Choosing a printer may sound easy. But once you start diving into all the available features, making a choice can quickly get daunting. Do you need a basic printer just to print, or do you want to scan and copy as well? And what about faxing, or scanning to and printing from the cloud, or even scanning and sending an email? How do you choose between inkjet and laser technology? What’s the real difference between a $200 model and a $500 model? Show
Don't fret: We've got you covered on all fronts. PC Labs tests dozens of printers every year, across everyday consumer models, big business machines, pocket-size photo printers, and more. Scroll down for our top tested picks across all these categories, then read on for a comprehensive guide to how to buy a printer.  HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e All-in-One PrinterBest Everyday Printer for Most UsersWhy We Picked It"Best Everyday Printer for Most Users" is quite a title, so our pick had to check a lot of boxes: good print quality; color instead of monochrome to add pop to presentations and reports; an all-in-one (AIO) rather than single-function model for those times it'd be handy to make a few quick copies or scan a document; an automatic document feeder (ADF) to spare you the hassle of putting pages on the glass one at a time. HP's OfficeJet Pro 9015e has all that, especially text output that is near laser quality, and it's both faster and has a higher duty cycle than most of its competitors. Who It's ForThe 9015e is eligible for HP's Instant Ink subscription plan, which can drive its operating costs down to as little as 3.5 cents per page—any page, whether double-spaced black text or a letter-size borderless photo. That makes Instant Ink ideal for families that print plenty of pics, but the OfficeJet Pro lives up to its name as ideal for home or micro offices that need both great-looking text and colorful marketing materials. PROS
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Read Our HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e All-in-One Printer Review Canon Maxify GX5020A Solid Print-Only Alternative to the HP OfficeJet Pro 9015eWhy We Picked ItNon-AIO inkjets are uncommon items these days. But if all you want to do is print documents and, perhaps, glossy-paper photos en masse, and maximize your savings on ink while doing it, look into this Maxify model. Cheap ink is its biggest selling point: You won't get a classic AIO scanning or copy function (though Canon offers a sort-of copy workaround, letting you shoot a document with your phone's camera and print it in one step), but you will get a bulk-ink design that takes refills from bottled ink. Our math based on Canon's yield claims and bottle costs works out to 0.5 cent per monochrome black page and 0.7 cent per color page. And that's before you factor in Canon's full-size ink bottles bundled with the printer. (Plus, before we forget to mention: The output looks very good.) Who It's ForThe Maxify is geared toward home offices, but it can serve the needs of a heavy-printing family, too. It's all about printing enough, day in and day out, to leverage the low ink costs, since the printer itself, like most bulk-ink/bottle-refill models, is priced on the high side for the feature set. But if you have a home business, plus a family that hits a printer hard for schoolwork or hobbies, it's an excellent longer-term money-saver. PROS
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Read Our Canon Maxify GX5020 Review Brother MFC-J4335DWBest Inkjet All-in-One Printer for Homes and Small OfficesWhy We Picked ItShoppers with less than $200 to spend can choose from a number of all-in-one inkjets that don't take much desk space, but the Brother MFC-J4335DW goes beyond that with duplex printing, faxing (either as a standalone fax machine or from almost any app on your PC), a 20-page automatic document feeder, and low running costs of under a penny per black page and under a nickel per color page. The ADF doesn't handle double-sided pages, but you have to sacrifice something in this price range. Who It's ForBoth homes and small (to be honest, very small) offices can readily make room for this Brother printer. You won't use its fax capability often, but you never know when you might need it, and its competent paper handling joins its more-than-adequate text and better-than-adequate graphics quality. PROS
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Read Our Brother MFC-J4335DW Review Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850Best Inkjet All-in-One Printer for BusinessesWhy We Picked ItA Best of the Year winner in 2020, Epson's EcoTank Pro ET-5850 no longer comes with the two years' supply of free ink it was introduced with, but it's still a great deal for high-volume office printing. This all-in-one boasts a 50-page ADF with single-pass auto duplexing, an ample 550-sheet paper capacity, and near-typeset-quality output for text (and impressive graphics, too). It's as fast as any of its inkjet and several of its laser competitors, and it'll cost you only about 2 cents per page for both monochrome output and, more impressively, color. Who It's ForAssuming you stick to letter- and legal-size paper instead of the wide-format media supported by its EcoTank Pro ET-16650 sibling, the ET-5850 is virtually ideal for small businesses and workgroups that crank out 3,000 to 4,000 pages per month. It was arguably the first successful office implementation of the bulk-ink concept that slashed consumer printers' page costs—to under a penny for black and white—but those printers don't have the chops for busy office duty. This one does. PROS
