Color Laser All in One Printer Reviews 2018

The research

• Why you should trust us
• Who should become this
• How we picked
• How we tested
• Our option: HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw
• Flaws simply not dealbreakers
• Budget pick: Blood brother HL-L2350DW
• Besides bang-up: Brother MFC-L2750DW
• Upgrade pick: HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw
• The competition
• Footnotes

Why you should trust us

Wirecutter has covered printers for vii years, and I've written about them since 2016. My editors and I take kept an eye on feedback from comment threads, electronic mail, and Twitter to better understand our readers' existent-world needs. We've considered reviews from other editorial sources, including CNET, Reckoner Shopper, and PCMag. We've scanned thousands of client reviews to pick out recurring issues with specific models. And we've lived with many printers as long-term test units, learning how they can fail and disappoint in the long run.

For this guide to laser printers, we've considered 157 different printers and tested nineteen of them since 2011. And for this particular update, we put in about 25 hours of research and testing, looking at 15 models and ultimately testing three.

Who should get this

We call back light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation printers are best for people who demand to print a lot, such as small-business concern owners. They're also corking for people who don't print often but desire a machine that will piece of work without complaint on the rare occasions when they do need to print.

To aid you decide if a light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation printer is right for you, take a await at this cursory list of things laser printers tend to practise ameliorate than inkjets:

• Laser printers are less frustrating to maintain. Laser toner cartridges don't take to exist replaced as oftentimes as ink tanks, and they won't clog—equally inkjet print heads sometimes do—if you go weeks or months betwixt print jobs.
• They're faster. If you have a dwelling house office or run a home business, yous may exist more conscious of printer speed than those who don't. Our laser picks can pump out equally many every bit 27 pages per minute; the fastest inkjets we've tested maxed out at 13 pages per infinitesimal.
• They print sharper text and graphics. The all-time inkjets do a good job, but even a mediocre laser printer will do a ameliorate chore delivering well-baked results, especially when it comes to fine lines and small-scale font sizes.
• They may be more economical to run in the long term. Some inkjets have a lower cost per folio than home laser printers, merely they besides waste more ink on cleaning. That waste isn't reflected in the estimates manufacturers provide for how many pages you lot tin exit of a tank. Laser printers don't waste toner in the same mode, and because they don't gunk up like inkjets, they may last longer before needing to exist replaced.
• Toner doesn't smear and run when information technology gets wet. If you need prints that tin get wet without becoming unreadable, you need a laser printer.

But light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation printers aren't for anybody because they're non smashing at everything. Here are a few reasons why you might want to stick to an inkjet:

• Inkjets cost less to showtime with. A basic inkjet can cost as fiddling equally $40, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a laser at that price.
• Their ink tanks are cheaper to supersede. Toner cartridges may final longer, but replacing an entire set up of them costs you several hundred dollars. Replacing smaller, less expensive ink tanks more often can be easier on your upkeep, even if it doesn't actually salve yous money in the long run.
• They can impress glossy photos. Laser printers can print a passable photo on apparently paper—good enough for a business organization presentation or volume written report—merely they tin can't impress on glossy or matte photo paper. If you want frame-worthy photos, an inkjet is your simply choice.
• They tin print on other stuff likewise paper. CDs, metal, and other unusual media are fair game, which makes inkjets much more than versatile for crafty types.

How we picked

Laser printers come in a few distinct varieties. For this guide, nosotros looked for the best options in each of these categories.

Color print-only

In the by, nosotros considered color laser printers overkill for dwelling use due to the high cost of color toner and the higher up-front cost of the machines themselves. Withal, prices take gradually dropped into a more than acceptable range (between $200 and $300), and we think these printers at present provide the all-time all-around value for people who want a problem-gratis printing experience. They're still expensive compared with inkjets and monochrome lasers—specially when it comes time to replenish toner—but the convenience and flexibility of a colour laser car can't be overstated. Here's what we looked for:

