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Are you looking for the best printers available on the market? If so, we’ve prepared something very special for you – printers buying guide and our top picks for the best printers available. If you know what you are looking for, jump straight to our list of top picks. If not, check out our buying guide to get informed before you buy it.
Before we highlight some of the best printers on the market, you should look at some of the most important points when choosing a printer for your daily use:
1. Choose printers base on your needs
- For Home
With characteristics for everyone in the family, an all-in-one wireless inkjet printer is a handy way to access multiple devices in one space-saving unit. A 3-in-1 allows you to print school papers, copy recipes from cookbooks, and scan documents; while a 4-in-1 also lets you fax. Consider a time-saving supertank printer if you want to print more pages with fewer cartridge changes.
- For a Small Business or Home Office
Enjoy quick and steadfast printing for your home office or small business needs with a laser printer. Designed to cope with high-volume jobs at a low cost per page, there are a variety of features available to suit your needs. Black-only printers can be a more reasonable option if you only print text documents, duplex printers can automatically print on both sides of paper, while all-in-one printers can also copy, scan, and fax. If an inkjet printer suits your needs, you can save time with a supertank printer that allows you to print more pages with fewer cartridge changes.
- For the Photographer
Inkjet printers are ideal for photos since they can print clear, colorful images on glossy paper. For convenient, on-the-go printing, consider a portable photo printer.
- For the Student
For printing term papers or your thesis, an inkjet printer is equipped to grind out pages of crisp text and detailed images. An all-in-one option will also allow you to scan, copy, and/or fax, while mobile printing ability allows you to conveniently print from your smartphone or tablet.
2. Types of printers
- Inkjet Printers
Lightweight, compact inkjet printers spray tiny droplets of ink directly onto paper. They're great for printing on a wide range of paper types and sizes, such as scrapbooking paper, business envelopes, labels, and more. All-in-one inkjet printers come in two varieties: a 3-in-1 that allows you to print, copy and scan documents, or a 4-in-1 that also lets you fax.
- Laser Printers
These workhorses are built to print large volumes quickly and at a low cost per page. Like copy machines, laser printers use static electricity and toner (powder) rather than ink to transfer images and text onto paper. If you know you'll only be printing text documents, you can choose a model that prints in black only, which could save you even more money.
- Supertank Printers
A newer inkjet option, supertank printers save you time by using high-capacity cartridges so you can print more with fewer cartridge changes. You'll also find options that use low-cost refillable bottles, while some can even print for two years without needing more ink.
- Photo Printers and Instant Photo Printers
Specialty photo printers are designed to generate high-quality photos that compete with what you would get from a professional printing service, at a similar or lower cost. One of the biggest benefits of a photo printer is the handiness of printing photos immediately, without the difficulty of making a trip to the store or waiting for them to arrive in the mail.
Photo printers allow you to print directly from a compatible digital camera via PictBridge (a special type of USB connection), and some models also accept CompactFlash or SD cards, or memory sticks. Many even let you perform editing right from the printer, such as cropping, red-eye removal, and more.
From printing 4" x 6" photos to holiday cards, pictures for scrapbooking, CD and DVD covers and much more, a photo printer can help you explore your creative side. And compact, portable photo printers make it easy to share small photos on the go.
Best printers on the market
Keeping in mind all scenarios and component’s functions, we have picked the 5 best printers for your printing work:
Thanks to its 6-color individual ink system, the Canon Pixma TS9120 delivers exceptional photo quality results, placing it firmly among the best home printers around. The Canon also is very flexible with its connection capabilities, allowing for both bluetooth and wi-fi to print. And you’re not limited to any device. If you want to print from a tablet or smartphone or even from the cloud, the Canon can handle it. The printer also comes with some photo-specific features such as Photo Blue ink as part of the 6-color system and built-in creative filters to add something a little extra to your photos. Lastly, this printer comes in a choice of three different two-tone color options, giving you some cosmetic choices that you don’t really see with printers.
