The development of printers has been evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, and new technologies often take years to reach the consumer market. For example, the first laser printers appeared in the mid-1980s, but it took almost 10 years before they became available at prices that home and small-business users could afford.

Ink jet technology has been around just as long. While ink jets were always relatively affordable, only in the past few years has their quality improved enough to be acceptable for business use.

Unless someone comes up with a new way to produce dots on white paper, you'll continue to see lasers and ink jets dominating the printer market, with continuing improvements in quality and decreases in price. Your printer isn't likely to become obsolete, although so many new models are appearing so quickly that repair shops may be strained to keep parts and ink cartridges in stock as the years go by.

Laser printers will become even faster and able to produce sharper images. Over the next few years, the cost of color lasers will come down. However, the machinery for producing color is so complicated that these printers will probably never compete in price with ink jets. On the other hand, who would have predicted 10 years ago that the cost of a $5,000 laser printer would drop to its current price of $400?