• Ease of setup and utilize: Outset and foremost, a printer has to be reasonably easy to become up and running, and information technology shouldn't drive y'all crazy when you really need to impress.
• Reasonable up-front end toll: In general, we recollect people shouldn't pay more than $300 for a color, print-simply machine for employ in the abode. We researched more expensive models, but ultimately all such printers we tested for this guide savage under that price.
• Low cost of operation: Although a low up-front toll is bonny, it's a low per-impress price that'll brand the divergence over the long haul. We looked for printers capable of cranking out a black-and-white page for 3¢ or less, using the virtually cost-effective toner. Colour pages are always more expensive, but we tried to keep the cost nether 15¢ per color page.
• Automated ii-sided printing: Two-sided (duplex) printing not only reduces paper waste but likewise saves yous money. We considered only those printers that are capable of duplex printing without human intervention, pregnant models that can print on ane side, suck the paper dorsum in, and print on the other side.
• Wi-Fi and mobile printing: We ruled out whatsoever printers that don't offer Wi-Fi connectivity, since nosotros call back that'due south how nearly people print at home these days. We too made sure that the printers we tested allow for printing via smartphones and tablets.
• High print quality: Laser printers are known for cranking out precipitous results, especially on text and uncomplicated graphics. Still, we tested each i to see how abrupt and readable the text looked at tiny font sizes, how shine and vibrant flowcharts and graphs came out, and whether photos were at least usable.
• Speedy printing: Most modernistic printers are plenty fast enough for home utilise, but since faster is always amend (every bit long every bit it doesn't crave a compromise in quality), we prioritized those models with higher print speeds.
• Compact, loftier-quality design: Toner cartridges are big, so laser printers are bigger than comparable inkjet machines, but all else beingness equal, nosotros preferred printers with a smaller footprint, lighter weight, and more solid-feeling materials.
• Decent owner reviews: Information technology'due south rare to find a printer with great owner reviews; only getting to iv stars out of five is a struggle. But nosotros reviewed the feedback from the customers of major retailers like Amazon, Best Purchase, and Role Depot for each auto we considered to confirm that there weren't any recurring issues—paper jams, Wi-Fi bug, fused toner rollers, and the similar—that would disqualify them.

Monochrome print-simply

Considering they're fundamentally similar machines, for monochrome laser printers we applied most of the aforementioned criteria we used to find our colour laser choice but reduced the price ceiling to $200 because mono light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation printers tend to be much less expensive. Later researching the category, nosotros considered machines such every bit the HP LaserJet Pro M118dw and HP LaserJet Pro M203dw. But based on possessor reviews and professional reviews, plus a closer examination of specs and pricing, we decided they weren't likely to challenge the Brother HL-L2350DW—our longstanding budget pick—as the best pick for people with occasional printing needs.

Monochrome multifunction

Although a print-only machine is sufficient for most people, enough of others—particularly small- and dwelling house-business owners—also want a copier and scanner. For this category we used most of the same criteria equally nosotros laid out for color print-only machines but lowered the price ceiling to $250, looked for excellent scan and re-create quality, and ruled out whatever model without a duplexing automated document feeder.

Color multifunction

Finally, we looked for a high-end color laser all-in-one for people with more than serious small-office or home-part needs. Similar the mono MFP, it needed to be fast and flexible, offer great print and scan quality, and have a not completely outrageous price (none of these machines are cheap, just we set the cap at $500).

How we tested

Your get-go experience with a printer sets the tone for the relationship to come: If setup is a breeze, you'll have a much more positive attitude toward the car going forward. That's why nosotros paid specially close attention to the installation process, from physically unboxing the printer to wirelessly connecting each auto to a Windows PC, Mac, iPhone, and Android device. We considered setup a success when nosotros were able to print a two-sided certificate from each platform over Wi-Fi, turn the machine off and back on, and do it once more.

Because simply getting a job to print can be frustrating, we besides tested other means to interact wirelessly with these machines. Since Google Cloud Print is still important for Chromebook owners, we made sure each printer worked with that. (Yet, Chromebook owners should be enlightened that Google is killing Google Cloud Print at the end of 2020 and recommends transitioning to native CUPS printing.) We also checked out other mobile printing standards and proprietary systems, similar Mopria and HP ePrint, where available.

You'd accept to endeavor hard to find a laser printer that doesn't offer at least respectable impress quality, simply some still manage to stand out from the pack. To split the swell from the only adept, we printed several text-based reference documents that too included elements like columns, tables, or charts: instructions for the 1099 revenue enhancement form (PDF), a star chart designed for lens sharpness testing, a document from the ISO (International System for Standardization) meant to mimic a typical part study, and a simple Word/PDF document with the aforementioned sentence repeated in descending font size from 72 points to 1 point. We printed a few high-resolution photos, also, considering more data is always better, and seeing how each printer handles material that pushes against the limits of its capabilities can be instructive.

Nosotros too checked out each printer's quality options, including toner-density sliders and any available print-resolution settings, to run across what y'all can look with toner-saving options and to learn if we could eke out ameliorate-looking text.

