It's not often that I test a gadget that I don't want to box up. It's a rare occurrence, sort of like a blue moon, or someone on the internet admitting, "You know what? You're right, I'm wrong." So when it does happen, I get really excited. It happened recently when I tested the Inkwon Tag, and originally, I was skeptical. "The world's first 4-in-1 portable inkjet printer? Really?" I thought to myself.

Well, skepticism begone. After having used the Tag for over a month, I can confirm that it's surprisingly competent — and I can't stop thinking about what I'll create next with it. As a 4-in-1 printer, the Tag does way more than just print paper. It can create temporary tattoos, stickers, and even heat transfers for designing your own t-shirts.

The Tag is a great little printer that's extremely easy to use — I wager even a 10-year-old could use it. Feeding in paper is easy, using the app is even easier, and it takes just over a minute to print out temporary tattoos, light fabric heat transfers, and more. Here's why it's the ultimate gadget for DIY projects — and for being the life of the party.

Setup and use? Easy as pie

It couldn't be easier to get started with the Inkwon Tag. Inkwon happily includes a starter cartridge (for 60 prints) that features a magnetic mechanism, so all you need to do is pop it into the printer after taking its top cover off. Once that's done, you need to download the AiYin app on Android or iOS and connect it to the printer via Bluetooth.

And you're ready to print! The app is super straightforward to use. You can either select your own design and edit it before printing, or choose a pre-made design to print out. The latter is handy for creating temporary tattoos as there are plenty of designs to choose from, such as animals, birds, seashells, and more.

Alongside easy setup and use, the Tag's other big selling point is its pocketable design. It measures just 4.13 x 3.82 x 1.77 inches and weighs 8.29oz, which means it's extremely easy to carry in your handbag, backpack or even pocket. It doesn't take up much space, so it's the perfect gadget to take to parties.

Call me a DIY guru

I've made a lot of prints with the Inkwon Tag. I've printed photos I've taken on Instax film-like paper (which has white space at the bottom for writing); and I've printed stickers which I've then cut and stuck on my laptop and phone. The quality of these prints is surprisingly good, too, so you shouldn't underestimate the Tag.

It utilizes a CMY three dye-based ink system, and it has a print resolution of 600 dpi, which is suited to small-sized prints. You can see a few examples in the gallery above. Images look detailed enough, and the colors look lovely too. One of the Tag's drawbacks is that it doesn't feature a dedicated black ink so blacks don't appear as deep and inky — but this isn't really a deal-breaker.

When I first heard the Tag is capable of printing temporary tattoos, I knew I had to test the claim. I've got nearly 20 tattoos — the permanent kind — and I'm always planning my next one. But given that I'm running out of space on my arms, I appreciate being able to visualize a tattoo's placement before getting in touch with a tattoo artist.

And the Tag makes that possible. There are several pre-made designs to choose from, so I printed out one featuring sharks, as you can see above. I then applied it to my skin and held a wet cloth over it for a few minutes. It instantly transferred to my skin and as you can see, it looks lovely! The colors look great, especially the rich blues.

Finally, I used the Tag to customize my own t-shirt too, using some pre-made designs as well as one my partner (who's an artist) made ("We are bodies of water"). Transferring the light fabric heat transfer designs on to a white t-shirt and a small tote bag was a walk in the park as I used the included transfer paper and a hot iron to do so.

As you can see above, the prints look beautiful on the t-shirt and the bag. The inks haven't bled and the designs haven't lost their resolution either. The Tag gives you very little to complain about, really.

Take it anywhere

If you attend a lot of fun parties or social gatherings, or you're into scrapbooking and creating physical prints of memories, then you need the Inkwon Tag in your life. Funded through Kickstarter, the Tag has a retail price of $299 for the basic pack which includes 60 sheets and one ink cartridge. The Mega Pack bundle costs $349 and it includes two cartridges, 120 sheets, a photo frame, a tote bag, and a plain white t-shirt.

Although initial costs are a little high, running costs aren't — around 33 cents per print, and $19 to $25 for paper (packs of three). Few other portable printers are as competent as the Tag, and if you want be the life of the party with temporary tattoos, create the ultimate scrapbook, and more, this is the one for you.

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I test many of the best printers here at Tom’s Guide, and I’ve never seen one like the Inkwon Tag. Touted as the ‘world’s first 4-in-1 portable color inkjet printer,’ the Tag is a pocketable printer that can create temporary tattoos, photo prints, heat transfers for creating custom t-shirts, and stickers. It’s a lovely little printer for crafting, small print makers, and anyone who wants to be the life of the party by distributing temporary tattoos.

Priced at $229, the Tag is a little expensive, but the good news is that running costs aren’t that high. It boasts good battery life of up to 90 minutes, and its user-friendly companion app makes creating and printing a walk in the park. All isn’t perfect though, as the printer can’t create borderless prints and paper needs to be inserted one at a time.

Should you still buy it? Read my full Inkwon Tag review to find out.

Inkwon Tag review: Specs

Inkwon Tag review: Price & availability

The Inkwon Tag is the brand’s fourth-ever printer, and it’s truly one of a kind. It’s a 4-in-1 pocket printer that can print temporary tattoos, stickers, photos, and heat transfers for creating custom t-shirts.

Funded through Kickstarter, the Tag has a retail price of $299 for the basic pack which includes 60 sheets and one ink cartridge. If you’re willing to spend $349, you can grab the Mega Pack bundle which includes two cartridges, 120 sheets, a photo frame, a tote bag, and a plain white t-shirt.

The Tag is a little pricier than most other pocket printers on the market today. For instance, the Canon Ivy 2 Mini costs $119 and the Canon SELPHY QX20 retails for $189. You’ve also got printers from Fujifilm, like the Instax mini Link 3 which costs $113. As you can see, the Tag is a fair bit more expensive than all of them — but none of them are advertised as sticker or heat transfer capable, so if you want a 4-in-1 pocket printer, the Tag is it (get it? ‘Tag, you’re it?’ No? Okay).

Inkwon Tag review: Design

The Inkwon Tag is a tiny and cute printer. It’s small enough to fit into already-full backpacks, and you can slip it into your pocket too. It measures just 4.13 x 3.82 x 1.77 inches, so it’s smaller than my Google Pixel 10 Pro XL. It doesn’t weigh much either — just 8.29oz without any paper inserted. I’ve had no problem carrying it around in my pocket.

Located along one of the square printer’s edges is the paper feeding slot. All you need to do is insert the paper ever-so slightly and the printer will automatically pull it in. Frustratingly, paper needs to be inserted one at a time, as there’s no paper tray to store additional sheets. It’s not a huge problem, but it can get a little annoying when you want to create multiple prints back to back.

Inkwon Tag review: Setup & app

Setting up and using the Inkwon Tag couldn’t be easier. To get started, all you need to do is open the printer’s top cover and pop the cartridge in. It uses magnets so it instantly snaps into place — no fiddly mechanisms involved.

Once you’ve done that, you need to hit the triangular power button which automatically puts the Tag into Bluetooth pairing mode.

To get printing, you’ll need to download the AiYin app, which is available for free on Android and iOS. You’ll be using the app a lot for all your editing and printing needs, and thankfully, it doesn’t take up much space on your phone — just 110MB on my Google Pixel 10 Pro XL. The app asks you to sign up but you don’t have to if you don’t want to; you can simply choose to use a guest account. This makes it easy for your friends and family to use the printer too, as they can simply download the app and start printing.

Et voilà! You’re ready to print. The app itself is very easy and intuitive to use. You can print either your own designs and saved images, or choose from hundreds of pre-made designs. Once you’ve selected what you’d like to print, you can make adjustments to the images, such as brightness, saturation, contrast, and more, and then hit the print icon. It couldn’t be easier, really.

Inkwon Tag review: Print speeds

As is the case with most printers, the Inkwon Tag’s print speeds depend on the complexity of the images, and the number of colors involved. Keep in mind that this is a very small printer, so you won’t get rapid print speeds akin to those of, say, the Canon PIXMA Pro-200S ($647).

To kick things off, I used the included sticker paper to print a few images. It took the Tag one minute and 56 seconds to create a color sticker, and one minute and 45 seconds to create a black and white print. The included sticker paper is slightly thicker than the other types that Inkwon sent me for testing, so it isn’t surprising that the sticker printing times were the longest.

The next thing I did was print on the included light fabric heat transfer paper, which is used for transferring images onto t-shirts. A color print took one minute and 28 seconds while a black and white heat transfer took a minute and 27. Not too bad. I had a lot of fun transferring the designs on to the included white t-shirt too, and I’ll discuss that in the next section.

Last but not least, I printed a few of the pre-made designs onto the tattoo transparent transfer paper — something I was very excited for, as someone who has nearly 20 tattoos (the permanent kind). In my testing, the Tag took one minute and 20 seconds to print a color design, and a minute and 15 seconds to print a monochrome design.

If you aren’t in a rush and are using the Tag for printing temporary tattoos at a party, or creating stickers for your scrapbook, the aforementioned speeds shouldn’t give you much to complain about. I also found that the app was quick to tell the printer to start printing, and I didn’t notice any lag.

Inkwon Tag review: Print quality

I’ll preface this section with this: the Inkwon Tag is a small printer and you shouldn’t expect it to be able to create award-winning prints. It’s aimed at casual users. As an inkjet printer, it utilizes a CMY three dye-based ink system, and it has a print resolution of 600 dpi — which is suited to small-sized prints.

Because the Tag uses a CMY three ink system, it doesn’t have a dedicated black ink, so it mixes black using the other three. This results in prints that are low on contrast — and I’ll discuss this in detail below.

That said, print quality is surprisingly good. The photos in the gallery above were printed on sticker paper, and they can be peeled and stuck on most surfaces. Even though there isn’t a lot of real estate on the 3.5 x 2.12-inch paper, I appreciate how much detail the Tag has been able to print. For instance, the tattoo on my partner’s shoulder looks detailed and you can make out the individual tree leaves in the design.

The other images look great too, but as you can see in the sixth slide, the image of the pigeon, captured on the 44MP Leica SL3-P, looks fuzzy and has lost a fair bit of detail. This is a complex image, though, with lots of different elements and details, so I’m not surprised the Tag has struggled to accurately reproduce it.

As I mentioned earlier, the Tag uses CMY ink, and so doesn’t have a dedicated black ink (the 'K' in CMYK). This means blacks don’t appear as sharp or deep as on a CMYK printer. That’s what’s happened with the black and white print of my partner above. Having taken the image myself on the Canon EOS R6 Mark III, I know that the blacks are inky and deep — they don’t appear so in the print. They appear more gray than black, which is a little disappointing. The small CMY ink cartridges are a sacrifice you make for the size and convenience of the printer.

I also have an issue with the sticker paper — you can’t create borderless prints, so you have empty space at the bottom of each sheet. As such, the prints end up looking like they were printed out on one of the best instant cameras, à la Fujifilm Instax. It’s not necessarily a bad thing as it gives you space to scribble with a pen, but it’s still frustrating that you can’t utilize the entire space if you want to.

Images and designs printed on the light fabric heat transfer paper turn out well, though, as you can see in the gallery above. You need to peel the backing paper, put the print on a t-shirt (or any other fabric), put the included transfer paper on top of it, and use a hot iron to transfer the design. It’s quick and easy and I’ve really enjoyed doing it.

I printed out some pre-made seashells as well as a design my partner (who’s an artist) made, and they look lovely on both the t-shirt and the tote bag. The prints look high quality and even after being applied on the fabric, they haven’t lost their resolution, and the colors haven’t bled during the process either.

I was impressed with the quality of the temporary tattoos too. I printed out a pre-made design featuring sharks, as you can see in the gallery above, and then applied it to my skin using water. Not only do the shades of blue look deep and rich, the tattoo has retained the same vibrancy even on my skin. Being able to print temporary tattoos is not just fun for kids and at parties, but it can help adults, such as myself, determine the placement of a permanent tattoo before getting in touch with a tattoo artist.

Overall, I’ve been pleased with the Tag’s print quality, and I intended to use the printer for scrapbooking.

Inkwon Tag review: Ink cost & yield

The Inkwon Tag starter pack comes with one CMY 3-color dye-based inkjet cartridge, and it yields 60 prints. Extra ink cartridges are available as packs of three for $59, which means you’re spending approximately 33 cents — which isn’t exuberant, in the grand scheme of things.

Paper refills are available in packs of three too, ranging from $19 to $25 depending on the type of paper you’re buying (temporary tattoos, heat transfers, etc.). In comparison, 60 sheets of the Canon XC-60L Ink/Paper Set that the SELPHY QX20 uses costs $46. Meanwhile, 20 sheets of the Instax mini Film used by the Fujifilm Instax mini Link 3 retails for $32, making the Tag’s running costs feel more reasonable (and affordable).

Inkwon Tag review: Battery life

If you’re looking for a pocket printer that lasts a respectable amount of time between charges, the Inkwon Tag is a great choice. The Tag is rated for 90 minutes, and in my testing, it took just under 85 minutes for it to run out of charge. I was able to create around 65 prints before I had to charge the Tag, which is good.

In comparison, the Fujifilm Instax mini Link 3 is rated for 100 prints per charge, and both the Canon Ivy Mini 2 and the Canon SELPHY QX20 are rated for a measly 20 prints per charge each. These figures alone make it feel like you’re getting bang for your buck with the Tag.

Inkwon Tag review: Verdict

If you want a portable printer that enables you to print temporary stickers, create personalized t-shirts, and stickers for scrapbooking, the Inkwon Tag is a fantastic choice. It’s extremely portable and easy to use, and the print quality is surprisingly good. Running costs aren’t that high either, even though the printer itself is.

I’ve had a lot of fun testing the Tag, but I can’t overlook its shortcomings. While the companion app is user-friendly, it doesn’t allow you to create borderless prints. Paper also needs to be inserted one at a time which can be time-consuming if you want to create back-to-back prints.

As long as you don’t mind those drawbacks, you’ll be pleased with the Tag and its performance. It’s fun, quirky, and it’s a sure-shot way to be the life of the party.

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Here we've collected 12 of the best 3D printer deals so you can choose the right one for you, with big name brands like ELEGOO and Creality included.

Portable photo printers have one obvious appeal: they make digital memories feel physical again. There's just something so fun about holding an image in your hand, especially in a world where thousands of photos disappear into a camera roll. The ability to peel off the back and stick it somewhere you’ll actually see it is fun for kids and adults alike.

That is the promise of the Liene Pearl N200 Pro Portable AI Photo Printer ($119), a compact photo printer designed to turn phone pictures into 2x3-inch sticker prints. On paper, it sounds like exactly the kind of gadget my family would love. It is small, easy to set up and built around the kind of instant creativity that works well for kids, scrapbooks, bullet journals, party favors and quick DIY projects.

After using it, I can say this much: the printer itself is genuinely fun. But, the AI got the images wrong every time and frankly, the printer is so good, the AI felt unnecessary.

Setup was surprisingly easy

The best thing about the Liene Pearl N200 Pro is how intuitive it is to set up. In seconds, I downloaded the app, inserted the ink cartridge and loaded the sticker paper. I did not need to wrestle with complicated menus or printer settings just to get started.

When it comes to printers, a product like this lives or dies on whether people can use it casually. If I have to read a manual for 20 minutes, my kids (and myself!) have already moved on. But with the Pearl N200 Pro, the process felt approachable: connect the printer, choose a photo, make a few edits and print.

It also helps that the printer comes with a generous starter supply of ink and sticker paper. That made the experience feel more complete right out of the box instead of making me immediately worry about buying refills.

For families, crafters and people who like turning photos into something more tangible, that ease of use is a major win.

The prints were flawless

The Liene Pearl N200 Pro is so much more than a basic photo printer. It's an “all-in-one” craft tool for projects, bullet journaling, scrapbooking, home decor, workshops and family projects. Everyone from my preschooler to my middle schooler and even my husband found uses for the stickers. Lunch boxes, computer decor, water bottle bling and even fun reminders.

This is where the Pearl N200 Pro feels most useful. It is not trying to replace a full-size printer or a professional photo lab. It is trying to make small, instant, creative prints feel easy. On that front, it mostly succeeds.

I could see this working well for kids’ projects, classroom crafts, birthday parties, family memory books and anyone who wants to bring digital photos into a physical space without dealing with a large printer.

The AI feature was mediocre

The Pearl N200 Pro includes features to transform your photos into different looks, but the results often come out looking incredibly generic. As someone accustomed to the high-quality outputs of dedicated tools like Nano Banana and ChatGPT Images 2, the printer's built-in image generation falls way short.

The app offers plenty of creative variety. You can use customizable templates to turn yourself into a cartoon, a sketch, or even face-swap yourself into an astronaut.

The issue is that AI portraits only work if they preserve the part of the photo people actually care about: the person. If I upload a picture of a family member, I don’t want a generic avatar with a similar hair color; I want it to actually look like them. The app struggles mightily with this identity preservation. At one point, I uploaded an image of my very blonde son, only for the AI to give him dark brown hair. A second attempt got much closer, but just know that it rarely hits the mark on the first try.

Ultimately, these AI features feel forced. For anyone considering this printer, you are much better off designing your custom graphics in Nano Banana or ChatGPT Images, saving them to your phone, and uploading them normally. Bypassing the app's native AI completely lets the hardware do what it actually does best: printing great little photos and stickers.

The sticker paper also has one major flaw

The other issue I ran into was the adhesive. The prints are designed to work as stickers, which is a huge part of the appeal. But in my experience, the stickers were not very sticky and did not attach well to most surfaces. That limits the usefulness of the product because the sticker function is not just a bonus feature. It is the point.

If I am printing little photos for a journal or scrapbook, weak adhesion may not be a dealbreaker because I can always add tape or glue. But if I want to stick them to a notebook, folder, gift bag or craft surface, I expect them to stay put. That was disappointing, especially because the prints themselves are fun to make.

That said, be sure you stick with Liene products only when using this printer. There are others available on Amazon, but when I asked Liene whether users should buy only the company’s own paper, the brand strongly recommends sticking with official Liene paper, suggesting that the printer is part of a calibrated craft ecosystem and that lower-quality alternatives could have uneven coatings or adhesive residue that may damage the thermal print head.

That is worth noting because refills are part of the long-term cost of owning any mini photo printer. If you buy this, you are not just buying the device. You are buying into the Liene paper and cartridge system, too. That is not unusual for photo printers, but it is something shoppers should understand before purchasing.

Final thoughts

Despite my issues with the AI and sticker adhesion, I do think the Liene Pearl N200 Pro is a worthwhile purchase. This is a good fit for people who want a simple, portable way to print tiny photos for crafts. It is especially appealing for families, scrapbookers, bullet journal fans, teachers, workshop leaders and creators who want to turn phone photos into quick physical prints. The prints themselves are flawless and laminated beautifully, so you don't even need to remove the sticky backing.

Overall, the Liene Pearl N200 Pro is a fun little printer. It is easy to set up, simple to use and genuinely enjoyable for creative projects. Just forget about the AI entirely.

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Printing your photos using one of the best printers can give you newfound appreciation for your own work — and that’s exactly what happened when I used (and tested) the Canon PIXMA Pro-200S. This is arguably one of the greatest printers for photographers as it can make large and tiny prints, ranging from A3+ to postcard-sized.

The Pro-200S is quick to print, and the resulting prints are high-quality and nothing short of stunning. Whether you’re printing to sell, exhibit, or for personal use, this printer gives you very little to complain about. While Wi-Fi connectivity could be easier to set up, and the yield isn’t the highest, these are minor drawbacks in the grand scheme of things. Neither should stop you from getting the Pro-200S.

For the complete breakdown, read my full Canon PIXMA Pro-200S review.

Canon PIXMA Pro-200S review: Specs

Canon PIXMA Pro-200S review: Price & availability

For photo printers and prosumers, the Canon PIXMA Pro-200S is an excellent choice — and it’s well-worth the investment if you want gallery-style prints to sell. The Pro-200S retails for $647 / £459 at Amazon. If that sounds like a lot, it’s worth keeping an eye out during sales events, like Black Friday, as we’ve seen the printer drop to $429 / £367 in the past.

The Pro-200S is cheaper than its direct competitor, the Epson SureColor P700 ($849) which is also a 13-inch A3+ printer. While there are even cheaper photo printers available, like the Epson Expression Photo XP-8800 ($329) and the Canon PIXMA G620 ($356), the Pro-200S is the better choice if you want best-in-class A3+ size prints and peerless quality.

Canon PIXMA Pro-200S review: Design

The Canon PIXMA Pro-200S is a hefty boy, and given that it’s an A3+ printer, it takes up quite a bit of space. The printer measures 25.2 x 15 x 7.9 inches and weighs 32lbs, so it’s best suited to staying put in one place. It sports an all-black design with subtle branding, so it fits right into most office and home spaces.

This is a print-only printer so unlike multifunction ones, like the Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II ($702), it can’t scan or make copies. The Pro-200S features a rear automatic document feeder (ADF) which can, as the name suggests, automatically feed either 100 A4/A5/B5 sheets or 50 A3/B4 sheets.

You have the option to manually feed sheets as well, one at a time. The manual sheet feeder is ideal for thicker fine art media or creating banners up to 39 inches long and 13 inches wide.The Pro-200S packs a front-feeding tray too which can be used for printing directly onto white-faced CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays.

Build quality is sublime as the Pro-200S features a metal chassis build, and there are no hollow-sounding parts, so you’re getting great value for money here. Just as sublime are the Pro-200S’ controls and buttons. The physical navigation, home and back buttons are located around the 3-inch color LCD screen which can be used to check ink levels, among other things. You’ll find the print and power buttons next to the front tray. All of them give good tactile feedback when pressed, and I found them to be highly responsive in my testing.

Canon PIXMA Pro-200S review: Setup

It’s extremely straightforward to set up the Canon PIXMA Pro-200S. The first thing you need to do is remove the orange tape on the printer’s body and inside the paper trays. Once that’s done, you need to plug it into mains and turn it on by pressing the power button. It takes about a minute or two for the printer to come to life from a completely powered-down state — and a few seconds when it’s waking up from its sleep state.

After that, all you need to do is follow the on-screen instructions which are self-explanatory and easy to understand. You’ll then need to install the print head and the ink tanks. The ink tank placements are color-coded so simply pop them in until you hear clicks. If you’re struggling, refer to the included physical manual or Canon’s helpful online guide.

Loading the paper into the rear ADF is easy to do as well. The Pro-200S features automatic skew correction to ensure the fed paper is absolutely straight, which prevents misprinting (and wastage of paper). When you’ve loaded the paper and selected ‘OK’ on the screen, the printer will perform an alignment check which takes a couple of minutes, depending on the paper size.

Once you’re done setting up the printer, you can get printing, and there are two ways to do so: wired or wirelessly. You can plug in an Ethernet cable or a USB-B to USB-A cable into the back — the USB-A side would go into your laptop. You’ll then be able to print directly.

If you want to print wirelessly, you’ll need to download the Pro-200S dedicated driver onto your Windows or macOS machine. Follow the on-screen instructions to hook up the printer to your Wi-Fi. Once that’s done, the Pro-200S will synchronize with the Wi-Fi network, enabling you to print from any device that’s connected to the same network.

While it doesn’t take long to get the Wi-Fi hooked up, I do wish the process was easier. For instance, the Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II requires you to punch in the Wi-Fi password on its touchscreen — no software required.

Canon PIXMA Pro-200S review: Print speeds

Any printer’s print speeds will naturally depend on the complexity of the image, and the number of colors involved. Keeping that in mind, the Canon PIXMA Pro-200S takes neither too long nor too little to produce prints. As this is a photo printer, I put it through its paces by printing a number of photos on four different kinds of paper of varying sizes.

I kicked things off with printing on A3 Pro Luster paper, in standard quality, and it took the Pro-200S one minute and 14 seconds to produce a color print. This dropped to one minute and 10 seconds when producing a mono print. I was impressed with how quickly the Pro-200S printed a packed image of flowers that I’d taken on the Leica SL3-S. Printing at the highest quality took a little longer, with a color print taking three minutes and 40 seconds — still not bad, and the quality was exceptional, which I’ll discuss shortly.

The next thing I did was print on A3+ Premium Matte paper. The Pro-200S produced a color print in one minute and 58 seconds, and a monoprint in a minute and 57 seconds. Both these prints were borderless, and perhaps the printer would be even quicker to produce bordered prints. Printing on A4 MP-101 matte paper didn’t take very long either, with a colored print taking 58 seconds and mono print 38 seconds — almost four times faster than the category average of four minutes.

I love that the Pro-200S isn’t just for large format printing. The printer can accommodate smaller prints too, all the way down to 4 x 6-inch. Canon provided me with a pack of 4 x 6 PP-201 Glossy II paper for testing purposes, so I printed out a few photos I’d captured. It took the Pro-200S 40 seconds to produce a color print and 39 seconds to produce a mono print.

The Pro-200S produces small prints quicker than the Epson Expression Photo XP-8800 which, in our testing, took a minute and 27 seconds to do the same. The Pro-200S performs much better than the category average of one minute and 56 seconds.

Canon PIXMA Pro-200S review: Print quality

As an inkjet printer, the Canon PIXMA Pro-200S utilizes eight dye-based Chroma Life 100+ inks and runs on CLI-65 cartridges. Because the printer utilizes eight inks, it delivers a wide color gamut and extensive tonal range, so prints turn out beautiful and detailed. Additionally, according to Canon, Chroma Life 100+ inks create prints that are resistant to fading for over 100 years when stored in an album.

Print quality is sublime, especially on glossy or luster paper, in both standard and high quality modes. I especially like how vivid shades of greens turn out, as well as the bright blues that feel textured. My favorite print is the one of an Icelandic waterfall, where the water gushing down looks highly detailed. If I look closely, I can see the individual water droplets. The printer performed phenomenally here.

Color printing on matte paper is good but not as beautiful as on glossy paper. To me, the same photo of the waterfall lacks depth ever-so slightly, and appears flat. For glossy color prints, the Pro-200S is second to none, and it suffices for matte prints too.

Printing in black and white is another area where the Pro-200S dominates. The Pro-200S did well to produce rich, deep and inky blacks with plenty of detail, and the overall tonal range is simply excellent, as I noticed in the photo of the man standing outside a theatre. The shadows and highlights are balanced well, and the image looks just like it did when I edited and prepared it for printing.

Small prints look lovely too, and I appreciate the ability to make bordered or borderless prints as the former frames the images well. The Pro-200S’ ability to produce small prints is fantastic for those who want to make postcard-like prints for selling, or for personal use.

Canon PIXMA Pro-200S review: Ink cost & yield

The Canon PIXMA Pro-200S comes with a set of eight ink tanks, 12.6ml each, to get you started — but they won’t last you very long. Canon says that you’ll be able to create just 139 A3+ mono prints with these, or 860 4 x 6-inch mono photos. While that isn’t a lot, the Pro-200S’ running costs aren’t that high.

Each CLI-65 ink tank costs $15, and a set of eight tanks will set you back approximately $120, which isn’t too bad — and certainly not as expensive as the Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II’s cartridges and toner. These are similar costs to the inks used by the Epson Expression Photo XP-8800.

As with other Canon printers, you can sign up for Auto-Ink Delivery when buying the Pro-200S directly from Canon, or even after you’ve bought it. When your printer is running low on ink, it automatically notifies the company who then ships out ink without you having to place an order manually.

Canon PIXMA Pro-200S review: Verdict

It really wasn’t difficult to rate the Canon PIXMA Pro-200S so highly. Once I saw the print quality, I was floored. Designed for photographers and creative professionals, the Pro-200S delivers exceptional print quality across a range of sizes — from postcard to gallery-worthy A3+ prints. Thanks to the printer’s eight-color dye-based ink system, colors appear vibrant, and blacks are deep and rich.

There are a couple of drawbacks preventing a perfect score, such as the complicated wireless setup, and low ink yields for heavy users. But these issues are relatively minor considering the overall experience.

At the end of the day, the Pro-200S stands out as one of the best photo printers in its class, offering professional-quality results that will have falling in love over and over again with your own work.

If you’re after the best laser printer for your small office or personal use, look no further than the Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II. Its inconspicuous, all-white design makes it fit into most professional spaces, and it comes with four cartridges to get your started — and they’ll last you a while, too.

What makes the MF753Cdw II an outstanding choice in a crowded market are its rapid print, scan and copy speeds. The printer is outfitted with a larger paper output tray, and if you want to increase the input capacity, you can buy an additional accessory for around $250. Oh, and the printer’s got a customizable and responsive touchscreen too.

To find out if this is the best all-in-one printer for you, read my full Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II review.

This printer goes by two different names: Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II in the U.S., and i-SENSYS MF754Cdw II everywhere else. For the purpose of this review and your convenience, I’ll refer to it as Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II, its American name.

Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II review: Specs

Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II review: Price & availability

The Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II is a solid mid-range printer, and it retails for $702 at Amazon U.S. We’ve seen it drop to $499 in the past though, so it’s good to keep an eye out during sales events. Outside of the U.S., the printer goes by i-SENSYS MF754Cdw II, and is available for £539 at Amazon U.K. Similar to the States, the printer can be bought for around £390 during sales events.

This printer is available in white only. As a 4-in-1 laser printer that can print, scan, copy and fax, the MF753Cdw II finds itself competing with the likes of the Brother MFC-L8930CDW ($899), the Brother MFC-L2750DW XL ($689), and the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4301fdw ($859). It’s ideal for small office owners and those who work from home.

Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II review: Design

The Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II sports an all-white design with black accents, and it fits right into a professional office space. It doesn’t look too loud so it doesn’t draw eyeballs to your desk. It’s big but not too large, measuring 18.2 x 16.8 x 17 inches. It’s a little heavy, though, weighing 48.5lbs so it’s best for it to stay put in one spot.

As a multifunction printer, the MF753Cdw II can scan, fax, print and copy, and it’s well-equipped to do so. It features a 50-sheet Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) on top with a glass scanner located underneath it. There’s a main paper in-tray at the bottom which can hold up 250 sheets, and an out-tray which can accommodate 150 prints in the middle. If you want even more print storage — say, 550 sheets of letter or A4 paper — you can grab the Canon PF-K1 Optional Cassette for $284.

Located on the right-hand side is a 5-inch color LCD touchscreen that can be tilted vertically to optimize the viewing angle. It can be customized too, to display functions and settings you use the most. There’s a power button located under the screen to switch off the MF753Cdw II or wake it from sleep (takes about seven seconds).

Overall, the MF753Cdw II is designed well, and the settings on the touchscreen feel accessible and easy to understand. Additionally, the build quality feels solid too, and you can rest assured that you’re getting bang for your buck here.

Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II review: Setup

Setting up the Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II couldn’t be easier. It takes about 14 seconds for it to warm up from a powered-off state, or seven seconds when waking from sleep mode.

When using it for the first time, all you need to do is plug the printer into the mains and follow the on-screen instructions. It took me just a few minutes to get the printer up and running. Fitting or replacing the ink cartridges is fairly straightforward too, as all you need to do is open the tray, align the cartridge with the color-coded slot (Black, Cyan, Magenta, or Yellow), and press down firmly until it clicks into place.

There are two ways to use the MF753Cdw II: wired or wirelessly. You’ll find ports for Ethernet and fax modem cables at the rear, and a USB-A port on the front. You can use the front USB-A port to print directly from USB sticks too, which is quite handy and doesn’t require any settings to be changed.

To print wirelessly, you’ll need to use the touchscreen to enable Wi-Fi and input your network’s password. Once that’s done, you’ll see the printer pop up in your computer’s (or phone’s) settings. You may need to download the printer’s driver from the Canon website if your laptop doesn’t automatically detect it. I found this easy to do, and Canon happily provides a QR code on the printer’s touchscreen that you can scan with your phone to access the Quick Start guide, if you’re in a pickle.

If you’re in a literal jam when paper gets stuck in any of the trays, the touchscreen will show you step-by-step instructions to remove the blockage too. I encountered paper jam only once in my testing, and I found the on-screen instructions super easy to follow.

Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II review: Print speeds

The Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II’s print speeds are extremely impressive. If it’s rapid printing you’re after, this is the printer for you. I put it through its paces by printing a variety of documents. It took the MF753Cdw II 11.31 seconds to print a five-page text document — or 26.5 pages per minute (ppm). That’s really quick, and the MF753Cdw II bests the likes of the Brother MFC-L2750DW XL and its 18.5 ppm.

I then printed a two-side text document, which took 9.55 seconds, and the MF753Cdw II managed to print a 10-page text document onto five double-sided sheets in 30.13 seconds. These are the fastest printing times of our most recently reviewed laser printers.

The MF753Cdw II is capable of printing mixed documents rapidly too. I put this to the test by printing a six-page mixed PDF consisting of text and color graphics, such as charts and graphs. It took the printer 18.74 seconds to do so, or 19.21 ppm. The Brother MFC-L2750DW XL, on the other hand, can do only 11 ppm, making the MF753Cdw II the better choice.

Laser printers are better suited to printing documents and inkjet printers are best for photo printing. Even so, the MF753Cdw II is capable of printing decent color prints. I printed an 8 x 10 hi-res image, taken on a Leica SL3-S, on Canon Photo Paper Glossy II. In 7.06 seconds, the print was ready. I’ll get into print quality shortly to discuss what the print looked like — but as speediness goes, the MF753Cdw II doesn’t give you much to complain about.

Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II review: Copy & scan speeds

The Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II boasts best-in-class copy and scan speeds. In my testing, it took 6.86 seconds for a black-and-white copy and 8.6 seconds for a color copy. It’s faster than the Brother MFC-L2750DW XL which takes 8.4 seconds to make a copy.

Scanning is just as quick. I inserted a USB-A stick into the front port and chose that as the save destination. A color scan took 6.22 seconds while a black-and-white scan took exactly six seconds. Again, it’s faster than the Brother MFC-L2750DW XL which takes 8.4 seconds to scan a monochrome document, and a snail’s pace 38.4 seconds for color scanning in JPEG format.

Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II review: Print & copy quality

The Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II makes attractive prints and copies, both color and black and white. The text-only documents I printed came out with sufficient contrast, and looked just as they did on my screen. I found the text easy to read, and none of it was misaligned on any of the prints.

Graphic prints were fairly attractive too, as the colors appeared natural and the different hues and tones appeared well-balanced. The colors didn’t appear oversaturated or heavily edited. I didn’t notice any bleeding either.

I was very surprised by the quality of the glossy photo print. As I mentioned earlier, inkjet printers are better suited to photo printing. Still, the MF753Cdw II’s photo quality is respectable. The print packed plenty of detail, such as the flowers’ stigma and the patterns in the petals. Greens appeared vivid while pinks appeared bright — albeit slightly more saturated than I’d have preferred. But again, this isn’t a photo-first printer. You may want to consider the Canon PIXMA TR8620 ($199) or the Canon PIXMA Pro-200S ($647) if you want a photo printer.

Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II review: Ink cost & yield

The Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II’s box comes bundled with four starter toner cartridges, and Canon claims that these can last you 1,100 color pages or 2,100 monochrome prints. This should be enough to get you started.

It’s important to note that it isn’t cheap to run the MF753Cdw II. The printer’s 069 cartridges cost $142 each, which is quite a bit. For four cartridges, you’re looking at an expenditure of $568 — or 51 cents per color page and 27 cents per mono print. The Brother MFC-L2750DW XL offers lower printing costs, approximately 3.75 cents per page.

