Which laser printer to buy

Its print quality is merely adequate right out of the box, but you can improve that with a simple tweak to the toner density setting. This multifunction printer adds a flatbed scanner and an automatic document feeder to the HL-LDW, significantly upping its home-office utility.

If you like the sound of our budget pick but want the ability to scan and copy documents and photos too, the Brother MFC-LDW should fit the bill. Its print quality is slightly better out of the box, and you get the same operating costs, the same print speed, and the same connectivity options as you do with the HL-LDW.

Like our top pick, it requires you to use official HP toner. It prints and scans more quickly and more reliably than inkjet alternatives, produces sharper results, and includes robust admin and security settings designed for situations that may involve sensitive data. All-in-one color lasers like the Mfdw cost more and are more expensive to operate than inkjet printers with comparable features , but they deliver high-quality color prints, copies, and scans at a quicker pace than cheaper models.

And for this particular update, we put in about 25 hours of research and testing, looking at 15 models and ultimately testing three. We think laser printers are best for people who need to print a lot, such as small-business owners. To help you decide if a laser printer is right for you, take a look at this brief list of things laser printers tend to do better than inkjets:. Here are a few reasons why you might want to stick to an inkjet:.

If you think an inkjet would be a better choice for you than a laser, check out our recommendations for the best inkjet printers. Laser printers come in a few distinct varieties. For this guide, we looked for the best options in each of these categories. In the past, we considered color laser printers overkill for home use due to the high cost of color toner and the higher up-front cost of the machines themselves.

Although a print-only machine is sufficient for most people, plenty of others—particularly small- and home-business owners—also want a copier and scanner. Finally, we looked for a high-end color laser all-in-one for people with more serious small-office or home-office needs. We considered setup a success when we were able to print a two-sided document from each platform over Wi-Fi, turn the machine off and back on, and do it again. Because simply getting a job to print can be frustrating, we also tested other ways to interact wirelessly with these machines.

Since Google Cloud Print is still important for Chromebook owners, we made sure each printer worked with that. We also checked out other mobile printing standards and proprietary systems, like Mopria and HP ePrint, where available. We printed a few high-resolution photos, too, because more data is always better, and seeing how each printer handles material that pushes against the limits of its capabilities can be instructive. Experimenting with quality settings also helped us get familiar with the print menus.

We spent time in the standard print box as well as in the more arcane Web-based control panels that most printers employ for more technical adjustments. To test printing speed, we ran off four copies of the four-page ISO document in both duplex two-sided and simplex one-sided modes. We timed the whole process, from our hitting the print button to the last sheet coming out of the feeder, so it included any warm-up time required from a cold start. We also tried duplex printing at the highest quality setting for each printer.

These tests gave us a feel not only for how fast a printer would be able to spit out a page book report, but also whether the differences between the models were substantial enough to make a difference in day-to-day life. For the multifunction printers, we added speed tests for copying and scanning large documents, again considering both duplex and simplex speed and checking to see whether there was a difference between scanning color and monochrome content.

We also tested the flatbed scan quality of each multifunction printer using a glossy test photo printed on our inkjet all-in-one pick , the HP OfficeJet Pro Finally, we stress-tested all of the paper-feeding parts of each printer, including not just the main paper tray but also the bypass tray and document feeder, if the printer had them. We also fed the multifunction printers a crumpled piece of paper to see if their ADFs could handle the unexpected.

Print quality is excellent across the board, and all of the features you might expect from a high-end printer are here, including auto-duplexing, plenty of networking options, support for common mobile printing standards, and a bypass slot for odd-size media.

Setting up the Mdw is painless, despite a fairly cryptic installation guide that relies primarily on pictures instead of words. Once the Mdw is connected to your network, you can grab the appropriate drivers and software for your Mac or Windows PC by heading to That gives you the HP Easy Start installer, which walks you through getting the printer connected, registered, and working with your computer.

This process should take only a few minutes, and connecting via a smartphone or tablet is even quicker: You can download the HP Smart app Android or iOS and add the printer with just a couple of taps.

Operating costs for the Mdw are low. In addition, these estimates may not line up with the reality of how you print. The slot is motorized, so when you slide an envelope or label sheet into the slot, rollers grab it and suck it into the guts of the printer, where it sits until you send a print job.

When we crammed the main paper tray with as many as 50 extra sheets, a warning popped up on the control panel saying the tray was overstuffed, and the machine refused to print. In this situation, other printers would try, fail, and jam. When we put exactly pages in, it printed normally; same with just a single sheet in the tray.

In our tests, at default settings, text documents from the Mdw looked crisp, with dark black text that was readable down to 2 points. Results were also very good when we printed business-style graphics and household miscellany like comics, coloring book pages, and crosswords. The prints were a touch washed out, but we got accurate colors, lots of detail, and relatively low noise. HP claims the Mdw can print as fast as 22 pages per minute in black and white.

