Because no one wants to have to go to the office, or to Fed Ex every time you need to print something out, we’ve compiled this list of the best printers that are actually worth the money and easy to use. All the printers on our list are capable of at least 7 pages per minute, can be configured to print on multiple types of paper and use common, readily available cartridges, because cost per page is important. From printers intended to professional home office settings to wireless home printers designed for printing out your photos on photo paper, here are some of the best printers you can buy online.
Our top pick, the HP OfficeJet 5255, is among the most versatile and convenient home printers thanks to its dual band WiFi, easy online set up and smartphone scanning and faxing features. At the end of the day, we chose printers that just did their job as soon as you click “print” on your computer, tablet or smartphone.
Award: Top Pick
WHY WE LIKE IT: Fast, high quality printing and easy set up with dual band wifi, plus the convenience of the HP app that lets you use your smartphone as a scanner or easily print from the cloud, make this one of the most well rounded printers on the market. It’s great for professionals, creatives and students, basically anyone who needs to fax, scan and print documents with as little fuss as possible.
Read Full Review: HP OfficeJet 5255 Review
This OfficeJet printer is designed to be an all-in-one device for those looking for maximum convenience. To that end, a major selling point is its ability to print wirelessly via mobile app. It can also pair with a mobile phone to scan documents, though the device does limit the format of scan outputs– no TIFF format is available. However, it’s not designed primarily for photos. It does come with a 35-sheet auto loading feature and a clear, responsive touch screen. It has a 100-sheet input and 25-sheet output capacity and prints at up to 10 pages per minute in black and white or 7 ppm in color.
Related: Check out our best printer paper.
This printer also works with HP’s Instant Ink, a scheduled ink cartridge replacement that theoretically ensures you never run out of ink. No need to look for the best home scanner with this one as it is included.
Award: Honorable Mention
WHY WE LIKE IT: A lower priced multifunctional home printer that supports mobile printing and the HP instant ink service, it’s also compact enough to fit unobtrusively in your home office. It’s great for those looking for a home printer that doesn’t take up too much space, and those not needing to print out large volumes of pages or mostly photos.
Though it’s marginally slower than the HP OfficeJet 5255, our top pick, the HP 3830 is much less expensive and matches most of the 5255’s features. It lets you print from anywhere with the HP app and like the 5255 it’s compatible with HP’s Instant Ink for automatic cartridge delivery. It’s also compact, with a footprint of less than 18 by 15 inches, so it can fit neatly next to a laptop or desktop with keyboard. It supports auto feed of up to 35 sheets, and like our top pick, it allows you to use your mobile phone to scan documents.
Related: Discover more about our best printers for Mac.
The OfficeJet 3830 also functions as a copy machine and fax machine as well. It’s Energy Star- certified and gives you the option, as with the pricer 5255, to use HP’s high yield cartridges. Also like the 5255, our top pick, this OfficeJet functions as a scanner and lets you scan documents with your mobile device, too.
Award: Best Monochrome
WHY WE LIKE IT: Professional quality black and white laser printing for the home office, offering speeds of up to 27 pages per minute, more than twice that of the HP OfficeJet printers. It’s great for writers and other professionals who need to reliably print larger documents with multiple pages and who don’t need wifi or color printing.
Read Full Review: Brother HL2300D Review
This is a compact personal laser printer designed to quickly print out black and white documents at a resolution of 2400×600 dpi. With a footprint of about 14 x 14 inches it’s smaller than our top pick, and prints much faster (27 ppm vs 10 ppm for black and white) though it’s not for everyone as it lacks color printing, mobile connectivity or built-in wifi. The only way to connect it is to use your USB cable. However, it can be made to print via wifi if connected to a wireless router or a wireless-enabled computer through the USB connection. Have a look at the best printer for computer for more options.
Its paper tray holds up to 250 pages, handles letter size or legal size paper and it features a more efficient straight through pathway. It also, like our top pick, the OfficeJet 5255, supports automatic double sided printing. The included toner cartridge is rated for 700 pages but may print more if you reset the page count. However, this is an inconvenient process. It must be noted also that laser toner is typically more expensive than inkjet ink.
Award: Best Photo Printer
WHY WE LIKE IT: A low priced all-in-one printer that supports typical 4X6 photo sizes and borderless printing. It’s great for those looking to print graphics, brochures, postcards or photos and wants the convenience of wireless mobile printing at a low cost.
Read Full Review: HP ENVY 5055 Review
Designed with small photo printing in mind, this “3-in-1” from HP features dual band wifi, a 2.2-inch touch screen and an input capacity of up to 100 sheets. While it lacks an auto-document feeder or high speed black and white printing, being limited to 10 ppm or 7 ppm with color, these are likely to be less of an issue for those looking to print photos and .PDFs containing graphics. A plus with the HP Envy 5055 is that it supports 4×6 photos as well as letter and legal size paper, something not all printers do. Have a look at the best inkjet printer while you are here.
It also works with the HP app to allow seamless mobile printing and it comes with the option of enrolling in HP’s Instant Ink replenishment service, although the cost of this service, once any promotional periods expire, can quickly exceed the bargain initial price of the printer itself.
Award: Best Cloud/ Mobile Printing
WHY WE LIKE IT: An all-in-one inkjet printer that supports photo printing, mobile printing and scanning, plus it works with Canon’s PIXMA cloud print service. It’s great for busy students and creative professionals who need convenient mobile scanning and printing options.