Experimenting with quality settings also helped us become familiar with the print menus. We spent time in the standard impress box every bit well as in the more arcane Spider web-based control panels that nigh printers apply for more technical adjustments.

To examination 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 common cold start. We also tried duplex printing at the highest quality setting for each printer. These tests gave us a feel non only for how fast a printer would exist able to spit out a 10-folio book study, simply besides whether the differences betwixt the models were substantial enough to make a difference in day-to-mean solar day life.

For the multifunction printers, nosotros 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 besides tested the flatbed browse quality of each multifunction printer using a glossy test photo printed on our inkjet all-in-one pick, the HP OfficeJet Pro 9015. We scanned at all bachelor resolutions and looked for notable qualitative differences in each machine's output, in everything from sharpness to color rendition to dissimilarity.

Finally, nosotros stress-tested all of the newspaper-feeding parts of each printer, including not just the primary paper tray simply likewise the bypass tray and certificate feeder, if the printer had them. We (slightly) overstuffed them with paper to encounter if they'd jam, and we also fed them unmarried sheets to meet if they could pick each i upwards. Nosotros also fed the multifunction printers a crumpled slice of paper to see if their ADFs could handle the unexpected.

Our pick: HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw

Photograph: Rozette Rago

Our pick

HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw

The best laser printer

The HP M255dw has an intuitive touchscreen interface, nifty apps, and a low cost of performance. Information technology produces great results, too: crisp black text and vibrant color graphics. A autumn 2020 software update locked out non-HP toner, and then be prepared to have to pay full cost when you need to supersede the cartridges.

Ownership Options

*At the time of publishing, the price was $300 .

The HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw is fast, powerful, flexible, and refreshingly easy to apply. We beloved this printer's responsive control console, the modernistic design of HP'southward PC and mobile software, and how easy the automobile is to gear up and get on Wi-Fi. Toner is affordable at just 3¢ per blackness-and-white page and 15¢ for each color page, and information technology comes in actress-big cartridges that should final almost people a very long time before they demand to be replaced. Print quality is splendid across the lath, and all of the features you might expect from a high-end printer are here, including machine-duplexing, enough of networking options, back up for common mobile press standards, and a bypass slot for odd-size media.

Setting up the M255dw is painless, despite a fairly cryptic installation guide that relies primarily on pictures instead of words. Fifty-fifty though HP includes a USB cable (a rarity these days), we recollect near people volition use Wi-Fi, then that's the manner nosotros chose to gear up our machine. With the touchscreen display, connecting the M255dw to our Wi-Fi network was as easy equally picking our router'due south SSID out of a listing and typing in the countersign. Unlike nearly other printers we tested, the M255dw also provides a total QWERTY keyboard, which fabricated entering a complex Wi-Fi passphrase a lot less frustrating. Like the HP Color LaserJet Pro M254dw we used to recommend, the M255dw works with both v GHz and 2.4 GHz networks—also rare amid printers.

You tin can utilize the M255dw's top USB port to impress photos, PDFs, and Word documents. It stays hidden behind a little flap when non in apply. Photograph: Rozette Rago

The bright and loftier-resolution colour touchscreen brandish makes navigating the printer'south many settings menus easy. All of the other printers nosotros tested for this guide apply quondam-school resistive touchscreens that aren't well-nigh every bit accurate or easy to use equally the capacitive touchscreens on most smartphones. This screen isn't as large every bit the ones on larger all-in-one printers such equally our upgrade selection, but it's still a significant upgrade over the not-bear on, blackness-and-white displays or depression-res, monochrome, resistive touchscreens used in the other machines we tested.

Once the M255dw is connected to your network, you can grab the appropriate drivers and software for your Mac or Windows PC by heading to 123.hp.com/laserjet and clicking Download. That gives you the HP Piece of cake 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 together the printer with just a couple of taps.

Operating costs for the M255dw are low. Black-and-white pages price effectually 3¢ each, and color pages are a little over 15¢ each. Both of these estimates assume you're using the actress-large 206X replacement toner cartridges; if you lot use the smaller 206A replacement cartridges, replenishing costs less upwardly front, merely you pay more per page. In addition, these estimates may not line upwardly with the reality of how you print.¹ If y'all impress a lot of total-page color photos, you lot can expect to get fewer pages out of each toner cartridge, while text-based pages with a few color graphics could stretch the cartridges beyond their expected life and lower your cost per folio. HP'south toner cartridges feature an integrated drum, and then yous don't have to worry most buying a new one later on a couple of years.² And the M255dw defaults to duplex printing, which will save you lot on newspaper costs, every bit well.

