> I'd love to invest in a color laser but last time I went through this it was close to 600 bucks to just get started. A color laser is effectively four laser

> I'd love to invest in a color laser but last time I went through this it was close to 600 bucks to just get started. A color laser is effectively four laser printers in one box, so it is inherently going to be multiple times the cost of a single one. That said, unless your wife is printing mostly actual photos that she cares about having in top quality, the color laser is the right answer if she actually needs color. Inkjet printers are for photos and nothing else. They range between not good and bad at documents, always have, and always will. Anything greyscale made of mostly solid colors is laser's territory.