To determine the best printer for office use, we considered the range of users and the core features that would most benefit them. We prioritized the following criteria — printer type, multifunctionality, color versus monochrome, page yield, print speed and size. In general most professional print users want a printer that completes jobs quickly, offers enhanced multifunctionality and doesn’t need to have the ink or toner replaced frequently. These are some of the basic features of the best printers. Because of the above considerations, we selected the Brother HL-L2350DW Compact Monochrome Laser Printer. While it only prints in black ink, its small size and modest price make it perfect for home office use. It offers a commendable 32 pages per minute print speed as well as a 3,000-page yield rating. Plus the remote printing feature that includes proprietary app support and cloud printing on demand from smartphones and tablets helps to solidify our choice. Top 7 Best Printers for Office Compared #1 Brother HL-L2350DW Compact Monochrome Laser Printer - Top Pick WHY WE LIKE IT: A straightforward monochrome laser printer with a small footprint that’s perfect for a home office. Not everyone who shops for a laser printer can accommodate a massive printer that takes up an entire table. This is why we’ve picked the Brother HL-L2350DW Compact Monochrome Laser Printer as our Top Pick. This monochrome option offers a small footprint that can easily sit in the corner of a home office or the living room without overwhelming the space. While it’s limited to just printing and doing so only in black ink, you’ll like that you get 32 pages per minute which is within a very usable range for laser printers and you can connect to this printer through WiFi and send jobs to it remotely through AirPrint, Google Cloud Print, Brother’s proprietary iPrint app. This model supports two-sided printing and can support toners with a maximum page yield of 3,000 pages. You might want to consider the best all in one printer for all of your office needs. #2 Brother MFCL2710DW Monochrome Compact All-In-One Laser Printer - Honorable Mention WHY WE LIKE IT: A three-in-one monochrome laser printer that supports remote printing on demand and is ideal for businesses that need to multitask. Some businesses find themselves needing to do more than simply print projects. This is why the Brother MFCL2710DW Monochrome Compact All-In-One Laser Printer is our Honorable Mention. In addition to printing, this three-in-one model also copies and scans. Plus you can print on the go from more places than just your computer. Opt for mobile and tablet printing with cloud supported services like Google Cloud Print, or use the proprietary iBrother app to manage print and scan jobs. You’ll like that you get a 32 pages per minute speed which is competitive with other models on our list and the option for automatic two-sided printing to help save paper. There’s also a 50-sheet automatic document feeder. And you’ll appreciate that this Brother model can support toners with a page yield of 3,000 pages which is one of the smaller yield outputs on our list. Plus the quiet operation measures at 50 decibels so you won’t be disturbed while printing projects. The best printers should be quiet enough to not distract. #3 HP OfficeJet 3830 All-in-One Wireless Printer - Best Budget WHY WE LIKE IT: A budget-friendly four-in-one inkjet printer that supports remote printing and has a small footprint, making it the best all in one printer for small businesses. If you’ve just started your own business, you might not be ready to upgrade to some of the pricier laser printer models on our list. This is why we’ve selected the HP OfficeJet 3830 All-in-One Wireless Printer as our Best Budget choice. Even though this model has a modest price point it’s still packed full of features that help to improve your office’s workflow. This all in one option includes scanning, copying, and faxing. Since it’s a color inkjet, you can print high-resolution images as well thanks to the borderless printing. Print on the go thanks to the wireless connectivity, the HP proprietary app and cloud supported remote printing. Or manage jobs directly on the printer with the mono touchscreen. An auto document feeder and two-sided printing support help to improve functionality too. While the print speeds aren’t nearly as fast as with laser printers, within the inkjet category they’re commendable with 8.5 pages per minute for black and six pages per minute for color printing. You can also check out the best inkjet printer. #4 Brother Business HL-L8360CDWT Color Laser Printer - Best Office Printer WHY WE LIKE IT: A large paper capacity color laser printer with a built-in NFC card reader makes this ideal for commercial office use. One of the biggest drawbacks with printers is that you need to replace the ink or toner. So, if you’re concerned with blowing your monthly office expenses budget on toner, you’ll appreciate the Brother Business HL-L8360CDWT Color Laser Printer because it offers the second-best page yield in our roundup. When it’s time to replace the toner, you can opt for the 6,500-page yield compatible toners for more longevity. But this printer was designed with commercial office use in mind. It features a built-in NFC card reader to ensure that print jobs are tracked and that only authorized users can print documents. But this model also supports wireless and remote printing. Plus the dual paper trays offer a total capacity of 750 pages with the potential to add an optional paper tray for a maximum capacity of 1,300 pages. Automatic duplex printing and a printing speed of 33 pages per minute for both