With chapters for 250 sheets, the M255dw'southward main paper tray is larger than those of many competing models. Photo: Rozette Rago

The 250-folio main paper tray (which can take everything up to legal size) is larger than many in its class, so y'all'll have to fill it less oftentimes. A dedicated bypass slot for odd-size media means y'all also won't have to take your regular paper out if you want to print on envelopes, labels, or carte du jour stock. The slot is motorized, so when you slide an envelope or characterization sheet into the slot, rollers take hold of it and suck it into the guts of the printer, where it sits until you transport a print job.

Above the principal tray, a handy unmarried-sheet bypass slot can take labels, envelopes, and other odd-size media. Photograph: Rozette Rago

Nosotros couldn't become the M255dw to jam, no matter how hard we tried. When nosotros crammed the main newspaper tray with as many as 50 extra sheets, a alarm popped up on the command 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 250 pages in, it printed ordinarily; same with just a unmarried sheet in the tray. If you ever do run into a jam, however, the printer's back has a convenient access hatch for you to remove it.

In our tests, at default settings, text documents from the M255dw looked crisp, with nighttime black text that was readable down to ii points. Results were also very expert when we printed business organisation-way graphics and household miscellany like comics, coloring book pages, and crosswords. We didn't observe whatever jagged lines or banding in solid-color areas—ii problems that ofttimes plague cheaper models. Although the M255dw can't print on photo newspaper, we ran a few high-resolution test photos through the HP on manifestly paper and came abroad generally pleased with the results. The prints were a impact washed out, merely nosotros got accurate colors, lots of item, and relatively low noise. These aren't photos y'all'd want to hang on a wall, or even display on your refrigerator, only they're more than acceptable for the comprehend of a business concern presentation or a school paper.

HP claims the M255dw can print as fast as 22 pages per minute in black and white. In our testing, it maxed out around 17 pages per infinitesimal when press a PDF consisting of mixed text and graphics. That's an impressive result—on a par with what we got from the Catechism Color ImageClass LBP622Cdw nosotros tested information technology against, and certainly fast enough for nearly home and dwelling house-office purposes. Duplexing dropped the speed further, to 11 pages per minute. Once more, that was roughly equal to the rate we saw from the closest competition.

Flaws simply non dealbreakers

Compared with the other laser printers nosotros tested for this update—and virtually models we've tested over the past few years—the HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw had an unusually long showtime-print-out fourth dimension. When printing via Wi-Fi, it took around 24 seconds from our pressing the print button to the showtime sheet coming out of the feeder. To put that in context, the Brother MFC-L2750DW spit out its first sheet in 12 seconds, the Canon Colour ImageClass LBP622Cdw produced its first impress in 11 seconds, and the ImageClass MF269dw was even faster at seven seconds. We don't think 24 seconds will feel like also long for most people, but this model is all the same slower than the competition.

The M255dw comes with a skimpy fix of "starter" toner cartridges good for 800 blackness-and-white and 700 colour pages. High-capacity replacements (HP 206X) are rated for iii,150 monochrome and 2,450 colour pages, but a total set will cost yous around $400, at least a hundred bucks more than than the printer itself. This isn't a problem limited to the M255dw—almost all home laser printers (including alternatives we considered and tested) come with corner-cut starter cartridges—but it'southward annoying nevertheless. About buyers should be prepared to trounce out for replacement toner inside the showtime yr or so, only the replacement point could come a lot sooner for people using their printer in a home function. Third-party toner is bachelor for around half the toll of the genuine HP toner, but we tin't guarantee it'll piece of work for you; explore that option at your ain run a risk.^three

Color laser printers are bigger and heavier than their monochrome counterparts because they use four toner cartridges rather than just one. The Colour LaserJet Pro M255dw is no exception: It'due south more than twice as heavy every bit our upkeep pick (the Brother HL-L2350DW) but still far smaller and lighter than a color all-in-one like our upgrade selection (the HP Colour LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw). It takes upwards significant space on a desk, but it doesn't colonize a desk the way an all-in-one does. It probably won't fit on a bookshelf, due to its 19-inch depth.

In October 2020, HP released a firmware update (version 20201021) 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 best-selling the outcome 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 practice and so at your own hazard. We brand our calculations and recommendations based on buying replacement toner from the printer company, so while this doesn't change our findings, it's still abrasive and upsetting for those who prefer to relieve money with cheaper toner. Nosotros'll take this factor into business relationship in further updates to this guide.