If you don’t want to buy the cartridges manually every time you’re about to run out, Canon offers an Auto Replenishment Service which you can sign up for at checkout. An order is automatically placed with Canon when your printer is running low on toner. You can do so after you’ve bought the printer, too.

Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II review: Verdict

The Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II is an exceptional all-in-one laser printer designed for small offices. You can print, copy, scan and fax — and speedily too. The MF753Cdw II delivers blazing-fast output speeds across the board, and the resulting text prints are sharp while color graphics are bright and detailed.

Beyond raw performance, the MF753Cdw II provides a seamless user experience. Setup is ridiculously easy, and the 5-inch customizable touchscreen makes navigation a breeze. The all-white design, though unremarkable, fits right into any workspace — but its 48.5lbs footprint means you’ll need to find a fixed spot for it.

While some people may find the high cost of replacement cartridges a tough pill to swallow, I don’t think that should put you off from getting the MF753Cdw II. If it’s a robust, reliable workhouse you’re after, few laser printers are better than the MF753Cdw II.

The eufyMake E1, the personal 3D-texture UV printer that became the #1 most-funded project on Kickstarter, has landed in the UK at early access pricing, and there are only days left before the discount disappears!

From 6 May through 31 May, you can pick up the Basic Bundle (E1 UV Printer + Ink and Cleaning Cartridge Kit) for £2,069, or the Deluxe Bundle (which adds a UV DTF Laminating Machine and a Rotary Printing Attachment) for £2,599.

Standard pricing kicks in on 1 June at £2,249 and £2,949 respectively, so you’re looking at savings of £180 on the Basic and £350 on the Deluxe, so it's well worth getting in early.

But wait, there’s more! Every E1 purchase during the early access window comes with £80 off eufyMake Care plus free shipping protection, and Deluxe Bundle buyers get a second Ink and Cleaning Cartridge Kit thrown in for free!

The E1 printer is a compact A3-size desktop UV printer that handles over 300 surface materials such as wood, leather, acrylic, metal, glass and ceramic. Meanwhile, the specialised rotary attachment can handle cylindrical objects like mugs, bottles, flasks and tumblers.

Special UV inks cure under integrated LEDs in seconds, and they can even make 3D textures up to 5mm high directly on the print, for amazing tactile raised-edge art that sets it apart from the competition.

And for the sticker lovers out there, the UV DTF laminator pairs with the E1 to produce custom stickers on demand.

With May 31st closing in, this is probably the cheapest the E1 UV printer will be for a while, so get yours quick!

The eufyMake E1 UV Printer is in stock and shipping within 72 hours, delivering desktop full-color and 3D-texture printing. Your investment is fully protected by a 12-month warranty covering all repairs, replacements, and shipping, backed by expert support within 24 to 48 hours. Get started today with flexible PayPal financing for as low as £749 a month for 3 months.

Orchids make stunning houseplants, and although you could give a peace lily or an aloe vera plant as a gift, nothing quite feels the same as receiving an orchid.

They are a romantic houseplant with beautiful, long-lasting blooms that come in an array of colors, making them the perfect plant to gift or to say thank you, and they’ll last much longer than a bouquet.

But, while you’re admiring the blooms, you might notice that the leaves are turning yellow, and think that the plant is on its last legs. Here are the five most common reasons orchid leaves turn yellow, along with how to fix each one.

1. Overwatering

We’re all prone to overwatering our houseplants, but too much water can result in root rot or fungal infections, which turn the orchid’s leaves yellow. So, before watering your orchid, check that the potting medium is dry. And, if you discover that the roots are brown and soft, remove the affected parts and repot the plant in a suitable potting medium for your plant.

The ideal potting medium for an orchid should be fast-draining and well-aerated, such as an orchid bark mix or Sphagnum moss.

2. Underwatering

Too little water can also make the leaves turn yellow, so in this instance, give your orchid a drink. You should be able to feel how dry the potting medium is by placing your finger into the potting medium.

3. Too much light

My instinct is to place an orchid on a sunny windowsill, but direct sunlight can scorch the leaves and turn them yellow. However, the reverse can also damage the plant. The best position for an orchid is indirect light. For me, this is on a tabletop or surface close to a window, where it’s still in a sunny spot, but the light isn’t as intense.

4. Lacking nutrients

If your orchid’s oldest leaves are turning yellow, but the root system appears healthy, it could be a sign that your plant lacks nitrogen. But if you spot yellowing occurring between the veins of the leaves you plant could be short on magnesium. To correct the nutrient deficiency, give it a feed with a water-soluble orchid fertilizer, and repeat weekly.

5. Natural aging

The leaves on an orchid will start to turn yellow as it nears the end of its lifecycle. In this instance, all you can do is to remove the leaves, which are likely to be the lower ones on the plant. This will help to improve the overall look of your orchid.

More from Tom's Guide

• How to get an orchid to rebloom in 6 easy steps
• 7 mistakes to avoid when growing orchids
• How to care for an orchid and make it thrive all year long

In just the past few years 3D printers have come a long way and aren't just more affordable, they're shockingly begginer friendly, too. I’ve been testing the Elegoo Centauri Carbon for a few months, and now instead of dropping $10 to $15 on Amazon every time I need a basic accessory or doodad, waiting two days for it to ship to my door, and then realizing it isn't what I actually needed, I realized I could oftentimes print it myself for a couple of cents.

But it’s not just about the money; because let’s be fair, this has an upfront cost of $359 at Amazon. More importantly, Carbon has helped me create customized prints for things that not only can’t be found in a store, and has actually inspired me to be a bit more creative with my problem solving by re-sparking my interest in 3D modeling.

Why this caught my attention

It’s been about five years since I last owned a 3D printer. My introduction started with the Lotmaxx SC-10 Shark V2, a dual 3D printer and laser engraver, that while very capable, was a nightmare to use. It was time-consuming to set up, switch between modes, and honestly was more trouble than it was worth for my smaller prints. It also had an open-frame / very industrial design that was a total eyesore in my home office. I eventually gifted it to a relative — who did in fact add it to their woodworking workshop. But that's where I lost interest in 3D printing. I just didn't want the hassle.

That is until I saw a live demo of the Elegoo Centauri Carbon a few months ago which caught my attention for two reasons. They claimed no prior 3D printer experience was required, while it has features typically reserved for printers that cost twice as much. So I thought, 'what the hell, maybe this could get me back into the hobby.'

It's ready to go out of the box

I had this printer set up in under 10 minutes. I pulled it out from the packaging, removed a few retaining screws from the bed, attached the front touchscreen control panel, slapped on a filament spool on the side, powered it up and was ready for the first print. It took a few more minutes to connect it to my home wifi, update its firmware, and install the Elegoo Slicer app on my computer.

With its clean lines and space-gray die-cast aluminum frame — which, yes, is very big and requires a good amount of desk space — it looks like a modern appliance rather than something that belongs in your garage. Speaking of its design, this is a fully enclosed 3D printer, which alone is a huge advantage over many competing models at this price point that typically are open-frame. The enclosure keeps the temperature stable inside the chamber allowing you to print materials like ABS, ASA, or even PC-based filaments that can struggle to print with open printers.

Why this $359 printer feels like a steal

I’m still surprised that this printer retails for just $359 at Amazon, and as low as $299 from Elegoo. The Centauri Carbon uses CoreXY kinematics. Essentially, the motors stay stationary and only the light print head moves, allowing it to hit speeds of 500 mm/s without shaking itself apart. It features a 121-point automatic leveling system where it taps the nozzle against the plate to map out the surface, meaning you should never have to mess with the old piece of paper trick for fine tuning like I had to with the Lotmaxx.

I’m also a big fan of the built-in camera. Even though the printer is only a few feet away from my desk, it lets me monitor how well the prints are going remotely. It can also save time-lapse clips of every print which is pretty sick. Even my most boring models look like a work of art when you watch it grow in 15 seconds.

With a little help from AI — this is a powerful tool

Who says AI is only for making slop? With the help of Google Gemini and OpenSCAD, I’ve been creating custom prints from scratch. While I have a bit of experience with Blender3D, I'm not confident enough to create functional prints.

So here's what I've been doing. Because OpenSCAD is code-based, I can describe my new idea to Gemini like "design a bracket for my pegboard which measures 10cm between holes that can display my 1/24 die-cast cars at a 15 degree angle" and it generates the script for me. It starts off very basic, often doesn't really understand what I need, and needs quite a few follow up prompts to get the idea. But since I am taking that code and visually seeing it in the CAD program, I can more easily provide feedback for what needs to be changed. It's not perfect but this has opened up an entirely new world of creativity that I highly recommend trying.

What I've been printing so far

Mostly, I’ve been running smaller, handy prints that solve specific problems. One I'm most proud of is a custom designed pegboard accessory for my Cougar E-Oddyssey standing desk that perfectly holds my 1/24 die-cast model cars. This took a lot of trial and error to get the measurements and balance right, but because of how easy it was to just drop each of my revised models into the splicer and print, I really enjoyed the process and felt like a little inventor.

I also found this be a great tool for creating custom gifts for friends and family. My fiancée — who is a nurse — really appreciated this 3D model of a heart wall art and this heart shaped pen holder. The heart wants what the heart wants, what can I say? Puns aside, these are both relatively complex prints, which yes, almost took 4 hours and 7 hours respectively, but the printer had no issues handling it.

One of my more practical prints was a mic stand for the DJI Mic 3 so that I could pass it between guests during my video shoots. The finish was so smooth that I actually had people asking me where I bought this from and they were surprised when I told them it was a print!

This printer won't let you down

I'm still in no way a 3D printer whizz, but for the money, the Elegoo Centauri Carbon has been a surprisingly fun addition to my creative setup. It’s fast, mostly automated, and reliable enough that I can just hit print and know I'm going to get pretty impressive results. So if you're looking to bridge the gap between a digital idea and a physical object, this has a very small learning curve and won't break the bank.

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• I tested this Galaxy S26 AI feature to scan my tax documents — and it makes my scanner obsolete

The Brother INKvestment MFC-T780DW ($340) is an ink-jet all-in-one that offers a range of home and small office features, and solid performance. It offers copying and scanning, has buttons for standalone operation, and offers an automatic document feeder (ADF) for scanning and copying multipage documents. It does not have fax capability.

The MFC-780DW has four ink tanks for black, cyan, magenta, and yellow. This all-in-one comes with two bottles of black ink, each rated to last 7,500 pages. The color inks are rated to last 5,000 pages — easily one of the best printers I've tested.

Brother INKvestment MFC-T780DW: Design

The control panel hinges upward roughly 45 degrees and has dedicated buttons for color and black-and-white copying. The color LCD is small, at just 1.8 inches. It is not a touch screen. You use the 4-way buttons to navigate the LCD menus.

The MFC-780DW is designed for small office use. Paper handling is modest. The ADF accommodates up to 20 sheets, and the output tray up to 50 sheets. The input tray can hold up to 150 pages.

The ADF atop the all-in-one is lightweight. Its hinges do not offer resistance to hold up the lid, so you will need clearance to lift it 90 degrees in order to use both hands to place documents on the scanner glass.

Where original documents land after being scanned, there is a flip-up catch to prevent the pages from getting pushed over the edge. A specialty media tray sits at the back of the unit; you fold down a door to reveal the tray.

It can accommodate only one sheet at a time, up to 79-pound thickness, versus the 58-pound paper weight maximum for the main 150-sheet input tray that sits below the 50-sheet output tray.

The MFC-T780DW offers scan-to-email, as well as file-sharing options for scans sent to a PC: file, email, image, OCR, and all the major cloud services.

The T780DW is of modest size and weight, measuring 15.4 x 13.5 x 7.2 inches. It weighs 17.2 pounds.

Brother INKvestment MFC-T780DW: Print Speed

The T780DW performed very well in our tests. On only one test was it slower than the average of our six most recently reviewed ink tank models (hereafter referred to as the category average). And, even on that test, it was barely slower than the average. On four of our tests, it was significantly faster than the category average.

This Brother printed text documents at a rapid 12.4 ppm, taking just 24.2 seconds to print a five-page document. This was the fastest time of our most recently reviewed ink tank models. The category average is 9.6 ppm. By comparison, the Canon G3290 printed text documents at 9.2 ppm, and the HP Smart Tank 706 did so at 8.6 ppm.

Taking 2 minutes and 17 seconds to print our document of mixed text and color graphics, the T780DW printed at a roughly average speed of 2.6 ppm. The HP Smart Tank 706 was moderately quicker, printing the same document at 3.1 ppm. The Canon G3290 printed more slowly, at 2.2 ppm.

Keeping true to its office worthiness, this Brother all-in-one printed two-sided text documents quickly. It printed a 10-page text document onto five double-sided sheets in 1 minute and 29 seconds, or 6.7 ppm. By comparison, the Canon G3290 bested the Brother, making duplex prints at 7.2 ppm. The HP Smart Tank 7602 made duplex text prints at a more modest 5 ppm

The T780DW made duplex prints of a color PDF at 2.4 ppm, taking 2 minutes and 31 seconds to complete the six-page print. By contrast, the HP Smart Tank 760 was quicker, at 2.8 ppm, and the Canon G3290 was slower, at 1.9 ppm.

Brother INKvestment MFC-T780DW: Copy and Scan Speed

The MFC-T780DW copies quickly in color. It copied a color page in just 19.5 seconds, which was much faster than the average of 26.8 seconds for ink tank models. By comparison, the HP Smart Tank 760 copied a color page at the same speed as the Brother, while the Canon G3290 was slower, at 27.5 seconds.

The Brother MFC-T780DW also copied text pages at a respectable pace. It made a copy in 12.8 seconds, on average, which was slightly slower than the category average of 12.3 seconds. Both the HP 760 and Canon G3290 turned in similar times of 12.7 and 12.5 seconds, respectively.

Using its ADF, the MFC-T780DW made copies of multipage text documents at a good clip of 7.6 ppm. The HP SmartTank 760 was a little slower, at 7 ppm, while the Epson EcoTank ET-4760 lagged behind, at 4.5 ppm. (The Canon G3290 does not have a document feeder.)

Scanning speed was impressive, particularly in color. The MFC-T780DW made a 600 dpi color scan to JPEG format in just over 50 seconds—significantly faster than the category average of 1 minute and 20 seconds. By contrast, the Canon G3290 took 1 minute and 5 seconds to make the same scan. The HP 760 took 1 minute and 25 seconds.

The MFC-T780DW scanned black-and-white documents at 300 dpi at better than average speed. It scanned a page to PDF format in 12.5 seconds, which was one second faster than the category average. The HP 760 was slower, at 16.2 seconds, while the Canon G3290 was slower still, taking 21.8 seconds to capture the same scan.

Brother INKvestment MFC-T780DW: Print Quality

The MFC-T780DW printed text that looked quite sharp, although it was a little on the light side and not as dark as laser-quality text. Graphics also looked attractive, with sharp details and smooth textures. Mid-tone transitions were gradual and not abrupt. Similarly, copy quality was high.

Glossy photo prints looked very attractive, which was a little of a surprise for an office-oriented all-in-one that doesn’t tout itself as being photo-centric.

Nonetheless, colors were well saturated, details looked sharp, and skin tones appeared natural. Dark shadows did, however, tend to flatten into a dark mass that lost the original photograph’s subtle details.

Brother INKvestment MFC-T780DW: Ink/Toner Cost and Yield

It’s highly unlikely you’ll ever gripe about the cost of ink with the MFC-T780DW.

A bottle of black ink costs $20.99 and is rated to print 7,500 pages. This comes out to a cost of just 0.3 cent per text page. Plus, you get two bottles of black ink in the box with the printer.

A set of three color ink bottles (cyan, magenta and yellow) costs $32.99 (or, $12.29 individually). These are rated to last 5,000 pages. At this rated yield, printing a color page costs less than a penny—just 0.94 cent. (The MFC-T780DW is not eligible for the company’s Refresh EZ Print subscription plan.)

Brother does not offer any ink subscriptions on ink tank printers.

Brother INKvestment MFC-T780DW: Setup and Startup Time

This is the only ink tank printer where I’ve gotten ink on my fingers. The bottle nozzles are not symmetrical so you need to make sure you line up the spout to the small opening atop the ink tank.

The printer comes with a basic printed setup guide. You can follow that, or use the QR code to set up the MFC-T870DW with your mobile device. Older iPhones will not work: The Brother Mobile Connect app requires iOS 17 or later, or Android 7.0 and up.

After removing a half dozen pieces of packaging tape and loading paper in the input drawer, I connected the power cord. Using the four-way control buttons, I entered the year, date and time using the four-way buttons; having to navigate to the LCD’s on-screen numbers was a little cumbersome.

Meanwhile, I downloaded the Brother Easy Setup app to my laptop. Setting up the printer on a home network requires that you enter your network administration name and password. This is followed by ink initialization and entering confirmation on the control panel that each ink tank is full. This was followed by a printhead alignment (printing and scanning an alignment sheet), nozzle check, and firmware update.

My first search for the printer from my laptop using WiFi Direct did not succeed. When I tried connecting a USB cable to complete setup, the LCD said “initial setup incomplete”. I could not understand why. This was followed by the LCD displaying a QR code; I was unable to navigate away from the QR code. (I did not use this setup because my iPhone is too old to run the Mobile Connect app).

I resorted to the WPS method, navigating to the wireless setup menu on the printer’s small LCD, using the four-way control buttons. Pressing the WPS on my wireless router put the T870DW on my network. However, after turning off my laptop’s wireless, the printer failed to reconnect over W-Fi when I turned it back on.

I had to go to the printer’s wireless setup menu to reestablish the connection. A few days later, I found that the printer had dropped off my network again and I had to repeat the wireless setup. My MacBook was displaying that the printer was idle and “out of ink”, which was clearly untrue. Hereafter, however, the T870DW remained reliably connected and on my network.

Although the Quick Setup Guide said nothing about the Brother iPrint & Scan software, I chose to download and install it. Doing so resumed the printer’s functioning on my network and my laptop could once again see the device.

Brother INKvestment MFC-T780DW: Software

Brother’s iPrint & Scan software is basic, but it’s adequate for everyday print and scanning tasks from a Windows or Mac computer. For example, you can save workflows such as scanning at specified settings to a particular folder.

Scanning to the cloud is supported for OneNote, Google Drive, Dropbox, Evernote, Box, SharePoint Online, and corresponding business versions. You can print photos and PDF files from the application, while text files are expected to be printed from their native application.

One drawback, however, is that the software cannot scan automatically detect multiple photos on the scanner glass and save them as separate files. You will need to scan one at a time.

Placing multiple photos on the flatbed results in only one photo being offered by the software for saving. For Windows users, the workaround is to use the TWAIN driver and PaperPort software.

The mobile app for this model is Brother Mobile Connect. The previous mobile app, iPrint & Scan, is not compatible with the MFC-T780DW. Despite sharing the same name, this change in mobile app does not apply to the desktop software, which remains the current supported version.

The T780DW starts up quickly, offering its main menu in just 4 to 5 seconds. However, I couldn’t navigate the menus until about 18 seconds had passed. That’s still very quick. However, I ran into a frustrating anomaly: Even though I had reset the paper type to plain paper, upon restarting the printer, its paper type had reverted to “other glossy”, the setting I’d changed it from.

Brother INKvestment MFC-T780DW: Bottom line

The MFC-T870DW has a lot to offer, with a couple compromises. It’s a solid performer that will accommodate most small office tasks. Outfitted with a capable ADF, duplexer, and dedicated buttons for copying, this Brother all-in-one will satisfy the needs of many offices.

The 20-sheet capacity of the ADF may be too small for some outfits, as may be the 150-sheet input tray and one-sheet-at-a-time specialty media slot.

The small color LCD isn’t flashy, like a big touchscreen would be. But this ink tank all-in-one isn’t about being glamorous. It’s a performer and a money saver, offering costs per page of just 0.3 cent and 0.94 cent per page, respectively.

The MFC-T780DW performed consistently well in every one of our speed tests, whether printing, copying or scanning. Two-sided printing was above average for text and roughly average for color pages. Image quality was high, even for glossy photo prints. If the specs and speeds meet your needs, this office-oriented all-in-one is unlikely to disappoint.

Los Angeles could soon become the first major U.S. city to ban certain single-use printer cartridges. It would join current bans on other single-use plastics like shopping bags and takeaway containers.

To be clear, this wouldn't be a ban on the entire category of printer cartridges. Specifically, the city is looking at ink cartridges that can't be recycled through reuse, remanufacturing, or in take-back programs. Effectively, they are designed to be thrown away once empty.

The printer industry is quite confusing, where even at a store you can find branded cartridges, third-party compatible clones and even counterfeits. In this instance, LA is trying to regulate the end result, not the brands themselves.

More than a year in the making

This week, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved the creation of an ordinance that would prohibit the sale of single-use printer cartridges within city limits.

The ban was first proposed in 2024 alongside suggested plastic bans for items like single-use vapes and bag clips. At the time, councilmember John Lee said that single-use cartridges are a significant contributor to environmental waste.

"Banning aftermarket clone cartridges is a simple way to keep building on our environmental achievements and bring attention to an issue that has gone unaddressed for too long," Lee said in a press release.

According to city documents, cartridges are tough to recycle because of the plastic, metal and chemicals inside. Additionally, the pots are classified as "regulated waste" because they leach toxic substances into the environment.

This means the city's recycling program can't recycle the cartridges, and even if hazardous waste programs take the cartridges, more than 70% end up in landfills.

As a Los Angeles resident, the plastic bag ban is the easiest comparison. Recently, grocery stores like Safeway or Ralphs offered plastic bags as an option but those have completely disappeared since the ban went into effect. It also means that takeout no longer comes in plastic bags instead restaurants are sending takeaway in paper bags.

Food still comes in plastic containers but often those containers are recyclable or reusable with careful washing.

A ban hasn't gone into effect yet though. LA Sanitation is currently recommending that the ordinance prohibit the sale of single-use ink cartridges whether alone or bundled with a printer. If it goes into effect, it will won't start for at least a year.

Ink options

It will be interesting to see how consumers in LA respond to the ban once the city figures it out. Ink and toner are already some of the most expensive purchases you can make over time.

Our collleagues at TechRadar broke down how confusing ink prices can be in 2024 showing how divergent they can be.

But printer manufacturers are shifting as refillable tank printers are becoming more available. These printers remove the need for single-use cartridges and reduce plastic waste. Ink subscriptions can be tricky, but they do offer convenience and built-in recycling.

If you are looking for a new printer, check out our picks for the best all-in-one printers, portable printers or laser printers.

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Uncomplicated, straightforward and easy. That's what the best all-in-one printers should be, and exactly why this guide will point you towards the go-to machine for all your printing, copying and scanning needs (along with faxing, if needed).

Whether you need to scan important documents, print letters to loved ones or shipping labels for packages to send off, or quickly make copies of files, the all-in-one printers we've tested and reviewed over the years strive to make your life easier. There are many, though, but I'm here to tell you that, really, there are only a few you need to look at.

If there's one no-fuss printer to put on your radar straight away, it's the Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II. It does it all: blazing-fast print speeds, easy copy and scanning, and yes, even faxing. For more fun, portable prints, though, I highly recommend the Inkwon Tag for stickers or even for creating custom T-shirts. Need more options? We've got them, and if you're after more details, our expert testing comes with all the info you need to make the right choice. So, let's find the best all-in-one printer for you.

If you just need a simple way to print documents, photos and everything in between without any scanning, copying or faxing, our guide on the best printers will give you all the options you need.

The best all-in-one printers you can buy today

The best all-in-one printer overall

When it comes down to it, the Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II is quite simply the only printer you'll ever need. Yes, it can print, scan, copy and fax, but it does it all with a hassle-free setup experience and rapid speeds across the board. When a printer actually gives easy step-by-step instructions on how to fix a paper jam, you know it's a good one.

In our tests, it delivered a five-page text print job in just 11.31 seconds (26.5 pages per minute) and scanned in color in 6.22 seconds, and that's faster than its inkjet competitors. And this 250-capacity printer (plus an extra 150 prints in the middle section) with quick start-up, too, as our reviewer, Nikita, found it effortless to get up and running, with warm-up times as quick as 14 seconds from off. It isn't just speed, as print quality is consistently sharp and detailed, both in color and black and white, and everyday jobs came out looking just as sharp as they did on our screens.

Where the MF753Cdw II pulls ahead of inkjet competitors like the more budget-friendly Canon MegaTank Pixma G3290 is in raw speed and features. You get much faster printing and a true all-in-one experience (there's no faxing on it), but running costs are higher if you print in volume. Against the business-class Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850, the MF753Cdw II still keeps up on print speed and quality but can’t match those rock-bottom ink costs.

That’s the main compromise here: the per-page price is higher than what you’ll find with most ink tank printers (around 51 cents per color page and 27 cents per mono print). But not by that much, and that shouldn't put you off grabbing this workhorse. If you want a dependable, fuss-free machine for everyday tasks — letters, homework, invoices, you name it — the MF753Cdw II is the best fit for most households.

• Read our full Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II review

The best value all-in-one printer

Unless you need faxing in your life, this is the all-in-one printer to grab if you're after a reliable machine for excellent prints. The Brother INKvestment MFC-T780DW stands out largely thanks to its exceptionally low ink costs: just 0.3 cent per black page and 0.94 cent per color page based on our lab testing. That's value you can't ignore.

In daily use, the T780DW keeps pace with demanding routines. It prints standard text documents at 12.4 pages per minute (ppm) and handles double-sided text at 6.7 ppm. These speeds put it among the fastest inkjets we've tested for both single and duplex jobs, making it reliable for everything from schoolwork to business invoices.

Print and scan quality are equally reassuring. In our hands-on tests, text and graphics came out crisp and accurate, while color scans preserved detail and clarity.

The main compromise is its 20-sheet automatic document feeder. While fine for light multi-page copying and scanning, if you've got a large batch of documents, it will take some time to do. That, and there's no USB thumb drive port, and don't expect to make double-sided copies or scans via the automatic document feeder (ADF).

In any case, for those who want low running costs and easy printing, the Brother MFC-T780DW will fit in nicely with your home or office.

• Read our full Brother INKvestment MFC-T780DW review

The best all-in-one printer for photos

Whether you're a photographer or just need highly detailed, colorful prints, the Canon MegaTank Pixma G3290 is the all-in-one printer for you. Sure, it may come with fewer additional features, but it excels where it matters: print quality and affordability.

It's a modest printer; it has just one paper tray and no document feeder, and it's not the speediest option. But for home use, it's an excellent choice. Expect this to deliver reliable, high-quality prints with the versatility to do documents, photos and double-sided print jobs. Speaking of, those graphics prints and glossy photos will come out with plenty of details and natural, accurate colors.

While the Canon MegaTank Pixma G3290 prints at pretty average speeds, it actually excels at double-sided documents. In our testing, it printed single-sided pages at an average of 9.2 pages per minute, but double-sided text documents that cranked up to 7.2 pages per minute, the fastest duplex print speed we've recorded of any recent ink tank printers.

And thanks to its easy setup process, robust wireless support (this thing can print via Wi-Fi or a smartphone app) and low ink costs (we estimate color prints cost roughly 0.9 cents per page, significantly lower than the 1.9 cent per page category average), I recommend the Canon MegaTank Pixma G3290 for anyone seeking an affordable, reliable ink all-in-one printer, especially for photo printing.

• Read our full Canon MegaTank Pixma G3290 review

The best all-in-one printer for business

I recommend the Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 as the best all-in-one for business because it combines impressively low ink costs with a device capable of handling more than 3,000 pages per month.

And the EcoTank design uses refillable ink tanks and comes with enough spare ink bottles to print thousands of pages. The printer can scan, copy and fax, uses dual 250-page paper cassettes and has a 50-sheet automatic document feeder.

In our timed printer tests, the Epson ET-5850 delivered some of the fastest printing we've seen, and produced crisp, clear text that nearly rivals laser printer quality. That same quick, high-quality performance was also seen in copying and scanning, making it the printer of choice for offices that need a full-featured multifunction printer.

But I think the real draw is the ink savings, extremely low per-page costs of 0.4 cents for text pages, and 1.6 cents per color page. The upfront price may be high, but the combination of quality, features and super-low operating expenses makes this one of the best investments you can make for your office.

• Read our full Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 review

The best portable all-in-one printer

• Inkwon Tag is available for $299 (via Kickstarter)

Alright, this one's a little different from any other all-in-one printer, as the Inkwon Tag is a one-of-a-kind portable color inkjet printer. Instead of printing, scanning or copying documents or photos, this pocketable printer delivers all the fun stuff — instant photo prints for scrapbooks, heat transfers for creating custom t-shirts, temporary tattoos and even stickers.

This 4-in-1 portable printer is as tiny as it is light, coming in at 4.1 x 3.8 x 1.7 inches and weighing just 8.2 ounces. Our reviewer, Nikita, has no problems carrying this around in a pocket, as it's actually smaller than the best big phones around today.

Despite its size, you'll find it boasts surprisingly good print quality, no matter the image. It uses a CMY three-dye-based ink system (no dedicated black ink, though) with a resolution of 600 dpi, making it excellent for small prints of friends and loved ones, designs of your choosing or even screenshots from games. And it's all extremely easy to use, right from setting it up to the very user-friendly app for editing and printing photos.

It isn't perfect, as it can only handle one sheet of paper at a time, and don't expect it to create any borderless prints. It's also quite a pricey portable printer, coming in at $299, but its ink costs and paper refills are much more value-friendly when compared to its competition, especially from Canon or Instax (plus, they don't offer 4-in-1 portable printer options with sticker or heat transfer capabilities).

To have a mini, portable printer by your side to instantly create stickers to personalize whatever you want, temporary tattoos for parties, heat transfers for customized T-shirts and Polaroid-like photos, all at low running ink costs? As far as portable all-in-one printers go, the Inkwon Tag is a winner.

• Read our full Inkwon Tag review

Also tested

How to choose the best all-in-one printer for you

Not sure which all-in-one printer to buy? No worries, I'm here to help.

Obviously, you want a printer that performs well, so all of our reviews and rankings discuss a printer's output quality and speed, but there's more to an all-in-one printer than just how quickly it can crank out documents.

• Price: All-in-one printers sell for as little as $60 (£45/AU$90) for inkjet models and $150 (£170/AU$200) for laser printers, with high-end models costing hundreds of dollars but offering better print quality, durability, and features. And don’t forget ink and toner, which can range from 1 to 5 cents per page for basic documents (photos will cost more).
• Inkjet or Laser: Next, it helps to determine whether you need an inkjet or a laser printer. Inkjet printers are generally better suited to producing the full range of colors, making them better suited to printing graphics and photos. Laser printers can quickly produce professional-looking text documents, often at a lower cost per page.
• Home or Office: Home and office printers differ greatly in their handling of large print volumes. Some printers are built to offer great quality and value for the home user who prints a few pages a week, while others are built for busy offices where multiple users print dozens or hundreds of pages every day. Find the one that’s right for you to avoid paying for features you don’t need.
• Use case: Additional use cases, like photo printing, are addressed in our selections above, while specific features are discussed in every printer review we do. Portable printing is another niche area where the right printer can make a world of difference.
• Operating expenses: Finally, consider the cost per page. Whether it’s using ink cartridges or toner, printers cost money over time. Check our reviews for a breakdown of the costs to print individual pages as a good measure of how expensive operating costs will be over the life of the printer.

Some companies even offer subscription services that save you money while sending you ink just in time to replace that empty cartridge. Learn more in our article HP Instant Ink vs. Canon vs. Epson: Are ink subscriptions worth it?

How we test the best all-in-one printers

To help you find best all-in-one printer, we put each model through an extensive range of printer tests, including timed prints of text, mixed text and graphics and color photos. The resulting prints are carefully examined for errors and issues, and compared with samples from other printers to determine the print quality.

We time every test print to see how quickly the machine handles document printing, and closely examine the finished product to determine how well different printing tasks are handled.

We also test the scanning and copying functions of the printer, timing how quickly it captures a page and comparing the results to the original images to determine how well it captures color and detail.

To measure the cost of owning and operating a printer, we look at the current street price of ink refills and the estimated number of pages that each cartridge can produce, and calculate the cost for printing a single page.

The holiday season is underway and if you're looking to print your own holiday cards or calendars — you're going to need a reliable printer. Right now Best Buy is offering huge discounts on HP smart tank printers. These printers deliver good performance, high image quality, and boast low ink costs.

After discount, HP Smart Tank printers start at $189 at Best Buy. Below I've included my top deals this week. (For more ways to save, check out our guide to this week's top Best Buy coupon codes).

Quick Links

• shop all HP printer deals from $189 at Best Buy
• HP Smart Tank 5101: was $259 now $189
• HP Smart Tank 6001: was $369 now $249
• HP Smart Tank 7602: was $469 now $349

Best HP Printer Deals

If you want to build things, there's no more enjoyable way than making it yourself with a 3D printer. You get the satisfaction of bringing something new into existence without all the manual labor that comes with other creative hobbies.

For 3D printers, it feels like Black Friday is already here. Some of the best models are on sale with huge discounts. My favorite printer, the Bambu Lab A1 Combo, has seen a price drop to $379 from its $599 price. The beloved Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo is on sale for $459, $290 off.

Anyone who has looked at the world of 3D printing from the outside and wished they could own one, this is the perfect time to jump in, as I don't anticipate these models becoming any cheaper when we hit Black Friday proper.

Quick Links

• Creality Ender-3 V3 SE 3D Printer: was $219 now $199 @ Creality
• Elegoo Centauri Carbon: was $413 now $279 @ Elegoo
• Bambu Lab A1 Combo: was $599 now $379 @ Bambu Lab
• Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra 16K: was $624 now $419 @ Elegoo
• Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo: was $749 now $459 @ Anycubic
• Anycubic Kobra 3 Max Combo: was $649 now $619 @ Anycubic
• Snapmaker A350T: was $1,349 now $1,099 @ Snapmaker
• Bambu Lab X1C: was $1,698 now $1,119 @ Bambu Lab
• Creality K2 Plus Combo: was $1,499 now $1,199 @ Creality

Best early Black Friday 3D printer deals

I've always looked at 3D printing from the outside, thinking it was cool, but not really for me.

Then I tried my first 3D printer. Now, I'm positively hooked. It's so much fun to make all kinds of stuff with a few mouse clicks. Usually $599, Amazon has the Bambu Lab A1 Combo for $399. That's $200 off the regular price, making this a deal sure to beat even the best Black Friday deals slated for next month.

If you've longed to experience the world of 3D printing like I did, I can confidently say this is the best time to buy that I've ever seen.

While I haven't dug deep enough in the world of the Bambu A1 to write a full review yet (that'll be coming soon), I can say that with the little over a week I've spent with it, I'm sold on the concept of 3D printing and this model being the perfect gateway into the experience. I'd go as far as to say that it will be on our best 3D printers list once I get a proper review out — I'm that confident in how good it is.

I love how quickly it can print basic and more complex projects. The longest thing I've printed so far took about 6 hours, but that was a very detailed skull-shaper flower pot. And it came out fantastic.

If you have kids, don't even get me started on how much fun they'll have (with your guidance). I've printed my stepson all kinds of Minecraft figures and fun accessories. Every day, he comes from school asking what I printed and wanting me to print something else. He's eight, but when he gets a little older, I know he'll be designing his own projects and learning through the 3D printing process. (I've just started designing my own with a really simple design for a golf ball marker display).