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Read Our Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 Review HP Color LaserJet Enterprise MFP M480fBest Color Laser All-in-One PrinterWhy We Picked ItMidrange color laser all-in-ones are neither cheap (this one's $879.99 MSRP) nor compact (about 50 pounds), but the HP Color LaserJet Enterprise MFP M480f is a worthy workhorse with a recommended monthly usage of about 5,000 pages. It has a 50-sheet automatic document feeder, a ditto multipurpose tray, and a 250-sheet paper drawer. (A 550-sheet second cassette is $195.) It bolsters the usual Ethernet and Wi-Fi office network membership with versatile connectivity for mobile devices. And its output quality is exceptional. Who It's ForIt says "Enterprise" right in the name, and its fleet-management features back that up. But the MFP M480f will also tempt midsize businesses with its rock-solid performance and competitive running costs (about 2.3 cents for monochrome and 14.1 cents for color pages). PROS
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Read Our HP Color LaserJet Enterprise MFP M480f Review Canon imageClass MF452dwBest Mono Laser All-in-One PrinterWhy We Picked ItPhoto-perfect color inkjets get all the attention, but compact, low-cost monochrome laser printers will never die for small offices and workgroups that mostly crank out black-and-white text documents. Heavy-printing families can use them too, especially if they have a student or students who print lots of worksheets or report drafts. For these uses, Canon's imageClass MF452dw is the mono laser AIO of the moment that others will have to beat, and the pricing is aggressive, too. It's part of an imageClass line with slight feature variations, and this model adds faxing if you need it. A big, easy-to-use touch panel and flexible paper handing for both printing and scanning make it a great utility player, and the mono output quality is excellent. Who It's ForSmall offices and workgroups will benefit from the AIO features the most, but don't discount this model for a heavy-printing home. You won't use it for photo or image printing, but for raw document input and output, it's a super deal. PROS
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Read Our Canon imageClass MF452dw Review HP Neverstop Laser MFP 1202wA Solid Alternative to the Canon imageClass MF452dwWhy We Picked ItA very able monochrome document churner, the HP Neverstop Laser MFP 1202w also features convenient copying and scanning, albeit strictly entry-level. (It has no automatic document feeder to handle a stack of sheets or a multipage document.) Its key bit of appeal, versus the Canon model above? An innovative toner-refill system makes its operating costs puny—as low as 0.6 cent per page, an incredible one-fifth or one-sixth the expense of laser printers that use traditional toner cartridges. (It's the rough equivalent of a "bulk ink tank" inkjet in the laser-printer world.) Who It's ForIf you need top-quality graphics and photos, the Neverstop isn't for you, but neither is any other mono laser. But if your home or small office needs to print around 2,500 black-and-white pages per month on a rock-bottom budget, with occasional copy and scan jobs thrown in, this MFP is a godsend. PROS
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Read Our HP Neverstop Laser MFP 1202w Review Brother HL-L9310CDWBest Color Laser (Print-Only)Why We Picked ItMaking copies? There's a Xerox machine for that. Scanning? Bah humbug! The Brother HL-L9310CDW is a single-function laser printer, period. It's ready to crank out page after page (up to 6,000 each month) with flawless, vividly colorful Excel and PowerPoint graphics and typesetter-quality text, at speeds only the most expensive enterprise printers can beat. It offers plenty of connectivity and expansion options, plus extensive fleet security features. Who It's ForMidsize and large offices and workgroups will embrace the HL-L9310CDW with open arms, enjoying everything from its color touch-screen control panel to its competitive running costs. Certified for everything from remote computing to electronic medical-records handling, it's a workhorse with superb output quality and versatility. PROS