Read Full Review: Canon TS5120
This is one of the most affordable all-in-one print, copy scan and fax machines for the home office on the market that also supports photo printing in common 4×6, 5×5 and 5×7 sizes. It’s also WiFi-enabled and promises wireless and convenient mobile printing via PictBridge or Canon’s PIXMA cloud print feature. The TS512 lets you scan and save documents to your mobile phone or laptop, send a fax, and print documents ranging from 5×5 to 8.5 x 14 legal size. It will also print on US #10 envelopes. It supports double-sided printing and borderless printing, though set up is a bit tricky, involving software installation and wifi set up on the printer itself, and it lacks a touchscreen.
It prints decent quality black and white as well, with an output speed of up to 13 ppm, slightly faster than our Top Pick, the HP 5255, though still far behind the Brother HL2300D’s 27 ppm. It’s definitely more of a budget all-in-one than a dedicated office printer. See what the best home printer has to offer for comparison.
Award: Best Budget
WHY WE LIKE IT: The most compact all-in-one wireless printer, copier, scanner and fax on our list, it’s also about half the cost of the HP 5255, our top pick. It’s great for anyone looking for an easy-to-use and unobtrusive printer that can fit just about anywhere.
Read Full Review: HP DeskJet 2622 Review
This wireless printer is among the smallest all-in-one home printers on the market, with a footprint of only 16.74 x 11.97 inches. Input and output trays fold up when not in use, adding to its compact form factor. The DeskJet 2622 also has some features even the more expensive Canon Pixma TS512 lacks, such as fax capability. As with the other HP printers on our list, this wireless home printer lets you print from a smartphone or tablet easily, pairing with HP’s Smart App for on the go printing, scanning and ink-level monitoring.
Compared to the more expensive HP 5255, this compact printer may be less suited to higher volume tasks, as it prints slower, 7.5 ppm vs 10 ppm, and its input tray is limited to 60 sheets rather than 100. If you are rocking a Chromebook, check out the best printer for Chromebook.
For choosing the best home printers we looked for models capable of at least 7 pages per minute, and that can be configured to print on multiple types of paper and use common, readily available cartridges. Therefore we included both color printers and the monochrome Brother HL2300D laser printer, which prints black and white but does so significantly faster than the ink jet printers on our list.
While we made an exception for the Brother laser printer, due to it being one of the most affordable home laser printers available, we included only those inkjet printers that offered WiFi for convenient set up and printing.
Depending on the printer and cartridge type, the ink generally works for a few hundred pages with InkJet printers. The toner cartridge that ships with the Brother HL2300D laser printer is rated for 700 pages, though if you follow a complicated reset procedure you can usually get a few hundred more pages out of it. Laser printer toner cartridges are also more expensive than inkjet cartridges. The HP “high yield” cartridges, compatible with the OfficeJet 5255, our top pick, as well as the OfficeJet 3830, our #2 pick, are good for about 300 pages.
Set-up complexity varies from printer to printer and depending on the operating system. Most of the best home printers offer a relatively easy, guided online process, or let you set them up with free downloadable software, as with the HP OfficeJet series which offers both. The Canon Pixma, our #5 pick, comes with a CD as well as a mobile app. The Brother HL2300D is somewhat more tricky to set up on a Mac, especially if you need to use a router to add wireless functionality to the printer.
Buying the best printer from a plethora of brands and models may seem like a daunting task but Gadget Review promises to make it easy with the best printer reviews for 2018. Our review not only covers the laser and inkjet printers that have been around for a long time, but also includes information on advanced 3D printers by brands like Konica Minolta, Cubify, and Makerbot.
The most important thing when looking for a printer is to analyze your own requirements. Are you looking for a high quality photo printer for printing photos, a high-end model with exceptional print quality, or a standard printer that can print scan and copy? The various models come with different capabilities. Some can print high-quality photos while others are compatible with wi fi and mobile devices.
If you run a small business, you can choose a model that works best for home offices to meet your scanning,, copying and faxing needs. In our editor’s review, you can find an in-depth analysis and comparison of the best laser printers, All-in-one printers, inkjet printers, or wireless printers to let you compare the various best printers online.
Our review compares different models based on features like print speeds, instant ink, ink costs, auto duplexing and duplex printing, materials used, color, ink cartridges, fax capability, 3D printing technology and so on.
What To Expect From Our Printer Reviews For 2018
At Gadget Review, we offer buying advice and the best printer reviews for brands like Canon, Dell, HP, Cubify, Epson, Brother, and more. Some of the top models in our review include hp officejet pro, canon pixma, and epson EcoTank.
Whether you are looking for 3D printer, inkjet printer, or wireless printer reviews, our team can help you understand each product in detail and make the right decision. You may choose to go with our editor’s recommendation to buy the best consumer printer 2018 or read our best printer reviews online to compare and buy a model that suits your needs.
Our expert editors review and compare the best printers such as 3D printers, all-in-one-printers, laser printers, wireless printers, and inkjet printers. In the market for a new printer? Gadget Review has got you covered with our electronic reviews. We provide buying advice with our printer reviews from brands such as Epson Workforce, Cubify, HP, Canon, Makerbot, Dell, Brother, and more. Whether for home or business, our editorial team can help you decide what the best printer is for your needs.
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