black and color help to round out this model’s top features. Make sure that your printer has the best printer ink as well. #5 HP Laserjet Pro M148dw All-in-One Wireless Monochrome Laser Printer - Best Home Office Printer WHY WE LIKE IT: An all-in-one monochrome laser printer with a small footprint that’s perfect for a home office and offers remote printing support, automatic duplex printing, and an auto document feeder. Sometimes it seems like it can be impossible to find a quality laser printer that offers multifunctionality but doesn’t take up too much space — especially if you’re outfitting a home office. The HP Laserjet Pro M148dw All-in-One Wireless Monochrome Laser Printer offers a real solution to this problem if color printing isn’t a priority. This all in one model also supports scanning and copying. And the potential for a 2,800-page yield with replacement toners makes this ideal for home office use. But in terms of functionality, this HP printer has a lot to offer. Two-sided printing and an auto document feeder help to streamline your routine. And the proprietary HP Smart app supports remote printing from your mobile or tablet as well as scan to email functionality. Cloud printing is supported by native connections to services like Dropbox and Google Drive. And WiFi connectivity lets you print from anywhere. For your home needs, check out the best printer for home. #6 HP OfficeJet Pro 9015 All-in-One Wireless Printer - Best Value WHY WE LIKE IT: A four-in-one printer with remote printing support and self-healing WiFi to automatically troubleshoot your connection makes this the most user-friendly option for the tech-averse. You either love technology or you don’t. And one thing that people hate about printers that feature wireless connectivity is trying to troubleshoot when the connection fails. The HP OfficeJet Pro 9015 All-in-One Wireless Printer takes that headache away with a self-healing WiFi feature. This means the printer is always monitoring your WiFi connection in the background and also overseeing the reconnection process so you don’t have to. Likewise, you’ll like that Smart Tasks are supported to help you streamline repetitive tasks such as scanning documents or managing expenses. But this model also comes with standard enhanced features you would expect from models at this price point. A 35-page auto document feeder and automatic two-sided printing, copying, and scanning help to improve efficiency. While the print speed isn’t competitive with laser printers, it’s within the acceptable range for inkjets at 22 pages per minute for black and 18 pages per minute for color printing. And remote printing and scan to email are supported by the HP proprietary app along with cloud printing support. Our best printer for computer list has more great choices. #7 HP LaserJet Pro Multifunction M428fdw Wireless Laser Printer - Best High Volume Printer WHY WE LIKE IT: An all-in-one monochrome laser printer with the fastest print speed and page yield ratings in our roundup makes this ideal for high print volume offices. When you print frequently, the last thing you want to do with your time is stand around a printer waiting for projects to finish or find yourself constantly replacing toner or ink. The solution is to find a speedy printer with a high page yield that can keep up with your office’s demands. The HP LaserJet Pro Multifunction M428fdw Wireless Laser Printer is our choice for offices that are high volume printers. With a 40 pages per minute print speed (fastest on our list) and compatibility with toners offering a 10,000-page yield, we’re confident it’ll meet your needs. But this HP model also features a range of value-added functions that you’ll like. This four-in-one model also copies scans, and faxes. You’ll like that you can automate select functions to help streamline your workflow. And the optional additional paper tray can help improve efficiency. Dual-sided automatic printing, as well as an auto document feeder, round out some of the top features with this HP laser printer. For labels, read our best label printer list. And check out the best 3D printers for a higher-tech creation. How We Decided It can be overwhelming when it comes to picking the right printer for your office, home office, or home. So, with all the options available on the market today, we narrowed down the choices by focusing on the following criteria: printer type, multifunctionality, color versus monochrome, page yield, print speed and size. Depending on the type of content you print, you may find that you’re better served by an inkjet or a laser printer. So, we highlighted a range of models across both primary printer categories to give you a better understanding of what to expect when shopping for either an inkjet or laser printer. Of the models on our list, the Top Pick, Honorable Mention, #4, #5, and #7 are all laser printers while our Best Budget and Best Value selections are all-in-one inkjet printers. Laser printers are inherently more expensive than inkjet options, but if you’re office prints in large volumes, it’s smarter to focus on laser printers to help reduce your long term toner costs. Along with printer type, we further broke this down into monochrome versus color. It’s very common to find laser printers that only print in black ink, and our list reflects this. Of the five laser printer models on our list, only #4 prints in color. In contrast, both of the inkjet printers — #3 our Best Budget and #6 our Best Value — print in color. Next, we considered multifunctionality in terms of “all in one” printers. Except for the Top Pick and our #4 selection, all of the other models on our list are all-in-one