Speaking of children, another benefit is the relatively low noise output. I've had it printing for a couple of hours overnight while he's asleep, and it hasn't woken him up once (my dog barked at it a couple times, but that was just her adjusting to a new sound in the house).

Whether you thought 3D printing was dumb or you were intimidated by all the possibilities, put that aside and give it a try with this awesome deal. $200 off is enough to buy a boatload of filament, which you'll need once you're as hooked on printing everything and anything as I am.

The Canon MegaTank Pixma G3290 ($249) is an entry-level ink tank printer that offers basic features and very low ink costs. It is outfitted with four ink tanks, comes with four bottles of ink and has a flat-bed scanner for copying and scanning.

The duplexer enables two-sided printing, but otherwise this Canon foregoes additional features such as a second paper tray, a USB thumb drive port or an automatic document feeder.

Yet this printer remains versatile and easy to print from despite its frugal design. You can connect to this MegaTank via the USB port, wireless, and Wi-Fi Direct. Mobile devices can use the Canon Print app to perform print, scanning and copy functions.

In our tests, the MegaTank G3290 turned in consistent speeds and image quality. It's no speed demon, but neither does it have an Achilles' heel. The Pixma G3290 can copy documents up to 8.5 x 11.7 inches, make borderless prints up to letter size, and has a duty cycle of up to 3,000 pages per month.

For delivering that level of reliable workhorse performance with such low ink costs, this Canon is one of the best printers you can buy if you're on a budget. In this Canon MegaTank Pixma G3290 review I'll show you why.

Canon MegaTank Pixma G3290 review: Design

The G3290 has a 2.7-inch LCD touchscreen on its control panel, which can be angled upward roughly 45 degrees. There are physical buttons for home, back, monochrome copy/scan and color copy/scan, as well as a stop button. The LCD offers four scene selections: standard, work, study and lifestyle (pattern papers, e.g.).

The LCD responded well to input in our testing, but menu navigation wasn't always ideal. For example, using the LCD to change paper size required scrolling past many sizes I will never use, and some I don't even know. Locating my preferred print sizes was made less intuitive because they were identified by multiple names, such as KG/4"x6" (10x15). However, after using 4 x 6-inch paper, this paper size setting showed up at the top of the menu list.

The paper tray can hold up to 100 sheets of paper or 20 sheets of photo paper. The paper tray is at the back of the unit; you raise a support and load paper vertically. This adds a few inches in height and depth to the printer. The G3290 measures 16.4 x 14.3 x 7 inches closed up for shipping, and measures 16.4 x 21.9 x 10.6 inches with the output tray and input support extended. This MegaTank model weighs 14.2 pounds.

The black ink tank is to the left of the control panel. The three color ink tanks are to the right. Windows into the ink tanks allow you to see the ink levels.

Canon MegaTank Pixma G3290 review: Print speed

The MegaTank Pixma G3290 was consistent in our speed tests. Neither blisteringly fast nor agonizingly slow, the G3290 tended to perform at roughly average speeds. It printed our five-page text document in 32.8 seconds, or 9.2 pages per minute (ppm). This was faster than the similarly outfitted Epson EcoTank ET-2850, at 8.7 ppm, though slightly slower than the category average of 9.8 ppm for the ink tank models we've tested.

The G3290 printed two-sided text documents quickly at 7.2 ppm, which was the fastest duplexer speed amongst recently tested ink tank models. This was a little faster than the Epson ET-2850, at 6.5 ppm, and significantly faster than the category average duplex speed of 5.5 ppm.

The Canon G3290 printed our six-page PDF of mixed text and color graphics in 2 minutes and 42 seconds, or 2.2 ppm. The Epson ET-2850 was faster, at 2.7 ppm, and ink tank models in general have averaged 3 ppm.

Using its duplexer, the G3290 printed the same color PDF at 1.9 ppm, which is the slowest time for recently tested ink tank printers—but not by much. The Epson ET-2850 made the same two-sided print at 2.4 ppm; the category average is 2.5 ppm.

The G3290 took 4 minutes and 12 seconds to make a high-resolution 8 x 10-inch glossy photo print. This was only 10 seconds slower than the category average. The Epson ET-2850 was significantly slower, taking just over 6 minutes to make the same print.

Canon MegaTank Pixma G3290 review: Copy and scan speed

The MegaTank G3290 made copies at roughly average speeds. It took 27.5 seconds to make a color copy, compared to the category average of 25.3 seconds. Similarly, black-and-white copies took 12.5 seconds on average to produce, compared to the average of 11.4 seconds for ink tank models.

The G3290 was relatively quick to scan in color, but slower than average at scanning and saving in grayscale or black-and-white (see the Software section for more details). Making a 600 dpi scan to JPEG format was quick, taking 1 minute and 5 seconds. The category average, by contrast, was slower, at 1 minute and 23 seconds.

Scanning in black-and-white at 300 dpi to PDF format took 21.8 seconds. The average for ink tank models is a much quicker 14.4 seconds.

Canon MegaTank Pixma G3290 review: Print quality

The MegaTank G3290 makes attractive text document prints. Letterforms look fairly sharp and sleek. The text looked sufficiently dark, though not quite the darkest we've seen. Some duplex prints had a top line of slightly misaligned text.

Graphics prints were similarly attractive. Colors looked natural and adequately saturated. Details in graphics were reproduced well. The quality on duplex prints was comparable. However, there was some very slight banding in some flat areas, and some black boxes with white text printed with a slightly different background shade than the surrounding area, which had matched in single-sided prints.

Glossy photos printed with well saturated colors and plenty of details. Dark shadow areas retained fine details rather than get blocked up, skin tones looked natural, and images had a warm appearance overall.

Copy quality was good overall. Copies of magazine pages were reproduced with sharp-looking text. Copies of a laser print of a text document, however, had letterforms that looked a little thick, having lost their sleekness. Reproductions of graphics were very attractive and retained the colors and details in the original.

In particular, copies of photographic prints were impressive. Most copies of professional photo prints looked nearly as sharp as the original, and were faithful to the color tint and saturation. Only one photo print copy looked subpar, losing some mid tones, which gave the photo a slightly unnatural and flattened appearance.

Scans of photographs and documents were faithful to the originals. Photo scans looked attractive, with well saturated colors that looked natural and warm overall. Scans also retained fine details in dark shadow areas.

Canon MegaTank Pixma G3290 review: Ink cost and yield

The MegaTank G3290 delivers bargain ink costs of just 0.4 cents per text page, which is the category average. On color pages, however, this printer offers drastic savings of 0.9 cents per color page—significantly lower than the category average of 1.9 cents.

A bottle of the pigment-based black ink costs $21.99. The three dye-based color inks cost $13.99 each. The bottles of ink last an estimated 6,000 text pages or 7,700 color pages.

Canon MegaTank Pixma G3290 review: Setup and software

Packing material was minimal, and I quickly had this MegaTank out of the box and ready to set up. The printed setup guide instructs you to plug in the printer and to follow the instructions on the LCD.

After installing the two printheads (black and color), the LCD's on-screen animation depicted how to unlatch the cover of the carriage in order to install the printheads. But, I did not find the animation totally clear; it took some tinkering to figure it out. Then, I poured the inks into their respective well, which was easy. The LCD said it would take about seven minutes for the printer to complete the setup process. Thereafter, screen displayed a URL for setting up the printer with a computer or smart phone. From the web page, I downloaded the software to my Windows 10 PC. It's called Canon Print, but it also offers scanning functionality.

Putting the G3290 on my network was simple. I used the WPS method, which took a few menu steps on the control panel LCD and a press of the WPS button on my router.

Basic copy and scan functions can be performed from the control panel of the G3290, using the dedicated buttons and LCD menu. When my original photo matched the loaded paper, all went well. But, when I tried copying a 5 x 7-inch photo print to 4 x 6-inch photo paper, I did not get a print with the entire image shrunken to fit. The LCD had not offered a choice to fit the entire image or crop; the G3290 simply cropped the image. It did offer an on-screen preview, however. In addition, you can scan multiple photos at one time. The LCD had a tendency to say that the G3290 had failed to correct a slanted photo or document, however, even when I had placed it snuggly in the upper corner, as instructed.

The scanning software in Windows 10 is basic. I did not find a way to customize settings on my PC and set up shortcuts for various document types. As a result, I had to make these selections with each scan. The LCD, however, does offer a little customization; there are four "scenes" to choose from: standard, work, study, and lifestyle. Standard has on-screen buttons for print, copy and scan. Work has buttons for standard copy, two-sided copy, and save to computer. Lifestyle offers three print functions: wallpaper-like patterns, templates, and print from cloud.

Canon Print software asks you to set the type of the original before scanning, either document or photo. But you can't select color or black-and-white scanning—you make this choice when saving the scan, in color, grayscale, or true black-and-white. When scanning from the G3290's control panel, pressing the "black" copy/scan button produced a grayscale JPG or PDF file.

The latest version of the Canon Print iOS app requires iOS 16. However, you can still use a previous version of the app with an older device, such as my iPhone 7, which runs iOS 15. Using the Canon Print app you can print, scan, store to the cloud, and make a smartphone copy (as opposed to scanning on the flatbed). This last feature I am typically skeptical of, but the app did a good job in my testing. Using the flatbed scanner, the G3290 made a copy of a magazine page that was attractive, but had areas where text was distorted because the slightly wrinkled page did not press firmly down on the glass (the scanner lid is lightweight). However, using the Canon Print app, the resulting copy had text in these same areas that was less blurred than in the flatbed copy. In both cases, graphics looked attractive and colorful, and text was moderately, but not razor-, sharp.

The MegaTank G3290 starts up in 12 seconds, which is a few seconds faster than the category average.

Canon MegaTank Pixma G3290 review: Verdict

The Canon MegaTank Pixma G3290 offers a fair number of features for a bargain price, making it a good choice for those who need an all-in-one printer without a lot of frills.

This ink tank model performs consistently well, delivers very low ink costs, and includes a duplexer. The G3290 creates high-quality prints, copies and scans. Although the included software is basic, solid performance and high image quality make this MegaTank model worth a serious look, especially for students and folks on a budget.

In a seemingly all-digital world, we often overlook the one tool that brings our ideas from a device’s screen to our hands. Today’s printers are better designed to improve our workflows rather than complicate them. The 2025 lineup of printers from Canon, for example, is specifically tailored to meet the needs of the user. Whether you’re a big business architect printing large blueprints or a small artist looking for high-quality prints of your work, there’s a Canon printer designed for you.

Print museum-grade images from your own studio

For artists, photographers, and designers, producing high-quality, highly pigmented prints on a variety of paper types is imperative to having your work seen. Canon has long been a favorite brand of printers for meeting those needs, and its latest in photo printing continues to build on that hard-earned trust by providing professional, large-format printing with accurate color matching.

The Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-200S, PRO-310, and PRO-1100 photo printers are must-haves for the print needs of creatives, as these printers provide museum-grade prints with intense color precision and outstanding detail. The imagePROGRAF line of printers is compatible with a wide array of paper finishes, including glossy, matte, and textured, and even supports large-format, borderless printing.

Sharing your photos or illustrations through art galleries and public showings, along with selling high-quality prints, is an exceptional way to grow and expand your creative business. Canon’s imagePROGRAF printer series can allow you to provide those prints from your very own studio, without having to rely on a third-party printing service that may not be as color accurate.

The imagePROGRAF series isn’t limited to artists and creatives, either. The Canon imagePROGRAF TC-21M All-in-One large format printer is an excellent choice for construction professionals, architects, and engineers who may need to produce high-quality blueprints and ultra-accurate CAD prints, or scan larger documents. Despite its large-format printing functionality, this printer is surprisingly compact and features just a 24-inch footprint, making it ideal for smaller offices with big printing needs.

Print to your heart’s content with a low cost-per-page

Printing fees can be costly, not just for artists but also for remote workers and educators. If you’re looking to cut the cost of high-volume printing, Canon’s got just the tool for that, as well. The Canon MegaTank GX7120 and GX6120 Inkjet All-in-One printer line features refillable MegaTank ink tanks that produce high-volumes of pages at a low cost-per-page output, saving you money and still getting the job done.

The MegaTank lineup also offers unique functions like wireless and mobile printing support. No more needing to run down to the office to print that new worksheet for your students if you are a teacher. Instead, send the file to print to a Canon MegaTank from your phone or laptop right there in the room. It doesn’t get more convenient.

The Canon MegaTank also offers advanced security features, so it can be used safely in a business or educational setting. Even if you’re working from home, your scanning and printing are safe and secure. Not all printing takes place at home, though, so what happens if you need something equally secure but a little more portable than a standard printer?

Canon has that covered, too, with the Canon PIXMA TR160 Portable Wireless Printer, a lightweight, ultraportable printer with wireless options that is specifically engineered to print on the go. Perfect for sales reps, consultants, and real estate agents who may need to produce documents quickly without heading back to a home office, the PIXMA TR160 can reliably print borderless photos and crisp documents alike. For those digital nomads who may not always have a reliable power source on hand when the need to print arises, an optional battery is also available.

Printers engineered for precisely for your workflow

Canon’s teams have been hard at work designing precision-engineered printing devices that can enhance and improve the workflows of various professions. Regardless of whether you’re working solo at home, gearing up for your first art gallery exhibit, or printing massive blueprints for a major construction project, there is a Canon printer capable of producing the high-quality, crisp, clean prints that you need.

The Epson Expression Photo XP-8800 ($300) is a multifunction printer aimed to please the photo enthusiast. 

It uses six ink cartridges, using Claria HD (“high-definition”) dye-based inks, adding light magenta and light cyan to the standard offering of black, cyan, magenta and yellow. This Epson photo multifunction also scans and copies, and performed well in our tests, both in terms of speed and image quality. 

Connectivity options include a USB port, wireless, and Wi-Fi Direct. Printing from a smart device is done with the Epson Smart Panel app for iOS and Android. 

Does it have what it takes to hang with the best printers on the market? In this Epson Expression Photo XP-8800 printer review I'll walk you through what I think and why.

Design

The XP-8800 has a large, 4.3-inch color touchscreen that works well for changing settings and selecting functions. The panel, including the power button, folds upward 90 degrees. The body is somewhat compact, measuring 13.7 x 20.7 x 7.2 inches. It is easy to move, weighing 14.6 pounds. 

Beneath a lightweight lid atop the unit, there's a flatbed glass for scanning and copying one page at a time (there isn't an automatic document feeder). This Epson does not have a duplexer for making two-sided prints.

The XP-8800 offers three paper input trays, so you can keep multiple paper sizes and types at the ready. Behind a fold-down door, there are two paper input cassettes and the output tray. The bottom input tray holds up to 100 sheets of letter-size plain paper. You can, however, use photo papers in it as well, and load up to 20 sheets of glossy paper, as small as 4 x 6 inches. Photo paper as small as 3.5 x 5 inches can be loaded in the upper tray, which accommodates various sizes up to 5 x 7-inch and 4 x 7.1-inch (16:9 wide). A third paper slot is located on the back of the unit for specialty media; it must be fed one sheet at a time. It accommodates paper up to 8.5 x 47.2 inches.

If the output tray is retracted, it will extend automatically when you initiate a print job. Also, there is a CD/DVD tray for printing on coated discs. On the lower left of the front panel is an SD/MicroSD slot for printing directly from your camera's memory card. This slot sits behind the touchscreen panel if it is folded down against the body.

The Claria HD inks used by the XP-8800 are described by Epson as “lab-quality”. This is the company's line of photo enthusiast inks—a step above their general-purpose DuraBrite Ultra inks, and a notch below their professional UltraChrome ink line.

Print speed

The Epson XP-8800 did not disappoint in our speed tests. It made a letter-size glossy photo print in just 1 minute and 26 seconds—almost three times faster than the category average of 4 minutes and 9 seconds. (This category excludes ink tank models and high-yield printers.)

The results were similarly impressive when printing on plain paper. The XP-8800 spat out our six-page document of mixed color graphics and text in just 1 minute and 8 seconds, or 5.3 pages per minute. The category average is half that, at 2.7 ppm.

For a photo printer, this Epson did not slough off when printing text documents either. Our five-page text document printed in 40.5 seconds, or 7.4 ppm, which was slightly below the average of 8.7 ppm.

The XP-8800 made 4 x 6-inch photo prints at high-quality setting in 1 minute and 27 seconds, on average. This was significantly faster than the average of 1 minute and 56 seconds.

Printing at standard quality was much quicker: An attractive 4 x 6-inch glossy arrived in just 40.5 seconds, on average. Printing at draft settings sped up print time to 24.5 seconds. (A discussion on print quality follows below.)

These print speed tests were done from a Windows 10 PC. Print times from an iPhone 7 running the iOS Epson Smart Panel app were very similar.

Copy and scan speed

The XP-8800 made color copies significantly faster than the average. It made a copy of mixed text and color graphics in 17.1 seconds—much faster than the average of 28.2 seconds. Copying a page in black-and-white was roughly average, taking 14.4 seconds. The category average is 15.9 seconds.

Scanning in color at 600 dpi to JPEG format was also faster than the average. A color scan took 52.1 seconds, versus the average of 1 minute and 7 seconds. Scanning in black-and-white at 300 dpi to PDF format was slower than the average, taking 18.2 seconds per page on average. Competing models averaged a significantly faster 12 seconds on this test.

Print Quality

Text documents printed with sharp letterforms, and was quite dark. Letterforms were heavier than the sleeker text that a laser printer is capable of. Printing at the best quality setting resulted in slightly darker and at times subtly sharper edges. Seeing these differences required very close viewing. 

Color graphics printed on plain paper with plenty of detail and accurate color. Text in PDF documents, however, looked somewhat lumpy around the edges and not as sharp as in prints from text documents. Prints made at the highest quality setting showed a very mild improvement on letterforms. Graphics, which were already very attractive, looked the same at the higher setting.

Photos printed on glossy paper looked fantastic, with well saturated colors and plenty of detail. Even when using the standard quality setting, a dramatic photo of a sunset printed with very rich, warm colors. Increasing the setting to high quality only added a subtle amount of saturation. 

Compared to high-quality print settings, glossy photo prints made at lower settings showed very little drop-off in quality. The difference was so subtle, in fact, that it required extremely close examination and a magnifying loupe. Without magnification, it's likely that only eagle-eyed photography aficionados would notice the subtle differences, which only showed up in the very fine details. Color saturation remained nearly constant across all print quality settings.

The difference revealed in standard-quality prints was just a very subtle vertical pattern. At first glance, it's not noticeable at all. And even at draft quality, it did not become a distraction.

The XP-8800 made attractive copies in our tests. Graphics in color and black-and-white looked detailed and accurately reproduced. At best quality settings, text looked nearly as sharp as in the original from a laser printer. Only very close scrutiny revealed slightly lumpy edges. Subtle differences at high quality and standard settings similarly were only visible from a very close distance. At a comfortable reading distance, these differences were negligible. 

In both scans and copies, however, tests revealed a tendency to blur or distort areas near the binding in copies made from magazines. This is because the lid, which is light, does not push down much on what's on the scanner glass. This is easily solved: Pushing down on the lid while copying such material produced a sharp scan or copy across the entire page. 

As with copies, scans of color graphics looked very detailed, with well saturated and natural-looking colors. Using the dust-removal feature did not result in overly harsh shadow or artifacts (such as distortions resembling a gaussian blur) around edges or fine details. Very small text in a laser printer document, however, did look lumpy around the edges in the resulting scan to PDF. Small text in scans of magazine pages, however, looked pleasantly sharp.

Ink cost & yield

The Expression Photo XP-8800 uses six dye-based inks. The T340 series individual cartridge colors are black, cyan, magenta, yellow, light cyan and light magenta. 

Individually, the black ink cartridge costs $11.99 and is rated to print 240 pages. The XL black cartridge ($19.99) is rated to print 500 pages. Costs per page are quite reasonable, at 5 cents and 4 cents, respectively, compared to the category averages of 8.1 cents and 6.2 cents, respectively.

Standard color cartridges cost $11.99 (rated to print 360 pages), while XL versions cost $22.99 each and are rated to last 830 pages. Costs per color page were roughly average. Total cost per color page is 21.6 cents with standard cartridges and 17.8 cents with XL cartridges. The category averages are 22 cents and 16.3 cents, respectively.

A three-pack of cyan, magenta and yellow cartridges costs $33.99, saving you almost two dollars compared to buying individual cartridges for a total of $35.97.  A two-pack of light magenta and light cyan saves 99 cents off buying two separate cartridgs for $23.98. These are standard cartridges. Cost per color page, when purchasing both the CMY three-pack and the two-pack of light magenta and light cyan, is 19.8 cents—not as low as buying individual XL cartridges. Multi-packs of XL cartridges were not listed on the product webpage at time of review. 

Setup & software

Although the product webpage says a CD setup disk is included in the box, my printer did not come with one. Following the printed instructions, I set up the XP-8800 using my iPhone. Setting up with a smart device was the recommended method. I used the iOS app, Epson Smart Panel. Afterward, for my Windows 10 PC I went to the online product page, as instructed by the setup script in the iOS Smart Panel app, and downloaded the driver or utility package.

Interestingly, the setup in the iOS app directed me to answer "later" when prompted to update the firmware, which I did. But then at the end of the setup I was prompted again to update the firmware, and did so. This process did not complete the first time, apparently due to an issue with the IP address. 

Adding the printer to my network required typing in my router's password (WPS method was not offered). But along the way, the touch screen displayed messages saying there was a network connection issue. After this resolved, I added the XP-8800 for use with my Mac, which was as simple as adding it to my printers list.

The included Epson ScanSmart software worked well on my Windows PC. In photo scan mode, the software accurately detected multiple photographs and saved them as separate JPEG files. In document mode, however, the software did not offer an auto crop feature. As a result, magazine pages of unconventional sizes had to be scanned at letter-size, for example, which left white space at the edge on two sides.

You don't need to use a PC, however. You can use the mobile app to initiate a scan or copy from the flatbed. Also, you can take a picture of a document (called "document capture") and print the adjusted the photo. The quality isn't nearly as good as a flatbed scan when using my iPhone 7, but it's usable in a pinch. 

Smart Panel for iOS offers basic photo edits such as auto correct, sharpness and brightness and contrast. Additional Creative print features such as printing on CD/DVD disks can be done with the Epson Creative Print app. The app offers card and stationary designs, collage prints, coloring book pages, stationary, and design paper.

The XP-8800 started up quickly, in about 7 seconds, when the touchscreen displays the main menu. After 16 seconds, calibration sounds stopped and the ring light around the power button changed from flashing to solid, indicating the photo printer was ready to go to work.

Bottom line

Very high image quality, fast performance, and photo-centric features are what distinguish the Expression Photo XP-8800—including CD/DVD printing, an SD Card slot, and a specialty media slot that can print sizes up to 8.5 x 47.2 inches. 

The large touch screen works well for standalone operation, and ink costs for color pages are roughly average. Although text printing lags a bit, the XP-8800 is quick to print, scan and copy in color. If photography is your passion, and you're looking for a photo printer that also can adequately double as a general-purpose all-in-one, the Expression Photo XP-8800 is worth a serious look.

How often have you been deep into a gaming session to discover that your pizza has gone cold? Rarely?

If you find yourself in that situation, Pizza Hut Canada has what you need with the new PIZZAWRMR (via Creative Bloq). It's a 3D-printed model that uses the heat exhaust from your PlayStation 5 to keep your pizza hot.

The model is free to download, but you must fire up one of the best 3D printers to get it. We should note that your printer needs to have a build volume of 15 x 15 inches, at a minimum, to accommodate the warmer. It does rule out many of our recommended 3D printers based on size unless you're okay with cutting the model up. We recommend trying the Prusa XL, a larger version of the beginner-friendly Prusa Mini+.

Usually, when companies post silly products on their social media accounts, there is no way that they become a reality — looking at that KFC gaming console.

The PIZZAWRMR will work best with the standard PS5. However, the PDF with the STL files says it should work on a PS5 Slim. There is no word on whether or not it can handle the PS5 Pro or Xbox Series X|S.

The model is printed in separate parts with STL files for the body, lid, manifold and left and right stands. It's not clear from anything released by Pizza Hut how long the print is expected to take, but based on the size and number of parts, we imagine this is a multi-day print. Also, Pizza Hut Canada recommends using food-safe materials in your print. They specifically mention PLA plastic. To prohibit grease and foil from getting everywhere, Pizza Hut recommends placing a foil tray that measures 34 x 23 x 2.5 cm in the warmer.

As for the pizza holder itself, it doesn't look like it will hold an entire pizza together, but instead, it seems like it can hold a small pizza split up.

Based on the design, we have to say this looks like it could work. However, as a general rule, you don't want foodstuffs near your gaming console or controllers. Who wants a greasy DualSense or Nacon Revolution 5 Pro? Also, we don't want to block heat exhaust from our electronics, even those with reliable heat sinks installed.

Still, I want to try it...

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DIY isn't just about saving money—it's an ethos. You see the vision. Whether you're putting together brochures for your budding business or giving gifts that create everlasting memories, your creations should reflect your distinct style. It simply means more.

That's why a Canon inkjet printer is a tool you can't overlook. They're not like the printers you had 20 years ago. These modern machines offer new, innovative features alongside the convenience of home printing. From making photo books to designing concept decks, here are some ways an inkjet printer lets you get more done, saving you a trip to the print shop.

Preserve your memories

We're so used to having all our images confined to our little devices that holding a physical picture can be a truly novel experience. Canon printers can produce high-quality photos with sharp detail and incredible color accuracy. You could create a photo album to capture the memories of your recent vacation or decorate your space with reproductions of landscapes printed on glossy photo paper for added texture. Surrounding yourself with your best memories is never a bad choice.

Get organized

Designing and printing custom labels is a great way to bring order to your sometimes chaotic days. Want to keep your kids' lunchboxes, water bottles, and notebooks straight? Label. Want to know you're grabbing the nutmeg instead of the cumin? Label. Want to keep your filing cabinet immaculate (even though your receipt collection is anything but)? Label. Plus, you can add fun shapes, fonts, or even photos to give them a personal touch. An organized life means an organized mind.

Home office heroics

Have you ever made a concept deck that you were really proud of and, on the way to the meeting, you stopped by a print store to get it printed, but only after it was printed did you realize you formatted the files to be 11 x 17 when you really should have formatted them to be 8.5 x 11, and you couldn't reformat it because you didn't have your laptop on you, so you just showed up to the meeting feeling like a dummy with an improperly formatted presentation? Just me? Ok.

Don't be like me. Whether you're working from home or building your side hustle, having a printer by your side will allow you to create professional-grade prints in minutes. You can quickly brainstorm presentation materials that will really drive your point home, or create brochures and business cards to help get you that next client. The difference between success and failure often comes down to presentation. Don't give anyone an excuse to overlook your work because your printing was subpar.

A gift they'll remember

High-quality printing isn't just important for business occasions. It can also make a difference when you're giving gifts to the special people in your life. You can use your Canon inkjet printer to create custom gift tags and stickers; design a personalized birthday card and envelope; craft an origami figure to tie into the bow; and print bespoke stationery to write notes to those you care about. No matter what, your Canon inkjet can be key to creating memories your loved ones will cherish forever.

There's a new ink subscription plan in town, and it's definitely worth a look. 

The All-In Plan ($6.99/month to start) from Hewlett-Packard works much like its predecessor, Instant Ink. You choose a plan based on how many pages you print, and ink cartridges are automatically shipped to you when your printer is running low. The big new feature here is that the printer is included in the plan.

Yes, you read that right. It's a novel offering, especially for an industry criticized for using the "razor model" (giving away printers for cheap in order to trap customers into buying expensive ink known as "liquid gold" in the long term). But a lot of changed since then, and now all the big players offer ink subscriptions that promise to save you money.

With the up-front investment of buying a printer erased, HP has erased the first step of the buying decision. Now, you just pick your plan and start printing, no need to spend hours researching the best printer to buy first.

However, right now you don't get many printers to choose from with the All-In Plan. Your choice of printers is limited to three models: the Envy 6020e, Envy Inspire 7258e, and OfficeJet Pro 9010e.

The monthly price to use it depends on which of the three printer models you choose, and the price increases the more pages you print. As with Instant Ink and other ink subscriptions plans, there is no distinction between black-and-white and color pages; a page is a page is a page. If you go over your plan's allotment, your monthly invoice will include a one-dollar charge per set of 10-15 pages, depending on the plan. If you are under, your unused pages are rolled over to the next month. You can roll over up to three times your plan's allotment. A 300-page monthly plan, for example, allows you to roll over up to 900 pages.

So far, so good, right? Ink subscriptions that automatically order ink for you ensure that you don't find yourself in a bind, having to drive to a store for cartridges. Now, All-In Plan gives you a printer without having to fork out that initial investment, and gives you 24/7 tech support.

The All-In Plan offers round-the-clock live printer support. If an issue can't be resolved, HP will send a replacement, possibly the next business day. There is no charge for the shipping nor the return shipping of a malfunctioning printer.

The plan has a 30-day trial period. After two years, you have the option of upgrading to a new printer.

Breaking down the cost

Ultimately, the value of the All-In Plan depends on how much you print and the value you place on not having to buy a printer. You can not make a direct comparison to a printer's costs per page because these are calculated for two different standardized pages—one to approximate text pages, another for color graphics. But, it's still worth the consideration.

When I reviewed the HP Envy 7955e, its estimated costs per page were 7 cents for text pages and 18.1 cents for color pages, when using its high-yield ink cartridges (which lowered costs per page slightly). Currently, the average costs per page for similar printers is 6.2 cents (text) and 15.9 cents (color). By contrast, ink tank printers and Brother models that use very high-yield cartridges, average

Of course, that price distinction of color ink versus black ink goes away with a subscription. If you like to print with a lot of color, this may have obvious appeal. This may be especially true if you print a lot.

For example, for roughly the same cost of printing text pages with the Envy 7955e, you could print 300 color pages per month from an Envy (5.3 cents per page) or Envy Aspire (6.3 cents per page) printer—without having to buy the printer.

But that's not to say that every tier of the All-In Plan looks that appealing. The Light tier with an Envy printer, for example, runs 35 cents per page. But if you are expecting print duties to pick up dramatically in the near future, you'd drop that cost to 11 cents per page if you upgrade to the plan with 100 pages per month.

All-In or Instant Ink?

Compared directly to Instant Ink, the All-In Plan reads like a bargain, in many cases. The moderate plan with 100 monthly pages, for example, includes the printer for just $4 extra per month. At that rate, you wouldn't recoup your cost on a $129 printer for two years and eight months.

However, allotting 300 pages monthly costs $22.99 with the All-In Plan and an OfficeJet Pro printer and just $13.99 with Instant Ink. Assuming you bought an OfficeJet Pro printer that cost $289, you would recoup that investment in two years and eight months, thereafter saving $9 per month on your printing costs (assuming the printer continues to work flawlessly).

The ink tank alternative

The lowest costs per page among inkjet printers are offered by those with ink tanks or that use very high-yield cartridges. These models print thousands of pages before running out of ink. However, they also tend to be a little pricey. The price of models we've reviewed in this category has averaged roughly $400 over the past four years. Two recent examples: the $350 HP Smart Tank 7602 and the $230 Epson EcoTank ET-2850.

Ink costs for these printers have averaged just 0.4 cent for text pages and 1.5 cents for color pages. That's a dramatic difference compared to standard inkjet printers as well as the costs of the HP All-In Plan.

Nonetheless, this doesn't mean the All-In Plan isn't worth serious consideration. But you should do the math (based on your expected print output) to make sure your expectations are met.

For example, if you sign up for the moderate plan of 100 pages monthly with an HP Envy Inspire printer, you pay $12.99 per month, or $155.88 for the year.

By comparison, you have to pay $350 up front for the Smart Tank 7602. If you print roughly half text pages and half color pages, your ink costs for printing the same number of pages for the year (1,200) will be roughly $72, at 0.6 cent a pop. And, you'll still have plenty of ink left in the tanks.

In sum, the cost of the moderate All-In Plan with an Envy Inspire will break even in roughly two years and three months, compared to buying the Smart Tank printer outright. Thereafter, you'll either be paying $12.99 per month for the plan, or 6 cents monthly to print. This latter option, of course, does not include the plan's perks, including no-cost printer replacement, 24/7 support, and automatic ink cartridge shipments.

This cost difference narrows more quickly at higher print volumes. The 500-page plan with an Envy Aspire, for example, costs $25.99 per month, or $311.88 annually. The break-even time is at roughly 14 months. Thereafter, you'll still pay $25.99 per month for the plan, while printing 500 pages with the Smart Tank would use up an estimated $3 in ink per month.

Outlook

It goes without saying that one size does not fit all in the inkjet printer world. I hope my back-of-the-napkin calculations have provided some helpful information for comparison. Costs per page are just one consideration, however. You can't discount the convenience of a plan like HP's All-In. If you have been a fan of ink subscriptions, then a small monthly markup to include a printer is likely very enticing.

Another way to look at it is that the frequent plan with Instant Ink (300 pages per month) costs 4.7 cents per page. The All-In Plan includes an Envy printer at that level for 5.7 cents per page, or an Envy Inspire 6.3 cents per page.

Many factors impact this decision, including how your home office or business works. If you often replace your printer, you might welcome getting rid of that repeated one-time expense. The All-In Plan offers some enticing costs per page while removing some of the guesswork and hassle of choosing a printer, troubleshooting a printer, and keeping supplies on hand. If all of that adds up to a no-brainer for you, I guess you could say you are "all in".

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The HP Smart Tank 7602 ($349) is a moderately priced multifunction printer that offers very low ink costs, fast print and copy speeds, and a few office-friendly features. However, after using and testing one myself I'm disappointed by the frustrating software, small touchscreen and photo print quality.

The HP Smart Tank 7602 isn't quite good enough to hang with the best printers on the market, but it's a speedy multifunction that could be handy in a home office. The 35-sheet automatic document feeder (ADF) eases multipage copying, scanning and faxing. Up to 100 sheets can be stored in the fax memory.

The duplexer enables two-sided printing. There is one 250-sheet paper tray, with no second tray for keeping photo paper loaded, for example. The output tray holds up to 100 sheets. A USB port on the front panel allows printing from a thumb drive, but in this HP Smart Tank 7602 review I'll explain why the process of printing from this multifunction can be a hassle.

HP Smart Tank 7602 review: Price & availability

The HP Smart Tank 7602 is available for purchase from HP's website, Amazon and select third-party retailers for a starting price of $449. 

However, at time of publication the printer is discounted $100 down to $349, and you may be able to find it on deeper discount during big sales events.

HP Smart Tank 7602 review: Design

The Smart Tank 7602 measures roughly 16.8 x 14.3 x 9.5 inches. You'll need clearance above the unit: The scanner lid's hinges do not offer resistance to hold it up at less than 90 degrees, so you'll need to open it fully if you want to use both hands. The paper tray is on the front of the printer, with the output tray just above it. The unit weighs 17 pounds.

A 3-inch touchscreen sits on the top, in front of the scanner lid. The screen displays white text on a black background and is capable of displaying three lines of text. However, when pulling up a new menu page, it tends to display only two lines of text, leaving the top of the screen blank. Even when the partially obscured second item was the setting I wanted, I found the touch screen unwilling to let me select it—I routinely had to drag the text upward in order to make my selection.

