Some electronics contain hazardous materials, like cadmium, lead, or mercury, that can contaminate soil and groundwater. Printers can also take thousands of years to decompose, and have the potential to catch on fire when improperly dumped. Here are your options if you want to dispose of your printer the right way. Wirecutter has covered printers for seven years, and I’ve written about them since 2016.
That’s why, unless you need to print in color, black and white only printers, also known as monochrome printers, can be a great option to meet your printing needs in the home and office. What’s more, a black and white printer is generally more affordable than its color counterpart, helping you to save epson workforce on printing costs. The Brother MFC-L2710DW is a black and white laser printer intended for those who print only in black. Like most laser printers, it prints quickly and its single cartridge can provide a good number of pages, which is better for offices that frequently print in large quantities.
Our CNET Shopping extension does that for you, so you always get the best price. The HPN MyExpert Support guarantee is our commitment to Life Time Technical Support. No matter where you are in your products life cycle, we will be here to provide support to your product and make sure you are fully covered. A manual feed slot and rear paper exit provide a straight-through paper path to ensure that all of your printed materials always look their best. We independently research, test, review, and recommend the best products—learn more about our process.
Precisely positioned by the electrostatic charge drawn by the laser beam on photosensitive material, they’re then fused in place. The precise positioning ensures professional-looking documents, an advantage that may be subtle for 10- or 12-point text, but makes a big difference in readability at 4 and 6 points. Be aware that tank-based inkjets can beat lasers on running cost, which complicates any broad-brushstroke comparison of costs between the two technologies. The tank-based models cost more than equivalent inkjets that use cartridges, but they let you use far cheaper ink, which you typically pour from bottles into large tanks in the printer. There are also a few lasers, notably the HP Neverstop Laser 1001nw and the HP Neverstop Laser MFP 1202w, that take a similar approach, selling toner in bulk “injectors” rather than in cartridges. Conventional wisdom says that inkjets are the best choice for home use.
None of these features are a reason to pay more for one of these models over our well-priced top pick, but if either is on sale or the L2325DW is out of stock, these are good options. Built-in Wi-Fi and Ethernet provide versatile connection options, so you can share your network with co-workers or set up a personal printing station. This Brother printer offers compatibility with Apple AirPrint, Google Cloud Print and Wi-Fi Direct, providing convenient access to files stored on your smartphone or tablet.
Networking capability is common nowadays, usually in the form of wireless, all-in-one laser printers. If you have a large office, you can acquire accessories such as print servers for wireless printers to handle your network. This allows you to print remotely from computers or smartphones in the office, or from other mobile devices anywhere via cloud-based apps. This lets you automatically print both sides of a sheet without needing to remove it.
When printing via Wi-Fi, it took around 24 seconds from our pressing the print button to the first sheet coming out of the feeder. We don’t think 24 seconds will feel like too long for most people, but this model is still slower than the competition. Brother MFC-L3770CDW is also very versatile, with epson workforce an adjustable 250-sheet paper tray. However, it appears that some of Brother’s most recent firmware updates have disabled the toner cartridge reset function. The Brother MFC-L3770CDW is an excellent color laser printer for the home or small office, but it can also be used for other purposes.
The 250-sheet input tray can handle documents up to 8.5 x 14″ in size while a manual feed slot will handle more specialized media ranging from 3 x 5″ to 8.5 x 14″. We chose not to rely on the few acknowledged printer-technology experts we could identify, as they are almost universally affiliated with one of the major manufacturers. Instead, we supplemented our own tests and observations with the comments of typical consumers who use printers in their own home office setups.
Just check to be sure that the manufacturer offers a free downloadable app for printing that your phone or tablet can use. Another option that is less common is support for Near-Field Communication , which lets you initiate the wireless connection to a mobile device by simply tapping the device on a specific spot on the printer. Most lasers today also offer Wi-Fi for network connection, either as an alternative to Ethernet or as the only choice. Wi-Fi lets you put the printer anywhere without having to worry about stringing cables, but is sometimes tricky to set up. AIOs with fax functionality will add a phone-line interface (RJ-45), unless they use cloud-based faxing. HP’s Color LaserJet Enterprise MFP M480f, a mid-volume color laser AIO printer, outclasses the competition with beautifully detailed printing and reasonable running costs.
Our runner-up, best budget pick is the Brother HL-L2350DW, a slightly older but still reliable and well-liked black-and-white laser printer. At its $100 price range, it offers nearly everything you’d want from a budget laser printer and would fit well into any home or small office . The unit is compact and measures 11 x 17.2 x 20.5 inches and weighs 16 pounds, meaning it can fit nicely in nearly any space you’re using.