Only the best home printers can meet your demands, whether you have a multi-generational household whose members have varying sets of needs or you have a work-from-home setup. The great thing about modern printers is that they’re not only much more capable than ever, but they also tend to serve different purposes – even those you wouldn’t consider anall-in-one printer, and that applies to those that are designed for home use as well.
So, whether your daily printing demands involve printing and scanning a lot of work documents or are mostly printing things for the kids’ homework and school projects, you don’t need a pricey behemoth you’ll find in most offices. The best home printers are what you need for all your printing needs for this day and age. Based on ink or laser technology, these printers are just as multi-functional and versatile while keeping things affordable, compact and perhaps more importantly reliable.
+Convenient touchscreen+Fast print speed-Print resolution is not high-Slow to wake upIt might be small, but the Lexmark MB3442adw has the features and specifications of an accomplished office printer. It’s a four-in-one device, which means you have a fax facility (assuming you have a landline) in addition to printing, scanning and photocopying. Printing at a rate of 42 pages per minute places this among the fastest laser printers around. There’s plenty of room for paper too with a 350-sheet main tray and the option to upgrade, so it’s unlikely you’ll ever need another home printer.
The duplex printing and scanning is well executed and the touchscreen and front USB ports are certainly convenient. It can print large documents such as manuscripts very quickly and above all, the quality is consistently high. If you need to print lots of pages and you require the added functionality of a scanner and ADF, then this is the AIO (all in one) device for you. Just bear in mind that the cost of the toner.
The core selling point is that beyond the cartridges there are no other supplies that need replacing – e.g. no separate photoconductors, developers and even the waste tone bottle is a lifetime item. So while you might feel the cartridges are expensive – other elements that can require replacing on competitor products don’t need replacing.
Make space for the smallest home printerCategory: All-in-one color inkjet printer Print speed: 5ppm (mono) Paper capacity: 60Paper size: up to A4Weight: 2.3kg+Small and stylish+Inexpensive-No auto-duplex-Slow print speedThis dinky printer, available in a range of colors, is the smallest all-in-one inkjet on the market and it’ll sit comfortably on any shelf or even fit into a suitcase. There’s only room for sixty sheets of paper and two ink cartridges on board, so it’s best used for light duties at home, rather than the office. It can print on any size media up to A4/letter and that includes envelopes and glossy photopaper. It prints a great photo, albeit slowly, and has Wi-Fi with Wi-Fi-Direct and AirPrint built in. What looks like a carry handle on top is actually HP’s innovative scan beam, which does the job of an A4 flatbed scanner. Insert any document in the slot beneath, and it will be draw through automatically and scanned ready for copying.
Best A3 printerCategory: colour inkjet printerPrint speed: 18ppmPaper capacity: 500 sheetsPaper size: up to A3Weight: 15.5kg+Duplex A3 printing +Deep paper trays-Expensive ink -No front USB portPrinters aimed at the home office that can handle A3 paper are not common, but ones that can automatically print on both sides of an A3 page are downright rare. The WorkForce WF-7210DTW is one such beast and it does so quite successfully. Print quality is impressive, be that monochrome text, or a glossy photo. The long list of features includes both Wi-Fi andNFC connectivity and the two paper trays can hold 500 sheets combined.
A home printer that’s both affordable and refillableCategory: All-in-one color inkjet printer Print speed: 9ppm (mono)Paper capacity: 100 sheetsPaper size: up to A4Weight: 4.8kg+Low ink cost+Comes with plenty of ink-No auto-duplex-Slow to printThis is Canon’s entry-level MegaTank model, bringing you refillable ink tanks and plenty of bottled at a competitive price. Some features have been squeezed out to achieve this, so there’s no auto-duplex mode, no display and not a lot of room for paper. Nonetheless, it can print, scan and copy to a high quality and can handle envelopes, glossy photo paper and even print banners. By cutting yourself free from overpriced cartridges and buying cheap bottled ink instead, your ongoing print costs will plummet by as much as 90 percent. It’s not the cheapest inkjet out there, but it is perhaps the most economical choice for the home, or home office.
Laser busting inkjet crams in the features Category: 4-in-1 colour inkjet MFDPrint speed: 22ppmPaper capacity: 500 sheetsPaper size: up to A3Weight: 21kg+A3 capability +High paper capacity-Inconsistent prints -Less economical than laserThis big Brother blurs the line between home printer and office printer by combining the fast print speed and high capacity of a laser machine with the superior photo finish of an inkjet. We would recommend it for both applications because although it is smaller than the laser equivalentMFC-L8690CDW, the inkjet MFC-J5945DW can handle A3 paper. There’s really nothing that this fully featured 4-in-1 can’t do and it carries out all tasks satisfactorily.
