Although you have lots of good answers, I'll throw in my $0.02.
A laser does "last" well if unused, however it is typically more expensive.
I purchased an inkjet printer ($75), set it up, then decided to get the next model up as it was on sale ($95) too and I wanted the sheet feeder.
The original (both Brother printers) went back in the box until 11 months later when I wanted to give it to a family member. Unfortunately, the ink had dried in the print head and no amount of purging/cleaning would resolve it. Brother however replaced it with a newer model and shipped it direct to the address of my family member, which saved me the trouble.
Both printers would have been fine if I had simply left it plugged in. I use my printer only a few times a year now for printing (I use the scanner, fax etc more often). These printers cycle a small amount of ink every couple of days to keep the heads clean. It is the equivalent of a page every couple of months so is really minor in terms of cost.
I must say my experience with Brother was great too. They covered all costs, were friendly and easy to understand. Customer support in Canada. Technically it was literally 1 day past the warranty period.
I was not a fan of multifunction units, but I've used all the options now and can't complain for the price. Under $100 for a colour printer, scanner, fax, copier, photo printer, memory card reader with wired and wireless lan as well as USB. 4 separate ink cartridges.
Having owned HP, Dell, Epson and a number of others (dot matrix, inkjet and laser), I'd definitely give Brother my money again.