Upkeep pick: Brother HL-L2350DW

Photo: Rozette Rago

Budget pick

The Brother HL-L2350DW is a simple, affordable, and dependable monochrome laser printer. For people with bones needs—press taxes, recipes, boarding passes, and and then on—its automated duplex adequacy, big 250-canvass paper tray, reliable paper handling, speedy press, and low per-page costs make it an splendid option despite a few quirks.

With a motorcar this straightforward, physical setup is quick. Y'all have just to remove the packing tape, insert the toner cartridge, adjust the paper-tray guides, and load some paper. Getting the printer on Wi-Fi is a picayune more complicated to practise with this model than with another printers because the HL-L2350DW employs a decidedly erstwhile-school user interface that consists of a one-line monochrome LED brandish and an array of condom buttons. There'due south no way to type in a Wi-Fi passkey on the machine itself, so you have to complete the process with the help of a PC. All the same, nosotros were able to connect it to our network inside a few minutes, and the printer reliably maintained a connectedness throughout testing—fifty-fifty several rooms abroad and a floor below our router. Some owners have reported bug with this printer'southward predecessor, the HL-L2340DW, refusing to wake up from Deep Sleep mode, and then we were happy to detect that the new model didn't requite us whatever problems of the sort during our testing. You can operate the HL-L2350DW over USB if you adopt, but in that instance you take to supply your own cable. If you lot want an Ethernet port for wired Cyberspace, you tin upgrade to the otherwise nearly identical HL-L2370DW.

The HL-L2350DW model's single-line monochrome brandish isn't the easiest to work with, but information technology is standard for cheap monochrome laser printers, and information technology gets the job washed. Photo: Rozette Rago

The HL-L2350DW works with Windows PCs, Macs, and even Linux systems. It'south likewise uniform with all major mobile printing standards, including Google Deject Impress, which means it'south a solid pick for Chromebook owners. Nevertheless, you may have issues getting the printer to complete Deject Print registration; nosotros certainly did. For united states of america, the solution was to access the printer'due south Web control panel, navigate to the Networking tab, and disable IPv6. With that done, the printer was able to get on Deject Print right away and worked flawlessly for the remainder of our testing. It's a mystery why Blood brother ships the HL-L2350DW with this setting enabled, because that it's a known fact that Cloud Print doesn't work with IPv6. At to the lowest degree it's an easy set.

Y'all don't really need to install whatsoever extra software for the HL-L2350DW considering it has native Windows and Mac drivers. It too works automatically with AirPrint on iOS, and you tin can add it with the Brother Impress Service on Android. Brother's iPrint&Browse app is available for all 4 platforms. Information technology's perfectly functional, if non besides-designed as HP's software. Unfortunately, in our testing, press from iPrint&Scan resulted in horrendous quality, regardless of the quality setting we selected. Nosotros reached out to Brother for annotate, simply the company wasn't able to provide any caption for the impress-quality discrepancy. In general, we recommend that you avert the app and print through your operating system's native impress dialog, which works just great.

Right out of the box, the HL-L2350DW produced good-looking text in our tests. Tax forms and other documents with tiny fonts (all the fashion down to 2 points) were perfectly readable, and larger headers came out with crisp edges and dark centers. All in all, this printer should exist more than adequate for printing text-heavy documents. Test graphics and photos, on the other paw, were merely mediocre at default settings, as some calorie-free banding was visible in solid-colour areas, and graphics appeared a lilliputian grainy. The output is skillful enough for personal use or internal business organization documents, and you can better it with adjustments to toner density and resolution settings (at the expense of toner longevity) if you need to hand out documents to clients.

Though it'south one-half the price of our color light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation pick, the HL-L2350DW matches that model'due south newspaper chapters with a roomy 250-canvass tray. Photograph: Rozette Rago

Brother claims the HL-L2350DW tin can print at up to 32 pages per minute, 5 pages per minute faster than the machine information technology replaces. It wasn't quite that fast for us, but it withal seemed speedy plenty for just well-nigh any home or abode-part utilise we could imagine. Nosotros clocked information technology at 25 pages per infinitesimal while printing single-sided PDFs and 12 pages per minute while using duplexing—faster than our color top pick, the HP M255dw, in both cases. Exam impress jobs reliably started upwardly within a couple of seconds, too, so you won't be left waiting long in any case.

