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Buyer's Guide: The Best Printers
Inkjet or laser? Wi-Fi or Ethernet? You'll find just what you're looking for in our printer buyer's guide.
Marine Goy
Translator: Catherine Barraclough
Updated: January 27, 2012
Translator: Catherine Barraclough
Updated: January 27, 2012
More Printer Reviews
Looking for a new printer? Cut to the chase with this pick of the best models currently on the market or, for more options, you can browse all our inket printer reviews, multifunction laser printer reviews and single-function laser printer reviews.
Note that our printer reviews have recently been updated in line with our new test criteria.
Here are a few things to look for when shopping for a printer:
- Hardware and design: check how many functions the printer has and whether it's compatible with your computer's OS. Then look for the connectivity options (Wi-Fi, Ethernet, networking etc.) and extras like memory card readers and built-in memory. Plus, don't forget to check the printer's dimensions.
- Print speeds: look at how many pages per minute each model can print in colour and in black and white. Check how fast the photocopier works and how long it takes the printer to wake up from standby.
- Print quality: use our reviews to check print quality for office documents, photos and the quality of photocopies. We'll soon be testing colour fidelity in our printer reviews too.
- Power use and noise: our test results show how much power the printer uses when working and on standby, as well as how noisy it is. We consider anything above 50 dB(A) to be noisy.
- Cost per page: this tells you how much the printer costs to run. Note that inkjet printers tend to be more expensive to run than laser models. Note, however, that the cost of printing per page isn't taken into account in a printer's overall score.
With these factors in mind, here's our pick of the best printers out there right now.
Editor's Choice 
This Canon multifunction inkjet printer is stylish, function-packed, quiet and energy efficient. Canon is great at making versatile all-in-one printers that churn out excellent-quality office documents and photos. Believe us, it's really quite rare for a printer to a good job of both! Note, however, that the cost of printing per page is quite high.
Two Alternatives 
Touchscreen, Connected Inkjet
This web-connected printer comes with loads of applications, accessible via the handy touchscreen. It's easy to use and has plenty of functions to help make your print jobs easier. It's economical to run too, with a low cost of printing per page. Print quality could be a little better though, which is why it missed out on a five star review.
Affordable Photo Printer
The Epson PX730WD prints good-quality photos but it doesn't do quite as good a job of office documents. Pick the higher-end PX830FWD if you want a bigger screen and a built-in fax function.
Best of the Rest 
Here are a few more of our favourites.
Original Design
Review: HP Photosmart Envy 100 e-All-in-One
There'll be room for this stylish, quiet and compact printer on any cramped desk. It has plenty of functions and is also available in white (Envy 110). We like its touchscreen and web-connected functions, but print speeds could be better.
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| Laskys.com | 179.99 | ||
| Comet | 179.99 | ||
| Amazon mark... | 189.99 | ||
| John lewis | 249.00 | ||
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Great Value
Review: Brother MFC-J825DW
This is a great-value printer that's well-designed and easy to use. It's fairly cheap to buy and economical to run with a low cost per page. It's not perfect though, and print quality in particular could still be better.
Black and White Laser
Review: Samsung ML-1670
This is a great little printer for anyone who's not bothered about colour printing, photocopying, scanner functions or fax machines. It's ultra-compact, fast, relatively economical and gives good-quality prints.
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Buyer's Guide: The Best Printers