When pulling out the paper tray, the screen will prompt you to choose a new paper size setting. However, when I failed to do this right away, I could not find any paper setting in the general settings menu, and could find no explanation in the user manual. At that point, I had to use the HP Smart software to set the paper type. The online specifications say that there is a paper sensor, but the 7602 did not automatically change paper sizes for any of the HP papers I used, including multiple photo paper sizes.

The ink tanks are visible from the front panel. The black ink tank sits to the left while the color tanks are grouped on the right side. Refilling them from the included ink bottles was simple: I lifted the ADF lid and filled each of the four tanks without spilling a drop of ink.

A status light above the output tray changes colors as indicators, and you'll need to consult the manual to learn what each color indicates, as well as solid versus pulsing, as this is key to understanding the status of the printer.

HP Smart Tank 7602 review: Print quality

This Smart Tank produced consistently high image quality in our tests. Text printed with sharp edges and graphics looked detailed, with smooth transitions. Colors looked accurate. This was true of copies as well.

Photographs printed on glossy paper were also of a high quality. Details looked sharp. Colors were well saturated, but overall the color cast looked a little unnaturally warm, with hyped reds and yellows. In addition, some dark shadow areas came out with an unnatural blueish cast.

Similarly, scans reproduced details well overall as well as accurate colors. The scans reproduced subtle shadow details without getting blocked up. However, close examination of fine details, on faces in particular, revealed digital artifacts and distortions. At actual size, scans often reveal pixelation and some smoothing perhaps due in part to dust reduction (as appears the case with scans of the same image by the Canon G6020 and Brother MFC-J4535DW). But these two models still reproduced these details while the Smart Tank distorted and obscured some of them, while making some edges look unnaturally harsh.

HP Smart Tank 7602 review: Print speed

The HP Smart Tank 7602 printed a five-page text document in 35 seconds, or 8.6 ppm. This was slightly slower than the category average of 30.3 seconds (or 9.9 ppm) for ink tank printers (such as the $270 Canon Pixma G6020) and high-yield ink cartridge models (such as the $250 Brother MFC-J4535DW).

The Smart Tank printed our six-page color PDF of mixed text and graphics in 1 minute and 33 seconds, or 3.9 ppm. This was faster than the category average of 3.1 ppm. By comparison, the Canon G6020 was slower, at 2.2 ppm, and the Brother MFC-J4535DW was significantly faster, at 7 ppm.

Using its duplexer to make two-sided prints, the HP Smart Tank was consistent, proving faster than the Canon G6020 but slower than the Brother MFC-J4535DW. The Smart Tank printed two-sided text documents at 5 ppm and two-sided color pages at 2.8 ppm. The Canon G6020 made the same prints at 2.3 ppm and 1.8 ppm, respectively, while the Brother bested both models at 10.7 ppm (text) and 5.8 ppm (color).

The Smart Tank 7602 was very fast at photo printing. It printed an 8 x 10-inch glossy photo at high resolution in just under 2 minutes. This was impressive, considering that the category average is twice as long: 4 minutes and 1 second.

The difference was not as pronounced as smaller sizes, however. Printing a 4 x 6-inch snapshot at high resolution the Smart Tank took just 1 minute and 2 seconds—the fastest time we've clocked for a desktop inkjet. Close behind was the Brother MFC-J4535DW at 1 minute and 8 seconds. The category average for printing a snapshot is 1 minute and 54 seconds.

HP Smart Tank 7602 review: Copy and scan speed

The Smart Tank 7602 was faster than average at making a color copy, doing so in 19.5 seconds. The average is 22.2 seconds. By contrast, the Brother MFC-J4535DW was faster, making a color copy in 13.2 seconds, while the Canon G6020 was somewhat pokey, at 31.2 seconds.

The Smart Tank was slightly slower than average at making copies of a text page, doing so in 12.7 seconds. The Brother MFC-J4535DW made a black-and-white copy in a more brisk 11 seconds, as did the Canon G6020, in 11.3 seconds. The category average is 10 seconds.

Using its ADF, the Smart Tank's made copies of multipage text documents quickly, doing so at 7 ppm. The Brother MFC-J4535DW was slightly faster, at 7.9 ppm. The Canon G6020 does not have an ADF.

The Smart Tank was slower than average at scanning in black-and-white. Doing so to PDF at 300 dpi, the Smart Tank captured the page in 16.2 seconds (showing an on-screen preview in HP Smart software at 13 seconds). The MFC-J4535DW made the same scan in 11.5 seconds. The Canon G6020 was even faster, at 8.4 seconds. The category average is 13.6 seconds.

Using its ADF, the Smart Tank scanned the page in 31.6 seconds (displaying a preview at 27.8 seconds).

The Smart Tank scanned in color at exactly the category average time, capturing a color 8 x 10 to JPEG at 600 dpi in 1 minute and 25 seconds. The Canon G6020 was slightly faster, at 1 minute and 5 seconds, while the Brother MFC-J4535DW handily bested them both by scanning a color page in just 41.9 seconds.

HP Smart Tank 7602 review: Ink costs and yield

A bottle of the Smart Tank's black ink is rated to last 8,000 pages. The color inks (cyan, magenta and yellow) are each rated to last 6,000 pages. Buying a four-pack will save you $1.97 off the individual price total of $68.96 for all four inks.

This adds up to just 0.3 cents per text page and 0.9 cents per color page. The advantage of standard inkjet printers is obvious. Traditional inkjet printers we've tested average 5.7 cents per text page—when using a high-yield cartridge (7.9 cents with a standard cartridge). Color pages run 15.9 cents with high-yield cartridges and 21 cents with standard cartridges.

By comparison, the category averages for ink tank printers and high-yield models are 0.4 cents (text) and 1.5 cents (color). The Canon G6020's costs per page are even lower, at 0.2 cents and 0.8 cents, respectively. The Brother MFC-J4535DW's ink costs are significantly higher, at 1.1 cents and 6 cents, respectively—but still a fraction of what standard inkjet printers offer.

HP Smart Tank 7602 review: Setup & software

Removing a few pieces of tape and a couple cardboard inserts are all that you need to remove to get the HP Smart Tank 7602 ready for setup. On my Windows 10 laptop  I downloaded the print driver and HP Smart software easily enough, as no DVD-ROM comes with the printer. I printed an alignment page and scanned it, per instructions.

HP Smart installation offered a new printer setup after the download. So far, all was smooth. But my first attempt at establishing a connection failed. The USB connection was not recognized. Later, allowing time to pass in the Windows printer settings triggered the download of the print driver.

Connecting to my wireless network was not immediately apparent. So, I pressed the WiFi button on the back of the printer. The light above the output tray was supposed to pulse purple, but did not do so. This first attempt timed out and I had to restart the printer.

For my next attempt, I went into the network settings on the touch screen and chose the WPS method. To finish, I was prompted to open the printer and type in a PIN code on a sticker. But this eventually sent me back to Windows settings, and then a link for a scan app sent me to Get Windows Scan.

After this got sorted out, the HP Smart software showed both the wirelessly connected network printer and the USB version—they showed up as two different printers without an easy way to tell which is which. In HP Smart, the connection type did not display. When WiFi was offline, I had to toggle to the next printer to use it via the USB connection.

On a Mac running OSX, the Smart Tank showed up in my printers list and I connected without issue.

You will want to set up an online HP Smart account, otherwise some advanced scan and print features will not work. Unfortunately, HP Smart lacks some basic and convenient features that plenty of other software packages offer. For example, HP Smart does not allow you to set up a scanning shortcut at specified resolution and file type for saving to a PC. You can, however, set up shortcuts for emailing or saving to online destinations: Google Drive, Box, Dropbox, Evernote, OneDrive, and Quickbooks. Also, you can make scan-to-email shortcuts for particular email addresses.

This same limitation is true of printing settings as well. If you have particular settings such as resolution that are not the default, you'll have to select those settings every time. And, after making a scan, the software does not return you to the page to make another scan; you must close the pop-up "your file has been saved" window and backspace to return to the scan settings.

Scanning of multiple documents on the scanner glass is not supported. When I tried to scan two photo snapshots at the same time, HP Smart only offered me the ability to save one of them. (Alternatively, I could have enlarged the crop box to include both photos, but them would have had to crop and save separately in another image processing application.

When using the ADF, scan resolution is limited to 300 dpi. If you want a high-resolution scan at 600 dpi or 1200 dpi, you will need to change the source setting to "scanner glass". 

HP Smart software had a difficult time cropping a cartoon magazine cover illustration to PDF format; its detect edges feature cropped out much of the cover while scanning in color. (Scanning to JPEG did not When scanning in black-and-white, it correctly recognized the entire image.

There is no preset for scanning 8 x 10-inch photos (only 4 x 6 and 5 x 7); you will need to use edge detection to crop the scan. Word files and PDF files will need to be printed from their native applications; HP Smart does not open these file types. From Windows Explorer, you can not right-click and open a photo with the software. You need to open HP Smart first for photo printing.

Getting my iPhone 7 to connect to the Smart Tank 7602 took a little work. At first, the HP Smart iOS app was unable to find the printer, even after turning on Bluetooth to aid in the process (both the printer and my iPhone were already on my wireless network).

The trick ultimately was to not use the first choice in the iOS app, which is "set up a new printer". Since the printer was already on my wireless network, I needed to select "finish setup or add a printer that's already set up". The fine print makes this clear. Choosing the wrong option prompted me for a password I could not locate. 

The iOS app offers printing, copying and scanning via a phone camera photo,  and mobile fax. Startup is a little slow, taking 46 seconds to offer a menu on the touchscreen.

HP Smart Tank 7602 review: Verdict

The HP Smart Tank 7602 offers good performance, high image quality, and very low ink costs. Outfitted with a document feeder, duplexer, fax capability, and scanning to email and online destinations, it's well suited to small work groups that need these features and can live without a second paper tray.

The small touch screen is not ideal for regular standalone operation. And, the basic software offers limited features. The requirement to be signed into an online account to perform everyday functions is not appealing—especially if you're simply scanning a file to be saved on your PC. But if online collaboration is what you need, you will find the scan-to-email and scanning to online folder destinations to be up your alley.

Top-quality print and copy quality on plain paper are achieved at respectable speeds. The document feeder and duplexer performed also performed well in our testing, making this ink tank multifunction a good fit for office work.

I've tested dozens of printers over the years and Canon's lineup frequently outperforms the competition. This is especially true in the lower and mid-tier price ranges where print quality and features from Canon's premium machines trickle down. If you're looking for a new printer, Amazon is offering an epic sale on the all-in-one Pixma right now.  

For a limited time, you can get the Canon Pixma TR420 for just $59 at Amazon. That's $40 off and the lowest price I've ever seen for this feature-packed machine.

Although this version of the Pixma is a bit bulky and lacks a touchscreen, its matte black finish fits into any room. Setting it up is as easy as plugging it and connecting it to the app. Once paired you can connect it to your network and other devices. You'll primarily kick off print jobs from the phone app or your computer. Should you need to make a quick copy or fax the large simple buttons and LCD display are easy to see and press.

This machine automatically duplex (two-sided) prints documents to help you cut down your paper usage. It also has an auto-document feeder to scan multi-page documents so you don't have to feed each individual page one by one. These features are typically reserved for more premium printers so it's impressive to see a sub-$100 machine ship with them.

It's easy to get lost in the weeds when it comes to specs but this printer's 4800 x 1200 DPI is sharp enough for school and professional work documents. Pictures also come out quite clear and the Pixma automatically removes borders from photo prints. While it may not have the fastest print speeds this is a capable all-in-one printer that can scan, copy, print, and fax from one place.

Looking for more discounts on your favorite tech? Check out the Cyber Monday deals that you can still get.

The Epson EcoTank ET-2850 ($230) is a bargain-priced ink tank printer offering a modest set of features and very low ink costs. It has a flatbed for scanning and making copies, and a duplexer for making two-sided prints. The ET-2850 performed well in our tests. It's not a speed demon, but it's consistent. And, image quality is high across the board.

This EcoTank comes with four bottles of ink (black, cyan, yellow and magenta), which you use to fill the corresponding ink tanks. The black ink is rated to last 7,500 pages, while the color inks should last 6,000 pages. The ET-2850's features and performance make it best suited for home use rather than a busy office. Included in the box are four bottles of ink (black, cyan, yellow and magenta), which you use to fill the corresponding ink tanks.

Epson EcoTank ET-2850 review: Design

The ET-2850 has a compact body. When set up to print, with its paper support and output tray extended, the unit measures 14.8 x 22.3 x 10.2 inches. It weighs just under 12 pounds. The scanner lid is lightweight because it does not include an automatic document feeder (ADF) for copying and scanning multi-page documents. The lid's hinges do not extend upward to accommodate thicker materials, such as books.

The ET-2850 has one 100-sheet paper tray, which sits at the back of the unit. It can hold up to 20 sheets of photo paper. You load paper vertically against a narrow support, which triggers the LCD to display the paper type menu. The LCD is small, at 1.44 inches, and sits in the middle of a control panel with dedicated buttons for menu navigation, including four-way navigation buttons. There is one copy button, so you need to select black-and-white or color in the on-screen menu. The control panel hinges upward roughly 90 degrees.

Lacking office-oriented features such as a second paper tray, an ADF, and fax capability, the ET-2850 is best suited for home use. If those are features you need, you might consider the recently reviewed $250 Brother MFC-J4535DW, which offers an ADF and faxing for $20 more than the ET-2850.

You can connect the ET-2850 via wireless or USB cable. From a PC you set up the printer using the included software. From a smart phone, you can set up the printer using the Epson Smart Panel app. In addition, the ET-2850 also offers voice-activated printing via Alexa or Siri.

Epson EcoTank ET-2850 review: Print Speed 

The ET-2850 performed at roughly average speed on most of our tests. It printed a five-page text document in 34.4 seconds, or 8.7 ppm. Compared to other ink tank and high-yield printers Tom's has reviewed, this was a little slower than the category average of 30 seconds, or 10.1 ppm.

Similarly, this Epson printed a six-page PDF of mixed text and color graphics in 2 minutes and 15 seconds, or 2.7 ppm, which was slightly slower than the 2.8 ppm average. By comparison, the Brother MFC-J4535DW printed the same color document at a very brisk 7 ppm, while the Canon G6020 did so much more slowly, at 2.2 ppm.

The ET-2850 lost very little speed when using its duplexer to make two-sided prints. It printed a 10-page text document on five sheets in 1 minute and 32 seconds, or 6.5 ppm. By contrast the Canon Pixma G6020 (which printed one-sided text documents at 9 ppm), slowed down considerably, making duplex text prints at 2.3 ppm (pausing 14 seconds in between sides). The Brother MFC-J4535DW, on the other hand, made two-sided text prints faster than the Canon G6020 did single-sided ones, churning out duplex text pages at 10.7 ppm.

The story was similar for pages of mixed text and color graphics. The ET-2850 printed this six-page document onto three sheets in 2 minutes and 29 seconds, or 2.4 ppm. The Canon G6020 was slightly faster, at 3.2 ppm, while the Brother MFC-J4535DW was significantly quicker, at 5.8 ppm.

The Epson ET-2850 was quite slow to make 8 x 10-inch glossy prints at high-resolution, taking 6 minutes and 7 seconds, on average, to print our landscape photograph. By contrast the Canon G6020 made the same print in just under 4 minutes, while the Brother MFC-J4535DW did so in an impressively fast 1 minute and 36 seconds. However, the ET-2850 was much quicker when printing the same photo at normal resolution, producing the 8 x 10-inch glossy photo in 3 minutes and 32 seconds.

Printing at high resolution, the ET-2850 printed a 4 x 6-inch glossy photo in 3 minutes and 1 second. This was slower than the category average of 2 minutes and 29 seconds, and much slower than the Brother MFC-J4525DW, in particular, which printed a high-resolution 4 x 6-inch photo in 1 minute and 8 seconds.

Epson EcoTank ET-2850 review: Copy and Scan Speed

The Epson ET-2850 made a color copy in 33.2 seconds, which is faster than the average of 25.8 seconds for ink tank and high-yield models. The Canon G6020 performed similarly, taking 31.2 seconds to make a color copy, while the Brother MFC-J4535DW was more than twice as fast, making a color copy in just 13.2 seconds.

Copying in black-and-white, the ET-2850 produced a facsimile in 11.9 seconds, on average. Both the Canon G6020 and Brother MFC-J4535DW performed similarly, making a black-and-white copy in 11.3 seconds and 11 seconds, respectively. The category average on this test is 11 seconds

The Epson scanned an 8 x 10-inch color photo at 600 dpi to JPEG format in 1 minute and 46 seconds. The Canon G6020 scanned at a similar speed, producing the high-resolution JPEG in 3 additional seconds. This was a little slower than the category average of 1 minute and 25 seconds. The Brother MFC-J4535DW was quicker, performing the scan in 41.9 seconds.

Scanning a black-and-white document, the ET-2850 quickly made a 300 dpi scan to PDF format, doing so in 9.4 seconds, using the grayscale scan mode in the Epson Scan 2 software (there is also a black-and-white mode). This was significantly faster than the category average of 13.3 seconds. The Canon G6020 was even faster, at 8.4 seconds, while the Brother MFC-J4535DW completed the scan in 11.5 seconds.

Epson EcoTank ET-2850 review: Print Quality

The ET-2850 delivered high-quality images in all of our tests. Text documents printed with dark and very sharp letterforms. On duplex prints, the text looked very slightly lighter and faintly less sharp around the edges — but only upon up-close examination. You'd likely never notice a difference.

Color graphics printed with natural-looking, well-saturated colors. Fine details were reproduced well. Two-sided prints looked a little lighter overall, particularly in dark shades. This resulted in less depth in mid tones, particularly on faces, which had a subtle flattening effect. More pixels were visible and fine details were a little less sharp. These differences were subtle overall, however, and the print quality remained high.

The ET-2850 made attractive copies, accurately reproducing details and shading in color and grayscale. To explain: The menu offers both a black-and-white mode and a grayscale scan mode. Many all-in-ones don't offer this extra mode, and their black-and-white mode technically produces grayscale images. Having a literal black-and-white scan mode can come in handy, for example, when scanning yellowed text pages, where you want the background to turn white while the faded text gets captured as black. 

Photographs printed on glossy paper were richly saturated and the colors looked natural. In our landscape photo, some very dark shadow areas did look a little blocked-up, lacking some subtle details.

Scans were of a similar high quality, capturing fine details and accurately reproducing colors. In our scan of a photograph with a dark background, the ET-2850 captured the subtle details in the shadows, which some models have been unable to reproduce.

Epson EcoTank ET-2850 review: Ink Cost and Yield

The ET-2850's four ink tanks are located on the right side of the body. To add ink, you must lift the scanner lid. Then, you can raise the small lid over the ink tank compartment. Each of the four ink tanks has a hinged blue cap, which you raise to expose the valve for each tank. The bottles fit neatly. I did not spill any ink while filling the tanks.

The black ink costs $20 and is rated to print 7,500 pages. That calculates to an extremely low printing cost of 0.3 cents per page. Similarly, color printing costs are extremely low, adding up to 0.9 cents per page. The individual color ink bottles (cyan, magenta and yellow) cost $12.99 each, or $38.97 in total. Buying a three-pack will save you 2 cents, costing $38.95.

Epson EcoTank ET-2850 review: Setup and Software

After removing 11 pieces of packing tape, and filling the ink tanks, the printer prompts you on its 1.44-inch color LCD to perform an initialization, which takes about 10 minutes. While that was happening, I installed the included Epson software from the DVD-ROM disc onto my Windows 10 PC. (Alternatively, you can perform the setup with the mobile app, Epson Smart Panel, which I'll cover next). Then I connected the printer to the PC via USB cable. Following the printer's instructions on its LCD, I printed a test page and three pages to assess the print head alignment. But I ran into some errors, which was a little confusing. For example, I received an error saying that the scan could not be acquired. Also, the LCD was not showing the ink levels. However, getting past these hiccups didn't take much effort and soon I was printing, copying and scanning while connected via USB. Once set up, the ET-2850 starts up quickly from a complete shutdown, in about 8 seconds.

Putting the ET-2850 on my wireless network, however, was not quite as straightforward. The printed user guide did not step me through the whole process. Using the QR code in the guide for downloading the iOS Epson Smart Panel app, I elected to perform this setup using my iPhone. The app did not instruct me to enter the printer's LCD menu and turn on wireless (nor did the printed guide, which it arguably should have). The first menu choice in the LCD menu was for entering the network password on the control panel, which would have been cumbersome. Going to the next menu item, I found the WPS setup method, which is much easier if you have a router with a WPS button—you simply press it to establish a wireless connection.

Software for Windows PCs included on the DVD-ROM includes a photo printing application, two scanning programs, and necessary drivers. Epson Photo Plus offers a variety of photo printing features, including layouts, CD/DVD disc label printing, jewel case design and various layouts and design papers. Epson Scan 2 is a general purpose scanning application, while Epson ScanSmart is dedicated to document scanning and sharing.

The Epson Smart Panel app is available in iOS and Android. You can use it to set up the printer, and to carry out a variety of functions, such as photo and document printing, copying and scanning, and clean the print head. The app also offers a document capture feature, whereby you take a picture of a document. I appreciated the enhancement touchup, which removed the blue cast from my poorly lit document. A second level of enhancement might help in some instances, but in mine, it revealed more of the printed matter on the back side of the paper.

The app also links to Google Classroom, has an ID card scanning feature, and various print designs through a separate download called Epson Creative Print.

Epson EcoTank ET-2850 review: Bottom line

The Epson ET-2850 offers a basic set of features best suited for the home. Offering a duplexer and consistent performance, it's a good fit for most home use, as long as you don't need a speedy workhorse. With just one 100-sheet paper tray, it's not designed for high-volume office work. But if you're looking for very low ink costs, and don't need an ADF for lots of copying, or the versatility of a second paper tray, you'll likely be pleased with the ET-2850.

Brother's MFC-J4535DW ($250) is a multifunction printer that's speedy and cost-effective. Using high-capacity cartridges to keep ink costs low, the MFC-J4535DW offers costs per page that rival models with refillable ink tanks. Outfitted with both an automatic document feeder (ADF) and a duplexer for two-sided printing, this multi-function unit is well suited to most small office tasks. In addition to printing, copying and scanning, the MFC-J4535DW offers fax capability.

According to Brother, this multifunction printer comes with up to one year's worth of ink. Your mileage may vary, of course, but considering that the black ink cartridge is rated to print 3,000 pages, and the color ink cartridges are rated to last 1,500 pages, this may not be far off the mark. In addition to the four ink cartridges, a telephone cable, quick start guide and reference sheet are included in the box.

Brother MFC-J4535DW review: Design

Measuring 17.1 x 14.6 x 9.8 inches, the MFC-J4535DW is fairly compact, given that it has both a duplexer and an ADF. The unit weighs 21.1 pounds. By comparison, the Canon Pixma G6020 ($270 at time of review), which has a duplexer but lacks an ADF, is roughly 1 inch slimmer and 2 inches shorter.

The MFC-4535DW's document feeder can handle 20 sheets of paper. There is a catch atop the unit you must lift in order to prevent your originals from being spat out onto your desk or floor after being copied or scanned. 

There are two paper trays. Tray 1 holds up to 150 sheets. Tray 2 can hold 250 sheets and is for plain paper only. Coated papers and glossy paper must be loaded into Tray 1. Alternatively, you can load specialty media into the manual feed slot at the back of the unit, but can only do so one sheet at a time. The 100-sheet output tray pulls out from the cover of the top paper tray.

Connections options are plenty. There is a USB port, an Ethernet port, Wi-Fi capability, as well as NFC (near-field communication) on the control panel. The control panel has a 2.7-inch color touchscreen and can be angled upward roughly 45 degrees. The control panel has three physical buttons in addition to the power button: home, previous, and cancel.

The USB cable routes through the chassis, beneath scanner glass lid, which you must raise to route the cable, which uses up roughly 14 inches of cable in the curved path. You will have to wait for the resistance of the hinge to close lid, which happens slowly. This is convenient because it supports the weight of the ADF when you raise the scanner glass along with the lid. The power cable is permanently attached at the back of the chassis.

Brother MFC-J4535DW review: Print Speed 

The MFC-J4535DW turned in impressively fast performance across the board in our tests, handily besting the average on most tasks. It printed our five-page text document in 20.1 seconds, or 14.9 ppm. This was much faster than the average of 32.5 seconds, or 9.2 ppm. By comparison, the similarly priced Canon Pixma G6020 (which has refillable ink tanks), printed text at roughly average speed. 

Similarly, the Brother printed our six-page PDF of mixed text and color graphics in 51.3 seconds, or 7 ppm—twice as fast as the average of 2 minutes and 12 seconds (or, 2.7 ppm). By comparison, the Canon G6020 was slower than average, taking 2 minutes and 46 seconds to print the same document. 

The MFC-J4535DW was no less impressive at printing glossy photos, making an 8 x 10-inch print of our landscape photo in just 1 minute and 36 seconds—the fastest time of any recently tested inkjet printer, and a fraction of the average of 4 minutes and 22 seconds. By comparison, the Canon G6020 was a little faster than average, taking almost 4 minutes to make the same print.

Printing 4 x 6-inch glossy photos was similarly fast. The MFC-J4535DW produced a snapshot at high-quality settings in 1 minutes and 8 seconds, on average—much faster than the category average of nearly 2 minutes. The Canon G6020 was three seconds faster.

Two-sided printing onto plain paper also was quick. The Brother printed 10 pages of text to five sheets of paper in just under a minute, or 10.7 ppm. By comparison, the Canon Pixma G6020 did so at just 2.3 ppm.

The MFC-J4535DW was very fast at duplex printing in color, as well. The Brother printed six pages onto three sheets in just over a minute, or 5.8 ppm. The Canon Pixma G6020 did so at a rather sluggish 1.8 ppm.

Brother MFC-J4535DW review: Copy and Scan Speed

The Brother made color copies at more than twice the average speed. Making a color copy in 13.2 seconds, the Brother handily bested the category average of 33.2 seconds. 

Copying in black-and-white also was brisk. Making a copy of a text page in 11 seconds, the MFC-J4535DW easily beat the average of 18.7 seconds. The Canon G6020 was similarly quick on this test, making a copy in 11.3 seconds.

Making copies from the ADF was quick. The Brother made a single-sided copy of a 5-page text document in 38.1 seconds, or 7.9 ppm. Nearly as fast was the HP Envy Inspire 2955e ($270 at review), which made the copy in 41.9 seconds, or 7.2 ppm. (The Canon G6020 does not have an ADF.)

Color scanning was significantly faster than the average of 1 minute and 9 seconds. The Brother made the same color scan to a 600 dpi JPEG in 41.9 seconds. The Canon G6020 did so in 1 minute and 5 seconds. Scanning in black-and-white to PDF format at 300 dpi, the Brother captured a page in 11.5 seconds, versus the category average of 12.1 seconds. The Canon G6020 was significantly quicker, scanning the page in 8.4 seconds.

Brother MFC-J4535DW review: Print Quality

The Brother MFC-J4535DW delivered high image quality in our tests. Text prints looked attractive, with adequately dark letterforms. The edges of letterforms, however, were on the softer side and were not the sharpest we've seen from an inkjet printer. The text quality was good, but not excellent. Text looked just as sharp in duplex prints as on single-sided and prints.

Color graphics also looked attractive. Our first duplex prints of our test PDF, however, exhibited noticeable banding in the graphics. This went away in later testing and after a few rounds, the graphics in the duplex prints were equally attractive as in the single-sided prints. Color graphics were fairly detailed, with attractive textures. 

Glossy photos printed with natural-looking colors, attractive saturation, and a good amount of fine detail. Prints of landscapes, people and still life subjects all looked natural and sharp.

Copy quality onto plain paper was not quite as impressive, however. Compared to the laser-print originals, copies of text documents were middle-of-the-road. Text came out lighter and not as sleek as in the original, with edges that were noticeably fuzzier and lumpier. In copies made via the ADF, text edges looked fuzzier than in single copies made on the scanner glass. 

Copies of color documents looked attractive, but were not the most impressive reproductions. Colors did not look as richly saturated and black areas were not as dark as in the original. Details did not look as sharp as in the original, and some pixelation was visible in flat textures.

Scan quality was high overall. In scans of photographs, the Brother captured pleasing exposures on faces with light complexions, although some high mid-tone contour got lost. Shadows were attractively captured, without looking harsh in portraits. Some detail in dark shadow did get lost, however, not as much as some models whose scans were marred by shadows that looked more blocked-up.

The automatic cropping feature worked well on magazine pages and photographs. However, on a graphics-rich cover of a puzzle book, the scanner routinely cropped out most of the page, creating a very small subset of the total image.

Brother MFC-J4535DW review: Ink Cost and Yield

One of the biggest selling points of the Brother MFC-J4535DW is its low ink costs. Because of the high yield of its ink cartridges (dubbed INKvestment Tank Technology), this Brother delivers ink costs far below the average for inkjet printers that use typical ink cartridges (versus refillable ink tank models, which tend to deliver even lower costs per page). 

The Brother's black ink cartridge is rated to print 3,000 pages, while the three ink cartridges (cyan, magenta and yellow) are each expected to print 1,500 pages. Based on these ratings, text pages use up 1.1 cents worth of ink per page, while color pages cost 6 cents each, if you purchase the color ink cartridges individually. Buying a CMY three-pack of color cartridges for $65.99 will lower color poage costs to 5.5 cents per page. 

By contrast, models offering high-yield cartridges (which are still of a significantly lower yield that what Brother offers here) average much higher costs per page of 6.2 cents (text) and 15.9 cents (color)—and even higher costs when using their standard cartridges.

The only class of inkjet printer that consistently bests the Brother's high-yield cartridge costs is those with refillable ink tanks. Ink tank models we've reviewed average costs per page of just 0.3 cents (text) and 1 cent (color). The Canon G6020, for example, offers costs per page of just 0.2 and 0.8 cents, respectively.

Brother MFC-J4535DW review: Setup and Software

Brother offers iPrint&Scan software for Windows PCs and the MobileConnect app for mobile devices. Setting up this multi-function device includes printing a print quality check sheet, which you visually inspect for gaps and streaks. You also print an adjustment sheet, which you place on the glass to be scanned.

Installing the software on a PC was straightforward. The software guides you through choosing a connection and software selections. iPrint&Scan allows you to save scanning presets as "workflows", which appear on the software's main page as single-click buttons. The software does not offer workflows for print jobs, unfortunately. Pulling out a paper tray results in a prompt on the printer's touch screen to select the paper type and size. These settings are not, however, relayed to the Windows print driver on a PC, so you will have to enter them again. Having printing presets in iPrint&Scan would save you the need to perform these duplicate selections. 

In addition to iPrint&Scan, the PCFax Driver is installed for sending faxes. Also, you can choose to install PaperPort for managing documents and images on your PC. 

To put the MFC-J4535DW on my wireless network, I used the 2.7-inch color touchscreen on the printer's control panel, chose the wireless icon, and launched the WPS mode. Pressing the WPS button on my router put the printer on my network and I was done. Adding the Brother to the list of printers on a Mac computer was simple. The all-in-one also supports Wi-Fi Direct.

Installing the Brother Connect iOS app on an iPhone was straightforward. The app asked for permission to send personalized push notifications, and offered up to 6 months of free ink if I subscribed to the Refresh EZ Print subscription program. To see if an ink subscription is right for you, see "HP Instant Ink vs. Canon vs. Epson: Are ink subscriptions worth it?"

Although the headline does not mention Brother by name, Brother's Refresh ink subscription is discussed in the article.

The app, which offers printing, scanning and copying capabilities, also offers buttons for performing maintenance and buying. In addition, there is a button for managing a Refresh ink subscription. The all-in-one also works with Alexa.

The MFC-J4535DW is quick to start up, doing so in 7.2 seconds from a complete shutdown. From power-saving mode, the LCD touchscreen illuminates in less than 1 second after pressing the home button.

Brother MFC-J4535DW review: Bottom Line

Outfitted with a document feeder, two paper trays, and a duplexer, the Brother MFC-J4535DW offers a lot of bang for the buck. It's speedy across the board and delivers high image quality. The high-yield ink cartridges deliver very low costs per page compared to most inkjet multifunction printers. As a class, only printers with refillable ink tanks offer lower ink costs. 

In addition to its office worthiness (including fax capability), this Brother also produces very attractive photo prints, and does so quickly. Copy quality could use a little improvement, but this is a minor quibble considering this all-in-one's consistently fast printing, copying, and scanning.

Printers come in a bewildering number of configurations, offering such a wide variety of features that it's easy to feel overwhelmed. 

From inkjets to laser printers, photo printers and multi-function specials, there's a slew of intriguing options on offer that can present some major headaches when you're trying to find the right printer for your needs. But you can simplify the process. 

As someone who's reviewed dozens of printers for Tom's Guide, I can help guide you through the steps of finding the perfect printer for you because I've tested and review them to determine which are the best printers on the market. 

Before you buy a printer, ask yourself these three key questions to establish what's most important to you. You'll find what you need—at costs you can afford.

Inkjet vs laser

The first printer purchase decision is whether to go with an inkjet or laser model. This used to be an easy question to answer—color laser printers were too expensive for home users. But nowadays, more affordable models of the best laser printers can be worth considering if the bulk of your printing will be documents on plain paper.

Color or monochrome?

If you don't need color printing, a monochrome laser printer, such as the Brother MFC-L2750DW, can be a solid bet. But you'll want an inkjet if printing photos is part of the plan. Inkjet printers are the natural choice because liquid ink proves more versatile than powdered toner at reproducing subtle differences in color. Plus, inkjets offer borderless photo printing, which is rare among laser printers. 

More importantly, inkjets excel at photo prints on glossy paper and various other photographic paper finishes. Few color laser printers can print onto coated paper, and those that do rarely match the quality of an inkjet photo print. In addition to offering a much wider variety of photo paper choices, some inkjets can print on cloth or vinyl.

Printing text

Laser printers usually excel at printing text, which tends to come out sharper and darker than what many inkjet printers produce. While this is not true for every model, it's worth noting that this difference is more subtle today that it was in the past. (Twenty years ago I had both a monochrome laser printer and a color inkjet in my home office, but I would not say today that this is a best-of-both-worlds proposition).

Many current inkjet models print attractive text that is very competitive with a good laser printer. (Older inkjet models tended to produce lower-quality text prints.) Most likely, you won't notice the difference in sharpness nor bother to squint at the slightly less distinct text edges of high-quality inkjet prints.

Another bygone assumption is that laser printers are faster than inkjets. Current inkjet printers (some of them business-centric) are more than adequately fast for a workgroup in a busy office.

Print costs

So, what of ongoing costs? Inkjet printers—particularly cheap models—have a reputation for draining wallets by way of expensive ink cartridges with high costs per page. For example, inkjet printers we've tested use 6.2 cents worth of ink when printing a text page, even when using their high-yield cartridge. And, printing a color page costs 15.9 cents.

But this is changing. Luckily, right now we are seeing one of the biggest changes in inkjet printing technology—and it drastically reduces ongoing ink costs. Canon, Epson, and HP all offer models with refillable ink tanks. Ink is delivered in bottles, and you pour the ink into reservoirs corresponding to the ink color. This means that contrary to a traditional ink cartridge, which includes anywhere from dozens to hundreds of ink nozzles, these ink nozzles are now inside the printer on a permanent printhead that deposits ink droplets onto the paper.