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Read Our Brother HL-L9310CDW Review Lexmark MS431dwBest Mono Laser (Print-Only)Why We Picked ItThe Lexmark MS431dw edged out Canon's ImageClass LBP226dw by matching its speed, quality, and paper input and expansion options while delivering double the suggested monthly print volume. Except for slightly steep toner cartridge costs if you buy direct from Lexmark (but thoroughly competitive costs if you buy Lexmark cartridges from third parties), it's the very model of a midrange to high-volume monochrome workhorse. Who It's ForThe MS431dw fits almost perfectly between desktop or personal mono lasers and enterprise machines, so small and medium-size offices and workgroups that just need solid black-and-white printing without copying or scanning capability will find it right in their wheelhouse. It's nothing fancy, but its Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, and mobile connectivity, alongside its output speed of 40-plus pages per minute, are hard to find fault with. PROS
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Read Our Lexmark MS431dw Review Brother MFC-J6945DW INKvestment Tank Color Inkjet All-In-One PrinterBest Wide-Format Office PrinterWhy We Picked ItSmall offices need wide printouts, too. Brother's MFC-J6945DW is one of the company's INKvestment Tank color inkjets, combining high-capacity cartridges with internal tanks to drive operating costs down to a penny per monochrome page and a nickel per color page. That's not unique, but it's also a wide-format model that fits tabloid (11-by-17-inch) as well as letter- and legal-size paper. It can copy, scan, and fax (as well as print) big pages, and it offers a handy 50-sheet, single-pass-duplexing automatic document feeder. And its 600-sheet paper capacity and 2,000-page recommended monthly print volume top the competition. Who It's ForIt lacks support for Bluetooth wireless connectivity (but it has both Wi-Fi Direct and NFC), and it stops short of super-tabloid (13-by-19-inch) media. But the Brother delivers admirable convenience and print quality for small businesses that produce their own marketing materials. It's fast enough for light to medium duty in almost any office setting. PROS
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Read Our Brother MFC-J6945DW INKvestment Tank Color Inkjet All-In-One Printer Review Epson SureColor P900 17-Inch Photo PrinterBest Wide-Format Dedicated Photo PrinterWhy We Picked ItEpson has long offered exceptional wide-format art printers for professional photographers, and the SureColor P900 is a fine example. Printing on cut sheets up to 17 by 22 inches and paper rolls for panoramas up to 17 by 129 inches, it uses 10 premium high-definition inks to produce breathtaking banners and photos. It automatically switches between photo-black and matte-black inks and makes the most of Epson's extensive, expensive variety of photo and art paper. Plus, its operating costs are in line with its competitors', and its touch-screen control panel—which lets you configure print jobs in ways that previously required advanced software from Epson or Adobe—is superior. Who It's ForYou'd have to be in the habit of burning money by the bucket to buy the SureColor P900 just to print family snapshots or text documents, but no imaging pro or very serious hobbyist should overlook it for museum-quality photos, artwork, and banners. Its output is exquisite. PROS
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Read Our Epson SureColor P900 17-Inch Photo Printer Review Canon Selphy CP1500 Wireless Compact Photo PrinterBest Snapshot Photo PrinterWhy We Picked ItWe're suckers for jokes or memes that say "You had one job!" The Canon Selphy CP1500 sure does: It delivers great-looking photo prints, period. It comes from a venerable line of Selphy dye-sublimation printers that deliver snapshot-size output using "print packs" that bundle the paper and dye-ribbon cartridges in one box, good for a fixed number of prints. This model stands out for its support for up to four different print sizes, some with adhesive backing and some without. (Supporting smaller than the default 4-by-6-inch size requires a cheap adapter tray.) It's relatively fast and produces high-quality prints at very competitive running costs. You'll find the software geared more toward printing from mobile devices than PCs, but it will do a creditable job whatever the photo source. Who It's ForFamilies, especially ones with a scrapbooker or genealogy buff in the house, will find the Selphy handy. If you need a quick, compact, and affordable way to turn your family's smartphone images into good-looking photos and stickers, the Selphy will do the job, and you'll have no doubt where you stand with consumables. There's no guesswork how much "ink" is left. PROS