printers. Within that range, our Best Budget, Best Value, and #7 selection are all four-in-one models that print, scan, copy, and fax. Our Honorable Mention and #5 choices are three-in-one models that lack faxing capabilities. But multifunctionality also includes enhanced features that make using the printer easier. Except for #7, all of the other models support remote printing beyond a simple wireless connection between your computer and the printer. Picks #1 through #6 all provide a proprietary brand app that supports remote printing and in some cases, scanning, as well as cloud supported printing with popular services like Dropbox or Google Drive. Some printers support task automation which helps to streamline repetitive projects like scanning or forwarding expenses. You’ll see those features listed in the #6 Best Value and #7 selections. Next, we focused on page yield and print speed. By default, laser printers outperform inkjets in these categories. And in some cases, these figures aren’t prominently listed on inkjet models. However, wherever possible, we outlined these figures for each printer. You’ll find that the best performing printer in these categories was #7 with an impressive 10,000-page yield and a printing speed of 40 pages per minute. And finally, we looked at the printer size. Home offices or even small businesses in commercial spaces might not be able to dedicate a large amount of space to an oversized laser printer. So, we looked for models across inkjet and laser printers with small footprints that wouldn’t require dedicated tables. In contrast, a commercial office would benefit from a larger printer that’s not only multifunctional but has a larger paper capacity with multiple trays to support that feature. Printer for Office Buying Guide The Most Important Features to Consider Printer Type The first thing you need to consider is what type of printer you want to buy. The first division is between laser and inkjet printers. Inkjet printers are usually considered better for people who print high-resolution graphics and images or only print occasionally while laser printers are better for high volume document printing. Laser printers are typically further broken down into monochrome that only prints in black ink and color. Color laser printers are usually fine for low to medium quality graphics but are not ideal for high-resolution photo printing. Connectivity Once upon a time, the only way you could print anything was by manually connecting your computer to a printer. But now, most printers allow you to remotely send printing tasks by using a local WiFi network. But connectivity can mean more than wirelessly sending print jobs straight from your computer. These days, that can also include cloud services like Dropbox or Google Drive. And this means that any device that gives you access to a cloud service can be used to send projects to your printer. Multifunctionality The main purpose of any printer is to print a document. But if your office often needs to copy or scan existing documents, then you’re going to need a printer that can also provide enhanced functionality. In this case, look for an “all in one” type printer. At a minimum, these models also include scanning and copying. But in some cases, you can find “four in one” models that will also include faxing. Color Printing Color printing can be a major factor for some businesses. If all you care about is printing black text, then a laser printer will be more than enough for your needs. While technology with laser printers has improved over the years, they’re still not ideal for high-resolution color image printing. So if you print in color frequently — especially crisp images like graphics or actual pictures — you should focus on an inkjet printer as these are better rated for color printing. Ink/Toner Costs vs. Page Yield At some point, you’re going to need to replace the ink or toner in your printer. If you’re trying to get the biggest bang for your buck, laser printers tend to be a better budget-friendly option for the long term. Laser printers rely on toner and toner tends to last longer than the ink cartridges that inkjet printers use. But you also need to consider page yield which represents how many pages you can print from one toner or ink cartridge before it needs to be replaced. Specifically, many toners are rated with a page yield that ranges between 2,000 to 10,000 pages. In contrast, ink cartridges are usually limited to 135 to 1,000 pages. But if you have your heart set on an inkjet, opt for ink tank printers. These models hold larger ink volumes, offer higher page yields as large as 6,000 pages, and can be refilled with bottles as opposed to buying new cartridges. Print Speed Hands down, laser printers are faster than inkjet printers and are designed to handle large volumes. You can expect an output of 15 to 100 pages per minute. So, if you print frequently and primarily print documents, then opt for a laser printer. With inkjet printers, the type of content you’re printing will determine the speed. In general, most documents will print at a range of five to 18 pages per minute. But picture printing usually sees a sharp drop in speed. Expect to find printing speeds ranging from a minute and a half to four minutes for one full-color 8x10 picture. Size Whether you have a small home office or a commercial space, you need to consider where you plan on setting up your office printer. Based on that, this will determine whether you can accommodate a larger printer model or if you need a model with a smaller footprint. Inkjets are traditionally the winners for smaller footprints while laser printers tend to be larger.
