It is unclear from your message what quality of black and white image
you need. If you are seeking photo quality, then that rules out more
black and white laser printers (although some of the high res models
(1200 and more dpi) can provide a quite nice half tone image these days
quite inexpensively.
Color laser printers can also produce a "reasonable" B&W image, however,
again, it will not be photographic.
Inkjet printing companies have become interested in offering a quality
black and white option now. In the past the choice was either using the
black and colored inks to try to produce a neutral tone grey scale,
usually not fully effectively, because trying to make a driver and look
up tables that accurate is difficult, and adding 3rd party inks made it
nearly impossible to get a truly neutral result.
However, now some inkjet manufacturers have come to recognize the
advantage of offering 2-3 or so black densities to allow for a broader
tonal range without adding color casts.
Epson's R2400 is one model.
Yet another option is setting up an inkjet printer as a monochrome
printer, and using one of the 3rd party inksets, which can consist of 4
or 6 levels or tones of grey. These require special drivers from the
ink company.
Art
