All-in-one printers that can scan, copy, and fax are very popular, but there are still reasons to buy a standalone model. Multifunctional devices are expensive if you do not need additional functions, and they can take up a lot of space on the table. Although the text and graphics of the MFPs reproduce flawlessly, most of them are not able to print photos as beautifully as a stand-alone inkjet printer.
An alternative is to purchase a laser printer. Although models of this type are more expensive, their operation is cheaper, and they are usually more reliable than inkjet ones. Laser printers do not print photos so well, but they are great for office use. This article provides an overview of the most popular options.
Printer Guidelines
The best models are distinguished by the following qualities and functionality:
- Clear text printing. Even cheap monochrome laser printers provide a sharp, dark print - they simply have to.
- Good graphics. Laser printers cannot compare with inkjet printers in printing images, but good models are suitable for office use or, perhaps, even for not too picky clients.
- A monthly work cycle that meets the needs of the user. A good cheap laser printer can regularly print several thousand pages per month. If you need more, then go to the business class model.
- Sufficient paper capacity. Cheap laser printers can usually hold up to 250 sheets, and business-class models - over 500 (with additional trays - thousands of sheets).
- Low cost of printing. How to choose a printer for this indicator? Laser technology is always cheaper than inkjet because the toner does not dry out and does not clog cartridges and nozzles if not used regularly. The cost of consumables can be quite high, so you need to pay attention to the price of toner, if the budget is limited.
- The small sizes. The home laser printer fits easily on the table as it is smaller than most inkjet printers. Even the best office models of this type take up little space.
- Operational printing. The fastest cheap laser printers deliver over 30 text pages per minute. More expensive models can print more than 50 ppm.
- Ease of use. The best laser printers can be configured almost effortlessly. They automatically detect the network (wired or wireless) and easily interact with all devices with minimal human assistance. If the equipment is compatible with Wi-Fi Direct, then having this feature means that you can print directly without worrying about a network or router.
Choosing the Right Printing Device
The main type of printer for office is a laser. Its cost starts from 12 thousand rubles. Business-class laser printers are fast (40 or more text pages per minute) and have high performance for processing large and complex jobs. As a rule, they are equipped with pull-out trays of large capacity, which hold whole packs of paper (and additional for storing thousands of sheets). They have the capabilities of a wired and wireless network connection, providing access to many users.
How to choose the right printer for home? Less reliable, but also less expensive models are available for home use or for a home office. Usually they cost from 3.5 to 12 thousand rubles. The cheapest ones have only a USB connection for one computer. Higher-end models support Ethernet and Wi-Fi, so several users can share the printer from their PC, print wirelessly, or directly from a smartphone or tablet. Devices of this type hold 150-250 sheets, which is enough for one or more people. The most productive models produce about 32 pages of text per minute.
Black and white laser printers are suitable for those who mainly print texts and do not need color. They have been used in offices for decades, because they are faster, cheaper, and more reliable than others. In addition, laser printers print text better. Their disadvantage is grainy graphics. They are great for printing PowerPoint presentations, but that’s all.
How to choose other types of printers? They also have advantages and disadvantages. Color laser printers print beautiful graphics, but they are more expensive than monochrome. Inkjets make images of professional quality, but they are much slower and more expensive than laser ones, ink often dries or runs out, and they often break. MFPs are convenient because they copy, scan, and can send faxes. They are cost effective if you want a multifunction device. Otherwise, at the same price, and often cheaper, you can buy a laser printer that prints faster and more clearly, equipped with large paper trays and takes up less space on the table.
Brother HL-L6300DW
The answer of experts and users to the question of which printers are the most reliable is unambiguous - these are Brother printing devices. They are easiest to set up, they rarely break, and owners recommend them more often than others. This is confirmed by the fact that every year since 2010 Brother, following the results of the PCMag printer review, receives the Reader's Choice Award.
The Japanese manufacturer produces everything from small personal models to large corporate ones. For many intensively working offices, which print an average of 7500 pages per month (about 250 per day), Brother HL-L6300DW, costing about 20 thousand rubles, is an ideal choice.