2. HP LaserJet Pro M15w printer
When we tested it, this was the smallest laser printer around and likely to remain so. Being as small and inexpensive as an inkjet, yet with all the speed, budget, and reliability of a laser, the LaserJet Pro M15w is in many ways the ideal home printer. It manages to hold one hundred sheets of paper and print on them at the acceptable rate of 19ppm. There’s no duplex mode, sadly, and no display, but at this price, it’s hard to argue.
This humble all-in-one can scan and copy, but its real strength is in printing photos. Frustratingly, there’s no Ethernet port, nor a USB port for printing from a flash drive and it churns very slowly, but the results are surprisingly good for such an affordable inkjet. The supplied starter cartridges are rather light on ink, but if you replace them with high-capacity carts, then the running cost is competitive too.
Note that this model is known as the HP Envy 5010 in the UK.
4. Epson WorkForce WF-7210DTW printer
Printers 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 and NFC connectivity and the two paper trays can hold 500 sheets combined.
5. Kyocera Ecosys P5026cdw printer
This stout laser printer takes up relatively little space, given its high capacity for paper and toner. It means you can keep printing quickly and efficiently and with lower running costs than an equivalent inkjet. The display is rather fiddly, but in all other respects, this color printer is easy to use and can be relied upon for immaculate mono and color documents time after time.
1. How often should I use my printer?
You should use the printer once every 2-3 weeks to keep the printer working well every time.
2. How long do printers typically last?
Around 3-5 years or more...
The average lifespan of a printer is around 3-5 years. With proper upkeep and maintenance, some printers can last longer, but eventually your machine will need an upgrade.
3. Are ink tank printers worth it?
Ink tank printers may cost more upfront than regular inkjet printers but they eventually pay off if you print a lot regularly. Ink tank printers come with larger ink reservoirs than regular cartridges so you refill ink cartridges much less, thus saving money on replacements.
4. What kind of printer do I need to print payroll checks?
You can print your own checks with almost any printer: inkjet, laserjet, even offset printers. Some check printers have special features that boost the security of your checks, like watermarks and even thermochromatic ink—but you can use any basic home-office printer, too.
5. How do I know if I need a new printer?
The first sign that you need to buy a new printer will be when the print quality goes down. This means everything from faded prints to blank lines in your prints.
If the print quality of your printer has gone down, it might be prudent to first consider if the culprit is your cartridges. Unfortunately, the only way to check this is to replace your current cartridges with new ones.
If even the new cartridges fail to make a difference to print quality then you should see if you can replace the printhead on the printer.
With its connection capabilities, allowing for both bluetooth and wi-fi, and no limit to any device to print, also with 6-color individual ink system, the Canon Pixma TS9120 delivers exceptional photo quality results, placing it firmly among the best home printers around.
If you need a printer for your office, with quietly printing sound and taking up relatively little space, then the Kyocera Ecosys P5026cdw printer is the perfect one for you.
And what if you need a cheap printer but still have great printing quality? Look no further than the HP LaserJet Pro M15w printer and the HP Envy 5055 printer.
Almost all printers we mentioned above can print up to A4-sized paper, but if you need a bigger paper size printer like A3, then the Epson WorkForce WF-7210DTW printer is a must-have. Moreover, it includes both Wi-Fi and NFC connectivity, which will ease your printing work.
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Best home printer: Brother MFC-J895DW
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Best color document printer: Canon Color imageClass LBP622Cdw
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Best photo printer: Canon Pixma iP8720
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Best black-and-white printer: Brother HL-L2395DW
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Best cheap printer: HP DeskJet 3755
That’s all for this guide right now. We hope this guide could help you to choose the best printers!
JustGage Team
The JustGage team consisting of members who fall in love with Gaming, laptops, desktops, phones, TVs, Cameras in particular as well as technology in general have connected and tried their best to provide the latest information for consumers. Our mission is to update all the best products to help you have an enjoyable shopping experience...We take advantage of AI, Big Data as well as the reviews from top experts to arrange and rank for products according to users' search. The advanced technologies integrated into our website will lead you to the most objective reviews on the products that you are interested in. Your happiness through great experiences is a great motivation for everyone on the JustGage team!
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