As with its now-discontinued predecessor (our peak option for the past two years), i of the all-time things near the HL-L2350DW is its low cost of ownership. Information technology shouldn't cost you lot much more than $100 for the printer itself, and we've seen it on auction for far less than that. Operating costs are depression, too: Even accounting for drum wear, each print will run you about three.iii¢, which is right in line with the per-folio cost of other models we recommend. And the optional 3,000-folio loftier-yield cartridges mean you lot won't need to replace your toner too often. (However, like almost other light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation printers, the HL-L2350DW comes with a puny starter cartridge skillful for just 700 pages.)

This printer is extremely small-scale and light. At just xv.9 pounds, it's more than 10 pounds lighter than our next-smallest choice, and its footprint is significantly smaller as well. Information technology'south particularly short at vii.2 inches tall, which should help you fit it on a bookshelf. But information technology'll but as easily find a space on your desk or anywhere else yous might want to shove it.

However, don't expect great build quality from a cheap printer like the HL-L2350DW. Our test unit of measurement came in a very banged-up box (thanks, FedEx) that released a confetti of shattered styrofoam when we opened it. Later on getting the printer upward and running, we immediately noticed that duplex press wasn't working; every time we printed a two-sided certificate, information technology jammed in exactly the same place. We hopped on the phone, and a Blood brother customer back up agent rapidly diagnosed the problem: a plastic guide in the paper path that had gotten knocked out of identify in transit. Popping the piece back in where information technology was supposed to go was simple enough, merely it speaks to the HL-L2350DW's flimsiness (and shoddy packaging) that the trouble happened in the first place.

Besides great: Blood brother MFC-L2750DW

Photo: Rozette Rago

Also great

If you lot piece of work from domicile, run a abode business, or only want the flexibility of a light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation printer that can besides scan and copy, we recommend the Brother MFC-L2750DW. This powerful machine marries the basic utility and reliability of our Brother HL-L2350DW budget option with the versatility of a flatbed scanner and a unmarried-pass duplexing automated document feeder. It'southward undecayed, quick, toll-effective, and reasonably compact, and information technology tin can handle everything except color impress jobs. (Yes, including faxing.)

The MFC-L2750DW is even simpler to set up than its little sibling because yous can connect information technology to Wi-Fi using the color touchscreen command console. The interface is like shooting fish in a barrel to navigate, if non quite equally user-friendly every bit the i on our top pick, the HP M255dw. It comes with a number of handy built-in apps, including Dropbox and Google Drive, so you tin walk up and impress directly from your cloud accounts. It also has a browse-to-electronic mail app that's refreshingly simple to configure; the app timed out on us a few times when we were trying to scan very big jobs, just otherwise it worked quickly.

The MFC-L2750DW's color touchscreen is uncomplicated to operate and much less frustrating than what you go on some competing models. Photo: Rozette Rago

In our tests, nosotros found the default print quality from the MFC-L2750DW to be good enough for dwelling house and internal business apply—a modest step ahead of the results from our budget pick, the Brother HL-L2350DW, with sharper text at small font sizes and marginally better graphics operation. For professional-looking brochures or presentations, you'd probably want to use a printer like our upgrade option, the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw, or punt the job to a pro print shop instead.

Scans from the automatic certificate feeder looked just fine in our tests, though they could come out a chip crooked if you don't micromanage the paper guides on the ADF tray (a fault shared by many all-in-ones). Flatbed scans, which sidestep this issue, had excellent sharpness in our tests due to the one,200 dpi maximum resolution (double what some competing machines offering). You can scan to email, a network computer or drive, an FTP server, or cloud apps like Dropbox and Google Drive. Unfortunately, this printer lacks a USB port, so y'all tin can't save your scans directly to a pollex bulldoze.

In addition to its l-page automated certificate feeder, the MFC-L2750DW has a flatbed scanner that can browse letter-size sheets at upward to 1,200 dpi. Photograph: Rozette Rago

Cheers to its single-pass duplexing automated document feeder, scanning is really quick fifty-fifty with two-sided documents—24 pages per minute in blackness and white and 8 pages per minute in color. The Canon ImageClass MF249dw we tested in 2018 was just equally fast with single-sided documents but 66 percent slower at duplexing because information technology took two passes to scan a two-sided sheet. (The newer Canon ImageClass MF269dw we tested in 2020, which also does two-laissez passer duplexing, had strangely tedious scanning operation over Wi-Fi at just ii pages per minute unmarried- or double-sided.)