Similarly, Brother makes printers with slide-in ink cartridges that are different than traditional ink cartridges. They don't include a printhead and sit inside the printer where they travel back and forth during the printing process. They sit stationary in a bay. The printhead is now a separate and permanent part inside the printer.

These new designs deliver very low ink costs. Costs per page for the Epson EcoTank ET-470 are just 0.3 cents (text) and 0.9 cents (color). Similarly, the very high-yield ink cartridges in the Brother MFC-J4535DW offer costs per page of 1.1 cents (text) and 6 cents (color).

These models do cost more up-front than a typical bargain inkjet. So, do the math based on your estimated print volume to make sure you'll recoup the extra expense in a reasonable amount of time.

One last consideration if you're still considering a laser printer: An inkjet printer uses an estimated 16-50 watts of power while printing, while a laser printer requires anywhere from 300 to 1,500 watts.

We think the best printer overall — which happens to be a color inkjet printer — is the Brother INKvestment MFC-J995DW. If you're looking for a black-and-white laser printer, our top pick is the Brother MFC-L2750DW XL. 

Is Multi-Function Right for You?

Having copy and scan capabilities is enticing, and multi-function printers offer a lot in this department. Also known as all-in-ones, some of these multi-talented devices offer a document feeder for copying and scanning multi-page documents. Some offer a duplexer for two-sided printing (as do some single-function printers). Less common is two-sided copying, which saves you the trouble of manually re-inserting a two-sided original in the automatic document feeder (ADF) to reproduce it. This is accomplished by simultaneously scanning both sides sides of the paper as it's drawn through the ADF.

So, why wouldn't you want it all? For one, if you'll rarely use it, there's no need to pay extra for a feature you don't really need. Moreover, you need to be careful of budget models that may not perform well at some of these more sophisticated tasks.

For example, although many models perform acceptably well on many tasks, we've reviewed models that turned in subpar quality or speed on particular tasks. Some models produced only fair quality two-sided copied although single-sided copies looked fine. Others stumbled when copying multipage documents through their ADF, producing crooked or fuzzy-looking facsimiles. Some models end up being very slow to scan a photograph at high resolution or to scan to PDF format. Still others have issues with their auto crop feature in their scanning software, and you get just a portion of the original image.

A shortcoming like this doesn't hamper the performance of most models, but it is common enough that you should be wary when evaluating what promises to be the Swiss Army knife of your home office.

Do You Love Fantastic Photo Prints?

If you love photography and want to make beautiful prints of your creations, be bold and get a photo-centric printer. To make photo prints really pop, photo printers employ additional dye-based ink colors beyond the standard four of cyan, magenta, yellow and black. Some models employ an additional blue, red, gray or black ink, for example, to expand their color gamut. The second black ink is pigment-based, primarily for printing text on plain paper, while the dye-based black is primarily for photo printing.

Some photo printers offer more than one paper tray so you can keep multiple paper sizes loaded. Many photo printers go beyond letter-size paper and can make prints on photo papers up to 11 x 17 inches, or to wide format up to 13 x 19 inches. And, as with standard models, photo printers with refillable ink tanks have come to market, such as the Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8500 All-in-One and the Canon Pixma G620 Wireless MegaTank Photo Printer. Both models use six inks. The Canon employs a red and a gray in addition to the standard CMYK. The Epson adds a photo black and a gray.

These inkjet photo printers still print everyday documents on plain paper that a more generic model will. You don't have to give up basic print utility for the exceptional photo print capability.

How About Snapshots Only?

On the other hand, if you don't need to print documents on plain paper at all—and don't plan to ever make big photo prints—get a compact photo printer. These printers make 4 x 6-inch snapshot prints or smaller. These nifty little printers are portable, battery-powered, and print wirelessly from your phone (via an app), camera, or PC. There are two primary technologies to choose from.

The first is dye-sublimation, such as the Canon Selphy series of printers. The Canon Selphy CP1500, for example, prints on sizes up to 4 x 6 inches. The Kodak Instant Dock models print exclusively 4 x 6-inch snapshots.

If you want to go even smaller, you can pick up a Bluetooth-enabled printer that's almost as small as your smartphone. The Kodak Step Slim, for example, makes 2 x 3-inch photo prints. The printer's battery lasts up to 25 prints and uses what's called Zink technology: You only have to buy the specialty paper—no ink purchase required. Prints cost 43 cents each, which is the same cost for making a print twice that size (4 x 6 inches) on the Canon TS702a. Other Zink options include the HP Sprocket and the Canon ivy. These Zink printers fit in your hand and are small enough to slip into a jacket pocket.

And, lastly, you can wow your friends with this novelty—a camera that does the printing itself. The Polaroid Zink Mint Instant takes photos and prints them to 2 x 3-inch sticky-backed paper. It comes in five colors: blue, black, yellow, red and white. Another multitalented option is the Kodak Mini series, which offers models specializing in either 2.1 x 3.4-inch prints or 3 x 3-inch square prints.

As with any printer, check the reviews. The novelty of a portable printer and its miniature prints can wear off if the print quality is subpar.

With this advice in hand, you're well on your way to choosing the perfect printer for your needs.

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Despite a relatively intense learning curve for 3D printing, the hobby has taken hold among creatives and driven manufactures of 3D printers to continually improve their offerings when it comes to high quality consumer-grade printers that don’t break the bank. The Photon Mono M5s is the first consumer grade leveling-free 12k resin printer from Anycubic, offering a feature rich resin printing experience that is geared toward professionals while still friendly enough for beginners by providing precise, accurate and high quality prints at an affordable price point. 

In a first for desktop 3D printers, the Photon Mono M5s features a 10.1 inch monochrome LCD screen at 12K resolution to create incredibly clear and well defined details that are as small as a strand of hair.  Perfectionists can rejoice as the pinpoint precision accuracy of the Photon Mono M5S allows for even the most microscopic details to shine in your creations. 

Anycubic’s Photon Mono M5s is the first consumer grade resin printer to be leveling-free. 

Thanks to an adoption of mechanical sensors that can detect and adjust the fit between the print platform and floating leveling module, The Photon Mono M5s nearly eliminates one of the most common causes for failed 3D prints. “Leveling is a common and sometimes tricky step when using resin printer,” said James Ouyang, Vice President of Anycubic.“To make the printing experience even user-friendlier and hassle-free, in a consumer-grade resin printer, we managed to add on the leveling-free solution.”

Anycubic has simultaneously released a High Speed Resin product that is compatible with the Photon Mono M5s and tailored to the printer’s 3rd Gen release film to further cut print times. When coupled with High Speed Resin and Anycubic’s Photon Workshop 3.1 software the Photon Mono M5s can hit print speeds of up to 105mm/h. The Photon Mono M5s is also compatible with a variety of other Anycubic resin products, including the Craftsman Resin which is formulated to help bring out the most detail in your carefully created designs. Anycubic's specially developed high-speed resin's low viscosity contributes to the reduction of exposure and curing time. Moreover, Photon Mono M5s's optimized motion control feature smoothens the lifting and lowering motion, making the print speed faster.

The Photon Mono M5s features resin detection technology to determine if there is a sufficient amount of resin in the vat to meet the project requirements before it begins printing in order to limit product waste and other print errors. Furthermore, the Photon Mono M5s is capable of self monitoring and project analysis, and can offer dynamic information pertaining to your print in order to provide solutions for why a print has failed or produced an error. With the 4.3-inch touchscreen, users can also monitor the results of the printer’s self check system wherein The Photon Mono M5s monitors the printing process for mechanical and operation errors. This allows the system to provide feedback during the print as well as support for potential hardware issues.

Anycubic’s Photon Mono M5s will be available for early bird purchases at a special launch price of $399 in the US and €399 in Europe, however the early bird sale price will only last for 3 days. Users can visit the official Anycubic Store and subscribe to get notified when they are available to purchase. Early bird customers even have the chance to win free STLs as gifts! 

It's difficult choosing a printer. 

I would know, I've been reviewing printers professionally for two decades. But if you follow these steps when evaluating potential models, you can find a good bargain that's just the right mix of features and performance.

Many printers today are multifunction devices (also known as all-in-ones) that incorporate a flatbed scanner. This enables them to scan and make copies. Additional features include a duplexer for making two-sided prints and copies, and an automatic document feeder (ADF) for making copies and scans of multipage documents. 

These advanced features tend to add to a model's initial price, however, so it's important to only pay for models that do what you want well. After identifying which features are must-haves for you, have a look at our test results—just because a feature sounds great doesn't its performs well. Slow performance or subpar image quality is a big disappointment.

Performance testing conducted by Tom's Guide helps us figure out which are the best printers on the market, and it's a great resource to weed out bad apples and put you on a path to the perfect printer for your needs. Put simply, we put them through their paces so you don't have to — find more details in the Image Quality and Performance sections below.

Ink costs

After identifying your most important features, compare ink costs.

Inkjet printers are notorious for their expensive ink—but refillable ink tanks and very high yield ink cartridges are changing that equation, delivering much lower ink costs than traditional ink cartridges. Ink tank models tend to cost more up front. But they also tend to come with plenty of ink in the box compared to lower cost models that include only starter cartridges with low page yields. For example, the Epson EcoTank ET-5850 comes with nearly $200 worth of of ink—enough to print 15,000 pages of text or 12,000 color pages. So, let's do some quick math.

Whether a pricier ink tank model is worth it for you, depends on how much you print. Comparing recently tested high-yield models versus lower priced printers, recouping the higher purchase price will likely take at least a thousand pages. How many pages do you print in a month?

Here's one example: The Epson EcoTank ET-4760 ($449 when reviewed) versus the Brother INKvestment MFC-J4535DW ($250). The Epson (which uses refillable ink tanks) offers low costs per page of just 0.3 cents (text) and 0.9 cents (color). The Brother (which uses very high-yield ink cartridges) also has low costs per page of 1.1 cents (text) and 6 cents (color). 

To make up the $199 price premium of the Epson ET-4760, you'd need to print almost 25,000 text pages or nearly 4,000 color pages.

By comparison, most inkjet printers have much higher costs per page. Models we've tested—even when using their high-yield ink cartridges—average 6.2 cents (text) and 15.9 cents (color) per page. Even at that cost per color page, you'd print 2,000 pages on the Epson ET-4760 before recouping a $300 premium over a $150 model that uses standard ink cartridges.

Image quality

Differences in print quality are much less dramatic today then they were in years past. These days, most inkjet printers are able to print both attractive documents with fairly sharp text and appealing graphics on plain paper, as well as attractive photos on glossy paper. The days of testing printers that takes eons to produce a laughably bad photo print are long forgotten. 

Still, these subtle differences in color accuracy, saturation and fine details are enough to sway a purchasing decision. That's why at Tom's Guide we put printers through a full battery of tests—to take the guesswork out of choosing the right printer for you.

For example, a pitfall for some models is duplex printing. Some models make two-sided prints that are less attractive than their single-sided prints, with fuzzier text and less-detailed graphics. Sometimes, this lower quality printing only occurred on the backside of our test prints and copies. Similarly, the biggest overall differences in image quality tend to be found in copies, not prints. So, if it's office equipment you're looking for, be sure to check our ratings on copy quality.

Performance

Most printers are not speedy at every task. Many of them perform well on some jobs, but very few are fast across the board. You should focus on what type of printing you'll do most, and prioritize that performance. Speed ratings from manufacturers aren't realistic, however, which is why Tom's Guide tests every printer with the same set of documents and photos—so they're directly comparable, and provide real-world results.

We wouldn't test them if we didn't have to. But models from the same manufacturer often turn in dramatically different results in our tests. For example, the $250 Brother MFC-J4535DW printed a 4x6-inch photo at high resolution in just 1 minute and 8 seconds. Meanwhile, the $130 Brother MFC-J1205w took more than three times as long, taking nearly 4 minutes to print the same snapshot.

Similarly, two-sided printing varies greatly. While the Canon Pixma TS702a ($130) printed two-sided text documents at a modest 3.1 pages per minute (ppm), the Brother MFC-J4535DW ($250) spat them out more than three times faster, at 10.7 ppm.

Features

Today's all-in-one's are highly sophisticated machines that offer variety of capabilities. There are so many models out there—but don't get overwhelmed. Zero in on one or two features that are most important to you and make sure they'll perform as promised.

If you will operate your printer from a PC, there's no need to pay for a touchscreen or for an excess of dedicated buttons on the control panel. But if standalone operation is your preference, be sure it won't be frustrating. I've reviewed models with kludgy touchscreens and menus that aren't intuitive. Other models have physical buttons for copying that are more convenient than having to navigate a menu.

And, don't forget about setup and software. The HP Envy Inspire 7955e ($270), for example, proved difficult to set up wirelessly, and its accompanying HP Smart software posed some frustrating limitations.

Not all software packages and mobile phone apps are equal. One feature I found lacking in quality is a copy feature I first tested in the iOS HP Smart app—but it's really just taking a photo and then printing the result. The Canon iOS Print app offers this same feature, with only passable results. But if you buy a single function printer with no scanner bed, it's better than nothing.

One last potential pitfall is scanning software. I've uncovered bad results in the scanning software included with some Brother and Epson models. The issue was with the auto cropping feature—some documents fooled the software into cropping the scan to a small portion of the image. This requires you to manually select a document size. If your document is of an unconventional size, you'll need to select a size larger than your document, and then manually crop the scan yourself.

The bottom line

Finding a printer that's both a bargain and a solid performer is easier than you might think. At Tom's Guide, we break down the pros and the cons, uncover the weaknesses, and highlight the strengths. I spend hours running printers through all the tasks that make offices run and printing photos fun.

We also spell out the ink costs so you don't learn an expensive lesson the hard way. But be sure to gauge your print volume. If you only print a modest amount, spending a lot of money for really low costs per page may not pay off for a really long time.

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Have you ever wanted to be your own action figure? I had the chance to do so at CES, where Hasbro was demoing its Selfie Series, which lets you put your 3D-printed head atop a Ghostbuster, Star Wars, Power Ranger, GI Joe, or Marvel action figure for $60. 

Hasbro partnered with the 3D printing company Formlabs (which makes some of the models on our best 3D printers list) to make customized action figures with some of the most valuable IP out there. 

So, is it worth spending $60 to get a personalized action figure for you or someone else? I went through the whole process, so you can see the results for yourself.

It starts with an app...

Here's how it works: Within the Hasbro Pulse app (Android, iOS), you scan your face by turning your head to the right and left; it's a bit like setting up Face ID with an iPhone. 

Then, the app generates a digital image of your head. From there, a series of screens lets you adjust your skin tone, and then select the action figure you'd like to be. 

At the moment, you can choose from the following, which is somewhat limited, but not too shabby considering the service started this past fall.

Star Wars — Mandalorian, Storm Trooper, X-Wing pilot, or Princess Leia

Marvel Legends — Spider-Man, Iron Man, Black Panther, or Black Widow

Power Rangers — Red or the Pink ranger

GI Joe — Snake Eyes or Scarlett

Ghostbusters — Male or a female Ghostbuster

Despite my lifelong affinity for Star Wars, I opted to go with the Ghostbuster body, as I had received the Ecto-1 Lego kit as a Christmas present, and thought that it would complement it nicely. (As an aside: The Ecto-1 Lego kit is a pretty fantastic build, with some really clever moving parts. Thanks to my wife and sister for getting it for me!) The Ghostbuster figure also comes with some nice accessories, including a proton pack and a P.K.E meter. 

A note to would-be Stormtroopers, Mandalorians, Iron Men, Spiders-Man and Black Panthers: Those figures don't come with helmets, so you don't necessarily get the full effect of the whole outfit. As you're going through the process, you can see what accessories each figure comes with. 

Next, you choose your hairstyle, of which there are 48 to choose from, as well as five different hair colors. After, you can give yourself facial hair, and choose its style and color.

And then you wait...

Then, go ahead and order it. At CES, I was told the typical turnaround is about 45 days; it took a slightly shorter amount of time to get to me (mine arrived in late January), but when I went through the process of making a new action figure on Feb. 9, it said that the estimated delivery would be March 26. 

So, if you're planning to give this as a gift to someone (you can send it as a gift code via the Hasbro Pulse app), just let them know that it'll be a while before they receive the finished product.

The results

And when it arrived? It had a passing resemblance to me, in that it had hair and a beard. The color of both was a bit lighter than my actual hair color, but ultimately, I think it looked more like Jake Gyllenhaal than myself. Which may not be a bad thing. 

Still, there's lots of great detail in the costume itself, and the figurine is very adjustable. All of the joints are articulated, so you can pose it in just about any way you choose. The only quibble (aside from the likeness) is that the hands had trouble keeping the proton gun in place. 

If you're worried about Hasbro saving your face data, a company rep told The Verge that it would be deleted 60 days after the ship date of your action figure. 

Would I get this as a gift for someone? Definitely. I have one cousin who has a basement full of action figures, bobbleheads, and other assorted toys for whom this would be a perfect present. I wish it would look a bit more like me, but the novelty of it outweighs the lack of verisimilitude. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to make like Dark Helmet and play with my dolls again.

The small, lightweight HP DeskJet 2755e ($85) offers an attractive set of basic features for an attractive price. It's a multifunction printer that also copies and scans, and you can use a mobile device for faxing if you have an HP Plus account. Built for modest print duty, its input tray holds 60 sheets and the output tray can hold 25 sheets.

This DeskJet offers Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Direct connectivity. It also has a USB port, but it's very much oriented to online use and cloud storage; it requires an Internet connection for some features. As such, the 2755e may not be the best fit for someone who's periodically offline. More on that later.

The DeskJet 2755e uses two ink cartridges: pigment black and dye-based tri-color. If by chance you only plan to print text documents, the printer supports single-cartridge mode, whereby after setup with the starter cartridges, you can remove the color cartridge.

If you sign up for the HP Plus program, free of charge, you get six months of free ink. This program locks you into using HP's ink cartridges, which are outfitted with a chip to ensure compliance. It also offers updated photo scanning,  fax capability from a mobile device, and G Suite connectivity, according to the company. We did not, however, test this program.

HP DeskJet 2755e review: Design

The DeskJet 2755e measures roughly 16.7 x 12 x 6 inches. You'll need extra vertical clearance to raise the scanner lid and raise the input paper tray support, as well as to swing outward the output tray's support. It's compact enough to easily transport—especially considering it weighs just 7.5 pounds.

The single paper input tray is at the back. It's vertically aligned, and you lift up a support to hold the paper in place. The output tray slides out from the bottom of the unit at the front. To better support finished prints, you swing outward a catch from inside the output tray. 

To the left of the scanner glass on the top panel are a few function buttons and a tiny LCD screen that measures 0.5 x 1.25 inches. Standalone operation is limited to making copies, for which there are dedicated buttons for color and grayscale copying. The screen displays only the number of prints or copies, Wi-Fi status, ink levels, and a few other icons. You don't use the screen to navigate settings menus.

For settings and other functions, you will want to use your PC or mobile device. For example, enlarging or reducing copy size must be done with the HP Smart app.

This basic printer doesn't have a duplexer for making two-sided prints, an automatic document feeder for copying multi-page documents, nor an automatic paper sensor, which some higher-end models offer.

HP DeskJet 2755e review: Print Speed 

The DeskJet 2755e printed slower than the category average in our tests. It printed a five-page text document in 39.3 seconds, or 7.6 pages per minute (ppm). By comparison, the average is 8.8 ppm. Similarly, the DeskJet trailed the field average at printing our six-page PDF of mixed text and color graphics. The HP reproduced the document in 3 minutes and 2 seconds, or 2 ppm. The category average is 2.7 ppm.

The 2755e was comparatively slower at making 8-by-10-inch photo prints, taking 7 minutes and 8 seconds to do so, at highest resolution. The category average was a much quicker 4 minutes and 5 seconds.

The DeskJet performed better at making 4-by-6-inch photo prints at default settings. The 2755e made the print in 1 minute and 44 seconds, slightly faster than the average of 1 minute and 48 seconds.

HP DeskJet 2755e review: Copy and scan speed

The DeskJet 2755e copied color documents at slightly slower than average speed, and was less impressive at making black-and-white copies. It produced color copies in 32.4 seconds, on average, compared to the average of 28.1 seconds for competing models. Making black-and-white copies in 25.1 seconds, the DeskJet trailed significantly the category average of 16.1 seconds.

Photo scanning was a little pokey. Capturing an 8-by-10-inch photo in 1 minute and 36 seconds, it lagged behind the category average of 1 minute and 8 seconds. By comparison, the Canon MG3620 ($60) made the same photo scan in just 39.4 seconds. 

Scanning documents at 300 dpi in black-and-white to PDF format, the HP DeskJet completed a letter-size scan in 19.4 seconds, on average. This was significantly slower than the average of 11.8 seconds, and less than half the speed of the Canon MG3620, which made a black-and-white scan in just 8.9 seconds, on average.

HP DeskJet 2755e review: Print quality

Documents printed with attractive text that looked adequately dark. Letterforms were a little heavy, with some minor errant ink splatter around the edges. By comparison, the HP's text was darker and slightly sharper around the edges than that printed by the Canon MG3620.

The DeskJet also printed attractive graphics. Colors looked natural, transitions were smooth, and no banding was visible. Text in our PDF text document, however, looked a little too heavy and blurry around the edges. For long-term reading, the sharper-looking text documents would be preferable. To ensure software was not the culprit, we printed the PDF both from its native Adobe Acrobat software, as well as from HP Smart, and got the same result. 

On a couple occasions while making copies, the 2755e pulled 10 or 12 pieces of paper through the unit all at once. While this happened only twice, it does suggest that paper feed problems could occur in the future.

The DeskJet 2755e makes attractive photo prints. The inkjet produced natural-looking colors, smooth transitions, and reproduced fine details well. Across a range of subjects, the DeskJet produced high-quality prints. To note, the DeskJet tends to hype red and yellow hues, creating a warmer look than may be in the original image.

One important caveat about photo prints: Borderless photo printing is not supported. Whether printing from HP Smart on Windows 10, Windows Photos, or from an iPhone 7 using the HP Smart app, there is no option for making borderless photo prints. All photos printed with a border around them.

Similar to its photo prints, documents were reproduced faithfully. Copies of magazine pages were true to the original, reproducing text that looked quite sharp and color graphics that retained the fine details of the original. Colors looked accurate, and when converted to grayscale, the graphics retained the smooth transitions of the original image.

The HP DeskJet made attractive scans, accurately reproducing colors and capturing fine detail in most areas. Shadow areas, however, came out a little darker than in the original and lost some detail.

Scanning photos was not flawless, however, due to the unreliable auto crop feature, which I'll cover in the software section below.

HP DeskJet 2755e review: Ink cost and yield

This DeskJet uses two ink cartridges, a pigment-based black ink cartridge and a dye-based tri-color cartridge. Standard and XL cartridges are available. The starter cartridges will not last long, so be prepared to order more ink very quickly if you don't plan to sign up for an ink subscription plan. 

Using standard cartridges, costs per page are an estimated 8 cents (text) and 25 cents (color). Average costs per page for competing models are slightly lower, at 7.8 cents and 21.2 cents, respectively. 

Using the XL cartridges will save you money — but the savings is not dramatic. At 10 cents (text) and 22.5 cents (color) per page using XL cartridges, the 2755e lags behind the averages of 6.2 cents (text) and 15.7 cents (color) per page for models that offer high-capacity ink cartridges. However, some of these models offer cartridges of a much higher capacity than this HP's cartridges.

By comparison, using its XXL cartridges with page yields of 600 pages each, the Canon MG3620 delivers costs per page of 6.7 cents for text and 13.3 cents for color.

If it sounds like these ink costs will become burdensome, you might consider an ink subscription plan. Our article, What Is HP Instant Ink?, should give you a good primer for how this works. But, if you'd rather have an algorithm do the thinking for you, you're in good luck. The HP Smart software quickly suggested an HP Instant Ink plan for me after just a few days of printing. 

For further comparison of plans by competitors, see our story, HP Instant Ink vs. Canon vs. Epson: Are ink subscriptions worth it? 

HP DeskJet 2755e review: Setup and software

Just as the DeskJet 21755e is online-centric, so is the setup. Printed materials are minimal, and there is no CD-ROM for installing software. You are directed to go online to 123.hp.com to download the HP Smart software. Overall, setup was easy, but I did have a couple hiccups. At first, my Windows 10 PC could not find the printer over USB, and I was directed to turn on Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to complete that task. 

Installing the two ink cartridges is simple. You fold down the flap on the front panel to reveal the ink cartridge bay. The cartridges snap into their slot without too much force.

When plugging in the USB cable, my Windows 10 PC found the printer. However, when opening the HP Smart software, it could not find the printer and directed me to turn on Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to complete setup. When this was unsuccessful, I used my iPhone with Bluetooth to get the printer on my network.

The HP Plus program, which is included in the printer purchase, offers six months of free ink. This program locks you into using HP's ink cartridges, which are outfitted with a chip to ensure compliance. It also offers updated photo scanning, mobile fax capability from a mobile device, and G Suite connectivity.

Oddly, although both the printer's LCD and the HP Smart software show estimated levels of each ink, neither reliably displayed a warning that ink is about to run out during my testing. So in my experience, you kind of have to guess, though an HP representative claims this may have been a malfunction as the printer is designed to send low ink warnings via both the display and phone app. However, even though the level indicators showed some ink remaining for my test print job, I ended up with an unattractive photo printed with only yellow ink.

As mentioned earlier, using HP Smart's scanning software on a PC was frustrating due to the unreliable auto crop feature. On multiple occasions, auto crop cut off some — or most — of the image. Scanning a colorful magazine cover, HP Smart mistakenly cropped out a significant amount of the image. Even when selecting 5-by-7-inch as the original size of my photograph, HP Smart still performed an auto crop that included only a small fraction of white space in the bottom corner. In a collage containing two photos, HP Smart selected only one of them, cutting out more than half the total image. In addition, the software doesn't have a built-in crop for 8-by-10-inch photos. But as I found out with 5-by-7-inch prints, it didn't matter. The workaround here is to select "all" and not crop — but this means you will have to crop out the extra white space yourself. If you do much scanning, that is going to get tedious.

If you simply scan using default settings, HP Smart will likely work well for you. However, if you like to use shortcuts for different file types or resolutions, you'll likely find HP Smart too simple. You can't save shortcuts with various resolution or file type settings in HP Smart, nor can you set up shortcuts for saving scanned documents to a folder on your PC — only for saving scanned files to online destinations, such as Google Drive. That means you must set the resolution and file type (PDF, JPG, etc.) every time you scan and save to your PC, which can get tedious.

After performing a scan, HP Smart does not reset for a new scan, which also grew tedious. I had to repeatedly close the "saved file" popup window, and then backspace from the scan preview in order to perform a new scan.

HP Smart's on-screen explanations touted advanced features, such as multiple-item scanning. Unfortunately, this explanation didn't point me to where I would enable this feature. And so, when trying to scan multiple photos, HP Smart only cropped one photo — and did so poorly, leaving out much of the sky of my grayscale landscape shot.

Here's another oddity: If you want to print with HP Smart, you need to open the application and then open a document or photo from there. In other words, from Windows Explorer, right-clicking on a file to see the "open with" list of applications will not show HP Smart in the list. That function is not supported.

HP Smart is also an iOS app, which I tried on an iPhone 7. Using the camera scan function, I took a photo of a photographic print. I had loaded 4-by-6-inch photo paper in the printer. But the iOS app said it was "retrieving paper size info". Swiping upward to check the settings, the app showed it was set to letter-size, but it offered no other paper sizes. One guess is that because the 2755e does not have a paper sensor, this information was not communicated (and I needed to change the setting, perhaps using my PC)--because I did not see a way to add 4-by-6-inch photo paper on the iPhone to my list of choices. Per an HP representative, the iOS app, consistent with AirPrint, only allows the user to select from the paper size loaded in the printer (which had been loaded). Clearly, this didn't work as promised.

So, I tried the scan function in the iOS app. (For both the copy and the scan functions, you are taking a picture of your document). I loaded 4-by-6 paper in the printer — but then I got a print of only part of the image, as if the 2755e was still printing onto letter-size paper. The app offered no setting whereby I could reduce the size of the image on the paper — it defaulted to full page.

Using the camera scan iOS function on a text doc produced passable results. What was laser-sharp text in the original came out demonstrably lighter and fuzzier around the edges, with plenty of noticeable ink splatter. I wouldn't use this feature if the printer is within reach for traditional scanning and copying.

Using the app's copy function, you use an object size icon at the lower right of the screen. You must select this before taking your picture. I found out the hard way, making a letter-size print of a 4-by-6-inch photo, because the copy function default is to copy a letter-size original. For text documents, the copy quality was worse than with the scan function. Text was blurry and the background printed gray, even though I'd taken the picture by a window in bright sunlight, with no reflections from direct light hitting the page.

On the plus side, the HP Smart app offers a helpful zoom magnifier to help you adjust the crop box, which is a nice touch.

Compared to the PC software's bad auto cropping, the iOS app did a better job of cropping dark photos on a white background and text documents on a dark desk. One photo "scan" of a magazine page was poorly cropped, however.

Both the PC software and the iOS app generate repeated sales pitches for the Instant Ink program. This subscription program will likely save you money, so is definitely worth the consideration. In the meantime, however, the solicitations get old. In one case, an Instant Ink sales pitch froze the iOS app and I had to close it.

Neither the HP Smart PC software nor the iOS app offered a low-ink warning. Both apps offer a graphical display showing estimated ink levels, but did not indicate with an exclamation point in a yellow triangle, for example, that a critical level had been reached. As a result, I printed pages that only had yellow ink on a graphic, and absolutely no text on the rest of the page.

HP DeskJet 2755e review: Bottom line

This HP DeskJet offers high image quality and respectable performance for a low price. It's a good budget choice — as long as you sign up for an ink subscription plan. 

The lack of borderless photo printing is disappointing, as is the inaccuracy of the auto crop feature when scanning with HP Smart. The software is too limited for sophisticated users, but users with more basic needs will definitely enjoy the high image quality of this bargain DeskJet. 

The Brother MFC-J1205w ($130) is a basic multifunction printer that performs very well at most tasks. As is common in this price range, this printer lacks a duplexer for making two-sided prints and copies, and does not offer an automatic document feeder for copying and scanning multipage documents.

The MFC-J1205w performed well in many of our tests, and the tradeoff for this bargain unit is that photo printing speeds are likely to disappoint, even though image quality is high.

This multifunction has a USB port and offers Wi-Fi connectivity. It uses four ink cartridges: The standard black, cyan, magenta, and yellow. The ink cartridges offer a generous yield of 750 pages each. The four ink cartridges are easy to install in the cartridge bay, which is to the right of the paper tray, on the front panel. To get automatic ordering of ink cartridges when the printer is running low, the company offers the Brother Refresh program.

Brother MFC-J1205w review: Design

To connect via USB, you route the cable inside the chassis to a port located under the scanner lid. This route takes roughly four-and-a-half inches off your cable's reach to your computer.

The body measures 17.1 (w) x 14.1 (d) x 6.3 inches (h), a size that is somewhat average. Extending the 50-sheet output tray and catch increases the depth to 18.1 inches. The output tray sits on top of the 150-sheet input paper drawer. To print onto 4-by-6-inch photo paper, you will need to flip up a tongue on the bottom of the drawer, in addition to sliding in the guides at the side of the drawer.

Weighing 14.3 pounds, the MFC-J1205w is nearly double the weight of the 7.5-pound HP DeskJet 2755e. Nonetheless, it's still light enough for one person to easily transport if you need to.

On the top of the unit, the control panel sits to the left of the scanner lid. There are five dedicated buttons: paper size, wireless on/off, power/stop, monochrome copy/scan, and color copy/scan. There is no LCD. In addition to lights beside three of the buttons, there is an error indicator light and a low-ink light. You will have to interpret the status indicated by some combinations of these lights. In one case, the power button light and an error light flashed in unison. Going to the printed setup guide, I found it difficult to locate these explanations. Unfortunately, the online FAQ & troubleshooting page didn't make it easy to search by light combination—instead it offered a list of 12 categories of errors for me to search through.

Brother MFC-J1205w review: Print speed

The MFC-J1205w printed a five-page text document in 24.5 seconds (or, 12.2 ppm), which was significantly faster than the average of 33.8 seconds (or, 8.9 ppm). Printing of mixed text and color graphics was also quicker than average. Our six-page PDF printed in 1 minute and 53 seconds (or, 3.2 ppm). This was faster than the average of two minutes and 12 seconds (or, 2.7 ppm). By comparison, the $85 HP DeskJet 2755e took just over 3 minutes (or, 2 ppm) to print the same document.

Photo printing was very slow. To make an 8-by-10-inch glossy print, the MFC-J1205w took 8 minutes and 16 seconds. This was almost twice as long as the average time of 4 minutes and 19 seconds. However, the HP DeskJet 2755e was similarly slow, taking 7 minutes and 8 seconds to make an 8-by-10-inch photo print. 

Snapshot printing was no more impressive. The Brother took 3 minutes and 43 seconds to make a 4-by-6-inch photo print with a border, at highest-quality settings. To make a borderless print in Windows 10, you have to use the Brother iPrint&Scan software. Printing a borderless 4-by-6-inch glossy took nearly 4 minutes—nearly twice as long as the average of 2 minutes and 9 seconds. By comparison, the HP DeskJet 2755e was faster than the average, taking 1 minute and 44 seconds to print a 4-by-6-inch glossy.

Brother MFC-J1205w review: Copy and scan speed

The MFC-J1205w made a color copy in 28.1 seconds, which is exactly the average for comparable models. By comparison, the HP 2755e was slightly slower, making a color copy in 32.4 seconds.

This Brother is among the fastest models at making black-and-white copies. On average, the MFC-J1205w produced a monochrome copy in just 10.8 seconds, significantly faster than the average of 15.9 seconds. The HP DeskJet 2755e made black-and-white copies at half the speed of the Brother, taking 25.1 seconds.

The Brother was similarly impressive at scanning. It quickly captured a high-resolution 600 dpi color JPEG scan of an 8-by-10 photo, doing so in just 37.5 seconds—almost half the average time of 1 minute and 6 seconds. The HP 2755e, by contrast, was significantly slower, taking 1 minute and 36 seconds to perform the same scan.

Making a 300 dpi monochrome scan to PDF format took the MFC-J1205w just 9.1 seconds, beating the average of 11.7 seconds, and far outpacing the HP DeskJet 2755e, which took 19.4 seconds.

Brother MFC-J1205w review: Print quality

Text prints looked attractive. Letterforms were sufficiently dark and looked sharp. Edges looked slightly crisper than those printed by the HP DeskJet 2755e. 

Graphics printed with a good amount of detail and accurate colors. Compared to graphics printed by the HP 2755e, the Brother's graphics had slightly smoother textures and better fine detail. However, in the Brother's prints, some faces looked too bright and thus lost contour. But text in our test PDF printed sharply (something the HP DeskJet reproduced less sharply). Similarly, text in graphics areas of the PDF looked sharper in the Brother's prints.

Glossy photos looked attractive, with accurate colors and fine details. Unlike some other models, the Brother does not hype yellow and red shades, which gives a warmer look to photo prints. 

