Oh, one thing to note - inkjet is a generic term, but 'laserjet' is a tradename used by HP for what are generically called laser printers.

If I'm reading this correctly, it's pretty much 100% wrong.

A laser printer makes NO mess---unless perhaps you manage to spill toner when changing cartridges. (I've changed dozens and never had a problem)

Inkjets are typically slower than lasers, so "fast" compared to what?

For photos, inkjets are very HIGH quality (assuming it is a "photo" printer).

One thing to consider is that colour printing is expensive, regardless of whether you use an ink jet printer or a laser printer. The only real reason to go laser is for very large quantities, as in dozens to hundreds of prints per day.

Both work better with specific papers, for instance there are specific papers for laser printers and photocopiers that have to be loaded the right way (there is a "top" and "bottom" side and loading it wrong can yield lower quality prints that smudge and stain). On the ink jet side there are clay coated papers that hold the ink much better than photocopier paper, glossy papers, many different sorts and one other caveat, there are three kinds of ink jet printers: Thermal, piezoelectric and continuous (you are most likely to get the themal kind as the other two are nowadays used for specific industrial applications). There are also dye sublimation ink jet printers but they are no longer used outside of the textile industry.

Canon makes the best ink jet printers (personal opinion), I recommend the PIXMA series models MP610/620/630, MP810/830 or MP960/980 depending on your duty cycle needs. All are "mostly" supported on Linux, as they don't support PJL. the MP630 is probably your best buy, and the higher end models require a commercial driver called TurboPrint to run from Linux whereas the 630 will run with the 610 driver.

Canon historically has been near the bottom in terms of Linux support. "bottom" is spelled L.e.x.m.a.r.k

They have been a close second to Epson in terms of photo quality (Remember that OP wants to print photos.) the big difference in technology is the Epson piezo head vs. the Canon thermal ("bubble-jet"). All my reading says that the Epson system is inherently more precise, but I've never done side to side comparisons. (I'm in an "Epson rut"--I get good results, so I have no motivation to change.)

Are the PIXMAs that you cite all photo printers? (photo = at least 6 ink colors)

Also, Epson has mid- and high-end models with permanent ink. Not sure Canon is in that market yet.

Get an inkjet photo printer. I recommend HP, simply because of better drivers and reliability. But, I have an Epson too, but it's not as good in either.

Bear in mind that if you ever DO spill toner, it will be the worst cleaning job you have ever created. It only happens when people do dumb stuff like try and brute force the cartridge in the wrong way round (or even the wrong cartridge for the printer), and it's not really a reason to not get a laser printer.

There are some wrong information that people have mention about ink and laser printers that I like to correct. One, both ink and laser printers are messy. Ink is designed to be absorbed and dry up quickly while toner is designed to adhere by heat. Ink is harder to clean up than toner. If you know the techniques to clean up toner spills, it is quite easy. Ink spills are a big problem because you only have a short amount of time to clean up. The time is a lot shorter on porous materials like wood, stone/ceramic, and plastic when there is a ink spill. Sure you can get those composite materials that are said to resilient to stains, but that is not true when murphy visits. The print quality of both laser and ink printers are different. Ink printers provides depth, but are blurry even with the photo quality models. Laser printers provides clarity, but they produce a layer effect when light shines on the print out. The maintenance between ink and laser, laser wins as being the least maintenance. Ink printers have to be maintain constantly by replacing their inks when expired (yes they expire), heads gets clogged, needs an alignment, and constantly dusting. The maintenance for laser printers are replacing toners (after printing thousands of pages), replacing the drum (after replacing the toner several times), and some dusting. The price of ink and laser printers are controversial. Some people say the ink printers are expensive and others say the laser printers are expensive. At the end, they both come out the same, so you may want to figure in reliability which laser is best at this. Ink printers are designed to last for a few years or months. The amount of prints that you will get from a ink printer is not 200. It is more like around 20 pages for 8 inch X 10 inch photos. It is a sure thing that lasers printers can handle around 1000 pages for a full 8 inch X 10 inch photos. Sure both ink and laser printers can use refill kits. The refill ink kits does not produce as good as the manufacture's inks and you reduce the resistance of bleeding when water comes into contact or is drying during printing. Also not all ink printers are compatible with refill kits because the cartridges are now including sensors to tell the printer that it is already been used. Yes, laser printers has refill kits and also for color laser printers. The process seems easy and does not look like it hurts or clogs the printer too much.

Printer brands like Lexmark and Canon are related as poor quality. The drivers does not work well in any OS and the quality of the printer is very poor compared to other manufactures. Brands like EPSON, HP, Brother, and KONICA MINOLTA make good printers.

