Leading Printer Selection Guide: Expert Picks ‘S Must-Have Devices

If you’ve been searching for a new printer to tackle personal- or business-printing needs, you know it can be tough to find the right one. Whether you need to print high-quality photos, lengthy black-and-white documents, or even shipping labels for your business, we’ll help you figure out how to narrow down the search.

HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e

Best Printer Overall
$210 at Amazon

• 
  
  Brother

Brother HL-L2405W Laser Printer

Best Budget Printer
$120 at Amazon

• 
  
  Epson

Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8500

Best Home Office Printer
See at Best Buy

• 
  
  Canon

Canon Pixma TR150

Best Portable Printer
$199 at Amazon

• 
  
  HP

HP Color LaserJet Pro M283fdw

Best Printer for Home Offices
$549 at Amazon

• See More

• 
  
  Rollo

Rollo USB Shipping Label Thermal Printer

Best Printer for Shipping Labels
$200 at Amazon

What to Look For in a Printer

With so many printers to choose from, it can be difficult to narrow your search. Luckily, there are a few key things to consider to help you find the best printer. The most important question to ask yourself is: What do I need my printer to do?

Some printers are only capable of printing, while others are called all-in-one printers because they can scan, copy, and sometimes fax in addition to printing. Furthermore, some printers can only print in black-and-white, which is perfect for those who plan to print simple text documents, while others can print in color or even on special photo paper.

Once you have your basic printer needs nailed down, you can start comparing the two main types of printers—laser and inkjet. Laser printers have a more expensive entry cost but a lower Cost Per Page (CPP) with toner cartridges. Conversely, inkjet printers have a cheaper initial cost, but replacing ink cartridges results in a higher CPP than laser printers. Inkjet printers are the most common choice for home use, while laser printers are more common for business use.

To determine CPP for yourself while printer shopping, find the cost of a replacement cartridge for the printer you’re looking at and divide it by the number of estimated pages it’ll yield. The number of pages you’ll get will vary based on what you’re printing, but it’s a good gauge for that printer’s average CPP.

You should also consider which devices you want to print from. If you want to print wirelessly from a laptop or your smartphone, you’ll need to ensure your printer has Wi-Fi support. Without Wi-Fi, a printer can connect to devices via USB or Ethernet, so it’s not an essential feature, but it’s nice to have.

Finally, if you need to print a lot of pages, it’s worth looking at a printer’s capacity and print speed specs. For personal use, the average print speed and capacity of most printers is plenty. But if you frequently need to print 200 page documents or 100 shipping labels at the beginning of the day, a fast printer with a large paper capacity can make all the difference. Print speed is represented as Page Per Minute (PPM), and most printer manufacturers will list this as a main spec in the listing’s description.

If you don’t want to look at many printers to find the perfect one, don’t worry! We’ve done the research and recommended our best printer picks below.

How-To Geek’s product recommendations come from the same team of experts that have helped people fix their gadgets over one billion times. We only recommend the best products based on our research and expertise. We never accept payment to endorse or review a product. Read More »

Best Printer Overall: HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e All-in-One Printer

HP

The HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e is an all-in-one choice at a relatively affordable price, making it the best printer overall for most people.

This is an inkjet printer, which means its cost of maintenance will be slightly higher than that of a laser printer. But this cost is cut greatly by HP’s Instant Ink subscription , which starts as low as $1.49/month. However, it’s worth noting that HP disables Instant Ink cartridges when you stop subscribing, even if there’s still ink to be used, so keep this in mind when signing up.

HP’s OfficeJet Pro 9125e can print, copy, scan, and fax documents. It’s equipped with a 35-sheet auto document feeder, a 250-sheet input tray, support for wireless printing from any device, an Ethernet port, USB 2.0, and a 2.7-inch color touchscreen display that makes it easy to customize and control printing tasks.

The print quality is great, whether you’re printing in black-and-white or color. You can expect print speeds up to 22 pages per minute (ppm) when printing in black-and-white, and up to 18 ppm when printing in color.

Best Printer Overall

HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e

$210 $290 Save $80

With its all-in-one capabilities, the HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e is the best printer for most people. It can print in color and black and white, copy, scan, and fax.