In our testing, it maxed out around 17 pages per minute when printing a PDF consisting of mixed text and graphics. Duplexing dropped the speed further, to 11 pages per minute. Again, that was roughly equal to the rate we saw from the closest competition. When printing via Wi-Fi, it took around 24 seconds from our pressing the print button to the first sheet coming out of the feeder. Most buyers should be prepared to shell out for replacement toner within the first year or so, but the replacement point could come a lot sooner for people using their printer in a home office.

Color laser printers are bigger and heavier than their monochrome counterparts because they use four toner cartridges rather than just one. In October , HP released a firmware update version that prevents the printer from working with non-HP toner cartridges. If your printer was set to automatically update, this change happened in the background and may have broken compatibility with third-party toner. HP vaguely acknowledged the issue in a statement the next month , and has published a guide on how to turn off automatic updates.

You may be able to revert to older firmware , but do so at your own risk. Read All Laser Printers Reviews. Subscribe for Special Offers. Receive all our latest discounts. Thank you! Their high service levels means they are my go to company. Each time I have dealt with Printerland it is an accurate and prompt service. This is the reason we return to them time and again. Great service thank you! I couldn't find the printer I wanted anywhere else.

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Do not think twice about using their service. Excellent company. I have bought my last three laser printers from Printerland. They have good stock, a clear website, good prices and reliable delivery. Excellent service again. I prefer to speak to a person instead of ordering online and I always get someone who is knowledgeable and professional.

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Price applicable to business customers and those eligible to recover VAT. The printing speed for color documents is incredibly fast, and it reproduces colors with great accuracy.

The touchscreen display is large and responsive, with an impressive array of scanning features, including a duplex-scanning automatic document feeder, a flatbed with lid hinges that raise to accommodate items like books, and built-in fax. Connectivity options are superb, including Wi-Fi and Ethernet, and the printer can print directly from USB flash drives. Unfortunately, it produces photos with only passable quality, although it's good for a laser printer.

Also, the printing speed for black text documents is unremarkable, and replacing all three color cartridges at a time can be expensive. The flatbed scanner's resolution isn't as high as other printers, but fortunately, it should be fine for office use.

All in all, this is an outstanding choice if you need a laser printer for a small or home office. Its black page yield isn't as high, and it has a marginally worse cost-per-print than the Canon imageCLASS MFCdw , but its flatbed scanner has a better color depth and scan resolution. This is great if you need to digitize highly detailed photos and don't want to lose out on any details while preserving colors accurately.

Since it also prints black text documents faster, you don't need to wait for long reports to print. Unfortunately, it produces much worse and grainy photos, with a lot of banding present. If you want a better page yield and cost-per-print for black text documents, go with the Canon. If you need a flatbed scanner with a higher scan resolution and color depth, the HP is an outstanding choice. See our review.

It yields an incredible number of pages at an outstanding cost-per-print, which helps keeps you within budget in the long run. The cartridge has a built-in drum unit, so you don't have to worry about replacing it separately. It gets the first page out very quickly and prints at an amazing speed, which is great for all types of documents if you need them fast.

The scanning features are impressive, including a flatbed scanner, automatic document feeder, and built-in fax. It feels remarkably well built and solid, and the touchscreen display is large and has easy-to-navigate menus.

The connectivity options are great, including Wi-Fi and an Ethernet port, and it can print directly from USB flash drives. Unfortunately, like all monochrome laser printers, it prints awful-looking photos. Additionally, the flatbed scan resolution maxes out at DPI, which is fine for documents, but won't capture small details like fine print and photos. Also, you need to hard-wire your PC to the printer via USB if you want to take advantage of all the scanning features.

That said, it's a superb printer for monochrome printing, and it's one of the best office printers we've tested. It's an all-in-one monochrome model with a high-resolution flatbed scanner, and the scanner lid's hinges can raise a bit to scan thicker items.

The build quality is excellent, as it's solid-feeling plastic, and its design lets you easily access paper jams and the toner cartridge. It yields a large number of pages, so you shouldn't need to replace the cartridge often; this helps keep the cost-per-print incredibly low. While the warm-up time to print out the first page is a bit long, the rest of the pages come out remarkably quickly.

Unfortunately, it doesn't have an automatic document feeder, so scanning long, multi-page documents can take a while since you need to place each sheet on the flatbed scanner yourself. Also, the drum unit is separate from the toner cartridge, so you need to replace it separately, which adds a cost in the long term. However, this results in a lower toner cartridge price, which some people may prefer.

All in all, this is an excellent printer for black and white printing, especially if you're on a budget. While it doesn't have a scanner like the Brother HL-LDW , it's cheaper upfront and yields more pages, giving it a cheaper cost-per-print. It has an exceptionally fast printing speed, and it has an Ethernet port if you prefer to plug the printer directly into your router.