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Read Our Canon Selphy CP1500 Wireless Compact Photo Printer Review Brother PocketJet PJ883Best Portable Document PrinterWhy We Picked ItThe printer market is flush with portable printers that can print snapshot-size or Instagram-style square photo prints, but much less common are truly portable printers that can churn out letter-size documents in a pinch. Brother's line of PocketJet printers has been doing that for many years. Our latest fave is the PJ883, a thermal-printing model that uses fax-style thermal paper stock to print without ink. It's not cheap, the thermal paper has a limited life without fading, and the output is strictly monochrome, but the connection flexibility and extreme portability (it weighs just 1.34 pounds, including its battery) make this model a winner for this very specific usage case. Note that Brother offers a host of slight-variant PocketJet models that differ according to print resolution, battery inclusion, and connectivity. Who It's ForThis is a niche printer, mind you. Portable models like this one are commonly used for applications that require printing in a vehicle—say, receipts in a delivery truck or tickets in a police car. But their lightness and compactness also suit them for everything from printing a roofing proposal at a potential customer's kitchen table to churning out invoices or info at a street fair. It's all about the business you are in. You'll need to keep a cache of the special paper, but you'll never have to fuss with ink tanks. PROS
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Read Our Brother PocketJet PJ883 Review Epson LabelWorks LW-PX900PCD Deluxe KitBest Label Printer for General/Industrial LabelingWhy We Picked ItIndustrial labeling is all about versatility—you might be printing labels from your PC or carrying the printer itself at a job site, you might be printing on reflective tape or heat-shrink tubes for cables, you might need a variety of label sizes. Epson's LabelWorks LW-PX900 is a serious piece of equipment ($299 alone, or $379 for Epson's deluxe kit with rechargeable battery and hard-shell carrying case). It prints on 150 different kinds of tape cartridges, from standard polyester strips to specialty tapes in widths from 4mm to 36mm (0.16 inch to 1.42 inches). It only works with Windows, not macOS (there aren't many Macs on factory floors), and its 2.8-pound weight is unwieldy for thumb typing, but it'll get the job done. Who It's ForOverkill for sticking labels on a few storage bins in the garage, the LW-PX900 is ready to organize the busiest construction, electrical, or engineering workplace. It has the speed and flexibility for most bulk label jobs. (It can cut labels without cutting the backing, giving you a continuous strip to apply labels from.) And it has stamina—it can shrug off a four-foot drop. PROS
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Read Our Epson LabelWorks LW-PX900PCD Deluxe Kit Review Rollo Wireless Printer X1040Best Label Printer for Shipping LabelsWhy We Picked ItThe Rollo X1040 isn't the only printer that specializes in 4-by-6-inch shipping labels for small businesses that push out a lot of packages. But this $279.99-MSRP device adds extra convenience by taking advantage of a Wi-Fi connection instead of a USB or Ethernet tether. It works with almost any die-cut thermal paper roll or stack, automatically finding gaps between labels and determining the label size to position itself for printing. Better yet, it works with the cloud-based Rollo Ship Manager that, for 5 cents per label after your free first 200, gives you a unified interface for USPS, UPS, and 13 online shopping platforms. Plus, it gives you access to significant discounts for the Post Office and UPS. (The company says FedEx is coming soon.) Who It's ForStores, shops, and Etsy entrepreneurs can use all the help with shipping that they can get. If you send enough packages to be thinking about a label printer, the Rollo is a first-class (well, parcel post) choice. PROS
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Read Our Rollo Wireless Printer X1040 Review Buying Guide: The Best Printers for 2022 Printers vary widely based on whether they’re for home use or business use (or dual use in a home and home office), what you intend to print with them, and whether you need color printing or just monochrome. In particular, text, graphics, and photos each require different capabilities to print at high quality. Even if you print just one kind of output most of the time, you also may want a printer that can do other things well. So be clear on the full scope of your printing needs before you buy. Most printers are designed with either business (usually office) or home use in mind. Generally, business models are geared toward outputting text if they are mono printers, and both text and graphics if they are color models. Home printers (typically inkjets) favor photos and often graphics, as well. Special-purpose options include label printers, portable printers, and dedicated and near-dedicated photo printers. (Even among specialty printers, 3D printers are a special case, and beyond the scope of this discussion.) Should I Get an All-in-One Printer, or a Single-Function Model?Most printers today add extra functions beyond printing. The additions always include scanning, which can be convenient and economical if you have light- to moderate-duty scanning needs. If you don't