$210 at Amazon See at Best Buy See at HP

Best Budget Printer: Brother HL-L2405W Laser Printer

Brother

If you’re on a tight budget, the Brother HL-L2405W is a great pick. Its upfront cost is slightly higher than that of a budget inkjet printer, but over time, you’ll get more bang for your buck with this laser printer.

Replacement toner for this printer costs around $52, and one toner cartridge can print up to 1,200 pages, which results in a cost per page of just under $0.05/page. Plus, if you find you don’t need to print very often, toner cartridges will last you longer because they don’t dry up like ink cartridges do.

Brother’s compact HL-L2405W printer features a 250-sheet paper tray, wireless printing, mobile printing support via the Brother Mobile Connect app, and fast print speeds of up to 30 ppm. However, this printer can only produce black-and-white documents, and it’s not capable of copying, scanning, or faxing.

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Best Budget Printer

Brother HL-L2405W Laser Printer

The HL-L2405W printer from Brother is a fantastic pick for anyone looking to save some money. It can only print in black and white and isn’t too fancy, but it’ll get the job done quickly and effectively.

$120 at Amazon See at Best Buy See at Brother

Best Photo Printer: Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8500

Epson

Epson’s EcoTank Photo ET-8500 is expensive, but it’s the best photo printer you can buy. It may not have the fastest print speeds—12 ppm for color printing, 16 ppm for black-and-white printing, and 4 ppm for 4- by 6-inch photo printing—but it’ll print crisp, lab-quality photos every time.

Instead of traditional ink cartridges, the EcoTank Photo ET-8500 uses replacement ink bottles that’ll last longer and be more cost-effective over time. Epson estimates that 1 set of 6 replacement bottles is equal to about 100 ink cartridges and that you could save up to 80% by buying ink bottles in lieu of ink cartridges.

In addition to printing documents and photos, the EcoTank Photo ET-8500 can scan, copy, and print on various media, like CDs/DVDs and cardstock. It supports wireless printing, mobile printing, and management via the Epson Smart Panel app, and automatic two-sided printing, and comes equipped with a large 4.3-inch color touchscreen, a slot for an SD card, and an Ethernet port.

If you’re looking for a more budget-friendly photo printer, try Epson’s EcoTank ET-2400 all-in-one printer. It features the same ink bottles that’ll produce vibrantly colored graphics and many of the same features but at a much more affordable price.

Best Home Office Printer

Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8500

If you need to print photos regularly, either for your job or for your family scrapbook, Epson’s EcoTank Photo ET-8500 is a relatively affordable, high-quality choice.

See at Best Buy See at Epson

Best Portable Printer: Canon Pixma TR150

Canon

If you’re frequently traveling to new locations or even just different rooms in your home, consider investing in a portable printer, like the Canon Pixma TR150 .

This is a print-only device, so you cannot scan documents with it—which is to be expected given the TR150’s compact size. When folded, the Pixma TR150 measures 12.7x7.3x2.6 inches, small enough to fit snugly inside a backpack or a suitcase. And yet, despite its small size, the rear paper tray can hold 50 sheets at once.

The Canon printer features simple buttons and a tiny OLED display, which offers plenty of management for a device that only supports printing. You can print documents or photos in black-and-white or in color, and replacement ink cartridges will cost you about $48.

However, don’t expect printing to be incredibly fast. For black-and-white printing, this printer can only churn out 9 ppm. When printing in color, it’s even slower at 5.5 ppm. This isn’t surprising given its small size, but if you need something faster, you’ll need to look elsewhere.

As you’d expect, this portable printer supports seamless wireless printing via the Canon Print app . If you want the Pixma TR150 to be even more portable, you can invest an extra $99 for a battery pack to use the printer away from an outlet.

Best Portable Printer

Canon Pixma TR150

$199 $250 Save $51

The Canon Pixma TR150 is an incredibly compact printer that’s easy to cart around in your backpack or suitcase. And despite its small form factor, it can hold up to 50 sheets of paper in the rear tray and it prints quickly and effectively.

