-white needs, an inexpensive inkjet maysuit your office just fine. If you're looking to step up andbring your printer online with your network, Epson offers the C82in a Wi-Fi version (C82WN, $379) or in an Ethernet version (C82N,$349). A $129 parallel port Bluetooth adapter is also available foryou early adopters and Bluetooth gadget owners.

Specialized inkjets vault past lasers in the digital photographydepartment. It's still not cheap to keep feeding them ink, butthe quality that the new crop of printers turns out is undeniable.The $149 Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 5550 boasts an automatic papersensor that adjusts the print mode to fit the media and aborderless printing option for edge-to-edge 4-by-6 photos. Althoughit easily handles most digital photo printing demands, regular textand color printing are also in reach. For more demandinghigh-volume color printing, consider a color laser that will costless in the long run.

Laser printers are still the cost-effective workhorses ofoffices everywhere. Color may seem like a luxury whenblack-and-white lasers have reached such low prices lately, butthey're a smart buy when you can see a good return oninvestment. If you need to churn out sharp brochures, presentationsor fliers on a regular basis, this is an option to consider. The$2,400 Brother HL-4000CN is a midlevel color laser with built-innetworking and auto duplexing that makes it ideal for demandingwork group situations.

Xerox takes an unusual approach to putting color on paper withits solid ink technology. Once you get over the wow factor ofholding little wax-like chunks of ink in your hand, you'll finda very capable printer at your service. Best of all is the Phaser8200's appealing $1,499 price tag. The $1,899 Phaser 8200/Nmodel moves you up to 10/100 Ethernet capabilities. This is a goodidea for servicing a small office or work group. And you won'thave to shake out a toner cartridge ever again.

Sure, $349 sounds like a lot for an inkjet-style printer, butyou're paying primarily for the Canon BJC-55's very smallsize. At 2.1 pounds, it's heavier than a feather but lighterthan just about any other option out there. If on-the-spot printingwherever you go is what you need, this is the way to handle it.Laptop-lugging road warriors will be able to fit this slim printerinto a side pocket and head out. The trade-off comes in slow printspeeds, so the BJC-55 is strictly for traveling entrepreneurs whomust have a way to print in remote places. Whatever technology orhardware you decide to go with, a color printer will add somevibrant pizazz to your projects.

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How does this new crop of wireless PDAs fit within the constraintsof your business's budget?

Heather Clancy is the editor of CRN (www.crn.com), a newsweeklycirculated to 117,000 technology solution providers, most of whichare growing businesses.