The MFC-L2750DW shares a couple of abrasive only hands fixable faults with its print-only stablemate. Every bit with the HL-L2350DW, impress quality degrades on this machine when yous initiate jobs from Brother's iPrint&Scan app, and so you should use your operating system's native print dialog instead. Google Cloud Print doesn't work from the get-go—or didn't for united states, anyway—but y'all can fix that past disabling IPv6 in the Spider web control panel's networking options.

This car feels pretty flimsy, but the upside is that it's lite and compact for its form, which makes it easier to fit into your space. When you lot get-go set it upwards, only be sure to check for any plastic pieces that might have jumped out of identify, and run a few print and browse jobs to make certain everything is working properly. If information technology'south not, give Brother'southward client back up a call earlier returning the car; the set might be really simple.

Upgrade selection: HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw

Photo: Ben Keough

Upgrade pick

If you need (or only want) a more serious printer than our other picks, the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw is expensive, but information technology's one of the most affordable color laser printers that offer all the aforementioned productivity features as our favorite inkjet model. Information technology'south fast and reliable, and whether you're printing in color or blackness and white, the M479fdw produces cute documents. In our testing, information technology cranked out a single-sided Word certificate at around 24.1 pages per minute, slowing merely to 21.8 ppm with duplex documents. Single-sided scan jobs flew by at nineteen.v ppm, more than 6 ppm faster than on any other printer nosotros tested, while duplex jobs emerged at a rate of sixteen.7 ppm per sheet (which works out to 32.5 ppm per page).

The M479fdw also produced sharp text at pocket-sized font sizes, improve than whatever inkjet we tried. If you're press a lot of legal documents, this is important. Graphics were crisper—if a touch less saturated—than what we got out of a printer similar the HP OfficeJet Pro 9015. The M479fdw spools upward faster than nearly inkjets, besides, and its recommended duty bike of 4,000 pages per calendar month—nearly triple the OfficeJet Pro 9015's i,500 pages—should be plenty for fifty-fifty the busiest dwelling house office and could satisfy many pocket-size businesses with multiple employees.

It has other features that businesses will appreciate, likewise, such as duplex press and a fold-out bypass newspaper tray for 1-off impress jobs on different newspaper sizes. Although the slide-off scanner drinking glass is large enough only for alphabetic character paper, the automatic document feeder can handle legal-size documents. Thanks to its USB port, this machine is capable of printing JPEGs, PDFs, and Give-and-take files, and it can also save scans equally PDFs, JPEGs, or TIFF files.

The M479fdw is more secure than other printers we tested, inkjet and laser alike. It features secure boot, firmware integrity, and runtime code integrity to ensure that the printer is drastically less likely to be hijacked past bad actors. (It sounds absurd, but such hacks have happened.) Information technology as well allows for PIN-encrypted print jobs, so you tin can make sure no one else is intercepting your documents. Role-based admission control for multiuser environments allows you to choose who can access which printer features. If your work involves sensitive material, these are legitimately helpful additions—and features y'all can't get from other manufacturers.

HP's one-year warranty for the M479fdw is shorter than what some rivals offer—Catechism in particular provides three years of coverage on its machines—but information technology may actually be better than competing policies. That's because it provides on-site service within one business day, while other warranties require you to send your printer to a service centre, sometimes at your ain cost.

Similar our tiptop pick, the M479fdw requires official HP toner cartridges.

The contest

Color impress-only printers

We tested the Brother HL-L3270CDW and found that it came up brusk against our elevation choice due to its lack of single-pass duplex printing, a bypass printing slot for odd-size media, and a USB port for printing from a pollex drive. Print quality was mediocre overall, and colors had a distinctly greenish hue.

We also tested the Catechism Color ImageClass LBP622Cdw simply came away disappointed with its user interface, its apps, and its occasionally slow printing. Information technology's a practiced automobile—its prints are actually a little nicer than the HP M255dw'due south straight out of the box—but the HP is but much more pleasant to use.

The HP Color LaserJet Pro M454dw is the big sibling to our chief pick, the M255dw, with marginally faster printing, more than paper-handling options, and a slightly lower cost per page. But it usually costs a lot more up front, as well. If you tin can find the M454dw on auction, go for it, simply at normal prices we recall the M255dw strikes a better balance betwixt toll and performance for most people.

The Xerox Phaser 6510/DNI is a powerful color laser auto, and both owner and editorial reviews report very skillful print quality. Notwithstanding, they also mention networking issues with some routers, along with parts failures.

