So much for the
paperless home office; the Ratings include more recommended models in more
categories than ever. Here are some pointers on finding the best performing,
most cost-effective printer:
Black and white is faster and cheaper.
If you print mostly
text, a black-and-white all-in-one-which also copies and scans documents will
usually save you time and money. Most black-and-white lasers churned out 12 or
more pages of excellent text for roughly 2 to 4 cents per page. But only one
color inkjet, the Lexmark Office Edge Pro 4000, could do that. The other color
inkjets typically churned out 6 to 0 pages of very good text per minute, often
for more than 4 cents per page. Black-and-white regular laser printers were similarly
speedier than color lasers at printing black text, but there was little
difference in text quality or cost per page.
The Lexmark Office Edge Pro 4000
Lasers ace text and color graphics.
Color lasers print
higher quality black text and color graphics than inkjets. And they do so
without sacrificing speed or economy. But they don’t print especially good
photos on high-quality paper.
For photos, flexibility has its price
Regular inkjets are
far more versatile than snapshot printers. They can print photos in a wide
variety of sizes, plus text and other content, and some can be connected to a
home network. Snapshot printers are faster and produce 4x6s for just 25 cents
(for inkjets, they cost about 50 cents)
Mobile printing: there’s an app for that.
Nearly all the inkjet
all-in-ones can print form a tablet or smart phone via a home wireless network,
using the printer maker’s app from either Apple’s App Store or Google’s Play
Store. This feature isn’t as common for other types of printers, but some do offer
it. Some all-in-ones and regular models can print a photo or document you
e-mail directly to them from any device.
Ratings: All tested models in performance order
Overview
Consider price and
operating cost. A low-priced model could be expensive in the long run if it’s
not very frugal with paper and ink. The copying function of an all-in-one is
fine for casual use. Most are very good for scanning.
For
printing, copying, and scanning in color
A2: Lexmark $250
A6: HP $230
A7: Brother $150
A. All-in-one Inkjets: best if you need
to print photos and documents in color as well as copy or scan
A1. Canon Pixmal MG8220
A2 and A6 are fast and
economical to use. A2 has a 1.8-inch LCD; A6 has a large, 3.8-inch LCD. A7 is
low-priced and economical to use, but has a 1.9-inch LCD.
A6. HP Officejet pro 8600 plus
A. All-in-one Inkjets continued
For
printing, copying, and scanning in black and white.
C5: Brother $200 CR
Best Buy
C9: Brother $160 CR
Best Buy
C. All-in-one black-and-white lasers:
best if you need to print and copy in black-and-white.
Both are low-priced,
print more than 14 pages of excellent text per minute, and have excellent
scanning and copying C5 has a built-in fax.
C5. Brother MFC-7360N
For
printing text cheaply and quickly
F7: Brother $150
F8: Samsung $70 CR
Best Buy
E. Regular color lasers & F. Regular
black-and-white lasers
F7. Brother HL-2270DW
Both are low-priced.
F7 is very economical to use.
For
printing color photos including enlargements.
D1: Epson $150 CR Best
Buy
D3: HP $100 CR Best
Buy
D. Regular Inkjets: best if you need to
print high-quality photos
D1 prints very good
photos and text, and has excellent speed. D3 has a low-price and is very
economical to use. It also has excellent text speed.
D1. Epson workforce Pro WP-4010
For
printing color documents
B1: Dell $450
E2: Lexmark $200
B. All-in-one color laser: best if you
need to print lots of color documetns and also copy or scan
B1 can print at least
13 pages of excellent text (black-and-white or color) per minute, produces
excellent graphics, and can scan, copy, and fax. But it’s expensive and costly
to operate. E2 prints at least 11 pages of excellent text (black-and-white or
color) per minute, produces excellent graphics, and is economical to use for a
color laser.
B1. Dell 2155cn
For
printing snapshots
The Epson PictureMate
Show PM300, $300, and Epson PictureMate Charm PM225, $200, which are not in the
Ratings, print 4x6s inexpensively in less than 1 minute. Both are recommended.
The Epson PictureMate Show PM300
5 ways to save on your inkjet
Inkjet printers are
more costly to use than black-and-white laser models. That’s mainly due to the
cost of ink cartridges, which can easily run two or three times a printer’s
purchase price over the printer’s life. Here are five ways to reduce the cost
of ink:
Recycle
cartridges.
Office chains Office
Depot, OfficeMax, and Staples each offer $2 in store credit for each ink (or
laser toner) cartridge you drop off, up to 10 per month. To qualify, you must
join their rewards clubs and the cartridge must be for a brand that they
accept.
Use draft
mode
In tests we conducted
of five major-brand printers, using a lower-quality draft mode (some brands
call it “fast” or “quick print”) to print non-photographic content cut ink
usage by half and increased print speed by as much as 100 percent. Print
quality was worse. But on most models the quality of black text was still
acceptable. Switching to draft mode made the printers noisier, and on many
models it can take a few steps to perform, but if you print many text
documents, or long ones, it might be worth trying.
Don’t
always heed the warnings.
A low-ink warning
doesn’t always mean you must replace an ink cartridge immediately. In some
cases you can print up to 20 percent more after it appears. In doing so,
though, make sure to follow any relevant advice in the printer’s user manual
Print
fewer pages.
You can save
considerable ink (and paper) by printing multiple pages on each sheet, with
each page being reduced in size. Many printers have this feature. It is
especially useful when printing long documents, such as manuals or PowerPoint
presentations.
Avoid
needless pages.
Before printing maps
or other Web content, preview them to avoid blank pages or unwanted ads. Or use
a free, advertising-supported program called GreenPrint (printgreener.com) to
help you skip pages with little or no content.