This is a new version of the previous model HL-L6200DW with the addition of several functions. The HL-L6300DW is an ultra-fast printer that prints text at 51 ppm. More complex documents (with graphics, spreadsheets, PDFs, and PowerPoint slides) reduce productivity to 23 ppm.
According to experts, the text looks amazing. But graphics are not a strong point of monochrome laser printers, although the HL-L6300DW prints with a quality acceptable for newsletters.
The cost of 1 page is surprisingly low - 75 kopecks. In addition, the HL-L6300DW comes with an 8,000-page toner cartridge, rather than a “start-up” low-capacity version.
Reliable paper trays: 520 sheets per drawer, 50-sheet multi-purpose tray and up to two additional drawers with a maximum of 1610 sheets. Standard features include duplex printing, wide connectivity (USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct).
HL-L6300DW can comfortably produce 7500 pages per month (maximum 125 thousand). The output tray contains 250 sheets (versus 150). There is a high-performance toner cartridge with a color touch screen instead of a single-line LCD.
The new model also received NFC. This simplifies pairing of the mobile device, and also allows you to use some security features. For example, you can restrict printing to office staff only. The rear panel also has a USB 2.0 port for connecting an external IC card reader, which allows users to be identified to publish protected files.
HL-L6300DW has dimensions of about 40 x 40 cm at the base and 28 cm in height. It is quite compact for a printer of this performance, although a little more than we would like. The manufacturer provides a one-year warranty with lifetime free telephone support.
Printer printing technology: how to choose?
Color laser printers - once expensive giants that could only be found in large corporate offices, are now small enough and cheap for small businesses and even for personal use. They cost from 8 to 40 thousand rubles. (and higher). But why bother buying a color laser printer? What is its difference from inkjet?
Laser printers have no ink problems. Owners who have struggled for years with ink cartridges, leaks, wasteful “maintenance cycles”, clogged printheads and inks that cost more than Chanel No. 5 are filled with a sense of gratitude to the trouble-free toner.
Inkjet printers should regularly print color documents (at least once every few days). Otherwise, there is a risk of clogging of ink cartridges and a head breakage that cannot be fixed. At the same time, replacing a part is more expensive than the entire device. The laser printer will patiently wait for the moment when it will be needed.
Some high-quality inkjet models can print text almost as fast as laser ones. But, as a rule, the latter work much faster, especially in color.
Even low-cost laser devices produce clearer, more professional-looking texts and graphics than inkjet ones.
Photos on inkjet printers are much better. Laser devices capable of printing photos are few and far inferior to them. However, for internal business documents, they look good.
Inkjet printers are cheaper. However, over time, ink is more expensive than color toner, so the cost will increase in the long run.
Brother HL-L8360CDW
For those who do not know how to choose a printer for the office, experts recommend purchasing this particular model. It is ideal for delivering 4,000 pages per month. A less expensive version of the HL-L8260CDW is also available for those who print more moderately (up to 3,000 pages per month). She is also in demand.
The cost of printing is 1.1 rubles. per black and white page and 5.75 rubles. for color.
The HL-L8360CDW has replaced the old favorite of experts and users of the Brother HL-L8350CDW. The new version of the color printer has a touch screen, the processor speed has doubled, the memory capacity has increased 4 times, fast Gigabit Ethernet (also has USB, Wi-Fi), NFC for connecting to phones and tablets, cloud printing has appeared. Equipped with an automatic duplexer and a convenient portable USB port. Printouts look better than competitors, especially text. The graphics and photos are almost flawless.
Speed - high for its class, 33.2 b / w text pages per minute, 11.4 ppm for a mixture of color pages, graphics and photos. A color printer is designed for 300 sheets (250-sheet tray and 50-sheet multi-purpose tray), but you can add up to three more trays of 250 sheets (10 thousand rubles each) or 2 trays of 500 sheets (13 thousand rubles each). each) to reach a maximum of 1300 sheets.
Security features are first-class, including an NFC card reader and Active Directory (identifier and password).
The manufacturer provides free technical support and a one-year warranty.
