News

        We may earn affiliate commissions when you purchase from links on our site. Here’s how it works.
        I would like to know that I have been reviewing printers professionally for two decades. But if you follow these steps when evaluating potential models, you’ll find a great product at a great price that proves to be the perfect combination of features and performance.
        Many of today’s printers are multifunction devices (also known as multifunction devices) that include a flatbed scanner. This allows them to scan and copy. Additional features include a duplexer for duplex printing and copying, and an automatic document feeder (ADF) for copying and scanning multipage documents.
        However, these advanced features tend to increase the model’s initial price, so it’s important to only pay for a model that does what you need well. Once you’ve determined which features you need, take a look at our test results – just because a feature sounds good, it doesn’t work properly. Poor performance or poor image quality is very disappointing.
        Don’t get overwhelmed. Focus on the one or two features that matter most to you and make sure they work as promised. “
        The Tom’s Guide benchmarks help us identify the best printers on the market, and it’s a great resource to weed out the bad apples and guide you on the path to finding the perfect printer for your needs. In short, we let them run the test at their own pace so you don’t have to – see the Image Quality and Performance sections below for more details.
        Inkjet printers are notorious for their expensive ink, but refillable and ultra-high yield cartridges are making a difference by offering ink at a much lower price than traditional cartridges. Cartridge models tend to have higher upfront costs. But they also tend to pack a lot of ink in the box compared to cheaper models that only include low page yield starter cartridges. For example, the Epson EcoTank ET-5850 comes with about $200 worth of ink, enough to print 15,000 pages of text or 12,000 pages of color. So let’s do a quick math.
        Whether or not you should buy more expensive cartridge models depends on how much you print. Comparing recently tested high volume models with cheaper printers, it would likely take at least a thousand pages to justify the higher purchase price. How many pages do you print per month?
        Here’s an example: Epson EcoTank ET-4760 ($449 at time of review) versus Brother INKvestment MFC-J4535DW ($250). Epson (with refillable cartridges) costs only 0.3 cents (text) and 0.9 cents (color) per page. Brother’s price (with high-capacity cartridges) is also low: 1.1 cents (text) and 6 cents (color) per page.
       To offset the $199 Epson ET-4760 premium, you’ll need to print nearly 25,000 text pages or nearly 4,000 color pages.
        In comparison, the cost per page of most inkjet printers is much higher. The models we tested—even with high-capacity cartridges—averaged 6.2 cents (text) and 15.9 cents (color) per page. Even at the price per color page, you can print 2,000 pages on the Epson ET-4760 before paying off the $300 markup over the $150 model with standard cartridges.
        Today, print quality is much less than in years past. Most modern inkjet printers are capable of producing stunning documents with crisp text and eye-catching graphics on plain paper, as well as attractive photos on glossy paper. Long forgotten are the days when test printers printed ridiculously bad photos for ages.
        However, these small differences in color accuracy, saturation, and fine detail are enough to influence a purchase decision. That’s why we’ve put together an extensive series of printer tests in Tom’s Guide to take the guesswork out of choosing the right printer for you.
        For example, duplex printing is a trap for some models. Some models don’t print as well on both sides as they do on one side, with blurrier text and less detailed graphics. Sometimes this poor quality print only appeared on the back of our test prints and copies. Also, the biggest overall difference in image quality is seen in copies, not prints. So if you’re looking for office equipment, be sure to check out our copy quality ratings.
        Most printers are not very fast at all tasks. Many of them are good at some job, but few are fast at everything. You should focus on the type of printing you do most often and prioritize that performance. However, manufacturer speed ratings are unrealistic, which is why Tom’s Guide tests each printer using the same set of documents and photos, so they are directly comparable and produce real-world results.
        We don’t test them unnecessarily. But models from the same manufacturer often gave wildly different results in our tests. For example, the $250 Brother MFC-J4535DW prints a 4×6 inch high resolution photo in just 1 minute and 8 seconds. Meanwhile, the $130 Brother MFC-J1205w took three times as long, taking nearly four minutes to print the same image.
        Similarly, duplex printing is of great importance. The Canon Pixma TS702a ($130) printed two-sided text documents at a modest 3.1 pages per minute (ppm), while the Brother MFC-J4535DW ($250) was over three times faster at 10.7 ppm
        Modern multifunctional devices are very complex machines that perform many functions. There are many models, but do not overdo it. Focus on the one or two features that matter most to you and make sure they work as promised.
        If you manage your printer from a PC, you won’t have to pay for the touch screen or the many dedicated buttons on the control panel. However, if you prefer to work independently, make sure it doesn’t annoy you. I reviewed models with clunky touchscreens and unintuitive menus. Other models have physical copy buttons that are more convenient than menu navigation.
        And don’t forget about settings and software. For example, the HP Envy Inspire 7955e ($270) proved difficult to set up for wireless, and the bundled HP Smart software has some frustrating limitations.
        Not all software packages and mobile apps are the same. One feature that I found to be substandard was the copy feature, which I first tested on the HP Smart app for iOS, but it actually just takes a photo and then prints the result. The Canon iOS Print app offers the same functionality with acceptable results. But if you’re buying a single-function printer without a scanning platform, it’s better than nothing.
        The last potential pitfall is scanning software. I have found that the scanning software that comes with some Brother and Epson models gives poor results. The problem is related to the auto-crop feature: some forgery software crops the scanned image to a small part of the image. This requires you to manually select the document size. If your document is an unusual size, you will need to select a size larger than the document size and manually crop the scanned image.
        Finding an affordable and reliable printer is easier than you think. In Tom’s Guide we analyze strengths and weaknesses, identify weaknesses and highlight strengths. I spent hours running the printer, doing all the tasks that make office work and photo printing a pleasure.
        We’ve also detailed ink pricing so you don’t have to wade through costly tutorials. But be sure to measure the print volume. If you’re only printing a small amount, spending a lot of money on a very low cost per page probably won’t pay off in the long run.
        Eric Butterfield is a freelance writer and musician based in California. His work has been featured in PC World Magazine, CNET, Taproot and Alter Action and of course Tom’s Guide and his music has been featured in over 260 TV episodes on major TV channels including NBC, Hulu, BBC America and more. You can find it on the Spotify website.
        Tom’s Guide is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate website.