need scanning or related features like copying and faxing at all, however, or your scanning needs are heavy-duty, you might be better off with a single-function printer and a separate scanner. Most lasers, and some inkjets, with extra functions include "multifunction printer" or "MFP"in the name, while most inkjets, and some lasers, use "all-in-one" or "AIO." The two terms, and their acronyms, are interchangeable. Along with scanning, the additional functions almost always include some combination of standalone copying, standalone faxing, faxing from your PC, standalone emailing, emailing through your PC, and standalone copying to and printing from online systems. Office MFPs typically include an automatic document feeder (ADF) to handle multipage documents and legal-size pages. Many ADFs can handle two-sided documents—either by scanning one side and flipping the page over to scan the other side, or by employing two sensors to scan both sides of the page in a single pass. Some single-sided ADFs let you scan one side of a stack of pages, flip the stack manually to scan the other side, and then automatically interfile the pages in the right order. (Credit: HP) Some inkjet AIOs offer additional printing options, including printing on optical discs. Many let you print documents and images from, and scan to, mobile devices. Some models let you email documents to the printer from anywhere in the world, then print them out. Our roundup of the best all-in-one printers will help you sift through the many options out there. What Are the Most Common Types of Printer?Generally, business models use laser or similar technology (more on that shortly) and are geared toward text, or text and graphics, while home printers are generally inkjets and favor photos and graphics. Within each printer category, quality for each kind of output varies widely. Some business printers can handle all three types well enough for in-house printing of brochures and other marketing materials, for example. The two most common technologies, laser and inkjet, increasingly overlap in capabilities, but there are still differences. Most lasers and LED printers (which are identical to lasers other than using LEDs for a light source) print higher-quality text than most inkjets, and almost any inkjet prints higher-quality photos than most lasers. However, some inkjets today print text that's nearly laser quality, except for a tendency to smudge if they get wet, while some lasers print photos at what's known as business quality, which translates to good enough for a trifold brochure. Beyond questions of technology and output type, there are several more finely grained categories of printer. Home printers (approximate price range: $50 to $250) are almost exclusively inkjets (with the exception of some small-format dedicated photo printers). They are built for low-volume printing, tend to be slow, and also tend to have high ink costs. They typically print photos better than text, and may or may not print graphics well. Almost all of them are all-in-ones. If your budget is tight, and you want a single printer for text, graphics, and photos that handles photos reasonably well, this is where to start looking for an inexpensive printer. Home-office printers ($100 to $400) are largely inkjets or inexpensive mono lasers, and are built for low- to mid-volume printing. Most inkjets in this category are all-in-one printers, geared primarily toward text and graphics printing, though some also handle photos well, while most lasers are printers only. Paper capacity starts at about 100 sheets, though higher-end models can hold up to 500 sheets. Most of these printers are also suitable for micro offices (with up to five people), and many are perfectly fine choices for households, especially for students printing a lot of documents for school. (Credit: Canon) Home-office printers are a subset of business printers ($100 to $2,500 or more), which range from compact models for low-volume use to gigantic floor-standing units that can anchor a department. Most business printers are lasers (though inkjets have been making inroads into that market for years), and many are monochrome, intended primarily for text rather than graphics and photos. Most are multifunction devices. For many businesses, speed and paper capacity are paramount, and security is important as well, which is why many business printers offer security features such as password-protected printing. Some even employ accessories such as an encrypted hard drive or an ID card reader to limit access to documents. Regardless of which home or business category a printer is in, cost can be a key factor. In general, the more expensive the printer, the lower its per-page printing costs, while the lower the ink price, the more expensive the printer will be. Whether you'll save more with a low-cost printer or low-cost ink depends on how much you print (more on this later). Some printer makers also offer ink subscription programs that can lower running costs, particularly if you print close