Types of Inkjet Printers
Universal inkjet printers are great for home use or small offices. Even basic models now print text almost as fast and clearly as laser ones. The quality of the photo, as a rule, is good, but not for cheap devices worth 6 thousand rubles, although it is enough for families and those who just want to be able to sometimes print homework, personal documents and pictures. High-quality inkjet printers (9–20 thousand rubles) are faster, have more functionality and allow you to get very beautiful photos and graphics. These are workhorses that are useful for home office or frequent photo printing.
Canon Maxify iB4120
For an active small or home business, print quality is important, as well as speed, paper handling and low ink cost. The problem is how to choose a printer that combines all of this.
Canon Maxify iB4120 (8 thousand rubles) fills this void. Despite the low price, the printer prints amazingly professional text, graphics and even photos. Color shots at least match the quality of a commercial lab. Black and white photos are obtained without a hint of an extraneous color.
The model displays 7-21 text ppm. There are 2 capacious trays for 250 sheets for legal paper. Another surprise is the low cost of refueling the printer. Experts say that budget models differ in expensive cartridges, but this is not the case with the Canon Maxify iB4120. Printing a page of text costs 1 rub. and 7 rubles. color graphics will cost.
How was it possible to reduce the cost of Maxify iB4120? The printer has no frills, which you can do without. Instead of a large color touch screen, there is a 2-line monochrome LCD panel. You can connect to the printer via Wi-Fi, Ethernet or USB and print from mobile devices and the cloud, but the connection is established using the menu, since there is no Wi-Fi Direct or NFC.
The only thing owners criticize is the tedious initial setup.
Canon has a strong reputation, and its brand, according to independent consumer surveys, ranks first among printer manufacturers. Maxify iB4120 is backed by a 1 year warranty. Although it can print up to 30 thousand pages per month, the recommended load is up to 2 thousand pages per month.
Mobile printers
Models of this type allow you to print on the go. These are small, lightweight devices, the quality of which is not inferior to full-size models. Although they were expensive, the price dropped to 9-12 thousand rubles. (HP OfficeJet 200 Mobile), but consumables for this type of printer are tiny, so in the long run they will cost more.
Photo printers
Printing photographs at home and in the office is not often required; they are necessary if you need to take really beautiful pictures. Choosing a printer for photo printing begins with semi-professional models for 23 thousand rubles, like the Canon Pixma Pro-100, which will surpass any laboratory in quality. First-class professional photo printers such as the Canon ImageProGraf Pro-100 are much more expensive, but they are bought by professionals and photography enthusiasts.
Brother MFC-J985DW
Before choosing a printer for the office, it is worth considering the possibility of buying a multifunctional device. Most inkjet MFPs are too slow and too wasteful of ink to be used in the office, but this does not apply to the Brother MFC-J985DW. His work is incredibly cheap - in this he competes with a black and white laser printer. Text pages - 50 kopecks., And color - 2.7 rubles. The purchase and refueling costs of the printer over two years (at an initial price of 10 thousand rubles) will be about 20 thousand rubles.
Text is printed at a speed of 9 ppm, and text with images is 4.6 ppm.
Color shots and graphics look pretty good, but they are not as detailed as on a photo printer. Glossy photos are crisp, with rich colors and good detail. The text almost matches the quality of the laser printer, up to 6–7 point fonts.
Scanning and copying work very well. The tablet has a Letter-format scanner, and the printer can print and copy on Legal-size paper. The main paper tray holds 100 sheets and there is a 15 x 15 cm photo paper tray. The built-in duplexer and 20-sheet automatic document feeder allow two-sided printing and scanning. According to the manufacturer, the printer can produce up to 2500 pages per month, but no more than 1000 is recommended.
Wi-Fi, Ethernet and USB connections allow you to send files both over a wired or wireless network or directly from a smartphone or tablet. You can also print and scan in the cloud (Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive, OneDrive and others are supported) or a USB drive. The touch screen makes the MFC-J985DW easy to use.
According to the owners, the printer is compact, well-assembled, and ink lasts a long time.