How to choose a printer 2024

Ever since Gutenberg built the first printing press in 1440, we have used some kind of printing device to put our words, images and thoughts on paper. Things have changed since then and become a lot more user-friendly, but choosing the right printer for your needs can be quite baffling. After all, there are plenty of affordable monochrome options, like the Brother HL-2460DWand excesses like the Brother MFC-L3780CDWwhich can quickly display pages in color. If you don’t want to think about choosing a printer and only need one metric, choose the HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e. But if you want to consider other options, there are a few things to keep in mind before you buy.

As a seasoned tech expert, I’ve tested a slew of printers, including the best home printersthe best laser printers and more. Here’s how to choose a printer.

---

How to Choose a Printer: Print Types

Two types to consider

There are two leading printer technologies on the market today: laser printers and inkjets. It is important to discuss the pros and cons of each before making a choice.

Laser printers

Laser printers, as the name suggests, use a laser to zap the toner so it sticks to the paper, then a heated roller melts it into place. Mono lasers use black toner, while color lasers use black, cyan, magenta, and yellow toner, mixing small dots of these four primary colors to produce colors. The advantage of laser printers is speed and flexibility: they can usually print around 30 pages per minute (ppm), so they can produce large documents in a short time. My personal top recommendation, the Canon Color ImageClass MF656CDWcan print up to 21 ppm, which is quite close to normal speed. The image quality of documents is also often better: the toner produces sharp text with smooth, clean areas of solid colors.

The disadvantage is that printing costs are usually higher than with inkjet printers, especially for color prints. The most important printing cost is toner: the average cost of a black-and-white laser page is about 9 to 12 cents, while color laser prints cost 20 to 30 cents per page because they use four times as much toner. They sometimes have difficulty displaying the subtle colors of photos and images. Laser printers usually only work on printer paper. They cannot print on glossy or photo paper because the toner does not stick and thicker paper cannot be bent around the heated drum that fuses the toner to the paper.

Inkjet printers

Inkjets take advantage of a physics quirk: put a liquid, such as ink, in a thin tube and heat it for a moment, and the liquid will jet out of the end in a jet. If you do it right, a small blob of ink will shoot out like a bullet from a gun. Repeat this with multiple colors of ink and hundreds of tiny tubes, and you have an inkjet printer that shoots out ink droplets 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 lasers: although the ink itself is expensive, each drop is only a small amount, so a little goes a long way. And if your document doesn’t contain much black or color (such as a page of text, most of which is white space), use only as much ink as necessary. It is also more flexible than lasers because an inkjet can print on different types of paper, such as glossy photo paper, textured paper or card stock. A good inkjet, like my pick for the best home printer overall, the HP OfficeJet Pro 9125ecan print text documents, photos that look like those from an old-fashioned photo lab or personalized Christmas cards.

The disadvantage is speed. Because each dot must eject from the tube as the print head moves across the page, printing takes time. Modern printers speed this up by using hundreds of tubes to shoot ink at once, but that still takes longer than a laser zap, so inkjet printers can typically only process one or two pages per minute. If you often print multi-page documents or frequently print the same page, you will need to wait until printing is complete.

---

How to choose a printer for your home: usage

Decide how you want to use it

Choosing a printer for your home office comes down to five critical questions. Consider 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 per week?
• Are the documents you print often longer than 10 pages?
• Do you want to print more than 100 pages per month?
• Can you get by without printing family photos?
• Can you do without color in your prints?

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

Usually no: buy an inkjet printer

You need a printer that can print photos, color documents and other nice stationery, which an inkjet can process quickly and easily, printing on paper, glossy photo paper, cards and other materials. Printers such as the HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e aren’t the fastest printers, but they can handle longer documents if you don’t mind waiting occasionally for the print to finish.

A mix of yes and no: buy a color laser printer

If you want to print documents quickly, but some documents require color, a color laser offers the best balance between speed and flexibility. However, this comes at a price: they are more expensive to purchase and more expensive to use, because they use more toner to create the colors. Remember that you can still print only in black and white even if the original is in color to save money. Doing this will only use the black toner, saving the more expensive color for when you need it. A good budget-friendly monochrome laser printer is the Brother HL-L2460DWbut if you want to splurge, the Brother MFC-L3780CDW is a good choice.

Usually yes: buy a mono laser

You mainly need to print text documents that sometimes consist of many pages. You need a printer that can print these pages quickly and on demand, without waiting. A black and white laser can handle this and print multiple copies of pages or longer documents without you having to wait. A good budget-friendly monochrome laser printer is the Brother HL-L2460DWbut if you need one that prints in high volumes, check out the HP LaserJet Tank MFP 2604SDWa monochrome laser printer that prints up to 23 ppm.

---

How do you choose a printer: all-in-one or one for everything?

Comes down to your needs

Many of the printers 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, meaning the price difference between the multifunction and print-only models is no longer significant. There are plenty of print-only, budget-friendly models available, such as the Brother HL-2460DW that or the Canon ImageClass LBP6030wif you are looking for a bargain.

Still, I recommend spending more on a model like the HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e because of the flexibility of an all-in-one, because you’ll likely find uses for it that you didn’t think of before you had one. If you prefer a laser printer, check out the Brother MFC-L3780CDWa premium laser printer that can do almost everything for your needs, including scanning and faxing.

---

How to choose a printer: budget

Check your price

Then think about how much you want to spend. Want a budget choice under $200? Are you comfortable paying more for a faster, more flexible printer up to $400? If expenses aren’t an issue, just buy the Brother MFC-L3780CDWan all-in-one laser printer that delivers quality prints, albeit at a higher price. But then again, you can get a solid printer with the Canon ImageClass LBP6030wthat’s less than $150. And if you want to spend around $200, check out the HP OfficeJet Pro 9125ewhich is again 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 printerthe best all in one printer And the best laser printer to help you choose.

---

Why trust Forbes vetted

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

• This article was written by Richard Baguley, who has been assessing and testing technology since 1993. He has written thousands of reviews, including choosing the best printers for students, in front of the house And the best all-in-one printers.
• He broke down too HP vs Brother Printers to help readers choose between the brands.
• This article was edited by Rebekah Isaacsour tech editor who oversees all consumer technology and electronics coverage. She regularly visits trade shows to see the latest products on the market, including printers.
• We update our articles regularly 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.