easy to use? Are they as easy as Ink jet printers? With a Ink Jet Printer you usually have 2 printer cartridges a black and color. I have noticed with Color laser jet tonners the colors are in seperate tonners. Can anyone explain how this works and are laser jets good replacements for Ink Jets?

How about this analogy..replacing an ink jet printer with a laser jet is like replacing a cubic zirconium with a genuine diamond.

cyclone ranger has hit the nail on the head

Laserjets are expensive replacements (unless you can get one really cheap) for inkjets but have better quality and faster output. A black and white laser has one black toner drum whereas a colour laser has several drums for each toner colour (you can hear it wafting the paper over the different rollers when it's printing, sorta like three or more printers in one). Other advantages are that you can use A3 paper and other sizes with the right tray and it does sealed overhead projector transparencies too. They can be networked if they have the HP Jetprint network card or similar too.

Color laser aren't good enough to be compared with ink jet in the matter of printing quality and depth. For example, photo printing. Ink jet printer has more abilities to mix its ink before drop it into the paper, while laser are "able" to do that but it doesn't exactly mix the ink but by reducing it's quantity.

Most laser printers work with four colors black, cyan(blue), magenta(pink), and yellow. They combine the colors to "create" the other colors.They are definitely more expensive to buy and run than ink jet printers. While two ink jet cartridges may cost between $30-$60. Most Laser printers have four color toners that cost $100-$200. Some lasers have corresponding waste toner cartridges ($50/each) and the replacement photo dev part can cost almost as much as the printer. Check the prices for the "parts" of the laser printer you think will fit your purposes. Look under the "parts and accessories" section on a website like www.CDW.com. This will give you a better picture of what it's going to cost. If you're doing the page cost calculation, always cut this number in half. From personal experience, watch out for the Lexmark 520 (522n) series their toner warning starts beeping wayy too soon and wayy too often. Another consideration is the extended warm up time, noise level, and the heat the printer generates.If you're using it for business purposes or require laser 600-1200 dpi output and speed, Laser is the way to go. If you're just printing photos and map quest, you might want to stick with the ink jet. -Good Luck