Astronomers say that the universe, like most office printers, is the color beige. But like the universe, your printer's bland external appearance may belie the explosion of color within. Serious multifunction printers that appear to churn out only black-and-white pages now have the capacity to create documents that erupt with color.

The news that's making the biggest bang in the office printing world these days is the sub-$1,000 price drop of color laser multifunctions. No longer must your company carve a budgetary black hole to afford one machine that bundles color printing, photocopying, and maybe faxing, too. The $999 Canon ImageClass MF8170c first dropped the price barrier late last year, followed by the HP Color LaserJet 2800 series this May. The Okidata Oki C5510n LED multifunction works at warp speed; we're including it here despite its $1,399 cost, because you may be able to find it on sale. Most recently, the Epson AcuLaser CX11 line hit the market with the lowest prices ever in this galaxy--a mere $699.