Since Gutenberg built the first printing press in 1440, we have been using some type of printing device to put our words, images, and thoughts on paper. Things have changed (and become a little easier to use) since then, but choosing the right printer for your needs can be quite bewildering. After all, there are plenty of affordable monochrome options, like the Brother HL-2460DWand wasteful selections like Brother MFC-L3780CDWwhich can output color pages quickly. If you don’t want to think about choosing a printer and just need a statistic, go for the HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e. But if you want to consider other options, there are a few things you should keep in mind before purchasing.

As a veteran tech expert, I have tested a large number of printers, including the best home printershe best laser printers and more. Here’s how to choose a printer.

How to choose a printer: types of printing

Two types to consider

There are currently two leading printing technologies on the market: laser and inkjet printers. It is important to review the pros and cons of each before choosing.

Laser printers

Laser printers, as the name suggests, use a laser to remove toner so it sticks to the paper and then a heated roller fuses it into place. Monochrome lasers use black toner, while color lasers use black, cyan, magenta and yellow toner, mixing small dots of these four primaries to produce colors. The advantage of laser printers is speed and flexibility: they can typically print about 30 pages per minute (ppm), so they can produce large documents in a short time. My main personal recommendation, the Canon Color ImageClass MF656CDWIt can print up to 21 ppm, which is pretty close to typical speed. The image quality of documents is also usually better: toner produces sharp text with solid, clean areas of flat color.

The downside is that printing costs are typically higher than inkjet, especially for color printing. The main cost of printing is toner: the typical cost of a monochrome laser page is between 9 and 12 cents, while color laser prints cost between 20 and 30 cents per page because they use four times as much toner. They sometimes struggle to produce the subtle colors of photographs and graphics. Laser printers also typically work with printer paper only. They can’t print on glossy or photo paper because the toner doesn’t stick and thicker paper can’t fold around the heated drum that fuses the toner to the paper.

Inkjet printers

Ink jets use a quirk of physics: Place a liquid, such as ink, in a thin tube and heat it for a moment, and the liquid will squirt out the end in a stream. If you do it at the right time, a small drop of ink will shoot out like a bullet from a gun. Repeat this with several colors of ink and hundreds of tiny tubes, and you have an inkjet printer that spits out droplets of ink that soak into the paper and dry as the print head moves over it.

The advantage of this technology is that it is cheaper than laser: although the ink itself is expensive, each drop is only a small amount, so a little goes a long way. Also, if your document doesn’t have as much black or color (like a page of text, most of which is white space), it will only use as much ink as necessary. It’s also more flexible than laser because an inkjet can print on different types of paper, such as glossy photo paper, textured paper, or cardstock. A good inkjet printer, as my pick for best overall home printer, the HP OfficeJet Pro 9125eYou can print text documents, photos that look like they came from an old-school photo lab, or personalized Christmas cards.

The disadvantage is speed. Because each dot has to shoot out of the tube as the print head passes over the page, printing takes time. Modern printers speed this up by using hundreds of tubes that shoot ink at once, but that still takes longer than a laser shot, so inkjet printers can usually only handle one or two pages per minute. If you frequently print multi-page documents or print the same page frequently, you will be waiting for printing to complete.

How to choose a printer for your home: use

Decide how you plan to use it

When choosing a printer for your home office, it all comes down to five key questions. Think about how you will use the printer, what you will print, and how often you will need to print it.

• Do you print five copies of the same document a week?
• Do the documents you print typically have more than 10 pages?
• Will you print more than 100 pages a month?
• Can you get by without printing family photos?
• Can you get by without color in your prints?

Now, add up the number of questions you answered yes to and find your answer below.

Mostly No: Get an Inkjet Printer

You need a printer that can print photos, color documents and other sophisticated stationery that an inkjet can handle quickly and easily, printing on paper, glossy photo paper, card stock and other materials. Printers like HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e They aren’t the fastest printers, but they can handle longer documents if you don’t mind waiting for the print to finish from time to time.

A combination of yes and no: get a color laser printer

If you want to print documents quickly but some require color, a color laser printer provides the best balance of speed and flexibility. However, that comes at a price: they are more expensive to buy and more expensive to use, since they use more toner to create the colors. Don’t forget that you can still print only in black, even if the original is in color to save money. Doing this will only use the black toner and save the more expensive color for when you need it. A good and economical monochrome laser printer is the Brother HL-L2460DWbut if you want to splurge, the Brother MFC-L3780CDW It’s a great choice.

Mostly Yes – Get a Mono Laser

You need to print mainly text documents that sometimes have many pages. You need a printer that can quickly print these pages on demand without having to wait. A mono laser printer can take care of this, printing multiple copies of pages or longer documents without having to wait. A good and economical monochrome laser printer is the Brother HL-L2460DWbut if you need one that prints in high volumes, check out HP LaserJet Tank 2604SDW All-in-One Printera monochrome laser printer that prints up to 23 ppm.

How to choose a printer: all in one or one for all?

It comes down to your needs

Many of the printers featured in this guide are all-in-one models, combining printing with scanning, copying, and often faxing, including scanning documents to your phone, tablet, or cloud service. . In previous guides, I may have recommended that you consider a printer-only model to save some money. However, most manufacturers have simplified their product lines to focus on all-in-one models, so the price difference between multifunction and print-only models is no longer significant. There are many inexpensive models available for print only, such as the Brother HL-2460DW that or the Canon ImageClass LBP6030wif you’re looking for a bargain.

Still, I recommend spending more on a model like the HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e for the flexibility of an all-in-one, because you’ll probably find uses for them that you hadn’t thought of before owning one. If you prefer a laser printer, see the Brother MFC-L3780CDWA premium laser printer that can do almost everything you need, including scanning and faxing.

How to choose a printer: budget

Check your price

Next, think about how much you want to spend. Want an affordable option for under $200? Are you comfortable paying more for a faster, more flexible printer up to $400? If expense is not a concern, simply get the Brother MFC-L3780CDWAn all-in-one laser printer that offers quality printing, albeit at a higher price. But again, you can get a solid printer with Canon ImageClass LBP6030wwhich is less than $150. And if you want to spend around $200, check out HP OfficeJet Pro 9125ewhich again is my top pick for a great all-in-one inkjet printer.

My picks for each type in the price range of your choice are below, but you can read more about my tests for the best home printerhe best all in one printer and the best laser printer to help you choose.

Why trust Forbes examined

We’ve reviewed hundreds of printers here at Forbes Vetted, from the cheapest inkjets to large printers for printing tabloid-sized pages. We’ve tested them extensively, examining their print speed, print quality, critical cost per page, and more.

• This article is written by Richard Baguley, who has been reviewing and testing technology since 1993. He has written thousands of reviews, including choosing the best student printers, for home and the best all-in-one printers.
• He too has collapsed HP versus Brother printers to help readers decide between brands.
• This article was edited by Rebecca Isaacsour technology editor who oversees all technology and consumer electronics coverage. Regularly attend trade shows to see the latest products on the market, including printers.
• We regularly update our articles to reflect the rapid pace of technology. This article was written in October 2024 and is based on Baguley’s personal testing of various printers for our guides.