Over ten years ago, I bought a Canon LBP4 laser printer. It's still working fine - in the Church office, where it performs flawlessly! I only replaced it because I "upgraded" to Windows 2000 and there was no LBP4 driver (there is now, of course).
Laser printers have a long life! My daughter was until recently using an archaic IBM office server laser printer from a long-bankrupt airline's office. It finally packed up when her cat took to sleeping in the out tray (which was always warm) and something inside let go.
I have two printers connected - an HP Laserjet 2100 for B&W, and an Epson C70 plus for colour. The Laser is on LPT1, the Epson was until this week on LPT2 (a cheap plug-in card), but is now on the USB.
The HP is fast, and totally reliable. It's never even sneezed in the couple of years I've had it. It does about 90% of my printing. I'd recommend it without hesitation. Toner cartridges last me best part of a year each, at about £60 a throw.
The Epson is less reliable - it needs its print heads cleaned every time I use it (ie every couple of days), and it's been misbehaving more and more lately. Epson's suggestion, after very precise problem definition, was the standard "uninstall and reinstall" which I'd already done. I moved it from LPT2 to USB and it seems to be working OK for the moment...
A set of Epson ink cartridges is about £40, and they last me six months or so.
I'd recommend the "two printer" route if you do lots of serious black & white printing - the laser is so much sharper than the inkjet, and the print doesn't run in the damp. Handy for plogs and stuff in the cockpit.
Not so sure I'd recommend the Epson - my experience of HP kit has been very much more favourable. My next colour printer will be an HP inkjet (a 4 colour cartridge model).