Table of Content
PCMag.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering lab-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services. Our expert industry analysis and practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology. Linsey is a Midwest-based author, public speaker, and member of the ASJA.
As for its printing performance, it produces outstanding quality black and color documents and is fast, printing up to 29 pages per minute. The toner cartridges yield a large number of prints, around 3000 black and 2000 color, so you don't need to worry about frequent maintenance. The cartridges are expensive; however, they contain the drum, meaning you won't need to spend extra to replace the drum separately. For average use in a home office, a mid-priced inkjet printer should suffice. If you go with a really low-cost inkjet printer, the printer’s speed and print quality may seem disappointing—especially when printing photos or graphics.
HP OfficeJet 3830 AiO printer
In our guide you can find the printers we adore, along with how to pick the one that works for you home. That said, any premium photo paper—from any paper manufacturer—will work with any printer capable of generating photo prints, as long as that printer can accommodate the paper’s size and weight. Thus, you could use photo paper from Canon, OfficeMax, Staples or Moab within your HP or Epson printer, for example. When creating photo prints from your digital images, you’ll achieve the best results if you use premium photo paper. But depending upon what you’re looking for—affordability, high printing volume, photo and creative printing, or other criteria—you might prefer one brand over another.
It prints and scans faster, sharper, and more reliably than inkjet alternatives, and it includes robust admin and security settings designed for situations that may involve sensitive data. We don’t think it’s necessary for most homes or even the average home office. But if you run a business with modest printing and paper-handling needs, or if you’ve grown exasperated with your inkjet AIO’s failings, the M479fdw should hit the sweet spot. The scoring reflects recent CR research into how people use their printers.
HP OfficeJet 250
Plus, with the protection of the attractive wraparound indigo linen cover, you can store it in a range of spaces and orientations. It also performs just as well or better than several other models on our list, with an estimated 11 ppm in black and white and 8 ppm in color. Designed to support bigger print volumes, the HP OfficeJet 5255 introduces several common conveniences across a variety of our print lines.
The Brother MFC-J4335DW prints, scans, copies, and faxes; offers paper handling suitable for a micro office, a home office, or personal use; and stands out for its speed and low cost per page. The truth is, you have a lot of options to consider when searching for the best all-in-one printer for a small home office. Whether you’re replacing an older device or buying your first multifunction printer, the choice can impact how you work for a long time, so it’s crucial that you find the right device. It’s also worth remembering that this printer is compatible with the HP Instant Ink service and high-yield ink cartridges. Both are great ways to save a little extra when it’s time to restock your supplies, no matter how often you use your printer.
Inkjet all-in-ones
Unlike standard printers that use replaceable cartridges, this one has large-sized, individual tanks of ink for each color. The eco-friendly system allows you to print up to 6,000 black-and-white, or 14,000 color documents with a single ink set. In addition to features, the MB5420 has speedy printing that's nearly as good as a laser printer, quick one- and two-sided copying, and high-quality image printing.
If you take a lot of family photos, you'll want a printer that produces colorful and great-looking pictures. Per user reviews, the following all-in-one color printers do a great job at printing photos. Find the one that’s right for you to avoid paying for features you don’t need. If you’ve got to print a lot of text documents on a daily basis, look no further than Brother’s MFC-J985DW inkjet all-in-one. The high-yield cartridges used by the MFC-J985DW should appeal to home and small office workers who print a lot of text, since it offers the lowest cost per page at higher volumes. Despite their attractive per-print costs, we can’t recommend any of these machines.
The smartphone-style color touch screen makes it easy with a 2.7-inch display so you can clearly see how many prints you are making. This photo printer is fast, too, offering up to 15 black-and-white ppm or 10 full-color ppm. For printing full-color documents, photos and files, a mid-priced all-in-one inkjet printer that uses ink tanks is a great choice. These printers are easy to operate and maintain since you won’t to replenish the ink often.
This model has a 30-page automatic document feeder for scanning stacks of documents. Its wireless printing works with Apple AirPrint, Mopria, Wi-Fi Direct, Google Cloud Print and other protocols. The large, 4.3-inch touchscreen display makes controlling the printer and previewing images easy and convenient. The Epson Expression Premium XP-7100 shines when printing photos, but it can easily meet the general printing needs of most households. Inkjet printers work just like they sound by spraying ink through a print head full of nozzles. They're fantastic for printing high-quality photos with rich colors and sharp details, but they aren't particularly fast at spitting out pages.
However, that’s still much less ink than what you get in the bottles that come with the other ink-tank models we tested, and Brother’s refills cost almost five times as much as Canon’s and Epson’s. Even though it’s not the best value, it’s still cheaper on a per-page basis than the HP 9015e, and it’s a good printer overall. We liked its large touchscreen display, its ability to print and scan 11-by-17-inch documents, and its speedy printing and scanning. The print and scan quality were very good, too, though like other ink-tank printers we’ve tested it can’t scan or copy two-sided pages. Most office supply stores can print your document or those family photos on a professional-quality printer for relatively little money.
The best home office all-in-one printer should provide deep functionality with versatile built-in features and great quality prints with each job. Single-function printers are still a common part of many routines, but the advantages of an all-in-one or multifunction printer are numerous. You can take your printer with you if you choose the HP Sprocket 2nd Edition photo printer.
For your specialized photo printing needs, many companies sell specialty photo papers that work with most inkjet printers. Options include sticker paper, inkjet transfer paper and 100% cotton fine art photo papers. Many printers report two different speeds—the time it takes for the first print to slide out of the printer and the pages per minute once it starts printing. If you only print occasionally, print speed might not be that important, but it’s arguably the single most important feature if you print a lot of pages at a time.
I make frequent use of the one-sheet bypass tray in the back of the unit to print labels and one-off full-page pictures. About the only thing I wish Brother would adopt is the ink management systems of their competitors. The advantage is that sticking to traditional cartridges, the MFC-J895DW is considerably more affordable than other all-in-ones on this list. The first decision to make is whether you want an inkjet printer or laser printer. Each uses a different printing technology, with laser printers typically generating printed documents with a professional-level quality and crisp, sharp text.