I have a Brother HL-5140 monochrome laser printer that works great. I would like to upgrade to Brother HL Series HL-4040cdn. If I am serious with printing in color I would select KONICA MINOLTA color laser printers.

I suggest do a comparison with ink and laser printing by giving your photos to a printing service like Kinkos. Then compare.

I recommend do not select all-in-one or multifunction printers because they limit the amount of support that you have for Linux. Linux supports few scanners, so these multi-units will be a bad buy decision. It is better to go with separates and setting up shelving to stack each component.

In defense of ink-jet printers:

First, for photo-quality, there really is no comparison with lasers--the inkjet will win hands-down.

Second, unless you refill your own cartridges, there really are no ink spills. To be sure, you'll sometimes get a "blob" on a print when the printer has been sitting a while, but it goes away pretty quickly.

Capacity: if you use the highest-quality settings, printing 8X10s will use ink very fast. But so what?--there is nothing else in the consumer market that will give the same quality. OTOH--print at a normal setting, and you'll get a lot prints per cartridge.

Papers: When was the last time you printed on glossy paper in a laser? An ink-jet will print on just about anything.

3rd-party inks are inferior? Actually quite the opposite. you can get high-quality "replacement" inks at at least 2 reputable US companies AND you can get inks that are not offered by the manufacturer. Keep in mind that inkjets were in use by artists long before they were brought to the consumer market. (Look up "giclee"---pronounced zhee-klay)

Ink jet printers can last a very long time, but since the cost is all in the consumables, you can replace every few years and hardly see the cost in your total printing budget. I have an Epson SP900 that is over 5 years old, with MANY miles on it. It shows no sign of dying.

Refilling "chipped" cartridges? The 3rd party ink vendors sell you a widget to reset the chip.

The only thing I want to add to this is that Kodak inkjets provide the least expensive (without buying a refill kit or going third party) replacement ink.

HP's multifunctions are generally supported very well on Linux. It is the case that the printing and scanning support with any MFP are seperate issues. MFPs normally appear as two USB devices, connected to a hub that is inside the machine. You can have printing and no scanning, or vice versa. But do your research before buying and you should be alright.

Kodak's Linux support is very poor. Also, I've heard that while the ink is supposedly cheap, they use an undue amount when cleaning the cartridges, meaning that unless you print continuously you won't see so much benefit.

We use the HP color laserjet 2840 at the office. I have no idea about the price, but thet cartridges are expensive. Quality is good. Even on glossy photopaper.

Just got a new HP ink jet all-in-one after 6 years of a Brother laser fax/printer. HP claims ink jets now cost less than lasers when you figure in the cost of drum replacements and toner. Plus they take way less electricity. We'll see; we just put in our first high capacity black cartridge. The print quality is great; not quite photo though. Also, the ink runs when wet and toner doesn't. The HP took a while to install on our new HP machine, running Vista (they make you pay the Microsoft tax), but from my LinuxMint laptop, installation was 2 clicks and it printed a test page. Wirelessly. (Remind me again how Linux is so hard to get drivers for?)

Not much really, although if lots of dust got into the workings of the printer, it would make the first page printed look bad

James

As of now my research is leaning me toward the Epson Workforce 600. Photo prints are excellent -- which is the main criteria for me after multi-function -- and I've read elsewhere that if you bypass the wireless feature by using a USB cable connection everything works well. I have an old Epson MFC that I can't print with anymore because of clogged jets but the scanner works VERY well with great resolution. Again -- just to clarify -- what I am after is the ability to scan family members' photo albums and print high quality photos from these scans. The scanning is done at the family members' homes for their convenience and the printing is done at my home. MFC is desirable so that if the need arises I can do quick, simple copies without going through the computer. That's handy if the family member wants a copy of particular page in his album while you're doing it. For those who have not done this sort of thing I can tell you it is VERY rewarding to both you and the family members -- it strengthens the bonds and promotes mutual respect. And if the family member doesn't have this capability it can enable them to replace priceless photos if they are lost by natural disaster.

I'm not sure about whether Epson printers can be easily fixed, because many are "disposable". But I know I can usually clean off ink that has solidified using Windex (ammonia) or other organic solvent (propanol and only in extreme cases acetone), this works with any water-based ink, including paint brushes (which many artists don't know about, well at least those in my class). On many printers you can either change the print head, or the head is integrated into the cartridge, so just you just buy another cartridge. On Epson printers, unfortunately, you usually cannot change the print head ... disposable.