The toner is also fairly durable and it's less sensitive to fading from exposure to light than some other technologies. The colors for laser printing are contained in four separate toner cartridges, one each for cyan, magenta, yellow and black. Transfer Process Laser printers use a technology similar to that used in copiers. A laser beam is focused on a photoelectric belt or drum, creating an electrical charge in areas where toner is to adhere. Charged toner is then attracted to those places on the belt or drum.
Electrostatic charges cause the toners to adhere to the belt.
The image, composed of the four toner colors, is then transferred to a drum which rolls the toners onto the sheet of paper or transparency. The toners on the paper are then fused using either heat or a combination of heat and pressure. Color laser courtesy of Tektronix . Now that you understand a little about how printers work and what your choices are, let's look at some specific printers. They are variations on these themes.