Hardworking home printerCategory: colour laser printerPrint speed: 28ppmPaper capacity: 250 + 50 sheets Paper size: up to A4Weight: 23.8kg+Rugged and secure+Rapid print speed-Small display-No Wi-Fi on the DN modelYou probably associate Xerox with office printers, but the brand’s entry-level range would suit a home office well, especially one with high print demands. The Xerox Phaser 6510DN has a rapid print speed of 28 pages per minute and room for 250 sheets of A3 in its main tray. This is expandable to 850 sheets and it ships with enough toner for 1,000 color or 1,500 mono pages. It also has all of Xerox’s usual high build quality and security features. Choose the DNI model if you need Wi-Fi in addition to the Ethernet port.
For fast-printing jobs without fussCategory: Mono laser printerPrint speed: Black: 36 ISO ppmPaper capacity: 250 sheetsPaper size: up to A4Weight: 10.3 kg+Super fast printing+Intuitive display-Monochrome onlyThe Brother HLL2395DW is an ideal printer for any small business that needs to do a lot of printing and to do it quickly - but it's also one of the best home printer on the market. While you may be limited to black and white with this printer, you’ll be able to print up to 36 pages in a minute and could probably spit out a whole book before having to reload the printer, thanks to a 250 page capacity. Like other recent Brother printers, it has an intuitive display that allows you to print from and scan to cloud services like Dropbox and Google Drive as well as its NFC “touch to connect” printing which allows you to access it from a mobile device without even needing a network connection. All-in-all, this is a pretty nifty printer.
Ink-telligentCategory: All-in-one inkjet printerPrint speed: Black: 12 ISO ppm, Color: 10 ISO ppmPaper capacity: 150 sheetsPaper size: up to A4Weight: 8.7 kg+Compact+Reliable enough for small businesses-Loud and slowDespite its compact size, the Brother MFC-J995DW INKvestment is a monster printer. It’s incredibly efficient, being able to print for up to a year without having to change its ink cartridge. And, it’s also a feature-rich and intuitive machine perfect for any home or small business office. You can print to it from just about any device wirelessly and, for mobile, you don’t even need a network to do it, thanks to its NFC (near field communication) technology that connects directly to the printer. While interfacing with its 2.7” color display, you can even print from and scan to the cloud.
For eco-conscious familiesCategory: All-in-one cartridge-free printerPrint speed: Black: 15 ISO ppm, Color: 8 ISO ppmPaper capacity: 150 sheetsPaper size: Up to A6Weight: 7.3kg+Cartridge-free printing+Ink replacement lasts up to 2 years-Expensive compared to rivalsWhether you’re trying to run a more eco-friendly household or you’re just fed up with having to run out go get ink at the most inconvenient times – in the middle of printing your important documents, for example – you might love the Epson EcoTank ET-3760. This all-in-one printer is cartridge-free and comes with refillable bottles that contain up to two years’ worth of ink instead. It doesn’t have a massive paper capacity, only 150 sheets at a time, that’s hardly a deal-breaker, especially if you’re just mostly using it for personal stuff. It’s a bit expensive, but think of all the money you’ll save not having to run to the store and get replacement cartridges all the time.
Printers are not like smartphones so don't expect the ones from five years ago to be significantly different from the ones launched last year. Printing resolutions, connectivity and features haven't changed significantly and so have our printing tests.
Each printer we source for testing is measured on our test bench and the results are critically compared with every other model we have reviewed. Rather than relying on the manufacturer’s quoted figures, we time the first page out and print speeds in single sheet and duplex mode using a standard ten-page document and a stopwatch app.
To compare print quality, we print out the same set of test documents on every machine. These twelve test pages include text of varying font sizes and colors, mixed image and text pages, a set of photos and a series of test patterns designed to assess sharpness, color fidelity, contrast and grey scale.
We also calculate running costs, compare functionality and consider each product’s versatility, design and build quality. The overall score reflects all of these parameters and overall value for money.
With many of us now working from home, the best printers have become essential devices in our homes and offices. However, the printer market is absolutely rammed with different makes and models. You can choose printers by manufacturer, such as Epson or HP. Not only that, but there are inkjet, laser, or black and white printer considerations as well.
There are also situations in which you may need a different type of printer, such as wireless or even portable, or even one specifically for a Mac.
This abundance of choice is good in some respects - it means no matter what type of printer you need, you'l be able to find one that's perfect for you. However, because there is so much to choose from, it means finding that perfect printer can be a lot more tricky. However, that's where our best printers guide comes in.
No matter if it's a home printer or business printer for your office, the best printers on this page can help you quickly and easily print off documents in perfect quality, all while keeping running costs low.
For your sake and sanity, we put together a list of the best printers. We’ve got all-in-one printers that can do scans and photocopies, photo printers that can produce lab-quality prints of your images, and even solid black and white laser printers for fast – and cheap – printouts for office use,
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