I'm thinking to replace it and was wondering about a colour l-aser but have read that these do not give such quality for photos - which is most of what we print.
Yes. I own or have owned multiple colour lasers (of the various kinds ...i.e. wax and toner).
They are absolutely fantastic at saving you money for "normal" colour printing, absolutely no argument there. They print stuff so much quicker than inkjet too ! I would never go back to inkjet for "normal" printing... and these days laser is well within the price point of your average home user.
There is equally no argument in the photo department. They are NOT photo printers, by any stretch of the imagination. They don't do a terrible job of it, but its still blatantly obvious it was printed on a colour laser.
The only alternative for photos to inkjet is dyesub printing. I've been contemplating treating myself to a dyesub for christmas
If you're sticking with inkjet, my money is on Epson. I keep one in a cupboard gathering dust, which I only use on the odd occasions I want to print photos. Just took it out the cupboard the other day after (approx) a six month period of no use...a couple of automatic nozzle cleans and it was churning out photos as if it had only been used the other day. Admittedly that might be to do with the fact that mine was one of the higher end Epsons (the old R2000 series, I think ....), so I can't speak for the cheaper Epsons....different parts, different price points, and all that jazz....