The Brother also makes good-quality copies, accurately reproducing text and graphics. Scan quality was also high. As in its graphics prints, this Brother showed a tendency in scans of faces to bump up the exposure. Whereas this led to a loss of some mid-tone transitions in prints on plain paper, in photo scans it prevented harsh shadows on faces in the mid-day sun from looking unattractively dark. By contrast, the HP DeskJet 2755e scanned the same mid-day photo with darker shadows on faces.

Dark background shadows in another one of our test photo scans, however, came out too dark, losing some fine details.

Brother MFC-J1205w review: Ink cost and yield

Brother's standard-yield ink cartridges deliver low costs per page for the MFC-J1205w. Text pages cost 3.5 cents per page, and color pages cost 9.1 cents each. 

These ongoing costs are significantly lower than the averages of 10 cents (text) and 21.2 cents (color), when using standard-yield cartridges. But this Brother even beats the lower costs per page for models using high-yield cartridges: 6.2 cents (text) and 15.7 cents (color).

By comparison, the HP 2755e has costs per page of 8 cents (text) and 25 cents (color) when using standard cartridges. But with high-yield cartridges, ink costs are still significantly higher than the Brother, at 10 cents (text) and 22.5 cents (color).

All four of the Brother's ink cartridges have an estimated yield of 750 pages. The black ink cartridge costs $25.99, while the color cartridges cost $15.49 each. No high-yield cartridges are offered.

The Brother Refresh program offers the convenience of automatic ordering of cartridges when ink is running low. This is not a subscription plan with a monthly fee.

For a detailed explanation of ink subscription plans, including the Brother Refresh program, see "HP Instant Ink vs. Canon vs. Epson: Are ink subscriptions worth it?"

Brother MFC-J1205w review: Setup and software

The included software is basic, but gets the job done. One drawback is that you will need to use the Brother iPrint&Scan software to make a borderless photo print. (In my testing, borderless printing was not available in the Windows 10 print driver).

As for scanning, photo enthusiasts may wish for an 8-by-10-inch scan area preset. Because there is none, you will need to rely on the auto crop feature. Thankfully, in most cases auto crop worked well. The main exception was a colorful magazine cover illustration, which causes auto crop to only capture a small portion of the image. Similarly, a scan of a magazine page cropped out more than half of the original page. However, many other magazine pages were accurately cropped automatically. 

Also included is the Brother Creative Center software, which offers templates and printable items such as cards, invitations, calendars, party decorations, coloring graphics, and the like.

Setting up the MFC-J1205w is straightforward, and the starter ink cartridges slid easily into place. After loading paper, the printer automatically produces a print quality test sheet. This first print pulled three sheets of paper through the paper path. One of my later copies pulled two sheets through the unit, which may indicate paper feed issues.

Setting up from a PC, the on-screen prompts are easy to follow and the quick setup guide is handy, with large illustrations. This reference and the troubleshooting guide show LED indicator lights and button presses for checking print quality (mono or color).

To initiate a wireless connection, I used the QR code in the setup guide to download the Brother iOS app to my iPhone. The app, however, did not automatically identify the printer model. I had to select it from a list, confirm that a pair of lights on the control panel were blinking, and then app established a WiFi Direct connection.

The rest of the wireless setup was problematic, however. In the end, the printer was usable on my network from both my iPhone and my Windows 10 PC, but my first attempts were frustrating. For example, when I first attempted to add the printer to my wireless network by entering the network password in the Brother iOS app, it failed to finish the process.

Attempting the wireless network setup from my Windows 10 PC, I was unable to find a wireless connection setup in either the Brother iPrint & Scan software or in Brother Utilities (perhaps because I had previously set up a USB connection). So, attempting to add the printer in Windows Settings, I was prompted to enter the printer's WPS PIN—but I could not find this information in the setup guide. The Brother support website described a method of pressing the printer's Wi-Fi button three times as well as my router's WPS button—but this also failed to place the MFC-J1205w on my network.

After a short reprieve, both the iOS wireless and Windows 10 PC Wi-Fi connections resolved themselves and I didn't have to call the support center. How I would repeat this setup scenario is a mystery to me.

Brother MFC-J1205w review: Bottom line

This bargain Brother printer offers high image quality and a lot of speed. It's quick to print text, print graphics, and to make copies and scans. The bonus of low ink costs make the MFC-J1205w a solid candidate for everyday office tasks. 

Photo enthusiasts, however, will be sorely disappointed by the sluggish photo printing, and the limited offer of borderless photo printing only in the included software. Because this basic model lacks a display screen on its control panel, it's best suited for users who plan to operate it from a PC or smartphone. 

The Kodak STEP Slim ($100, marked down to $80 at press time) is a little printer with a single mission: To make 2 x 3-inch photo prints on the go. 

Rather than transfer ink or toner to the paper, the STEP Slim uses Zink (as in, zero ink) technology. The thermal paper contains multiple layers containing dye crystals that respond to heat. There is a layer for each of the three colors (yellow, magenta and cyan), with each layer responding to different temperatures and heat pulses.

The battery is rated to last 25 prints or one-and-a-half hours. Charge time is also one-and-a-half hours. A micro USB cable is included for charging. Sending photos to the printer is done wirelessly via Bluetooth.

This STEP Slim makes one size of prints: 2 x 3 inches. The most common aspect ratio in cell phones, however, is 4:3, which means you will either leave white space on the paper in order to print the entire image, or you will have to crop the image to fill the paper.

The STEP Slim comes with an app that can easily access your social media accounts. Tapping on "My Gallery" in the Kodak STEP app opens options to print from Facebook, Instagram, and Google Photos, as well as several (some, automatically) generated lists: recents, Kodak Steptouch Edit, Favorites, Recently Added, selfies, screenshots, portrait, animated, unable to upload, and RAW.

In addition to printing images from your social media accounts, the app also lets you share to social media as well as to your texting app. Operating the STEP Slim is exclusive to mobile phones. You can not operate this printer from a Windows or Mac computer.

Kodak STEP Slim mobile photo printer review: Design

Small enough to fit in a pocket, this little printer measures approximately 4.6 x 3.2 x 0.75 inches. For comparison, it's roughly an inch shorter and twice as thick as an iPhone 7 in a durable case. The STEP Slim is lightweight, weighing less than 6 ounces without paper loaded. By comparison, the iPhone 7 weighs 4.9 ounces. 

The body is attractively simple, with a flat lid, rounded corners, and a glossy white finish. At one end is the slot where finished prints emerge.

At the other end is the power button, the micro USB port, and a charging light. Adding the paper is simple: You slide off the lid and place the paper in the interior paper bay.

Kodak STEP Slim mobile photo printer review: Print Speed and Quality

In our tests, the STEP Slim made a print in 47.4 seconds, on average, and its speed was very consistent.

Print quality is good, but not great. Upon close inspection, fine bands are sometimes visible on the prints. In our test prints, however, these were not so pronounced as to be distracting. In other cases, up-close examination revealed pixelation that made some textures a little unattractive.

Overall, prints were attractive. Colors looked natural and well saturated. Skin tones in portraits didn't look as warm as on-screen, however. In both flash photos and photos taken in natural light, faces tended to look a little overexposed, flattening the texture of the faces.

Up-close shots of a few people looked quite good. My prints of a small group shot waist-up, filling the frame, printed with an attractive amount of detail. In other prints, however, some fine details got lost. In particular, in shots containing more than a few people, where the faces were printed smaller, fine details of facial features were noticeably missing when viewed up close.

Kodak STEP Slim mobile photo printer review: Paper Cost

Unlike inkjet printers, Zink printers only require that you buy paper (no cartridges needed). 

A 100-sheet pack of paper typically costs $59.99, or 60 cents per print. Marked down to $49.99, when reviewed, reduces the cost of prints to 50 cents each. You also can get sticker paper (two pre-cut stickers per sheet), which comes in a pack of 30 sheets for $19.99, which was marked down to $16.99 when reviewed.

Kodak offers a basic subscription plan: You choose to receive a paper pack every month or every other month, in one of three sizes: 20, 50 or 100 sheets. Signing up for a subscription (which you can reportedly cancel at any time, without penalty), can save 10 percent. But that 10 percent savings is based on the full price of the paper (note the marked-down prices above).

For example, with a subscription, both a 20-pack of paper ($8.99) and a 50-pack ($22.49) come out to 45 cents per print. (The 100-pack with a subscription was not available at press time.)

How do these costs compare to other small printers that make miniature prints? One similar model that uses Zink technology is the HP Sprocket, whose 2.3 x 3.4-inch paper runs 60 cents per print, if you buy a 100-sheet pack of its sticky back photo paper.

Another competing model is the Fujifilm Instax Mini Link 2, which makes 2.44 x 1.81-inch prints using Instax film instead of Zink paper. At full price, a pack of 50 sheets runs $59.95, or $1.20 per print. At press time, the discounted price of $41 still meant you'd pay 82 cents per print—almost double the STEP Slim's best rate.

Compared to a standard desktop inkjet printer, however, the Kodak's miniature prints can be a little pricey. For comparison, I chose the recently reviewed Canon Pixma TS702a ($130), a single-function inkjet printer. Using a 100-sheet pack of Canon's 4 x 6-inch Photo Paper Plus II at full price ($22), and ink cartridges bought in value packs, snapshots cost a total of 64.9 cents each. Using higher-capacity XL ink cartridges brings this cost down by 8 cents. At press time, however, Canon's discounted paper pack ($13.19) reduced costs significantly. Of course, these costs are for 4 x 6-inch prints. Cutting this cost in half to the 2 x 3-inch equivalent of the STEP Slim's prints, the Canon's prints cost 32.5 to 24 cents each per 2-by-3-inch print area—or, 28 percent to 47 percent lower than the Kodak's.

Kodak STEP Slim mobile photo printer review: Setup and Software

Setting up the Kodak STEP Slim is very simple. I used the QR code printed in the small start guide to download the iOS app. A series of initial screens led me through the main features of the Kodak STEP app and locations of on-screen buttons.

From the app's gallery page, swiping left clears the screen for taking pictures within the app. You simply swipe rightward to return to the gallery page.

The app offers an attractive set of filters, with a variety of artsy and classic treatments. There are 25 in all, from monochrome to retro and color casts. There are understated filters with low color saturation, all the way up to oversaturated vibrance, and a noisy black-and-white punk rock look. 

There is a blur feature, which works very simply—just place the on-screen circle (adjustable size) on your subject, and the remainder of the image will be slightly blurred. This is particularly handy for basic phone cameras that can't create this shallow depth of field with their lens. However, I found this feature to be a little glitchy: adjusting the size of the focus circle was sticky.

Other features were welcome although a little basic. The brightness adjustment, I found, had a tendency to wash out the photo. I would prefer to have separate adjustments for highlights and shadows. Personally, I tend to like a shadow adjustment to recover lost details in harsh shadows, such as on people's faces in bright sunlight. Fun photo add-ons include borders, graphics, and text. You can also make stickers by printing to pre-cut sticker paper.

Previously, I mentioned that photos taken at 4:3 aspect ratio will have to be cropped to fill the 3:2 print size of the Kodak paper. When moving the image and magnifying it in the app, you do have control over the placement of the image. You aren't locked into placing the image at the center of the paper.

The app offers other handy features beyond its editing capabilities. There are quick tips and support links, share settings, and paper refill ordering.

However, if you have a favorite photo editing app you would like to print from, you may be disappointed to find that you will have to save your image and then print from the Kodak app.

Kodak STEP Slim mobile photo printer review: Bottom line

The Kodak STEP Slim is fun, easy to use, and offers good print quality. It's a one-trick pony, but it offers a full set of features via its well-designed app. The pocketable size makes it convenient. And although print quality is not excellent, it is certainly impressive enough for a pocketable printer that can generate a 2 x 3-inch photo print in less than a minute. Although cost per print is quite high, this is a handy device for quickly printing out photos on the go.

The Prusa Mini+ is a well-built, solid small 3D printer that’s ideal for those who want to experiment with 3D printing. We’ve seen cheaper printers aimed at beginners, from the Monoprice Delta Mini V2 to the XYZ da Vinci Nano. But you won’t mind paying up for the toughness and reliability of the Prusa Mini+, which is among the best 3D printers precisely because it’s so easy to use.

Prusa Mini+ 3D printer review: Price and availability

The Prusa Mini+ comes in two versions: a semi-assembled kit for $459 and a complete, start-from-scratch kit for $429. Both are available now from Prusa.

Prusa Mini+ 3D printer review: Design

Most of the Mini+ is 3D printed itself, with the addition of pieces of extruded aluminum and metal rods to form the frame. The printer is not enclosed, so you’ll want to find a spot for it that avoids drafts or sudden temperature changes. The front of the printer includes a 2.8-inch LCD screen, with a combined control dial and button, plus a reset button. 

The main feature of the Prusa Mini+ is the print bed, which uses a removable metal plate. When a print is finished, you can lift the print bed off and bend the plate to help remove it. This also means you can quickly start another print by swapping out build plates — a big plus if you want to use the printer a lot. 

This print bed offers a 7x7x7-inch print area for a total of 343 cubic inches. That’s a decent size, especially for a smaller 3D printer. While that’s slightly smaller than printers such as the Adventurer 4, the Prusa Mini+ is big enough to handle most things you are likely to want to print. 

The Mini+ print head hovers above the print bed, moved by two motors that lift it and move it left and right. An additional motor moves the print bed back and forward. All three motors are quiet, so there are none of the usual crunching and grinding noises you’d expect to hear as a print is produced. 

The Mini+ also has a neat holder for the filament spool, which uses four bearings to let the spool rotate freely. Another unusual feature is a filament sensor that detects when the filament runs out and halts the print in progress, giving you the chance to load another spool and save the print. 

Prusa Mini+ 3D printer review: Setup

For this Prusa Mini+ 3D printer review, I tested the partly constructed kit, which is probably the better option for most people. The kit comes tested and calibrated, saving great hassle and heartache. 

The build process is simple and well-described in the included manual. Some nice touches make it easier. Take the Cheatsheet, a printed guide showing all the screws and bolts at life-size. This avoids many of the common hassles of assembling a kit, like not realizing the difference between an M3X20 and an M3X25 bolt until you’ve already inserted it and can’t figure out why it doesn’t work. 

The kit also comes with a small pack of Haribo bears, and the manual instructs you to eat these at various times during the process. I am not a big fan, so I substituted yogurt-coated raisins, which did not affect the build process and tasted better. 

Once the Prusa Mini+ is built, you run through the calibration wizard, which tests the printer and helps you set it up. Again, this is well described in the manual and is mostly automatic. This walks you through loading the filament and setting the Z offset, the gap between the print bed and the tip of the filament extruder. 

The Mini+ includes a sensor that detects the print bed, so you don’t have to level the print bed, but you need to set the Z offset, which involves running a test that squeezes a layer of filament onto the print bed, then looking to see how well this sticks and adjusting the setting to get the right height. It isn’t difficult and is fairly obvious once you get it right. 

Prusa Mini+ 3D printer review: Printing process

To print a 3D model on the Prusa Mini+, you must prepare it and create a print file. The Mini+ uses a program called PrusaSlicer, available for Windows, Mac and Linux. This program is very nice, with a simple, clean design that steps you through loading the model, positioning it for the print, and then creating the print file that you send to the printer. 

For materials, profiles for generic PLA, ABS, and PETG  and several Prusa filaments are installed by default. A huge number of user-created profiles for filament from other manufacturers can also be installed if required. 

PrusaSlicer includes many powerful features — models can be duplicated, spun around, automatically arranged, and tweaked in many ways. You also enjoy a lot of control over the printing process, with features like adding fuzzy skin to a part of a print to create a fiber-like texture that provides more grip. 

Once the print is set up, you save the print file to a USB drive and transfer it over to the Prusa Mini+. At the moment, the Mini+ does not support wireless printing. A basic monitoring app is built into that 3D printer that uses its ethernet connection, but there is no way to start or stop a print remotely. Prusa is working on this with its Prusa Connect service, which only works with the more expensive Prusa 3 printer at the moment; support for the Mini+ is promised in the future. 

When you insert a USB drive containing a print file into the Mini+’s USB port, the printer’s LCD screen shows a preview of the print and the basic info, automatically selecting the most recent one. You can start the print with a single click of the controller. That lovely, simple touch makes things quicker and simpler: no more hunting through a long list of files to find the one you want. 

The Prusa Mini+ is pretty quiet, producing only a slight humming noise as the motors turn, with the odd clonk or whirr as the printer head moves around. I wouldn’t want to try and sleep in the same room as it when printing, but it is certainly one of the quietest and least annoying printers I have tested.

When the print is complete, you remove the print bed and bend it to pop the print off.  I had no problems with failed prints on this printer — all of my test prints printed correctly, popping off the print bed with ease.

Prusa Mini+ 3D printer review: Print speed

We found that the Mini+ was a fairly fast printer. When working in the 0.2mm quality print mode, our 4-inch high test model of the Thinker took 7 hours and 52 minutes. It could go faster, though, as switching to the 0.3mm Speed mode sped this up to just 4 hours and 22 minutes, although the print quality suffered somewhat.That’s still a bit slower than the Monoprice Delta Mini, which took 3.5 hours to do a similar print. 

Prusa Mini+ 3D printer review: Print Quality

If you don’t mind the longer wait, the Mini+ can produce excellent quality prints. Printing in the Quality mode, I found that the Mini+ created excellent prints of all of our models, with smooth curves on the Thinker and sharp edges and tips on our geometric sculpture. 

We did notice quite a lot of stringing on the geometric sculpture, though, where thin filament strings are left behind as the print head moves from one part of the print to another. We were able to deal with some of this with tweaks to settings in PrusaSlicer — specifically the retraction setting, which determines how the printer pulls the filament back into the print head when moving it from one part of the print to another. However, strings remained on some prints. 

I also found excellent quality in our test where we produce a set of interlocking gears. These intricate parts fit together with very few issues, and the final mechanism turned smoothly and cleanly. The gears did need a bit of cleaning, though, as some small whiskers of filament stuck to parts of the print and had to be trimmed off with a sharp knife. 

These whiskers can also be caused by the filament absorbing moisture, which underlies one of the issues with open-plan printers like the Mini+: you are at the mercy of your environment. Printers like the Adventure 4 that have sealed enclosures can filter the air and dry the filament, but the Mini+ can’t. Prusa offers an enclosure, which adds another $349 to the cost of the Mini+. 

Prusa Mini+ 3D printer review: Materials

There are no restrictions on the printing material that the Mini+ can use. Any 1.75mm filament can be fed into the printer. The heated print bed (which can reach up to 100C/212F) and the hot extruder (which can get up to 280C/536F) can handle most materials, including the more exotic ones like Nylon and Polypropylene. 

Prusa sells its own line of filaments, including several filaments made with wood and metal additions to provide a more natural texture. The metal ones require a hardened nozzle, though, as the metal particles in the filament wear away the Mini+’s standard brass nozzle. Prusa does not make these, but it does offer a great guide on where to get a hardened nozzle and how to adapt the printing process to them. 

Prusa Mini+ 3D printer review: Verdict

There are plenty of cheaper 3D printers out there than the Prusa Mini+. These are often a false economy, though: cheaper printers require lots of calibration, testing, and tweaking to get good-quality prints. The Mini+ doesn’t make you jump through those hoops — all the prints I tried worked the first time and looked good, apart from some easily-trimmed whiskers. That’s worth a lot more than a lower initial price tag. 

The overall Prusa Mini+ package is excellent, with easy assembly, friendly software and a straightforward printing process. If you want someone to be inspired by 3D printing rather than frustrated, the Mini+ is a great pick. Get this 3D printer for the beginner who wants to get into 3D printing and doesn’t mind spending a bit more on a printer that can grow with them. 

The best photo printers make it easy to create prints of your favorite photos, no matter if they're simple snapshots or professional-grade photos. 

I know the printer experts on our team go hands-on to use and test every printer we review, which means printing out hundreds of test sheets. And based on all that testing, I generally recommend the Canon Pixma TR8620 as the best photo printer for most folks because it prints photos quickly at high quality, without costing a boatload either up front or down the line in ink costs.

But if you need something a little more portable for your next trip, consider the Canon Pixma TR150. It's not as versatile or as capable as the TR8620 but its an awful lot easier to fit in your backpack, and it prints out high-quality photos with ease.

Read on for more details about why these are the best photo printers we recommend right now, including links to our reviews and testing so you can pick the printer that's perfect for you.

The quick list

In a hurry? Here's a quick list of the best photo printers we recommend right now.

The best photo printers you can buy today

Best overall

The Canon Pixma TR8620 is great for printing photos because it delivers high print quality at high speed, according to our testing. 

Plus it offers a bounty of useful features that are nice to have in a home printer, from scanning and faxing functionality to a 20-page automatic document feeder (ADF), a duplexer for two-sided printing, and two paper trays for keeping two types of paper at the ready. A big 4.3-inch color touchscreen makes it easy to control, and the printer supports smart home integration with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

Really, our only big complaint with this Canon printer is how much the ink costs, but that's admittedly due partially to the expense of using two different black inks in its 5-ink cartridge system.

Read our full Canon Pixma TR8620 review and check our Canon promo codes before you buy!

Best portable photo printer

If you want to print photos on the go, I think the Canon Pixma TR150 is the best we've reviewed because its small enough to toss in a backpack, yet big enough to print everything from 4x6 photos to 8.5 x 11 documents. With a two-cartridge system, its ink is affordable and lends itself well to a variety of printing uses. But where the Canon really stands out is photo printing. 

Admittedly it lacks some key printer features like copying and scanning, but what you sacrifice in versatility you get back in portability. This is a capable, sturdy portable printer with optional battery and even support for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice controls, but we love it for the great photos and low ink costs it offers.

Read our full Canon Pixma TR150 review. 

How to find the best photo printer for you

Choosing the right photo printer is largely a question of desired picture size and whether or not you want portability. Photo printing covers several subcategories of printer, ranging from portable photo printers for smartphones to multifunction all-in-one printers. Those offer photo printing alongside document printing, scanning and copying.

Snapshots or larger? Inkjet printers that offer photo printing will usually do so at sizes up to a full-page, while dedicated photo printers may be limited to 4 x 6 prints or smaller. If larger prints are what you want, then no portable printer will do – you need a desktop inkjet printer like the Canon Pixma TR8620.

Portability is the other big concern. Many people find that the best time to print off those vacation photos is during the vacation, getting hard copies of that day at the beach or that memorable museum tour printed right in your hotel room, and for those people the best photo printer is probably the Pixma TR150 on account of how easy it is to carry with you;

Price: Set a budget for what you can afford to spend, then calibrate your photo printer expectations accordingly. Photo-capable all-in-one printers can be had for as little as $60 for inkjet models, but more-professional printing options can scale up to hundreds of dollars. Smaller portable photo printers feature battery power and smartphone connectivity and generally sell for around $100 or more.

How we test photo printers

From large inkjets to pocket-sized mobile printers, every photo printer we review goes through rigorous testing and evaluation as part of our review process. For photo printing, that involves printing a handful of photos, timing how long each print takes, and then examining the quality of each picture.

Print speed measures the time it takes to print, from the moment we hit "print" until the final photo is ejected from the printer. We do this for single photos and batches of several prints to get a good feel for how long printing takes in a variety of circumstances.

Photo quality is determined by examining the printed images, noting how well the printer has handled transitions between shades, the sharpness of fine details and how well flesh-tones are reproduced.

Cost of printing is notoriously difficult to estimate for photos, which will use widely varying amounts of ink and color depending upon the image being printed, but we do our best to provide realistic estimates. By dividing the manufacturer's estimated yield of each cartridge or refill, we can determine the average cost for each individual page or photo print. Where high-capacity ink cartridges and value-priced packages are available, we make sure to include those in our calculations. 

Check out all of our printer coverage:

Best printers | Best all-in-one printers | Best portable printers | Best laser printers 

Look, this wouldn't be much of a guide to buying the best printers if I just told you to get the Brother INKvestment MFC-T780DW. I mean, if you just need to print, copy and scan documents with great print quality and low ink costs, then that's the very printer you'll be looking for (and you can see why in our in-depth review).

But here at Tom's Guide, we put the dozens of printers we review each year through a series of tests to see how fast, capable and, most importantly, affordable they are. You see, there are printers that are better for day-to-day work, but others offer up incredible detail for photo printing or the space for scanning those lengthy documents.

That's why I'm here to point you towards a variety of options to sort your printing needs. So, no more messy prints, runaway ink costs and terrible interfaces. Just mean, clean printing machines (that scan and copy, too). Let's take the pain out of printing with our top recommendations on the best printers around.

• View our Canon promo codes for a 10% discount

The best printers you can buy now

The best printer overall

The Brother INKvestment MFC-T780DW is the No. 1 printer for home use and the office, thanks to its exceptionally low running costs, just 0.3 cents per text page and under a penny per color page, and its snappy print speeds. When a printer produces a five-page text document in just 24.2 seconds, you know it's just the machine to get the job done.

When it comes to print quality, the MFC-T780DW delivers sharp text and attractive graphics, though text tends to be slightly lighter than what you’d see from a laser printer. The output on glossy photo paper looks vibrant and detailed, a strong showing for a printer that isn’t marketed as photo-centric.

Beyond printing, the MFC-T780DW proves itself as a true multifunction machine. Its four-tank ink system keeps you prepared for any print job, and scanning is notably fast: a 600 dpi color scan to JPEG took just over 50 seconds in our testing, well ahead of the category average. These features make it a reliable option for scanning, copying, and general document handling.

Compared to other models in this price range, the MFC-T780DW holds its own, as its per-page ink costs even rival those of the Brother HL-L2390DW. While the HP Smart Tank 760 can print photos faster, the MFC-T780DW’s balance of low ink costs and consistent print quality makes it the better all-purpose choice. The Canon Pixma TR8620 leads in photo output with its 5-ink system, but the MFC-T780DW keeps ongoing expenses lower and is better suited for regular office work.

There are some trade-offs. The automatic document feeder holds only 20 sheets, which might be limiting for higher-volume users. The small, simple LCD lacks the convenience of a touchscreen, and setup can be finicky. Wireless connections sometimes require a manual reset, and filling the ink tanks may get messy. That being said, the Brother INKvestment MFC-T780DW still stands out for anyone after dependable, cost-effective printing and scanning.

• Read our full Brother INKvestment MFC-T780DW review

The best budget printer

The Canon MegaTank Pixma G3290 is an ink tank all-in-one that delivers great prints with low ink costs and an affordable up-front price, making it my top recommendation for folks seeking a great budget printer.

Of course, you shouldn't expect a lot of bells and whistles on this entry-level all-in-one. It has no document feeder and only one paper tray, plus the speed of copies and prints is pretty average, so you won't be flying through big print jobs.

But if you don't need to be printing all the time, this is a great choice because it delivers what most of us are looking for in a great all-in-one: reliable, high-quality prints with the versatility to do documents, photos and double-sided print jobs.

In our testing, this machine managed to print an average of 9.2 pages per minute, which is pretty on par with the competition. But when printing double-sided text documents that cranked up to 7.2 pages per minute, the fastest duplex print speed we've recorded of any recent ink tank printers.

And thanks to its easy setup process, robust wireless support (this thing can print via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or a smartphone app) and low ink costs (we estimate color prints cost roughly 0.9 cents per page, significantly lower than the 1.9 cent per page category average), this is a great printer for anyone seeking a cheap, reliable ink printer for photos and documents.

• Read our full Canon MegaTank Pixma G3290 review

The best printer for students

The HP Smart Tank 7602 is a wireless multifunction printer that we regularly recommend as the best printer for students (most of the time) because it's easy to set up and prints good-quality prints quickly, with very low ink costs.

I know because our printer expert exhaustively tested it himself in his own home, and the HP Smart Tank 7602 surprised him by printing an 8x-10-inch glossy photo at high resolution in under 2 minutes, which is more than twice as fast as the category average (4 minutes 1 second).

It also scans and prints quite quickly, and is speedy at kicking out color and black-and-white documents. However, printed scans often showed small discolorations and pixelations, so this isn't a great printer for photojournalism students or others who prize perfection in prints.

However, our reviewer definitely had some hassles when trying to set up the printer via its included HP Smart software. You can connect the printer to a PC via either USB, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, and unfortunately, you'll need a (free) HP Smart account to take full advantage of all the printer's features.

Still, despite these setup headaches, this printer is our top recommendation for students because of its ease of use, good print quality and low ink costs.

• Read our full HP Smart Tank 7602 review

The best photo printer

Photographers can see their work in fine detail on screens, but it's all for naught if the quality and colors don't match once it's printed out. That's where the Canon PIXMA Pro-200S comes in, as it's the printer with the best print quality. It's our top recommendation for photo enthusiasts who want to print gallery-worthy images at home.

With its wide-format support up to A3+ and an 8-ink dye system (double the ink tanks of any we've tested), it delivers vibrant color accuracy and flexibility for everything from panoramic landscapes to finely detailed portraits.

In our hands-on tests, the Pro-200S delivered images with remarkably true-to-life greens and bright blues that feel almost textured, details that often get lost on lesser printers. Fine textures in skin and foliage held up beautifully, and color transitions were smooth, making this an excellent choice for anyone obsessed with faithful photographic reproduction.

And it won't be slow printing off your masterpieces, either. On A3 Pro luster paper, the Pro-200S turned out borderless prints in just over a minute. Even when pushed to the highest quality mode, times stayed under four minutes, making it a fine choice for batch printing.

The Pro-200S isn’t perfect for everyone. Wi-Fi setup can be a little fiddly, and ink costs are higher than document-centric printers, especially if you print lots of large photos. Mono page yield isn't the best, so it’s not a great fit for heavy office use. But for photographers who care most about image quality and print flexibility, these trade-offs are worth it.

• Read our full Canon PIXMA Pro-200S review

The best all-in-one printer

If you just want a printer that does it all and will last you for any printing jobs for years to come, the Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II is the highest-rated all-in-one printer we've tested, offering true all-in-one functionality with print, copy, scan and fax in a single device and a generous 250-sheet main paper tray.

Everyday tasks feel streamlined on this machine. The 5-inch touchscreen is responsive and intuitive, simplifying everything from walk-up copying to complex scan jobs. More impressively, print quality impressed us across the board: text was sharp in black and white, and color documents showed plenty of detail and vibrancy.

It's easy to set up, too, which means none of those typical printer pain points. As in, the touchscreen actually makes resolving paper jams much less of a hassle, guiding you step by step. Now that's a welcome feature. But you're also getting rapid print speeds here. In our lab tests, it printed a five-page text document in 11.31 seconds, equivalent to 26.5 pages per minute, meaning you'll be printing out documents on the fly.

If you’re weighing cost efficiency, the Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II is on the more expensive end with its pricier running costs. It's also heavy, so it's the type of printer that you'll want to stay in one spot in your home or office. In the grand scheme of how well this printer performs, though, those are only small nuisances.

From the blazing-fast print speeds to the sharp print quality it offers, the Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II is one reliable laser printer that's hard to pass up, especially for homes or offices that need a workhorse for all printing needs.

• Read our full Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II review

Also tested

There are lots of other great printers out there that don't quite have what it takes to knock any of our best printers off their perch. But it's awfully close, and when we test and review a printer that's nearly good enough to earn a spot on this list, you should know about it.

If you're after more printers to suit your needs, check out the other models we've tested.

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How to choose the best printer for you

Finding the right printer starts with defining what you need that printer to do. There's a drastic difference between a large multifunction printer that will copy, scan and fax, and a pocket-sized photo printer that's perfect for printing snapshots on the go. The best place to start is to narrow down what functions you want and what aspects of printing are most important to you.

Inkjet or Laser: Inkjet printers are generally better at producing the full range of colors, making them more suited for printing graphics and photos. Laser printers, on the other hand, can quickly produce professional-looking text documents, often at a lower cost per page. Three ways to cut printing costs to a minimum include: Switching to a laser printer, opting for a tank-based inkjet printer or signing up for a subscription ink service. (See our article Inkjet vs. Laser: Which printer is right for you? to learn more.)

All-in-One printers offer more than just printing, with built-in scanners that can scan and copy everything from forms to photos. Some (but not all) will also have fax capability.

Photo printing is a separate concern, requiring support for printing on glossy paper, handling different photo paper sizes and sometimes requiring additional (and potentially expensive) inks to deliver better print quality.

Portable printing is all about mobility. Compact designs are paired with batteries and sometimes exotic print technologies to let you print from a hotel room, in your car, or even out at the beach.

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Frequently Asked Questions

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How we test the best printers

Every printer we review is extensively tested to give us a clear idea of how well it performs, in terms of print capability, general ease of use and expense over time. Our testing procedures include timed print tests to determine print speeds, with a set of standardized documents that have a mix of text and graphics and color photos.

Every print is examined and compared, with errors and print problems noted in the review and overall quality measured against the other printers on the market.

We also test the scanning and copying functions (when they are offered), timing how quickly it captures a page and comparing the results to the original images to determine how well it captures color and detail.

To measure the cost of owning and operating a printer, we look at the current street price of ink refills and the estimated number of pages that each cartridge can produce, and calculate the cost for printing a single page.

These specific tests are adapted as needed to handle all sorts of printers, from monochrome laser printers and portable snapshot printers to full-featured all-in-one inkjets. Wherever possible, we make sure that the tests are done in such a way that they can not only be compared within a specific category, but also across all printer types generally.

For more information on our testing process, check out our guide to how we test.

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Here’s why almost 11 million customers are already using the Instant Ink subscription service to have ink or toner cartridges shipped straight to their front door without lifting a finger.

Spend less money and time 

What's more important? Time or money? It's an age-old question, but now you don't have to choose. HP Instant Ink plans save you both.

Whether you’re printing out travel tickets, contracts that need an urgent signature, or hard copies of important documents, the flashing ‘low ink’ light is never a welcome sight.

The HP Instant Ink subscription streamlines the delivery process, making printers smart and ensuring you never have to see that warning light again.

How does it work? Your printer monitors how much ink or toner is left in your cartridge. Whenever you get low, more is automatically delivered to your door right before you run out. Simple.

Plans start at just $0.99 and are based on how many pages you print each month, not the amount of ink used. This saves you hundreds of dollars a year and allows you to print with as much color as you want, without worrying about using too much ink. You can even keep track of it all via your cell phone by using the HP Smart app.

Delivery is free and you can change, pause, or cancel your subscription at any time. With HP Instant Ink you’ll never run out of printer ink again.

The recycling's done for you 

Typically, recycling your used ink cartridge can be a bit of a bind. Finding big box retailers or recycling programs that accept them, or just finding the time to make the diversion, means cartridges often end up in the general trash.

All HP Instant Ink and toner deliveries include a prepaid postal bag to take the headache out of recycling. Just put your used cartridge in the bag, seal it up and drop it off at your nearest mailbox. 

You can even add reams of paper to your subscription, too. All HP North American paper is FSC® certified so you can be assured it’s sourced from responsibly managed forests for a Forest First future (try saying that fast).

Read more about HP's commitment to protecting, improving, and restoring forests worldwide here. 

Brains made brilliant 

Study after study has shown that people learn better by reading on paper rather than a screen. Contrary to popular predictions, bookstores did not go out of business with the launch of portable wireless electronic reading devices (AKA e-readers).

While online, the human brain skims and scans – navigating links and sliding over pop-ups to find what it’s searching for. Unsurprisingly, with so much always vying for attention, digital reading can often lead to a loss of depth.