to the number of pages included in the plan. Near-dedicated photo printers ($400 to $2,000) are designed for professional photographers and photo enthusiasts, but almost all of these photo printers are just as useful for graphic artists, since they also print high-quality graphics. Some are wide-format printers designed to print on paper as large as supertabloid size (13 by 19 inches), and many can print on paper rolls as well. For precision color, they use up to a dozen ink cartridges. With these, ink cost per page is much higher than for office printers, due to the amount of ink they use. Total cost per page is higher still, because their inks are designed to print on a range of expensive, high-quality papers, each of which can give the image a somewhat different look. Small-format photo printers ($80 to $250) are dedicated devices built strictly to... you guessed it, print photos, especially from smartphones. Print sizes can range from wallet-size to 5 by 7 inches, and many models can print only a single size. Most are highly portable, and either come with a battery or accommodate one that you can buy separately. (Credit: Zlata Ivleva) Tabloid- and supertabloid-size, printers ($150 desktop printers to multi-thousand-dollar floor-standing beasts) are another subset of business printers. These wide-format machines come in all the same potential variations as other office printers, from mono-only or color-capable, to printer-only or MFP, to inkjet or laser. The difference is they can handle printing on up to tabloid (11-by-17-inch) or supertabloid (13-by-19-inch) size paper. Note that the least expensive in this group are limited to accepting only one large sheet at a time, making them useful for printing at this size in small quantities only, and only occasionally. Label printers are built to churn out paper or plastic labels. Some include label-design software and connect to your computer, while others are standalone devices, letting you design and print labels using a small, built-in keyboard. Manufacturers of either kind of label printer typically offer a variety of label colors, types, and sizes. (Credit: Brother) Portable business printers aren't common, but they can be useful for applications like printing a proposal for a potential customer while sitting in their office or at their kitchen table, or printing the latest version of a handout for a potential client while sitting in your car, just before a meeting. Typical models in the portable printer category are compact and light, and use inkjet or thermal technologies to print. And most come with a rechargeable battery. How Much Do You Plan to Print?If you print only a few pages a day, you don't have to worry about how much a printer is designed to print, as defined by its recommended (not maximum) monthly duty cycle. To define those terms? Maximum duty cycle is the absolute most a printer should be allowed to print per month without affecting the maximum number of pages it can print in its lifetime. The recommended duty cycle is usually how much it can handle on a regular basis and still last as many years as it was designed for. It may also be based on the paper capacity and how frequently you can conveniently refill the trays. (Credit: Brother) If you print enough for the duty cycle to matter, don't buy a printer that doesn't include that information in its specifications. Figure out how much you print by how often you buy paper and in what amounts. If you usually print on both sides of the paper, count each sheet as two pages in your calculations. Then pick a printer designed to print at least that much. What Paper Types and Sizes Do You Print On?Be sure to consider the minimum and maximum paper size you print on, paper thickness, and whether you need a duplexer to print on both sides of the page. If you often print on more than one type of paper—switching to envelopes, checks, or letterhead for example—look for a printer with multiple drawers, or at least a single-sheet bypass tray, so you don't need to constantly unload regular paper and load your specialty media then reload the regular paper. You'll also want a paper capacity that won't require adding paper more often than feels comfortable. A good rule of thumb is that you shouldn't have to refill paper more than once a week, on average. How Much Will a Printer's Total Cost of Ownership Be?The high cost of printer ink is a traditional sore spot for both home and business customers, which has led to the major manufacturers introducing ways that users can lower their per-page ink costs. But the companies are also preserving their own revenues, which means you need to think in terms of the total cost of ownership —the initial cost plus the total cost of ink over the printer's lifetime—to know which printer will be less expensive in the long run. Depending on how many pages you print, paying a high cost per page for a low-cost printer can actually be the less expensive choice. (Our primer How to Save Money on Your Next Printer shows how to calculate the total