Inkjets that print great photos and color lasers that print horrible ones.Bare-bones color lasers that operate slowly and provide minimal features.High-end inkjets with bells, whistles, and speed to spare.$300: High-End Inkjets and Monochrome Lasers As a bonus, this model can print labels on specially coated CDs and DVDs. Print quality is nice, and best of all, ink costs are reasonable: 4.7 cents per page for black and 2.6 to 2.9 cents per page for each color. Its speed is brisk, printing plain text pages at 8.9 pages per minute and photos at average to fast speeds. It has only USB connectivity (no ethernet or Wi-Fi), but its paper handling-two 150-sheet input trays, with automatic duplexing-is tops for its class. If you have just $100 to spend, the simple, capable Canon Pixma iP4920 Inkjet Photo Printer is our top choice. Its ink costs are on the high side of average. (Unfortunately, that means no ADF.) The MG6220 serves up high-quality printouts and decent scans, and it’s fast for an inkjet MFP. If your budget can stretch a bit more, here’s a $200 model worth considering: The Canon Pixma MG6220 Wireless Inkjet Photo All-In-One has cool-looking controls and a color LCD embedded in the scanner lid. Also, the MG5320’s ink-refill costs are reasonable.Īs for single-function printers, the Epson WorkForce 60 inkjet offers USB, ethernet, and Wi-Fi connectivity, good paper handling including automatic duplexing, and outstanding speed. If you can do without an ADF, check out the Canon Pixma MG5320 Wireless Inkjet Photo All-In-One Printer, a multifunction unit that features printing on CDs and DVDs, and that has speedy performance and good print quality. The cherry on this sundae? HP’s ink costs are reasonable, meaning no regrets later. Most notably, it posted average or better speeds in our printing, scanning, and copying tests and it includes an ADF, a feature that’s rare at this price level.Īmong other standard equipment are a 125-sheet input tray and a 20-sheet photo tray (for media up to 5 by 7 inches in size) and the unit’s automatic duplexing applies to both the printer and the scanner. Though it’s billed as a photo-oriented home machine, it can handle far more than that. Our top pick is a multifunction inkjet, the HP Photosmart 7510 e-All-in-One Printer. Monochrome lasers are also available, but we can’t wholeheartedly recommend any such models in this price range, as their toner costs tend to be very high. If this is your budget range, keep in mind that these machines are designed for fairly low-volume use: around 15 to 20 pages per day, at most.
#Best multifunction color laser printer for home use plus#
You’ll find a crowded field of models, most of them offering at least decent features and performance for home and home-office users, plus students. HP Photosmart 7510 e-All-in-One PrinterThe sweet spot for consumer inkjets is about $150. Occasional highlights such as printing on CDs and DVDs or Wi-Fi connectivity.Basic monochrome lasers with pricey toner.Ink costs ranging from reasonable to expensive.Single- and multifunction inkjets good for light-volume home or home-office use.$150: Well-Priced Inkjets, Decent Costs for Ink Now that we’ve summarized what you should look for, consider our recommendations for each price category. If your office is very busy, forcing a single machine to juggle everyone’s printing, copying, scanning, and faxing demands could overwhelm it-and frustrate your users.Īnother consideration to keep in mind: If you have a long-term need to scan hundreds or even thousands of pages of documents, a dedicated document scanner that has its own automatic document feeder will simplify that job considerably. Though multifunction printers appear to be the wave of the printing future, they have some limitations. Check the chart to the left for a quick profile of the kind of printer you can get with the money you have. Also think about how much you print, to make sure you get enough paper capacity and how many people need to use the machine, in case you require wired or wireless networking capabilities. Take a few minutes to think hard about what types of things you print-whether it’s documents, photos, or something in between-to make sure you get a printer that can produce satisfactory output quality in all areas. How much printer do you need? (Click to enlarge chart.)The best printer has the capacity, features, and speed to match what you actually print on a regular basis.