Colour Laser vs Inkjet: Colour Printing After disuse

I have an Epson stylus photo 895 which has in the past produced
excellent colour photographs. But I don't use it every day -
sometimes I don't use it for months at a time - and the cartridges
have the habit of drying up. The one I am using at the minute, for
example, I have cleaned ten times and it is still producing crap, with
severe banding, or in some case colours totally missing.

I could replace the colour cartridge, but then in a few months' time
I'll have the same problem again.

I was thinking of buying a HP Laserjet 2600n, a four-pass laser colour
printer with a anetwork interface. I know it won't produce
photo-standard glossy prints, but my question is, if I only use it for
colour every month or so, will it grumble and screw up the way the
Epson does? Or is colour laser technology more forgiving of long
periods of disuse than inkjet?

The best price I have found for the 2600n is about £255 including VAT,
or £258 at my local PC World (!) which since it eliminates delivery
works out about the same. Does anyone know of a better price, or have
a recommendation for a better printer in the same price range?

TIA

nl
.

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