I am a card designer - I want to print short runs from home, my ink jet has become a pain to use. Also, rather expensive. I was thinking of a color laser but I want to be able to use 80lb - 120lb paper - I guess I need to make sure it is laser compatible. What do the professional printers use? I am willing to make an investment for the right machine to make my life easier and ink cheaper.
then get a colour laser
generally speaking lasers will handle a heavier weight paper than most inkjets beacuse of the gearing and pick up assemblies, they are considerably quicker (assuming you dont get a carousel variety) and the paper itself is easier to find and cheaper than specialist inkjet papers, simply because they are not specialist.
photocopy paper is also laser paper because they use the same fusing technology.
look for the HP 1200 range