cost of ownership for inkjets. The same logic works for any printer.) If you print enough to make a high-cost printer with low-cost ink the more economical choice, note that Epson’s EcoTank and SuperTank printers, Canon's MegaTank printers, and HP's Smart Tank Plus printers use inexpensive bottled ink that you pour into internal tanks, while Brother’s INKvestment models ship with high-capacity ink cartridges—in some cases, several sets of them—that offload ink into reservoirs within the printer. HP's Neverstop laser printers offer a similar approach, just with bulk laser toner. With any of these models, you'll pay extra up front for the printer, but the included ink will last a long time, and additional bottles or cartridges are notable for their low price. (See more about how to save on printer ink.) (Credit: Epson) Ink subscription programs are another way to lower ink costs. HP Instant Ink is the big one here, along with Brother Refresh EZ Print and Canon Pixma Print Plan. All offer owners of select printers the option to pay a monthly fee for printing up to a certain number of pages. The same fee applies for either black or color printing, and each company automatically sends you more ink when you run low. These programs can save you a considerable amount of money, particularly if you print mostly in color and print close to the number of pages included in the plan. How Fast Do You Need to Print?If you print only one or two pages at a time, you don't need a speed demon. In fact, most home printers are not built for speed, and most lasers with high page per minute (ppm) claims leave out the first page when calculating the rating, giving the much slower first-page-out (FPO) time separately. If you print a lot of longer documents, however, the fast speed starting with page 2 is more important, which means you probably want a laser printer. As a rule, laser printers will be close to their claimed speeds for text documents, which don't need much processing time. Inkjets often claim faster speeds than more expensive lasers, but they usually don't live up to these claims. However, inkjet printers have been getting faster, and a few recent high-end models (sometimes dubbed "laser alternative" inkjets) can hold their own against comparably priced lasers for speed. (See how we test printers.) How Are You Going to Connect Your Printer?USB ports remain ubiquitous on printers. Most office printers, and an increasing number of home printers, also include an Ethernet jack, Wi-Fi wireless connectivity support, or both, which let you to share the printer with your home or office network. (If you're having trouble with this feature on your current printer, here's how to troubleshoot your printer's Wi-Fi connection.) Printers that offer Wi-Fi Direct (a peer-to-peer protocol that sometimes masquerades under a different name) can connect directly to most Wi-Fi-enabled devices. Recommended by Our EditorsMost major printer companies now provide mobile apps so you can snap a photo with your phone and print it out directly, without needing to transfer it to a computer first. Small-format photo printers often support Bluetooth for connecting mobile devices and more. A few printers can connect to a mobile device for printing via Near-Field Communication (NFC) merely by tapping the phone or tablet to a particular spot on the printer, but the NFC fad seems to be fading. Do You Need Printer Security Features?Printer security is often overlooked, but at your peril. Hackers can gain access to a network through the printer, and in any office printer that you're not right next to, sensitive documents in the paper tray can be seen by prying eyes before you get to them. Many business-centric models include a private printing feature, so that after you send the print job to the printer, you have to enter a PIN at the printer's control panel to actually print it. For business printers in particular, firmware should be kept updated, as it often repairs vulnerabilities, and any printer hard drives should be encrypted. Many manufacturers offer administrative tools to help IT departments ensure printer security. How Do You Gauge Size and Weight?To a large extent, a printer's size and weight are dependent on the paper handling features you need, but even so, there are considerable variations. Make sure the printer will fit in its allotted space (in all three dimensions, including paper feeders and output trays that may need to extend), and isn't too heavy to move around if you decide to renovate. Very compact printers are available for people who live and work in dorm rooms or other tight spaces. Printers: Frequently Asked QuestionsShould you buy third-party ink or refill kits?For inkjet tank printers and bulk toner laser printers, ink or toner from the printer manufacturer doesn't cost enough to be an issue. For cartridge-based printers, third-party ink often costs significantly less. But be aware that it can also come with a whole tank full of issues. First, there’s no guarantee that you’re going to get the same