$199 at Amazon See at Canon See at Best Buy

Best Printer for Home Offices: HP Color LaserJet Pro M283fdw

HP

Whether you’re running a small business out of your home or you work remotely, a solid home office printer is an essential tool. HP’s Color LaserJet Pro M283fdw is our top recommendation because of its all-in-one capability, extra features, and ease of use.

This is a laser printer, which means it uses toner cartridges instead of ink cartridges. Toner cartridges are more expensive upfront, but cheaper in the long run, and generally offer sharper print results that are less prone to smudging. A black toner cartridge replacement for this printer will run you $110, but last for up to 3,150 pages, which makes its cost per page less than $0.04.

The Color LaserJet Pro M283fdw can print in both color and black-and-white, scan, copy, fax, and automatically print double-sided documents. It’s equipped with a 250-sheet input tray, a 50-sheet auto document feeder on top for copying and scanning, and a 2.7-inch color touchscreen to make managing tasks easy.

This printer’s 22-ppm printing speed might not be the fastest around, but it’s certainly not the slowest. Plus, with wireless support and the HP Smart app, you can print documents and manage the printer directly from your phone, and that’s always a bonus.

Best Printer for Home Offices

HP Color LaserJet Pro M283fdw

HP’s Color LaserJet Pro M283fdw printer does everything you’d need a home office printer to do. It can automatically print double-sided, print in both color and black and white, and handle your typical copy, scan, and fax actions as well.

$549 at Amazon See at Best Buy

Best Printer for Shipping Labels: Rollo USB Shipping Label Thermal Printer

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Rollo

Rollo makes some of the best printers for shipping labels, and this USB Thermal Printer is one of the brand’s most popular picks.

This Rollo printer is compatible with Windows and Mac operating systems, and there’s a convenient Rollo mobile app that you can use to directly manage your orders and print labels. Furthermore, it’s compatible with all major shipping platforms and marketplaces, including FedEx, UPS, USPS, ShipStation, Amazon, Shopify, and eBay.

Plus, it prints labels with direct thermal technology, so you won’t need to replenish ink or toner. One thermal printer head can print up to 650,000 labels in its lifetime, which will last even booming small businesses a while.

With Rollo’s USB Thermal Printer, you can print any shipping label between 1.57 and 4.1 inches wide. This includes the classic 4- by 6-inch shipping label, as well as smaller address labels or circular stickers with your logo on them. The printer automatically detects gaps between labels as well, so you’ll get an even label every time. You can print one 4-by-6-inch label every second, or about 60 labels every minute.

If you’re looking for something cheaper for a business that’s just starting out, consider this thermal printer from POLONO instead. Its thermal printer head can only print up to 160,000 standard labels, significantly less than Rollo’s thermal printer, but its affordable upfront cost might be worth more to burgeoning businesses.

Best Printer for Shipping Labels

Rollo USB Shipping Label Thermal Printer

If you frequently need to ship products out for your business, look no further than this USB Thermal Printer from Rollo for all your shipping label needs. This high-quality shipping label printer acts quickly, popping out one 4x6 sticky label every second, if needed.

$200 at Amazon See at Walmart See at Rollo

FAQ

How do I connect a printer to Wi-Fi?

Luckily, when you buy a new printer, it’ll include helpful instructions on how to connect it to Wi-Fi. But if you’ve lost those instructions, head to your computer’s settings and find the devices menu. ‘Printers’ should be an available option, and from there, follow the on-screen instructions to connect it to Wi-Fi. Alternatively, search your printer’s full name along with “connect to Wi-Fi.”

How do I find my printer’s IP address?

You can typically find your printer’s IP address from your printer itself, your router, or a connected computer’s OS. Here’s how to find your printer’s IP address on Windows 10 . The process is quite similar for Windows 11, but finding your printer’s IP address on macOS is slightly different.

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Can I print documents from an Android phone?

As long as your printer supports wireless printing, absolutely! Check out our guide on how to print from an Android phone to see the process.

Can I print documents from an iPhone?

If your printer supports wireless printing, you can definitely print documents from an iPhone. Check out our guide on how to print from an iPhone or iPad to see how it works.

How do I print double-sided pages?

Often, printers default to printing double-sided when the feature is supported. But if you’re having trouble printing double-sided, here’s how to print double-sided in Windows 11 , Microsoft Word , or on a Mac .