The best printers you can buy for the office http://ift.tt/2gebFO2

http://ift.tt/2gebFO2 The best printers you can buy for the office

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The Insider Pick:

Finding the best office printer requires a bit of thinking about how you plan to use it. Do you need speed? Color? Multiple functions? No paper jams? For a versatile printer that’ll suit any office, buy the Brother MFC-L5900DW Business Monochrome Laser Printer. It offers amazingly good text printing at high speeds with a rare paper jam.

Living in a paperless office sounds like a great idea. No more clutter, preserving trees, etcetera. However, when it comes to the reality of a paperless office, it sounds better as an idea delivered by an executive as part of a feel-good corporate plan than it actually works in reality.

Even if your office still needs to print every now and then, it’s a huge improvement over the days where people felt the need to print every important email they received. I think I still have a few of those stashed in a drawer somewhere.

Although people now are using less paper than they used to, there’s still a need for paper and printing, so we’ve rounded up the best office printers you can buy.

Key considerations for office printers

Before picking an office printer, think about how you want to use the device. Understanding your printing needs will help you make the right choice. Unfortunately, there’s no way to accurately predict just how many paper jams you’ll have to clear with any particular printer.

Ink and laser cost: This is one of the toughest aspects of a printer to calculate. As Consumer Reports says, ink costs are incredibly high, costing more than $6,000 per gallon when you consider what you pay for each tiny ink cartridge. Laser costs are cheaper in the long run. Some printer manufacturers will provide you with a cost per page to use the printer, but their measurements don’t always match up with how you’ll be using the printer, so your costs probably will be different. Another aspect of ink cost depends on the number of ink cartridges the machine uses. A color inkjet printer that’s made for photography may have up to eight cartridges, for example, which can be more expensive to replace over time than a simple black-only laser cartridge for a monochrome printer.
Paper handling: Different printers will be able to make use of different sizes of paper, as well as different thicknesses of paper. A printer may use a paper tray that can hold 100 or more sheets of paper, or it may use a paper feeder that can hold a couple dozen sheets. Some printers can even print on both sides of the page automatically.
Resolution: Printer manufacturers will list the resolution of the printer in dots per inch, or dpi, according to CNET. If the printer resolution is listed as 1200 x 1200 dpi, for example, the printer will lay down 1,200 dots horizontally and vertically per square inch of paper. As a comparison, that’s a better quality of resolution than what you’d find at 300 x 300 dpi. A higher resolution of printer works better with photographs, while a smaller resolution works fine for text documents.
Size: Bigger printers tend to have better print speed and larger paper capacities than smaller printers, so a large model may fit better in your office. However, many smaller versions are now available, as PC Mag notes. Or you may even want a small battery powered printer to allow for printing anywhere.
Speed: Printer manufacturers list a speed rating for their devices based on the number of pages per minute you can print. These ratings often will be different in black and white versus making color prints. Understand that these ratings are made under the best possible printing conditions, so your real-world results may be slower. Inkjet printers are faster than they used to be, but the top laser printers still can create the fastest black and white prints in the market.

Types of office printers

HP printer office

You will encounter a few different terms when looking for an office printer. Understanding what each term means will ensure you have better luck selecting the best model for your office.

Laser vs. inkjet: Laser printing is much more affordable than it was several years ago, so this is an option well worth considering. A laser printer is cheaper over the long run when you need to make a lot of text document prints, which makes it a great small business printer, according to Office Depot. Laser printers also are much faster than inkjet printers. Inkjet printers typically are better with graphics, photos, and odd-sized paper than laser printers, as inkjet prints look better on glossy and matte types of photo paper. Color laser printers have improved quite a bit from several years ago, both in terms of quality and cost, but they still carry a higher price tag than a comparable inkjet printer. An extremely busy office that needs speed, a lower cost per print, and high-quality text documents will appreciate the power of a laser printer. If your office needs photo printing for brochures that use odd-size paper, or if you need a lower upfront cost, look for an inkjet printer.
Printer-only vs. all-in-one: Some printers only offer print functions, while others offer multiple functions. These all-in-ones will work as copiers, scanners, and fax machines, in addition to their printing capabilities. For a smaller office that doesn’t want the expense or clutter of multiple machines, an all-in-one device makes a lot of sense. For a larger business that needs separate machines to handle the volume, a printer-only option will work better, as print jobs won’t tie up the machine when it’s needed for scanning or copying. However, printer-only devices are becoming harder to find, according to Digital Trends, because of the popularity of all-in-one units.
Specialty printers: Several types of specialty printers are in the market, but they may not fit your particular office need. According to Officeworks, some specialty printers include wide format printers for poster-sized prints, mobile printers for battery powered printing, and 3D printers to create objects. Another option is an external tank inkjet printer, which has large tanks of ink, meaning you don’t have to worry about constantly swapping out inkjet cartridges. Large tanks of ink will be cheaper over the long run versus small cartridges.
Connection options: Nearly all office printers are able to connect to a network, either through a Wi-Fi connection or an Ethernet cable connection. You also can print through a direct USB connection with a computer or tablet with the majority of printers. Some printers will even print over a Bluetooth or NFC connection with a mobile device.

With all that in mind, read on to see which of our top printer picks is best for your office’s needs.

