I don't think thats factual. Apple and HP developed their first color laser printers in 94/95, and they cost around $7000.
Still, they weren't new a few years ago apparently.. maybe the multifunction variety was new? I don't know.. if color laser printers were around for that long then it doesn't make sense why we put up with the costs of ink jet cartridges for so long. I know I could not find an acceptable color laser printer when I was looking, but I also very likely avoided HP from prior experience with their shitty products.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_LaserJet
Key innovations Spring 1984 – First HP LaserJet Autumn 1991 – First HP Color LaserJet
In September 1994 HP introduced the Color LaserJet, the corporation's first color laser printer. The printer had an average cost per page of less than 10 cents. The Color LaserJet offered 2 ppm color printing and 10 ppm for black text, 8MB of memory, 45 built-in fonts, a 1,250-sheet paper tray and enhanced PCL 5 with color. It was priced at $7,295.
When I bought my Konica-Minolta MagiColor 2400W, it cost me $489 at Office Depot. I also bought a Konica-Minolta 1350 monochrome laser printer for $149 the next day. That was about twenty years ago. I still have both printers although I don't use either of them anymore.
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