Monochrome impress-only printers

The Blood brother HL-L2315DW isn't that much cheaper than our budget pick, the Blood brother HL-L2350DW, but information technology'south much slower and has only 25 percent every bit much memory, and then it may struggle with larger print jobs.

The Canon ImageClass LBP6230dw is cheap and small, and it offers automated duplexing and Wi-Fi connectivity. Only the toll per page is too high, and information technology doesn't back up AirPrint or Google Deject Impress, which is a problem if you ain a Chromebook or desire to impress from a mobile device.

The affordable HP LaserJet Pro M118dw tin can impress actually fast and has positive possessor reviews. Unfortunately, its toll per page is relatively high, and we saw multiple reports of iffy graphics and photo quality.

The HP LaserJet Pro M203dw has a low cost per page and a reasonable asking price, but possessor reviews are poor, complaining of hard setup, unreliable Net connections, and breakdowns.

Monochrome multifunction and all-in-ane models

The Brother HL-L2390DW and HL-L2395DW are essentially the same automobile every bit our budget pick, the Brother HL-L2350DW, but with a flatbed scanner bolted to the top, plus or minus some extra software features. We similar these models, only over time reader feedback has led us to favor multifunction printers with automated document feeders. If you lot don't need to scan multi-page documents very often, they're even so worth a look.

HP's LaserJet MFP M234dw and LaserJet MFP M234dwe are the same model with the same specs. The "e" version sells for $50 less because information technology's part of HP+, which requires you lot to create an account, keep your printer connected to the cyberspace, and use but offset-party toner cartridges, while offering an extended warranty and a six-calendar month trial of HP'southward press subscription program. We didn't test either because they take flatbed scanners rather than automatic document feeders.

The Brother DCP-L2550DW is a good deal option if yous don't need some of the features that our monochrome multifunction option offers. Specifically, this model lacks duplex re-create and scan, fax capability, and a touchscreen interface.

Although the Brother MFC-L2710DW is similar to the MFC-L2750DW model we similar, it lacks that auto'southward touchscreen interface and auto-duplex scanning and copying. Information technology also has but 25 percentage as much onboard memory (which means it might balk at large print jobs) and runs a little slower.

Similarly, the Blood brother MFC-L2690DW and MFC-L2730DW—both bachelor exclusively at Walmart—resemble the MFC-L2750DW but with downgraded specs. The quondam has a button-driven, non-impact interface and slower print speeds, while the latter generally performs much similar our pick simply has half the memory and can't do single-laissez passer duplexing. If the extras the L2750DW offers don't affair to you, these junior siblings are a cheaper fashion to become similar print and scan quality.

We tested the Canon ImageClass MF269dw and institute that although it printed quickly and produced practiced-looking results, it was much less enjoyable to use than our mono MFP pick, the Brother MFC-L2750DW, with a frustrating touchscreen interface, annoying software, and ludicrously slow scanning over Wi-Fi.

The Canon ImageClass MF264dw and MF267dw are very similar to the MF269dw we tested, only both have a smaller ADF capacity and neither offers duplex scanning and copying. The MF264dw likewise lacks fax capability.

The HP LaserJet Pro MFP M227fdw has an bonny cost per page and a dainty touchscreen interface, but owner reviews are deeply mediocre.

Color all-in-one models

We tested the Brother MFC-L3770CDW only found that it couldn't continue upward with our laser AIO option in usability or raw performance. Its resistive touchscreen wasn't equally responsive equally the HP M479fdw's capacitive panel, and the Brother iPrint&Scan software froze repeatedly on our MacBook during multi-page scan jobs. In improver, since its duplex printing isn't single-laissez passer, it took nearly twice as long to impress 2-sided documents as the HP.

The older Brother MFC-9340CDW looks to be a adept deal with its all-mode duplexing, affordable toner, and relatively low up-front price, but it's slower than our colour AIO pick and has had a rash of i-star possessor reviews complaining about fused toner rollers and Wi-Fi connectivity bug.

On newspaper, the Canon Color ImageClass MF644Cdw and MF743Cdw compete well with our color laser all-in-1 pick. Unfortunately, although they produced splendid speed and output in our tests, nosotros found them much more difficult to work with than the HP M479fdw due to their clunky UI, resistive touchscreen, and outdated PC and Mac software. We also had issues getting the printers to have a properly formatted USB thumb bulldoze, which seems like a thing that shouldn't be hard to become right.

Footnotes

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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-laser-printer/

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