Reading hard copy means more information is retained for longer, an important part of maintaining your brain in the digital age.

It's the original smart device, after all.

HP Instant Ink then, for peace of mind, for your pocket, and for the planet. Ticking all those boxes has never been easier.

For full terms and conditions please click here.

Laser printers are great for when you need to print a lot, and the best laser printers reliably deliver high-quality print jobs quickly at low cost.

I know exactly how much because here at Tom's Guide my team and I review printers from all the major manufacturers, and we put each one through hundreds of test prints to see how well they actually perform in real-world conditions.

Brother's laser printers often perform very well in our tests, so if you just want a great all-in-one right now I highly recommend the Brother MFC-L2750DW because it'sa reliable, affordable all-in-one laser printer that delivers great prints.

But it's not the cheapest laser printer on the market, so if you're on a budget I recommend the Brother HL-L2390DW instead. This no-frills budget laser printer offers quick performance and quality prints at a good price per page.

Of course, if you need a laser printer for an office or busy home office you'll want something bigger. For those cases I suggest you buy the Canon ImageClass MF743Cdw because it prints large jobs faster than other small business printers we tested, plus it has more features and still delivers great prints at a good price per page.

If those don't fit your needs I have more recommendations down below, so scroll down and check them out! If you don't have your heart set on a laser printer, you can also check out our guide to the best printers around for more printer buying advice.

The quick list

Best laser printers right now

Best laser printer overall

The Brother MFC-L2750DW is a monochrome laser printer that delivers pretty much everything you want in an all-in-one printer at a good price.

Made for small office use, this unit has a monthly duty cycle of 15,000 pages that handles pages quickly and affordably, with some of the best print speeds we've seen at printing costs as low as 2.7 cents per page.

The printer is also loaded with handy features like scanning and copying, fax capability, and a second paper tray. Two-sided copies are extra quick, thanks to two-sided scanning that captures the front and back of a page simultaneously and an automatic duplexer for two-sided printing.

In our testing this printer even produced two-sided documents faster than some competitors printed one-sided pages. The MFC-L2750DW is especially convenient for an office printer, with easy connectivity that includes mobile printing.

This printer may cost a bit more up front, but the Brother MFC-L2750DW is the best combination of print quality, speed and value we've seen in a laser printer, which is why it's my #1 recommendation for the best laser printer you can buy right now.

Read our full Brother MFC-L2750DW review.

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Best value

The Brother HL-L2390DW is a monochrome laser all-in-one printer that's more affordable than it has any right to be given how useful and reliable it is in our testing. While it's still more expensive than the ultra-cheap subsidized inkjet printers you can find at discount stores, it's also not going to quit on you after 3 months or cost you an arm and a leg when it's time to refill the ink.

I know because we printed hundreds of pages to test how well this value-minded machine works, and the speed and quality of the prints is far higher than you'd expect given this printer's affordable price tag. But it's not just affordable at purchase; operating costs are low, too, with a cost per page of 3.7 cents using standard-capacity toner cartridges and just 2.7 cents with high-capacity toner.

As you'll see in our test results, printing performance is sharp and faster than average. Plus, this printer handles scans and copies quickly to boot. If you want the benefits of a laser printer without the usual expense, the Brother HL-L2390DW is my best budget pick for you.

Read our full Brother HL-L2390DW review.

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Best for business

The Canon ImageClass MF743Cdw is a big, hefty laser printer built for business use, so don't buy this if you just need something for family or home use.

But if you are shopping for a small office or business, this is the printer I recommend most often because it reliably prints, scans and copies high volumes of work at high speed, without costing too much.

Plus, with a low cost per page thanks to high-capacity toner cartridges this beefy Canon won't weigh down your budget. And thanks to its ability to quickly print color and monochrome pages, as well as its multi-page copying capabilities, this laser printer won't let you down when business heats up.

The one exception is duplex printing, where we saw less-than-speedy performance compared to other printers we've tested. However, the quality of duplex prints is quite good, and while you will have to have a friend help you move this 60+ pound printer into place, once it's in your office you shouldn't have to replace it anytime soon.

Read our full Canon ImageClass MF743Cdw review.

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How to choose the right laser printer for you

When it comes to picking any type of printer the basics are the same. You are probably already aware that laser printing produces professional looking text documents at a lower cost per page than similar inkjet models. But there are other features to consider.

All in one functions like scanning and copying are included in all of the models on the above list, but one less common function is fax capability. If you work with medical or legal documents, faxing is indispensable, and you'll need a printer that includes it.

Print speed refers to how quickly a printer will complete a page in a document. In our reviews we test this capability, measured in pages per minute. If you need to print frequently, or in high volumes, faster print speeds are worth paying for.

Print quality is another concern, though the majority of laser printers offer some of the best print quality you can get, with sharp and detailed letter forms that leave documents looking professional.

What you won't get on most laser printers is color and photo printing capability. While there are color laser printers on the market, they do cost more. And among those, not every color printer is well-suited to printing photos, and those that do require special photo paper specifically for laser printers.

Printing costs are an ongoing concern for any printer, since even affordable toner refills have some associated expenses over time. Look for a lower cost per page in our product descriptions and reviews, and check out the individual reviews for a detailed discussion of how print costs might make one printer better than another.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How we test laser printers

Every laser printer we review is tested along several measures of performance, including print speed, quality and the cost of printing. We time and measure every test print in our benchmarking process, and compare every print to samples from other models. Along with evaluations of ease-of-use and individual features, we strive to accurately represent how well the printer will meet your day-to-day printing needs.

In addition to basic printing of black-and-white text and mixed media documents, we also test the scanning and copying capabilities. We compare the scan with the original image to see how accurately the scan captures details and color, but we also measure the scanning speed and copying output.

To measure the cost of owning and operating a laser printer, we look at the current street price of toner and the estimated number of pages that a given toner cartridge will produce, and calculate the cost of printing a single page. The higher the cost, the more expensive a given printer will be over time.

While these tests are relatively standard across all of the printers we review, we will adapt them as needed to handle different types of printer and unique capabilities of a given device. Wherever possible, we make sure that the tests are done in a way that is comparable from one unit to the next, and repeatable, so that we can confirm our conclusions.

For more information on our testing process, check out our guide to how we test printers for every review.

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When you imagine a printer you probably think of a big boxy machine on a desk, but nowadays many are built to be used on the go—and the best portable printers don't feel like a downgrade or a compromise.

I know because my team and I review the best printers from the top manufacturers (Brother, Canon, Epson, HP and more) every year and I keep an eye peeled for the best portable printers so I can compile them here in one easy-to-read buying guide.

In a hurry and don't want to read the whole thing? Just know I typically recommend the HP OfficeJet 250 as the best portable printer for most people because it offers the functionality of a full printer (including copying and scanning) in a package that fits in a backpack.

But it is a bit heavier and expensive than many portable printers, and if you just want a cheaper option for printing documents and photos I recommend the Canon Pixma TR150 because it does both fairly well at a great price, making it one of the best values in portable printers around. If you can't find the TR150 model on sale, snag the newer TR160 version—it's just as good.

If you need something for business use I suggest you check out the Epson WorkForce EC-C110. It's a little slower than other portable printers, but it offers business-friendly features and a low cost per page, so what it lacks in efficiency it makes up in economy.

Scroll on for more tips and buying advice, including links to our full reviews of the best portable printers we've tested with detailed breakdowns of print quality, price per page and more!

The quick list

In a hurry? Here's a quick list of the best portable printers we recommend.

The best portable printers you can buy now

The best overall

This HP OfficeJet 250 maximizes what you can do on the go, offering fast copying and scanning, in addition to fast print speeds—with high image quality across the board. This portable printer is on the pricey side, but it offers a lot of features and performance in a compact package. The most immediate payoff is a large, 2.6-inch color touch screen, which makes for easy operation.

Better yet is a small, 10-page automatic document feeder for copying and scanning. This is the only portable printer we've tested that offers copy and scan functions, but with no flatbed scanner, the printer draws paper through the body of the OfficeJet for scanning and copying. Scans weren't always straight, and the paper path's 60-degree bend left me nervous about it possibly damaging photos. But having scanning and copying capability on the go is well-worth these compromises.

The OfficeJet 250 printed text very quickly from a PC, at 9 ppm. On battery power, text printed at 7 ppm. The OfficeJet 250 also printed quickly our six-page PDF of text and color graphics, taking 1:57, compared with the average of 2:27. Photo printing was extremely fast, as well. A 4 x 6-inch glossy photo printed in just 37.6 seconds, at default settings, and in just under 50 seconds at the high-quality setting. The closest competitor, the HP Tango X, took 1:15. The OfficeJet also was the fastest when printing from an iPhone, making a photo print in 42.9 seconds.

Copy and scan speeds were fast, making a color copy in 19.5 seconds, compared with the average of 28.7 seconds for desktop inkjets. The OfficeJet made a black-and-white copy in 13.1 seconds, versus the 16-second desktop average. It made a 600 dpi color scan to JPEG in 1 minute and 21 seconds, and a 300 dpi black-and-white scan to PDF in 20.1 seconds (desktop models average 11 seconds).

Best of all, the speed didn't come with any trade-off in image quality. The very high-quality photo prints had rich, well-saturated colors, pleasing midtone transitions, and lots of fine details. Text documents printed with dark letterforms and edges looked quite sharp. Graphics on plain paper were equally attractive. Document scans looked accurate, with only some sharpness lost on text edges. Photo scans were attractive, with accurate colors and plenty of detail.

The HP OfficeJet offers mobile and cloud printing, but there are some quirks. Using the HP Smart iPhone app was problematic—the app turned a five-page .doc file into a four-page document, while the .docx version was reformatted onto six pages. Photos printed from the Box cloud storage service did not print in full. Roughly two-thirds of the photo would print—but the rest of the paper was left blank.

Ink costs for printing text documents are about average for portable printers, at 9 cents each. With standard cartridges, cost per color page is high, at 23 cents per page. Using high-yield cartridges, you can lower this to 17.3 cents, though this is still higher than the 15.5 cents per color page you get with the Canon iP110 when using standard cartridges. You can save even more money by using HP Instant Ink, HP's subscription service for ink refills by mail.

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The best value

One of our favorite portable printers is the Canon Pixma TR150, a compact inkjet that's small enough to carry in a backpack, but still offers excellent document and photo printing. With a two-cartridge ink system and printing for text documents, graphics and even glossy photos, the Pixma TR150 is a solid choice for portable printing. It doesn't offer copy or scan functionality, but at $199, it's also a great option for your pocketbook.

An optional battery lets you use it when you're away from a wall outlet, but even without it, the Canon Pixma TR150 is one of the most portable and travel-friendly printers out there, weighing less than the HP OfficeJet 250 and offering a more affordable print-only option.

The Pixma TR150 measures a compact 12.7 x 7.3 x 2.6 inches when closed, and weighs just 4.5 pounds – and weighs only 5.1 pounds with an optional battery attached. It opens up to a larger size, accommodating a 50-page paper tray, a basic control panel and plenty of connectivity, so long as you don't need a card slot.

It also offers excellent print speeds, a five-page document in 38.7 seconds, or 7.8 ppm.

In addition to its great mobility, the portable Pixma TR150 made high-quality photos faster than other competing portable printers, and delivered excellent color and detail. It can also handle larger photo prints, but unlike some of our photo printing favorites, there is no copy or scan capability. You do get a solidly-built portable printer with optional battery and even support for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice controls, but we love it for the great photos and low ink costs it offers.

Read our full Canon Pixma TR150 review.

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The best for business

Of the four models outfitted with a battery, the Epson WorkForce EC-C110 is the least expensive. With the WorkForce moniker, this mobile printer is sold by business equipment resellers, and might be the best portable printer for business users. Of the inkjet models here, it is the lightest, weighing just 3.5 pounds.

You lift the lid and lean it back to serve as the 20-sheet input tray. Doing so reveals a small, 1.4-inch color LCD and four-way control buttons. Prints come out a slot on the front panel. You can use the LCD and buttons to change settings, configure Wi-Fi, and so on. You also need it to confirm the paper size, which I was prompted to do every time I loaded paper.

The EC-C110's print speeds were slower than the average. Text printed at 5.8 ppm, versus the average of 6.9 ppm. Running on battery power slowed the EC-C110 substantially: Text printing slowed to 3.4 ppm. Our six-page PDF of mixed text and color graphics more slowly than any other inkjet in this roundup, taking 3:16, or 1.8 ppm. The average was 2.4 ppm.

The EC-C110 printed a photo at default settings from a PC via USB in 1:11. Printing at high resolution slowed the EC-C110 to 3:59. Over Wi-Fi Direct at high-quality settings from an iPhone was agonizingly slow, taking 5:28 to print one photo; printing a second snapshot took almost 7 minutes.

Print quality was high across the board. Text looked dark and sharp, though the letter edges looked a little rough up close. Color graphics printed with natural-looking colors and sharp details. Glossy photos looked very attractive.

Costs per page are better than the portable printers average. Estimated costs per page are 8.8 cents for text and 17.8 cents for color.

I ran into a glitch when trying to print 4 x 6-inch photos from a Windows 10 PC. In the print driver, an error said, "photo doesn't fit on selected paper." The online FAQ did not help, but changing the default paper size to 4-x-6 in the Windows 10 printing preferences solved the issue.

When printing with an iPhone, the EC-C110 had a tendency to drop the Wi-Fi Direct connection before I could finish printing. Resetting the connection and re-entering the password seemed to solve this issue.

Cloud printing may not always be seamless. The Epson iOS app reflowed text in .doc files opened from Box, the online storage service, turning a five-page document into a seven-page reflow that would not be worthy of a business meeting.

This Epson WorkForce model delivers below-average costs per page, Wi-Fi Direct connectivity, an LCD and control panel buttons, but low battery life and slower-than-average print speeds limit its appeal.

View our Epson coupon codes to help you save on the Epson WorkForce EC-C110

Frequently Asked Questions

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How to choose the best portable printer for you

When selecting a portable printer, you'll want to consider a few key factors, such as how you intend to use the printer, what your document printing needs are and what level of portability will be best suited to your circumstances.

Printing needs: Do you need color printing or even photo printing capability? All of the printers listed above are inkjet models so they all can handle it, but the Canon Pixma is better for photos while the Epson Workforce EC-C110 is better for documents. The HP OfficeJet 250 is the only model with an automatic document feeder for copying and scanning.

Portability: Portability is largely a question of size and weight. The HP OfficeJet 250 is the biggest and heaviest option on this list at 15 x 7.8 x 3.6 inches and 6.7 pounds, while the Epson Workforce EC-C1100 is the smallest and lightest at 12.2 x 6.3 x 2.4 inches and just 3.5 pounds. It's not a huge difference, but if you plan to carry this printer around for long portions of the day that extra 3 pounds is going to make a difference.

Battery: Most portable printers also have optional batteries, letting you print even when there's no outlet to use for power. These are accessories that sometimes need to be bought in addition to the printer itself, so plan your purchase accordingly. Many of these printers also offer car-charging options, which are ideal for use in a vehicle while out making sales calls or printing during a road trip.

Functions: Most of these portable models are single-function printers. They are too small to have a flatbed scanner for copying and scanning. One model does scan and copy, however: The HP OfficeJet 250. It has a partial lid that you fold forward to reveal a slender automatic document feeder, so if you need that functionality I recommend you choose HP.

Price range: To help you find the right mobile printer, we considered a range of models and chose five products that we felt best represented the variety available. The printers we reviewed are priced from $200 to almost $500 (including accessories, such as a battery). For more buying advice, check out our guide on how to find the best cheap printer money can buy.

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How we tested these portable printers

To test portable printers, we performed a variety of everyday tasks. To make the results comparable to desktop inkjet printers, we performed a few of the same printing speed tests, from a Windows 10 laptop: A five-page text document, and a six-page PDF with text and graphics.

While desktop models printed text pages at 8.8 ppm, on average, the portables were not far behind, at 6.9 ppm. The portable printers almost matched the desktop printers' 2.7 ppm average on color graphics, clocking in at 2.4 ppm. This average excludes the Brother PocketJet 773 because it prints only in black-and-white (and even so printed only at 1.6 ppm on this test).

For photo speed, we printed a 4 x 6-inch glossy snapshot. The Brother PocketJet 773, however, does not print on photo papers and was excluded from this test.

To test portability, we focus on the wireless and battery-powered functions of the printer. We perform a wireless network setup, evaluating the ease of use for connecting on the go. We also print from a laptop and smartphone using Wi-Fi Direct, and gauge the differences in performance compared to wired and outlet-powered printing.

For more information on our testing process, check out our guide to how we test and our more specific rundown of how we test printers.

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Whether you're a beginner or your a habitual tinkerer, a good 3D printer is essential. From printing small parts to fix items around the home or creating entire products right in the comfort of your home, they can come in clutch so often.

But finding the best 3D printer for your needs and skill level can be tricky, especially given how many different models and designs are out there.

Lucky for you, we know a thing or two, as we've tested 3D printers for years, going all the way back to the first Makerbot.

So if you've got an ambitious creative vision that requires something more advanced, or you want to get creative and print a toy boat for your kid (he loved it, by the way), here are the best we've tested to date, replete with testing data!

The quick list

The best 3D printers you can buy today

The best 3D printer overall

Resin-based printers have seen a lot of competition from lower-priced devices in recent years, but the Form 3+ from Formlabs remains the device of choice if 3D printing is a regular part of your workflow.

The Form 3+ replaced the Form 3, formerly our top pick for resin printers. This new version churns out prints faster than before, and it's much easier to use than before. Loading up resin is simple, and a floating level sensor keeps close tabs on how much resin is in the print tray, controlling the flow so that just the right amount is used on each job. A more flexible build platform simplifies the task of removing prints.

The Form 3+ produces speedy prints, but more importantly, the quality of our test prints turned out to be superlative. A price hike puts the starting price of the Form 3+ at $3,750, so clearly, this particular model isn't for everybody. But the Form 3+ easily meets the demands of designers who need a steady flow of good-looking prints and have the means to pay for this top-tier option.

Read our full Formlabs Form 3+ review.

The best 3D printer for value

If you have a messy workshop with a lot of dust, the FlashForge Adventurer 4 might just be the 3D printer for you as it case is designed to keep dust out while a built-in fan and HEPA filter keeps the print bed clean. This is also a great 3D printer for those that want to have it run in the background while out and about since it has a live camera feed to show you how your print's are progressing.

While the FlashForge Adventurer 4 costs more than some other 3D printers like the Monoprice Voxel we've reviewed, you're getting a more advanced device that's also more affordable than pro-level 3D printers. It's also a bit larger at 21.7 x 19.7 x 18.5 inches but this is because the entire printing mechanism is enclosed.

The FlashForge Adventurer 4 is controlled through a simple touch-screen on the left side at the front of its case. This is easy enough to use when setting up prints but we found entering our Wi-Fi password to be a bit difficult. After a few failed attempts, we used a wired Ethernet connection to pair it with our computer and this worked flawlessly.

Read our full FlashForge Adventurer 4 review.

The best 3D printer for beginners

The Prusa Mini+ 3D printer is a terrific option if you're just getting started in 3D printing, though it seems to be in short supply these days. That's a shame because it offers novices reliable performance and quality prints right out of the box, even if it is more expensive than competing 3D printers for beginners.

In our testing, we found the Prusa Mini+ easy to set up, though the lack of an enclosed printing area may make this the wrong choice if you've got younger folks hanging around your workspace. Well-designed software walks you through the process of preparing your model for printing. And when it is time to print, the Prusa Mini+ performs relatively quickly at the 0.2mm quality print mode. We were pleased with the quality of all our test prints, including those that featured parts that had to fit precisely together.

Though pricier than most beginning printers, the Prusa Mini+ doesn't make you jump through a lot of hoops to get your printer calibrated and set up. We think it's a great alternative to the Monoprice Voxel.

Read our full Prusa Mini+ 3D printer review.

How to choose the best 3D printer for you

Not sure which 3D printer to pick? Here's a quick guide to help you decide.

Printer Type

There are two main kinds of 3D printers:

• FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication) printers melt plastic filament to build models layer by layer. They’re affordable, beginner-friendly, and widely used.
• SLA (Stereolithography) printers use UV light to cure liquid resin into solid shapes. They're known for high detail but usually cost more—though newer models are bringing prices down.

There are also 3D pens, a fun, low-cost option (under $100) that lets you draw in 3D using melted plastic.

Printing Materials

Materials matter to what you want to build!

• FFF printers use filaments like PLA (biodegradable), ABS (Lego plastic), nylon, TPE (flexible), and more. Filaments come in lots of colors and two sizes: 1.75mm and 3mm (not interchangeable).
• SLA printers have fewer options but can print in resins that range from rigid to soft and rubbery.

Some printers lock you into using brand-specific materials, just like your traditional inkjet printers. And others let you use whatever filament or resin you like. It pays to be careful about this!

Print Volume

The print volume depends on the print bed size and how far the head can move. Check both overall volume (we detail this in cubic inches) and individual dimensions (height, width, depth) to make sure it can handle the kinds of models you want to create.

Print Speed vs. Quality

3D printing takes time. There's no way around that.

A small model (about 3–4 inches) can take 6 to 12 hours to finish, depending on your print quality settings.

Here’s the trade-off:

• Thicker layers = faster prints, but more visible lines and less detail.
• Thinner layers = smoother prints, but it takes longer.

The best printers let you choose your balance — quick and rough or slow and polished — by offering a range of quality settings.

Price

As we've proved up above, great 3D printers don't have to break the bank.

• High-end models can cost several thousand dollars and are built for pros and heavy use.
• Mid-range options hover around $1,000, offering solid performance for serious hobbyists. But if you're happy to go back a generation, you can find printers at this level for cheaper too (like the Form 3+).
• Beginner and home printers can be found for under $300, with some solid picks even under $200 (looking at you, FlashForge Adventurer 4).

Tip: Don’t just stick to Amazon. Some brands—like Prusa or Bambu Lab—sell directly through their websites, often with better deals or bundles.

How we test 3D printers

When we review a 3D printer, we set up each model, noting how long it takes from the time to remove the printer from its packaging to calibrating the printer so that it's ready to use. We also take note of any special set-up instructions.

We look at what kind of materials a 3D printer supports and whether the manufacturer requires you to only use materials they sell.

When its time to test the printer, we have three different test models — a miniature statue of Rodin's Thinker, a complex set of planetary gears that incorporate interlocking parts, and a geometric sculpture to see well the printer can reproduce sharp edges and points. In addition to evaluating the quality and detail of each print, we also time how fast the printer works at various speeds, from draft mode to the highest-quality setting.

We also consider the software that a printer uses and the different ways you can control prints, whether it's from a computer or via a control panel on the 3D printer itself.

For more information, check out our how we test page for Tom's Guide.

The best cheap printer for your needs is one that does everything you need it to and nothing you don't. You don't need to pay a fortune for high image quality and good performance. If you know what to look for—and what to avoid—a bargain printer can deliver what you need, without disappointment.

Low-cost models tend to forego the flashy and focus on the functional. For example, a bargain-priced printer is unlikely to have a color touch-screen LCD, a tilting control panel, or an automatic document feeder. But some bargain models offer a duplexer for making two-sided prints and copies.

If you don't need copy or scan functions and are looking for a single-function printer, you can likely get another attractive amenity, such as a second paper tray for specialty media. The best news is, you don't have to sacrifice image quality. Attractive prints, copies and scans can be had from models costing as little as $60.

At Tom's Guide, we put these bargain inkjet printers through the same test regimen as pricier models to find the best printers on the market. On some tasks, performance can vary widely, so it's important to compare test results to ensure that your primary task isn't the model's Achilles' heel. But that doesn't mean you can't find a budget printer that outperforms a more expensive model at a particular task—you absolutely can. It just takes a little digging.

Get the features you need most

Bargain printers are best suited for use with a PC or smart phone. That's because the control panel tends to be simple, with only a few dedicated function buttons, if any. If there is a screen, it's likely a small LED without backlighting. The control panel is unlikely to tilt, so where you place your printer is important for easy standalone operation. For example, a small LED on the front face of a printer will be difficult to read if it's on a low table in a dimly lit room. Some models offer a control panel on the top of the printer. Which configuration is best for you depends on where you place the printer.

If you need a printer mostly for office tasks, the Brother MFC-1205w ($130) is worth a serious look, for both its speedy performance and low ink costs. But if photography-related fun is more up your alley, you're more likely to gravitate toward the Canon Pixma TS702a ($130), which can print onto various specialty media, such as glossy magnetic photo paper, double-sided matte paper, fabric iron-on transfers and nail stickers.

Most bargain printers offer one paper tray. The Canon Pixma TS702a is one exception, offering both a paper cassette and a vertical rear paper tray. This allows you to keep two types of media loaded. The rear tray offers a straighter paper path, which can accommodate thicker media such as card stock.

Most bargain printers don't offer a duplexer—but both the Canon TS702a and the previously reviewed Canon MG3620 (priced at $60 when reviewed) do.

If you think you'll periodically move your printer—but don't want to specifically buy a portable printer—check out the weight. For example, the HP DeskJet 2755e weighs just 7.5 pounds. By comparison, the Brother MFC-J120 weighs just over 14 pounds, which is much more typical.

Photography features

The convenience of printing photos at home can't be beat. But not all budget printers put the same emphasis on photo printing and related features.

For example, the HP DeskJet 2755e does not support borderless photo printing at all. The Brother MFC-J1205w, on the other hand, won't make borderless photo prints via its Windows 10 driver—you have to use the company's iPrint&Scan software.

Also, the Canon TS702a offers PictBridge support for printing directly from a compatible digital camera. These days, with most photos taken with a smartphone, this is not as cool as it used to be. Neither the Brother MFC-J1205w nor the HP DeskJet 2755e ($85) offer PictBridge support—but like the Canon they offer an iOS and Android app for printing photos from a smartphone. 

 Connectivity and smart assistants 

Bargain printers all offer Wi-Fi these days. Some forego a USB port, so make sure you take your networking plans into account. As is typical, the HP 2755e and Brother J1205w offer a USB port and Wi-Fi connectivity. The Canon TS702a offers these as well, plus an Ethernet port.

In addition, if you're in the market for a printer with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant compatibility, your only choice among these bargain models is the Canon TS702a.

Performance: Print, copy and scan speeds

Performance can vary widely among printers. Waiting around for a print job to finish can be frustrating. While very few printers excel across the board, this tends to be more true among bargain-priced models. 

To minimize your impatience and disappointment, pay particular attention to your most frequent tasks. Some models excel at printing and copying documents, but lag behind the pack at photo printing. And, even photo printing performance can be mixed. For example, the HP DeskJet 2755e was faster than the average at printing a 4 x 6 inch glossy, but was comparatively slow to make an 8 x 10 photo print. 

The Brother MFC-J1205w, on the other hand, was very slow to print photos at both sizes. For comparison, the Brother took almost 4 minutes to print a 4 x 6-inch photo print, while the Canon TS702a did so in 1 minutes and 3 seconds. 

The Brother, however, was much faster than average at printing documents on plain paper. It printed text documents at 12.2 ppm, and color pages at 3.2 ppm. The Canon printed text at 9.5 ppm and color pages at 3.5 ppm. The HP was the slowest model on these tests, printing text at 7.6 ppm and color pages at 2 ppm. The category averages are 8.8 ppm (text) and 2.7 ppm (color).

Similarly, the Brother was very fast at copying in black-and-white, reproducing a text page in just 10.8 seconds. The HP DeskJet took 25.1 seconds to make the same copy. Making color copies was average or slower-than-average: The Brother made a color copy in 28.1 seconds, which is exactly the average, while the HP was a little slower, at 32.4 seconds. 

Scanning, on the other hand, was brisk with the Brother. It made a 600 dpi color scan in just 37.5 seconds, while the HP took 1 minute and 36 seconds. (The average is 1 minute and 6 seconds). Scanning in black-and-white was also fast with the Brother, which captured a 300 dpi scan to PDF format in just 9.1 seconds, while the HP took 19.4 seconds to finish the same task. (The average is 11.7 seconds). 

Ink costs

If there's an elephant in the room when it comes to bargain printers, it's ink costs. Nothing will trigger buyer's remorse faster than seeing your initial savings get eaten up by pricy ink cartridges. 

Both the HP DeskJet 2755e and Canon TS702a have somewhat high ink costs. The HP's ink costs are 10 cents (text) and 22.5 cents (color) per page, when using high-yield XL cartridges. The Canon offers lower ink costs: When using its XXL high-yield cartridges, costs per page are 6.3 cents (text) and 17.9 cents (color).

Alternatively, the Brother MFC-J1205w offers only high-yield cartridges that have an estimated page output of 750 pages. (The HP's XL cartridges top out at 240 pages, while the Canon's max for color cartridges is 824 pages.

To rein in ink costs, a subscription plan is worth considering. If you buy an HP printer, you will be regularly solicited to sign up for Instant Ink. To figure out if it's right for you, see our article explaining what Is HP Instant ink, which reveals how this plan could deliver significant savings.

In contrast, the Brother Refresh program performs automatic ordering of ink cartridges, but unlike HP's program, you do not have to sign up for a specific number of pages per month. 

The Canon TS702a, oddly, did not come with printed information on the company's ink subscription program. But during setup with an iPhone, the Canon Print app prompted me to sign up for the Pixma Print Plan, which claims to save you 20 percent to 70 percent. These plans start at $3.99 per month. 

For a thorough breakdown of ink subscription plans from all the major vendors, see our story comparing HP Instant Ink vs. Canon vs. Epson to determine which subscription plan is worth the cost.

Print quality

All three of the budget printers mentioned in this article delivered high image quality. There were some subtle differences, however. The Brother and Canon models printed comparably dark and sharp text, while the HP's text was slightly softer around the edges.

All three models printed attractive color graphics. However, the HP had a little difficulty with our test PDF, and its reproductions of both text and fine details in graphics lacked the sharpness of the Brother and Canon prints.

Photo quality was very high for all three models. The differences were subtle, but in general the Brother made lower-contrast prints than the Canon did. The added contrast in the Canon prints added extra "pop". The HP tended to hype yellows and warm shades, and to make a lighter print than the Canon, which produced darker, richer reds in its glossies. 

Both the HP and the Brother made high-quality scans. 

Copy and scan quality

Both the Brother MFC-J1205w and HP DeskJet 2755e made attractive copies in our tests. Both models faithfully reproduced documents and graphics, with plenty of detail and natural-looking colors. (The Canon TS702a is single-function and does not copy or scan).

Both the Brother and the HP also captured high-quality scans in our testing. Both models had a tendency to lose some fine details is dark, shadow areas. The Brother tended to increase the exposure, preventing harsh shadows on faces, compared to the HP. The disappointment with the HP was the HP Smart scanning software's auto crop feature, which was unreliable and had a tendency to cut out a significant portion of the original image.

Excellent scan quality doesn't have to cost a lot. The $60 Canon MG3620 delivered excellent photo scans in our tests, and it actually beat the category average (see charts embedded above) in terms of copy speeds.

Software

Printers include software and a smart phone app. Our individual reviews offer details on these apps. In general, software packages with budget models are pretty basic, as are the smart phone apps. 

One oddity is the "camera scan" function, which is, for all practical purposes, just taking a picture. The HP Smart app also has a copy function. In both cases, these features capture passable facsimiles, but mostly the subpar quality is a waste of time. If the flatbed scanner is within reach, just use it. You'll get far superior results.

The final decision

To make sure you get the best bargain printer for your money, prioritize your wish list. Are you primarily outfitting the home office or buying a photo printer, or looking for a little of both? No single printer is the best fit for everybody, no matter how inexpensive it is.

Tom's Guide's tests reveal the strengths and weaknesses of each model, so you don't have to find out the hard way. Low cost doesn't mean low quality or poor performance—but you'll likely have to make a tradeoff somewhere. With the variety of bargain printers on the market, a little bit of research can ensure it's only a small tradeoff.

Knowing how to connect a printer to a laptop or desktop computer is important for those who regularly need to print documents, photos, manuscripts and more. Whether you have a Windows or Apple computer, connecting a printer is fairly similar for both. We’ll show you how.

There are two primary ways to connect a printer to your computer. The simplest method is to connect via USB cable. Connecting wirelessly involves a few more steps, but isn’t overly difficult even for casual users. Whichever method you choose, we’ll detail all the steps necessary to get you printing in no time.

Note that we're detailing the simplest methods to connect a printer to a single computer. The methods outlined below work with most modern printers.

How to connect a printer to a laptop or desktop computer: Windows via USB cable 

1. Connect your printer to your laptop or desktop with a USB cable. After that, turn on your printer.

2. Click on the Start button and type "Settings".

3. Click on Bluetooth & Devices.

4. Select printers and scanners.

5. Click on your printer name and follow the setup instructions.

That's it! We told you this was the easiest method.

If, for some reason, your printer doesn’t appear, click on "The printer that I want isn’t listed" link. This will take you through some troubleshooting steps whereby hopefully you can resolve your issue. If not, you may have to get in touch with the manufacturer of your printer for support. Check the manufacturer's website or your printer's instruction manual for more details.

How to connect a printer to a laptop or desktop computer: Windows via wireless

1. Connecting to a wireless printer is a bit more involved than doing so via USB.

As detailed in the previous step, ensure your printer is turned on. After that, you'll have to turn on your printer's Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. This varies by manufacturer so refer to your printer's instruction manual.

Also ensure your printer is on the same Wi-Fi network as your computer. Again, this step varies by manufacturer.

2. Follow steps 2 - 4 of the previous section. After that, click on Add device.

3. Select your printer from the list. This will establish a connection.

How to connect a printer to a laptop or desktop computer: Mac via USB cable 

1. Click the Apple icon on the upper left corner and then Select System Preferences.

2. Click on Printers and Scanners.

3. Select your printer from the list on the left.

4. You can also add a printer by clicking on the plus sign underneath the printer list. You should see your printer listed on the following window. Click the add button on the bottom right to add your printer.

And that’s it! Once again, using a cable is pretty easy. However, on Mac, there's an even easier way... 

How to connect a printer to a laptop or desktop computer: Mac via AirPrint 

Many modern printers use a technology called AirPrint, which is meant to facilitate connecting wireless printers to a Mac computer. So long as your printer's Wi-Fi or Bluetooth is enabled and both the printer and Mac are connected to the same network, they should connect seamlessly. If you have an older printer, you can follow most of the steps outlined above to connect wirelessly.

1. Be sure your printer is turned on before starting. Afterward, enable your printer's Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Again, this varies by manufacturer so refer to your printer's instruction manual.

2. Follow steps 1-4 from the previous step. This is all the same, except that you're connected wirelessly instead of wired. So long as your printer is on the same network as your Mac, it will be listed under printers and scanners.

3. That's it! You're now free to print everything you need.

For more computing guides, be sure to check out our other how-tos, including how to use hot corners on Mac, how to split your screen on Mac, how to change the Windows 11 Start menu back to Windows 10, how to clone a hard drive and how to fix an external hard dive that's not showing up. 

How much money do you spend on printer ink, and how does that stack up to the cost of the device? 

If you're like most people, you likely cringed a little — it's probably not a number you like to reflect on. Because too often, we fail to factor the cost of cartridges into our printer purchases. We spring for the model that seems to be the most affordable upfront, and don't look any further. 