Although the Brother MFC-L5900DW Business Monochrome Laser Printer is our top office printer pick, for various reasons laid out in the slides below, you should also consider the Canon PIXMA Pro-100 Color Professional Inkjet Printer, the Brother MFC-L8900CDW Business Color Laser All-in-One, the HP DesignJet T120 Large Format Color Printer, and the Epson WorkForce WF-100 Wireless Mobile Printer.

The best office printer overall

Brother

Why you’ll love it: A laser monochrome printer is perfect for any office, and the versatility and performance of the Brother Monochrome Laser Printer make it the best option.

When you want a great combination of fast performance and high-quality printing output in an office printer, the Brother Business Monochrome Laser Printer delivers. This Brother monochrome printer provides excellent all-around performance, making it a good value for a busy office.

The printer has a large 3.7-inch touchscreen LCD to control its many functions. It works great for printing, faxing, scanning, and copying documents.

One Amazon reviewer says the all-in-one device outperforms many other models in all phases of operation. The scanner works fast and includes a legal-sized surface glass, giving it plenty of flexibility.

In its review, PC Mag said the MFC-L5900DW excels at printing monochrome text documents with high quality at fast speeds at 41.2 pages per minute. That should be more than enough for most office spaces these days.

However, if you’re looking for a monochrome laser printer to handle graphics and photos, you may be disappointed with the output from the Brother L5900DW, according to the Live At PC review, as it loses some detail when translating color graphics and photos to monochrome. If you need color printing, check out our other picks in the following slides.

Pros: Excellent all-around performance level in a monochrome laser printer, reasonable price point, top-end monochrome text printing, fast printer, large touchscreen LCD to control the machine, offers multiple functions

Cons: Photos and graphics print quality is lacking when converting from color to monochrome

Buy the Brother MFC-L5900DW Business Monochrome Laser Printer on Amazon for $319.99 (originally $449.99)

The best photo printer for offices

Canon

Why you’ll love it: If your office needs a full-color printer to create amazing brochures, posters, and photos, the Canon PIXMA Pro-100 Color Professional Inkjet Printer is the best.

Some office settings need large printers that offer excellent color printing to print brochures and posters … and the occasional full-color hilarious meme to hang up in the break room. If you want to maintain the ability to also print text documents and other items with your high-quality photo printer, you’ll appreciate the versatile Canon PIXMA Pro-100 Color Professional Inkjet Printer.

This printer can handle print sizes of up to 13 by 19 inches, and it offers eight print tanks of different colors, which allows for realistic printing results in color photographs. The Photography Blog review says this printer also excels with black and white photos because it includes three types of gray and black inks to handle subtle changes in shades.

The Pro-100 works over a Wi-Fi network connection. Although you can print text documents with the PIXMA Pro-100, it isn’t as cost-effective as it would be to use other types of printers aimed at printing text documents, such as a laser printer.

In its review, Steve’s Digicams mentions the Canon Pro-100 printer has the ability to overcome its lack of scanning and copying functions by focusing on outstanding image quality for photographs and graphics. One Amazon buyer appreciates the color accuracy of the prints with this high-level photo printer.

Digital Trends says the Canon Pro-100 doesn’t run as fast as some other inkjet printers, but its ability to print huge photos or posters at the highest possible quality is a worthy trade-off.

A few Amazon customers have experienced problems with the longevity of the Canon PIXMA Pro-100, though.

Pros: Outstanding photo print quality, can print at sizes up to 13 by 19 inches, makes use of eight different ink cartridges for improved color accuracy, engineered to do a great job with black and white photos

Cons: Heavy printer, doesn’t offer multifunction device features like scanning

Buy the Canon PIXMA Pro-100 Color Professional Inkjet Printer on Amazon for $379.99 (originally $499.99)

The best color laser printer for offices

Brother

Why you’ll love it: If you want the speed of a laser printer, but you need color documents on occasion, too, the Brother Business Color Laser All-in-One is a great choice.

There was a time several years ago where color laser printing would not fit into the budgets of most office settings. But the technology has improved quite a bit, making color laser printing a more enticing option. For the best versatility in a color laser printer, we like the Brother Business Color Laser All-in-One.

The Brother printer can print at speeds as fast as 33 pages per minute, both in color and in black and white. An Amazon buyer is very impressed with the speed for both printing and scanning that this all-in-one device offers.

It works with Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity options, and the 5-inch color touchscreen display makes it easy to control the device.

According to PC Mag, the Brother all-in-one excels in creating black and white prints with text documents and monochrome graphics. But this office printer struggles a bit when creating color graphics and photos when compared to the best color inkjet photo printers. One Amazon reviewer agreed, saying the color accuracy of this laser printer was less than satisfactory on occasion.

Another Amazon buyer loves the scanning capability of this all-in-one unit, while also mentioning that the printer runs very quietly.

Pros: Good price point for color laser all-in-one device, excels with fast and high-quality black and white text printing, very fast scanning device, excellent versatility in a color laser device, quiet printer

Cons: Color photo and graphics print consistency could be better, very heavy machine

Buy the Brother MFC-L8900CDW Business Color Laser All-in-One on Amazon for $519.00 (originally $599.99)

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October 12, 2017 at 11:18AM