One of my mentors called it "click to clunk" & that the rated speed only menat that you could get x + 1 pages out 1 minute after the first one.

If your a large concern, the manufacter will probably be happy to allow you a test model.

Laser issue: the speed of the print engine isn't critical to your task, the format of the jobstream & the supporting hardware is. It Is possible that you could test these also. My 1st suggestion is to find several of the machine that might already be available to you & bring the results while shopping.