quality ink from a third party that you would when buying the manufacturer-branded product. Also, using ink that isn’t approved by the manufacturer can violate your warranty. And don’t think you can get away with secretly using that renegade ink: If your printer has an internet connection, it may well report your violation to the manufacturer. Sometimes, with firmware updates, we've seen the use of third-party ink "deauthorize" the use of the aftermarket cartridge. Many printer manufacturers now offer ink subscriptions, so new ink shows up at your door when you need it. If that's available for your model, it can often be the best way to go. Should you buy cheap paper? What about recycled paper?For everyday printing, store-brand 20-pound weight paper will usually serve nicely. However, you'll often get better looking output if you step up to a higher-quality paper. For lasers, as well as for inkjet text and graphic printing, that means a heavier weight, and possibly a brighter white level. For photos on inkjets, it means getting matte presentation paper or photo paper. Getting photo or matte paper that's the same brand as your printer will usually be the best choice; printer manufacturers design ink and paper to work together and often offer a variety of presentation and photo papers. Recycled paper also offers acceptable quality, and you can find 100% post-consumer-content recycled paper for many uses, including cover stock and bright white paper suitable for business use. There are other kinds of eco-friendly paper as well, such as all-purpose paper made from sugar cane and photo paper made from cotton. Do your small part to save a tree and research eco-friendly media options. Any modern printer will handle them well. What is the best printer for home use?What kind of printer you get for your home depends on what you plan on printing. As a general rule, if you print text only, or text and graphics that don't need color, a mono laser printer will do the trick. If photos are on your agenda, you need an inkjet or dedicated small format photo printer. If the only color output you print is graphics, you probably want an inkjet as well, but if you print infrequently, an inexpensive color laser may be the better choice. Laser printers have the advantage of being able to sit for months without being used, and then simply turn on and work, without the clogged nozzles or wasted ink for cleaning them that inkjets sometimes need. If you plan on doing any scanning or copying, but not so much that you need a standalone scanner, you should look to an all-in-one or multifunction printer. Decent AIOs aren’t that much more expensive than their printer-only counterparts. Should you buy a refurbished printer?Printers have reached the point where improvements are infrequent and incremental, so buying a printer that’s a few years old isn’t going to mean sacrificing any groundbreaking technology. That said, if you buy a refurbished or used printer, get it from a trustworthy source, make sure it's been recertified by the manufacturer, and look for a reasonable warranty and return period. Here's what to know before buying refurbished electronics. So, Which Printer Should I Get?Based on our advice above, and our key picks for various usage cases below, you should be ready to shop. Keep in mind what you need to print, how many pages you need to print, and how much you're willing to pay up front and per page, and you'll be sure to find the right printer for you. If you're replacing an old printer, recycle or donate it so it can become someone else's refurbished bargain. If money's tight, start with our picks for the best cheap printers, and check out how to save money on ink. If you're shopping for a business, we've got the best business printers rounded up for you as well. What type of printer produces the highest quality photos?The best photo printer we've tested is the Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-300, a professional-grade photo printer that produces excellent-quality photos. Printed pictures look incredibly detailed, vibrant, and colorful, with no banding or other artifacts.
What are the 4 types of printers?Here are the different types of printers to help you narrow down your search based on your needs.. Inkjet printers. Inkjet printers are the de-facto standard for consumer/home-use printers. ... . Laser printers. ... . All-in-one printers. ... . Supertank printers. ... . Dye-sublimation printers. ... . 3D printers.. What are the 2 types of printers?The most common types of printers you find on the market are inkjet printers and laser printers. Inkjet printers are commonly sold for home use, while laser printers are more frequently sold to businesses, but both can be used in either environment.
What are the 3 types of printers?However, there are six types of printers that are tried and tested: inkjet printers, laser printers, solid ink printers, continuous ink printers, LED printers, dot matrix printers and A3 printers.
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