And that's a problem. 

The truth is that a lot more goes into purchasing a printer than price. Make and model is every bit as important, as different printers are designed for different use cases. And that, in turn, ties back to ink costs — to ensure you get your money's worth, you first need to understand your needs, and which type of printer is the best fit for them.

For posterity's sake, we'll keep it to the three most popular.

Printer types and features to consider when buying 

Inkjet printers work by spraying tiny ink droplets onto a page. They're one of the oldest printer types, and also one of the most popular. Typically best-suited for home users that need to print in color but don't want to spend a lot of money upfront, they tend to be better at transferring high-quality images onto the page. 

Inkjet printers use cartridges, which have an inexpensive upfront cost compared to their alternatives. The trade-off is that they have a lower page yield, and thus require you to spend more on frequent replacements. Out of the three printers we discuss here, these printers generally have the highest cost per page, as such, you should avoid the cheapest inkjet printers, as they tend to use even less efficient and more expensive cartridges.

Laser printers use heat combined with a special powdered toner. They're a good fit for home offices and business users with incredibly high print volumes. Laser printers tend to be very good at printing monochromatic and color business documents, but less suitable for photos. 

Although toner cartridges tend to be expensive, they're usually able to print thousands of pages before requiring replacement. Another advantage laser printers hold over other printers is that said cartridges won't dry out if unused for long periods of time. 

Ink tank printers work similarly to inkjet printers, save that they use ink bottles instead of ink cartridges. Although they're typically more expensive, they combine the best traits of laser printers and inkjet printers, with high print quality and the capacity to print thousands of pages at an extremely low cost per page. Ink tank printers are a good choice for users that need to print a wide range of color document types at high volumes. 

They also suffer from a similar shortcoming to inkjet printers, in that if an ink tank printer goes unused for long periods of time, its internals might end up clogged with dried ink. For this reason, you should avoid purchasing an ink tank printer if you only print infrequently.

Printer type aside, you should also account for what you want (or need) in the device — features worth considering include: 

• All-in-one models that combine printing, copying/scanning, and faxing functionality.  
• Print speed. Does it matter to you how fast your printer runs, or only that it works?  
• Double-sided printing. This can help you save a great deal of paper, making a printer more cost-effective over the long-term.  
• Automatic document feeder.  For users that typically rely on high-volume prints, this feature is arguably a must-have — it allows you to print multi-paged documents without having to manually replace or feed each page into the printer.  
• Paper tray capacity. If you tend towards high-volume or larger prints, you'll want a paper tray with a larger capacity.  
• Supported media. Is the printer only capable of printing on paper, or can it also accept photo sheets, labels, envelopes, and/or cards? What type of media do you need to print on most frequently?  
• Paper size. Most printers tend to use either letter, legal, or tabloid sized paper. They also tend to support multiple different types of paper, so this shouldn't be an issue unless you need to print unusually-sized documents.
•  Printer size. Consider how much space you have before buying your printer. Will it fit on your desk? Do you need to put it in a particular area of your office? 
• Ease of use. What quality of life features does the printer offer? Examples might include touchscreen functionality, mobile printing, companion software, etc.  

The secret to saving money on printer ink 

It's important to understand that not all printer ink is created equal. Some cartridges offer better long-term value than others, even those made for the same type of printer. To ensure you save the most money, you need to pay attention to two metrics we've already mentioned: cartridge yield and cost per page. 

For instance, a high-yield cartridge may cost more upfront, but has a much lower cost per page compared to a standard yield cartridge because it's filled with more ink. Buying in bulk can also significantly lower costs. The biggest secret to cost-effective printing, though? 

Buying compatible, non-OEM cartridges, especially if you purchase them in a pack or set. 

That's where LD Products comes in. A leading online aftermarket printing supply retailer, LD stocks thousands of high-quality non-OEM cartridges for every major printer brand. These cartridges offer the same yield and quality as proprietary ink and toner, but at a fraction of the cost. Each cartridge also comes with a lifetime guarantee. 

To help drive the point home, just have a look at the table below — it shows three of LD's top picks for printers, and how their prices compare to proprietary prices. 

Buying a printer can be confusing and overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be. By understanding your needs, knowing the different printer types, and having a firm grasp of how cartridges work, you can not only simplify the purchase process, but also save yourself a ton of money while you're at it.   

As 3D printing becomes more familiar, prices are falling, even on technologies that used to crowd out beginners. Take resin printing, where the Anycubic Photon M3 has set a new low for the cost of getting into this once pricey type of 3D printing.

For $300 or so, you can get a solid, no-frills printer from Anycubic that produces excellent results. The printer has some limitations, though, with a relatively small print area and no network connections. As we’ll also see in this Anycubic Photon M3, the printing process is also a bit hit-and-miss, sometimes requiring several tries and some tweaking.

Once you get over these initial issues it’s a great pick for the aspiring 3D printer who wants to try resin printing without spending a fortune, even if it won’t replace the resin-based devices at the top of our best 3D printers rankings.

Anycubic Photon M3 review: Price and availability

The Anycubic Photon M3 is available now and is priced at $299. We tested it with the AirPure filter which costs $25 for two.  

To put the Photon M3’s price in perspective, the FormLabs 3+ is the best resin-based 3D printer we’ve tested — it’s $3,750, a mere 12.5 times the price of the Photon M3. Even the Photon Mono X, another low-cost resin printer from Anycubic, costs between $450 and $550 these days.

Anycubic Photon M3 review: Design

As a  resin printer, the Photon M3 prints using a UV-sensitive resin. When UV light hits this resin, it solidifies. So, the printer lowers its flat print bed into a tray filled with resin, then UV light shines through a 4K LCD screen, like a small TV. Where the screen is opaque, the light is blocked and the resin remains liquid. Where the screen is transparent, the resin solidifies, forming a layer of the print. 

The printer then raises the print bed, letting the liquid resin flood in, and the process repeats, creating the print layer by layer. These layers can be as thin as 0.0003 inches (0.01mm), although the software that creates the print defaults to a thickness of 0.001 inches (0.05mm). 

The Photon M3’s 7.6-inch LCD screen has a 4K resolution of 4096 x 2560 pixels, meaning that the smallest area that can be printed (or not printed) is around 0.002 inches (0.004 mm). The bottom line of these numbers? The Photon M3 is capable of creating very detailed prints. 

The Photon M3 has a simple, usable design that is focused on the business of printing. A large orange cover fits over the top of the printer, which shields the UV-sensitive resin in the print ray from outside light. The print bed fits onto an arm that is lifted up by a screw drive, so it lowers into the removable resin vat. This tray has a clear plastic base, so the UV light shines through it. 

Missing here is any form of network connection. The Photon M3 can only receive files to print from a USB thumb drive, meaning you can’t control the printer from the web or monitor a print from afar. 

There is also no way for the printer to check if there is enough resin in the print tray; you have to check the level manually, and the only indication is a max fill line. Neither of these is a huge problem for home users, though such features are more important in places where multiple prints are required quickly, like an office or school. 

For our Photon M3 review, Anycubic also sent us a couple of their $23 AirPure filters — small air filters with active carbon that you put inside the printer itself. This is a great idea: resin printing can be a bit stinky because of the distinct odor of the resin. 

The AirPure filters definitely helped to contain this smell during printing, but it would be better if they were powered and controlled by the printer itself: as it is, you have to charge them separately via an included USB charging cable, then remember to turn them on when the printer is running and hope the battery doesn’t run out before the end of the print. The small batteries on the filters do last for several hours, but it would seem to be a feature that would be better built in than added later. 

Anycubic Photon M3 review: Setup

This is a simple printer to set up: you just unpack the Anycubic Photon M3, install the print bed, and level it by loosening four screws. From there, you lower the print bed, then tighten the screws again. That ensures that the print bed fits snugly against the base of the resin vat to create nice thin layers. 

You complete the printer setup by installing the resin vat and filling it. A test print is saved onto the included USB drive, so you just plug that in and select print to test it out. If it works, you wind up with a nice cubic model. 

Anycubic Photon M3 review: Printing process

The print files are created in the Photon Workshop app, which is available free for Windows and MacOS. It’s a pretty easy-to-use program that imports 3D models in a number of common formats (.stl, .obj, etc.) and positions them on the print bed. 

The software can also automatically add supports that hold the print in place during printing, but I found this process to be a bit unreliable. With our Thinker model, for instance, the software created supports for some parts of the model but left others completely unsupported. That meant the print failed and left pieces of resin floating around the resin vat that I had to remove. 

I also found some issues with the printing process, due to a leak in the resin vat. This vat has a flexible plastic film made of a flexible material called FEP in the bottom that, as the print base lifts up and pulls the just-printed layer with it, stretches a bit to release the layer. Unfortunately, this also makes it rather fragile. When one of my prints failed, a piece of the print didn’t stick to the print bed and made a small hole in the plastic film, letting a small amount of resin leak out onto the LCD screen below. You can see this resin on the LCD screen in the photo below, illuminated by the UV light. 

That’s bad news because the LCD screen is very fragile, and the only way to remove the leaked resin is to carefully scrape it off. Fortunately, Anycubic seems to be aware of this as a potential problem, as they include a screen protector, rather like the ones you put on your cell phone. Because I had installed this, I could simply remove and replace the protector and the plastic film of the resin vat. 

Unfortunately, only one screen protector and the film of the resin vat are included, but additional parts aren’t expensive: you can get five of the screen protectors for $10, and two of the vat films for $20. 

I also found that the default settings of the software required some tweaking. When you prepare a model for 3D printing in resin, you need to add supports that hold the print in place. (These are the long, thin bits you see in the photos with this review.) The Photon Workshop software has an option to create these automatically, but it doesn’t work that well. To create these, the actual print needs to be lifted up, so the supports can be created underneath it. The app doesn’t do this: instead, the automatic supports it creates won’t print because they are missing parts of the print. 

The fix is pretty simple: just manually move the print up by about 5mm, and the supports are created correctly. 

The other issue is that the default exposure time for the resin in the software is incorrect. This determines how long the UV light is turned on for each layer, and each resin type needs a different amount of time. The Photon Workshop software only comes with a handful of presets that don’t correspond with AnyCubic’s own resins. This seems an odd omission: why didn’t Anycubic create presets for their own resins that they recommend with this printer? 

While most of these problems are annoying, they’re easy enough to fix. However, you probably won’t realize they are wrong until you have had a few failed prints and know what to look for. 

Anycubic Photon M3 review: Printing performance

Once I found the right print settings on the Anycubic Photon M3, I found that it produced good quality prints, with excellent detail and only barely visible layers. This quality was especially noticeable on our print of Rodin’s Thinker statue, a tough model to print as it has many fine details and smooth curves. The Photo M3 accurately reproduced the shoulders and muscles of Rodin’s realistic sculpture.

Similarly, the geometric sculpture we use for testing was well reproduced, with very sharp edges and points. This is a good test of how well a printer can capture edges at all angles, and we found no problems with this print. 

We also use a set of gears as a test model, and the Photon M3 produced clean, sharp-edged prints of these that fit well together. 

Anycubic Photon M3 review: Printing speed

The Photon M3 is a middling printer in terms of speed. A 4-inch high print of our thinker model took 7 hours and 3 minutes. That’s somewhat slower than more expensive printers like the Form 3+ (which took 2.5 hours), but it is about the same speed as its more expensive sibling, the Photon Mono X. 

The difference between the two Photon models is the size of the prints they can handle. The Mono X has a much larger print area — 9.8 x 7.6 x 4.7 inches to the Photon M3’s 7.1 x 6.4 x 4 inches.

Anycubic Photon M3 review: Materials

The Photon M3 can print with any brand of photosensitive resin that works with the 405nm UV wavelength light used by the printer. Because you fill the resin vat manually, you can put any type of resin you like in there. 

This does also mean that you need to be careful and make sure that the Photon Workshop app is set up correctly for that resin, though, as different types of resin will require different exposure times to the UV light. 

We tested two resins that Anycubic supplied with the printer: their light grey resin and the water washable white resin. Once we found the right settings in the Photon Workshop software, both resings performed well, producing clean, smooth prints. 

The water-wash resin is very interesting, as it is much easier to clean than the standard resin. The usual process after printing with normal resin is to wash the print in Isopropryl Alcohol (IPA) to remove the residue of liquid resin on the surface. As you might expect, that’s a rather stinky process. The water-wash resin, as the name suggests, can be rinsed off in clean water, which is much more pleasant for the person doing the washing. 

Anycubic Photon M3 review: Verdict

The Anycubic Photon M3 pushes resin 3D printing to a new low price — for around $300, you get a printer that can produce excellent quality prints, although they will be smaller than what a device like the Photon Mono X can produce. 

The Photon M3 also requires some patience and tweaking to get the most out of it, which isn’t helped by some problems with the Photon Workshop app that prepares the prints. That might prove to be a problem for first-time 3D printers, who might have a couple of failed prints and give up. That would be a mistake, though, as the Photon M3 has great performance for the price once you work through the quirks. 

For that reason, the Photon M3 probably should not be the first 3D printer that you buy. (Go for a simple filament printer like the Toybox instead). But if you’ve cut your teeth on another printer and want to explore deeper, then the Photon M3 is a great pick. 

Inkjet vs laser printers: Which one is right for you? 

This is the most basic and most essential question in printer shopping. You've no doubt wondered what differentiates the two technologies and the top models in either category. We're here to clear up the confusion.

Although both print technologies have their place in homes and offices, there's a good chance that one will be better at meeting your needs than the other. In the question of inkjet vs. laser printers, it's all about what you want to do, and which technology is better suited to those needs.

Inkjet vs Laser printers: The key things to know

The basic distinctions in the inkjet vs. laser printers question boil down to how each technology actually prints. This, in turn, has an impact on what a printer will do well, how expensive it is to print documents and photos, and how much you'll pay upfront.

Inkjet printers are cheaper to buy. If you don't print much, an inexpensive inkjet can be had for $100 or less. But be aware that ink costs can make those more affordable inkjet printers more expensive to operate.

Laser printers are better for text and documents. If you are printing a lot of basic documents, a laser printer – even a monochrome laser printer – can churn out page after page with better quality than an inkjet. But inkjets are better at printing photos.

Laser printers usually have the lowest cost per page. Toner is incredibly cheap on a per-page basis, and won't dry out like old ink cartridges might. However, there are more and more inkjet printers being sold with refillable tanks that can offer similarly affordable printing, provided you're willing to pay more upfront.

Inkjet printers are more compact. Without the need for various internal drums and rollers, inkjet printers can offer full-page printing with a much smaller footprint than most laser printers, even while offering copy and scanning capabilities. 

Printing technology basics: Inkjet vs laser

While the most basic definition of printing is the same across both inkjet and laser printers – putting letters and images onto paper – the two methods achieve this result in very different ways.

Inkjets rely on liquid ink, deposited onto the page through a print head that uses dozens of micro-nozzles. It prints by putting microscopic drops of ink onto the paper. Depending upon whether that ink is dye or pigment-based, the ink may change the color of the paper, or simply dry as a deposit on the surface of the paper.

Laser printers, on the other hand, rely on toner, which is a powder. The "laser" in laser printing is used to generate an electrostatic charge, which is used to transfer the toner to the paper, which is then bonded to the surface of the page using heat.

These two approaches will affect everything from how big a printer is to how expensive a single printed page is. Both technologies can be found in single-function, or all-in-one, printers, alongside scanning, copying and fax capability. Either one can be a good fit, so long as you understand the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Inkjet vs Laser printers: Upfront costs

When it comes to buying a printer, the cost of the printer is a big factor in the decision. Sure, you want certain features, but your budget will often make the decision for you.

Inkjet printers tend to be much less expensive than laser printers. The technology is slightly less complex, and therefore less costly to manufacture. Besides this, most manufacturers sell inkjet printers at a loss, knowing that they can make up the difference in ink sales down the road. Sometimes it's cheaper to buy a new printer than to buy a full set of new ink cartridges!

Laser printers, on the other hand, will rarely be sold for less than $200, and even the most budget-friendly models sell for $150 or more.

Now, the cost of printing should definitely factor into your thinking, but if you barely print, or if you're more likely to make use of the printer's scan and fax functions than the actual printing, you can find some very affordable options for as little as $50.

Takeaway: Inkjets cost less to buy, but you may pay more in the long run.

 Inkjet vs Laser printers: Print quality

The specific qualities of liquid ink and toner powder also affect how well-suited they are for certain types of printing.

Inkjets, with their dye- and pigment-based inks, do especially well at handling color, particularly for images and photos, which are more likely to involve subtle shades of color. The nature of liquid ink means that those mixtures are easier to reproduce on an inkjet rather than on a laser printer.

Laser printers are not always built to handle photo printing, relying instead on halftone dots to create certain colors on documents. Even those laser printers that can handle the higher-quality color for photo printing require specialized laser-printer-ready photo paper to do it, making it much less convenient than using standard photo paper on an inkjet.

However, laser printers tend to be better suited to printing text, offering crisp, clear letterforms that can't be matched by most inkjets. Inkjet printing will often bleed slightly, and while print is legible, the individual letters won't be as sharp in their detail when examined closely.

Ink also has a tendency to smear, and since inkjet prints continue drying after printing, the possibility of smudged documents is a problem that inkjet users need to anticipate. Since laser printers use a heat-transfer method, the print is set and smudge-proof the moment it comes out of the printer.

Takeaway: Laser printers are better for text documents, especially at high volumes, but inkjets have an edge when it comes to printing photos.

Inkjet vs Laser printers: Cost of printing

Another major difference is the cost of ink and toner. Liquid printer ink has been identified as one of the most expensive liquids on the planet, and is a highly engineered product. Designed to provide precise flow rates, to mix and bleed with predictable consistency and to dry within moments, all while providing colors that look just right – there's a lot involved in printer ink. Because it provides a high-margin product that printer owners will have to buy again and again only encourages printer companies to keep you coming back for more.

Inkjet printers vary in the cost-per-page, but tend to fall within the same general range. Black-and-white text will usually run at 5-10 cents per page, and color printing will run between 15 and 25 cents per page. The Editor's Choice Canon Pixma TS9120, for example, costs 7.8 cents per text page (printing in black and white), while color prints are 19.8 cents per page.

A new trend in inkjet printing takes aim at ink costs by replacing expensive plastic cartridges with refillable tanks and inexpensive bottles of ink. The result is dropping printing costs down to less than a cent per page, as seen with the Canon Pixma G6020 MegaTank (winner of our 2020 Tom's Guide Award for working from home). It  may cost a little more to buy than most inexpensive inkjets, but at just 0.2 cents per page, the savings will add up.

Toner, on the other hand, tends to be less expensive on a per-page basis for laser printers. Though no less carefully made, the fact that toner comes in powder form makes it a much simpler substance to ship, store and use.

While individual toner cartridges are more expensive than ink cartridges, they print hundreds of pages, far exceeding the print yields offered on inkjet printers. As a result, plain-text printing costs dip below the 5-cent per-page mark, and color printing sits right around 15 cents.

For example, the Brother MFC-L2750DW monochrome laser printer prints for 3.75 cents per page with the standard toner cartridge rated to last 1,200 pages. Jump to a high-capacity cartridge, and that cost drops to 2.7 cents per page.

Toner also stores better over the long term. Ink cartridges can be stored for months if kept properly, but if you're an infrequent printer,  the liquids that fill your ink cartridge can dry out, leaving you with a useless cartridge that has printed only a fraction of the pages it was meant to. Since toner starts off as a powder, there's no need to worry about itlosing its liquidity.

Takeaway: Laser printers offer cheaper prints per page, but toner is more expensive upfront. Toner is also the better choice for long-term use, since it stores better than liquid-filled ink cartridges.

Inkjet vs Laser printers: Printer size

One more differentiating factor that printer shoppers may not consider when comparing printer types is size. Obviously, printers vary in size and design, but on the whole, laser multifunction printers tend to be larger and heavier than their inkjet counterparts. If you've got limited space on a desk or shelf, it will be easier to find an inkjet to fit in that smaller space.

Inkjet printers have benefited from some significant advances in miniaturization, with features like print heads built into the ink cartridge. Some, like the HP Tango X are so small as to be portable, measuring just 9.7 x 15 x 3.5 inches and weighing a mere 7.5 pounds.

Laser printers, on the other hand, have to accommodate a larger print drum, laser module and thermal element, which all adds to the bulk. Add multifunction features like scanning and copying to the list, and laser all-in-one printers tend to be pretty bulky.

Takeaway: If space is tight, you might be better off with an inkjet printer.

Bottom line

Deciding between an inkjet printer or a laser printer really boils down to what you want to use your printer for. Some people print a handful of pages a year or print photos more often than text documents. Others may print reams of text but rarely need a photo. Or they value long-term operating costs just as much as the upfront purchase price.

Inkjet printing is generally a better fit for the occasional printer. Ink will cost more on a per-page basis, but refills are cheaper than toner. Inkjets are also better suited for small spaces, since laser printers tend to be larger. It's also the better option for printing images and photos, since ink offers richer color and fewer printing limitations.

Laser printing, on the other hand, offers the most affordable way to print a lot of text-heavy pages. It's faster, too, offering finished, smudge-free pages in seconds. And if crisp, easy-to-read text is your priority, then go with a laser printer, which offers better text printing every time.

Check out all of our printer coverage:

Best printers | Best all-in-one printers | Best photo printers | Best portable printers | Best laser printers 

Choosing a printer can be tough, which is why our Epson vs Canon vs HP printer showdown is here to help. All-in-one printers promise the convenience of printing, scanning and copying all in one device, but finding a multifunction printer that handles all those tasks well is a challenge. 

As you shop for a printer, you've probably noticed that some brands stand out in our reviews and in customer ratings for their quality and excellent feature sets. Whether you want an inkjet all-in-one printer or a laser printer that handles scanning and copying, the strengths and weaknesses of each brand can inform your decision making. 

Here we'll compare the performance and features of top brands to help you come to an informed decision. After reviewing dozens of models from Epson, Canon and HP, spending hours testing and examining page after page of print samples, we can draw some pretty clear conclusions about the performance and quality of each brand.

With the understanding that each printer has its own unique pros and cons, here's a look at some of our most recent reviews and broad view of how popular printer makers Canon, Epson and HP have fared when we've tested the various tasks that all-in-one devices perform.

From text quality to print features and even the cost of ink, we can easily say that some brands handle aspects of printing better than others, and we've combined our observations to determine which brands have a lead on the competition. For more specific advice and individual product reviews, see our rundown of the best all-in-one printer and best laser printers you can buy at the moment.

 Epson vs Canon vs HP: Reviews

The Epson EcoTank ET-7460 is a great choice for busy offices, thanks to its combination of solid performance, generous feature-set and impressively low ink costs. Built for heavy duty, the EcoTank earns its name by not only printing thousands of pages a month, but also keeping ink costs low with refillable high-capacity ink tanks. 

The printer comes with the first set of ink bottles, and enough ink for an estimated 7,500 pages (black) and 6,000 pages (color) before ever worrying about refills. Even when you buy new ink, you'll get plenty of bang for your buck, with costs of less than a cent per page.

Speedy printing and copying make it a smart pick for any busy home office or small team, though you might miss having a second paper tray. Regardless, the printer's relatively compact footprint and convenient two-sided printing make it a winner for day-to-day productivity.

Read our full Epson EcoTank ET-4760 review or browse our Epson coupon codes

The Canon Pixma TR8620 is an office-oriented all-in-one inkjet printer with a healthy mix of great features, good performance and excellent image quality. With both an automatic document feeder and a built-in duplexer, you'll enjoy quick and convenient copying and printing, and even fax capability. Our only real complaint is that ink costs are a little high.

But where the Canon really shines is image quality. While the print quality on basic documents and copies look good, the versatile Pixma TR8620 offers excellent glossy photo prints – thanks to a 5-ink cartridge system – making it a smart choice if you include printing snapshots for a scrap book among your printer uses.

Though we loved the fast performance and great document print quality, the Canon may not be the best choice for high-volume printing. Ink costs are above average and the addition of a fifth ink cartridge didn't help it on the operating costs. Even using high-capacity ink cartridges, the cost of printing was nearly 20 cents per page.

Read our full Canon Pixma TR8620 review or browse our Canon promo codes

The HP Smart Tank Plus 651 is HP's answer to the Epson EcoTank and other printers that reduce ink costs by using refillable ink tanks instead of expensive cartridges. With thousands of pages worth of ink included with the printer, the Smart Tank Pro 651 delivers high-quality prints for only a fraction of a cent per page. Aside from the inexpensive ink, The HP also delivers high quality across the board, with sharp looking prints that have sharp letterforms and well-saturated colors, and natural-looking color when printing glossy photos.

Unfortunately, that level of quality wasn't matched with great speeds, and the HP's printing, scanning and copying capabilities were all hobbled by significantly slower-than-average output. Additionally, the Smart Tank Pro 651 has a tiny 2.2-inch touch screen for controlling printer functions, and the monochrome readout did not impress.

Read our full HP Smart Tank Plus 651 review or browse our HP coupon codes

Epson vs Canon vs HP: Text print quality

Consider whether plain-paper documents or photo prints are most important to you. While inkjet printers are not known for printing razor-sharp text on a par with a laser printer, many inkjets these days do a very admirable job that gets close to what a laser printer can produce. For some models, this is particularly true if you are willing to spend the extra money to use high-quality paper. In both our Canon Pixma TS6020 review and Canon Pixma MG3620 review, for example, the inkjet printers produced bookworthy text on high-quality paper.

HP models also delivered consistently high-quality text prints. Less impressive were a couple of Epson models, with one impressive exception: our Epson WF-2760 review noted sharply printed text while also clocking in the fastest text-document print time among inkjets, earning it Editor's Choice honors.

If you're considering a model with a duplexer for making two-sided prints, make sure that you'll get the same quality as you would with one-sided prints. Canon's TS6020, for example, printed text lighter when using its duplexer. In the Epson WorkForce WF-6590 review the printer made two-sided prints of text documents that were equally sharp as one-sided prints.

If you plan to print PDF documents, know that text as well as graphics quality varies. Although the HP models were consistently good, the Canon TS6020 printed the sleekest, sharpest letter forms. The Epson WF-2760 also printed very attractive text in our PDF, though our Epson Expression XP-640 review noted that text printed with much fuzzier edges, even on presentation matte paper.

Graphics in PDFs printed on plain paper are the  specialty of the HP models. Both the HP Envy 5540 review and HP OfficeJet 4650 review saw very detailed and well-saturated graphics printing, with smooth transitions in photographs. Runners-up include the Epson XP-420 model, which did a better job of retaining midtone transitions than the Canon MG3620, which tended to produce overly dark shadows.

Text Print Quality Winner: Canon
Best All-In-One for Text Print Quality: The Canon TS6020 delivers high-quality text prints at a rapid 9.8 ppm; by contrast, the HP Envy 5540 (which earns an honorable mention for its high-quality text printing) did so at 8.1 ppm.

Epson vs Canon vs HP: Glossy photo prints

Overall, all of the inkjet all-in-ones we've tested recently make attractive glossy photo prints. But there are subtle differences worth noting. Epson and HP models skewed toward a warmer print, which you may or may not like. Canon models tended toward a more natural look, though both the TS6020 and MG3620 produced more saturation in deep red shades than other models.

The Epson XP-640 made prints with plenty of fine detail and a lot of well-saturated color, but one of our test prints looked a little unnatural, with too much yellow.

A few models failed to produce all the fine details in very dark shadow areas of our landscape photo (admittedly a little something of a torture test since it's a sunset scene with very dark shadows). The Epson XP-640 made prints with shadow areas that looked flat, lacking subtle details, while the Canon TS6020 and HP 5540 offered some details in the shadowy areas.

Also, some models' glossy prints had a slight cloudiness to them: Prints from the Epson XP-420 and WF-2760 looked a little light overall, lacking the "pop" of prints made by the HP Envy 5540 and Canon models. However, in our Epson XP-420 review we saw good shadow detail, while the Canon TS6020 produced some blocked-up shadow areas.

Glossy Photo Print Winner: Canon
Best All-In-One for Glossy Photo Prints: The Canon TS6020 produces glossy photos with a lot of pop, with well-saturated colors that tend to look very natural.

Epson vs Canon vs HP: Copy and scan quality

HP models performed the best at reproducing color on plain paper, with smooth transitions and lots of fine detail. The HP Envy 5540 made some of the best-looking copies. Surprisingly, though, the HP OfficeJet 4650 made copies that didn't quite match the fine details and stronger dark shades of the Envy 5540's copies. (You'd think something with "Office" in its name might handle this common workplace task with more aplomb.) Also, the OfficeJet's grayscale copies had speckled textures and rough midtone transitions. More disappointing, the quality of black-and-white copies degraded further when using the OfficeJet 4650's automatic document feeder (ADF).

Copies from Canon models had slightly rougher-looking textures than the HP Envy 5540. Still, the Canon TS6020 reproduced colors well, though dark areas lost some details. The MG3620's copies produced banding, and the lack of transitions had a flattening effect. Also, text looked rougher than in the original.

Of the Epson models, the XP-640 was the best copy machine: Although its copies were lighter than some others, Epson's all-in-one reproduced smooth transitions in its copies of color graphics. The other two Epson models, however, reproduced the same graphics too darkly.

Scan quality was impressive from the Canon and HP models, and the Epson XP-420. But testing uncovered a couple quirks in the other two Epson models. The XP-640 sometimes made scans of text to PDF that looked rough around the edges, particularly when the original was slightly askew on the scanner glass. Also, Epson's WF-2760 had a hard time creating an attractive scan without first performing a preview scan.

Color Copies on Plain Paper Winner: HP
Best All-in-One for Copies of Color Graphics: Both the HP Envy 5540 and HP OfficeJet 4650 make highly detailed and richly saturated photographic prints on plain paper.

Scanning Winner: Canon
Best All-In-One for Scanning: Most inkjet all-in-ones make high-quality scans, but Canon models like the Canon Pixma TS6020 tend to do it in a fraction of the time of Epson and HP models.

Epson vs Canon vs HP: Print speed

On text documents, Canon, Epson and HP models did not differ greatly. On average, each clocked in at 7.7 ppm, 7.9 ppm and 8.6 ppm, respectively.

The fastest model from each, were the Canon TS6020 (9.8 ppm), the Epson WF-2760 (9.9 ppm) and the HP OffIceJet 4650 (9.1 ppm).  

Graphics print speeds varied a little more. Epson's 3.1 ppm bested the Canon (2.8 ppm) and HP models' (2.1 ppm) averages. Taking only the fastest model from each company, Epson's XP-640 almost doubled the speed of HP's fastest unit: The Epson XP-640 printed graphics at 5.1 ppm, while the HP Envy 5540 lagged behind at 2.6 ppm. The Canon Pixma TS6020 printed graphics at 3.1 ppm.

These same three models were tops in the glossy-photo printing department. The Canon TS6020 was fastest, printing a letter-size photo in 1 minute, 54 seconds. The HP Envy 5540 took 2 minutes and 12 seconds, and the Epson XP-640 finished in 2 minutes and 33 seconds.

Print Speed Winner: Canon
Fastest Photo Printer: The Canon TS6020 turns out top-quality glossy photos and graphics on plain paper in record time.

Epson vs Canon vs HP: Copy and scan speed

When it came to making copies, Canon and Epson set the pace, while HP lagged behind. Epson models made a black-and-white copy in 11.4 seconds, on average, while Canon all-in-ones produced a copy in 13.4 seconds. HP units were significantly slower, averaging 24.2 seconds.

Canon models were fastest at making a color copy, on average, taking 23.3 seconds. Epson units did so in 27.9 seconds, while HP models took 35.2 seconds.

Results were similar when making high-resolution color scans. At 600 dpi, Canon models finished a JPEG scan in 49.2 seconds, on average, while Epson (at 1 minute and 10 seconds) and HP (1 minute and 31 seconds) lagged behind. However, Epson's fastest model on this test keeps pace with Canon's quickest: The Epson XP-640 made a scan in 41.6 seconds, just behind the Canon MG3620 (39.4 seconds).

Scanning speeds for black-and-white PDFs did not vary much. The Canon MG3620 was quickest, at 8.9 seconds, followed by the HP Envy 5540 (9.7 seconds) and Epson XP-420 (10.9 seconds). The slowest model, the Epson XP-640, made a scan in 16.1 seconds.

Copy and Scan Speed Winner: Canon
Fastest Copier/Scanner: Canon MG3620, which excels at both color and black-and-white scans.

Epson vs Canon vs HP: Ink price

Don't be swayed by the low purchase price of an all-in-one — at least not the budget models. Whatever slight difference there may be, it is likely to soon be gobbled up by excessive ink costs if you buy a thirsty model. And a lot of that cost depends on how much you print.

We're talking pennies here, but pennies add up. Epson delivers the lowest cost per text page, averaging 6.9 cents per page its standard cartridges. Canon follows at 8.3 cents per page, and HP at 9.2 cents per page. With high-yield cartridges, Epson lowers its text page costs to 5 cents, followed by Canon (6 cents) and HP (7.2 cents).

Ink costs per color page are not very different using standard cartridges, on average: Canon (21.1 cents) versus Epson (22.1 cents) and HP (23.3 cents). Using high-yield cartridges is where you'll see a more dramatic difference in operating costs: Canon models deliver an average of 10.9 cents per page, followed by Epson (14.8 cents) and HP (18.5 cents). The two models with the lowest color ink costs are the Canon TS6020 (8.5 cents) and the Epson XP-640, at 10 cents.

To help offset these costs, some companies offer ink subscription plans that may save you money.

Ink Cost Winner: Canon
Best for Ink Costs: The Canon TS6020 keeps ink costs low, and the Epson XP-640 impresses, too.

Epson vs Canon vs HP: Laser all-in-ones

If you're focused on business tasks, and don't need to print glossy color photos, a monochrome laser all-in-one could be a good fit. First, laser printers tend to be faster. In our tests, they printed text at 13.7 ppm, on average, versus 8 ppm for inkjet all-in-ones. Epson's not a part of these comparisons, by the way — that company focuses on inkjets.

Canon models had the fastest printing speeds for laser MFPs on average. Just to take one example, our Canon ImageClass MF217W review saw text printed at 15.9 ppm and black-and-white graphics at 12.2 ppm. The HP LaserJet Pro M127fw review noted slightly slower at text printing (13.5 ppm) but half the speed of the Canon at printing graphics, at just 6.1 ppm.

In addition to faster speeds, laser printers tend to deliver lower costs per page. Even when using high-yield cartridges, inkjet all-in-ones average 5.9 cents per text page. But laser models such as the Canon ImageClass MF229dw ($300) and MF217w ($209) print text for just 3.5 cents per page, using an $84 toner cartridge rated to last 2,400 pages. Using a 1,200-page cartridge, the Brother HL-L2380DW ($200) prints text for 3.7 cents per page. HP models were the most expensive: At 4.3 cents per page, the HP LaserJet Pro M127fw ($200) uses a $64 toner cartridge rated for 1,500 pages.

If you need to print in color, you can, of course, get a color laser model like the HP LaserJet Pro M277dw ($329), which uses the same black toner cartridge as the M127fw.

Of course, prices on toner, like ink, vary. Hunting for the best deal, I found that online prices varied as much as $9 for one of HP's black toner cartridges. Buying them in a two-pack will also help your bottom line — just like buying ink cartridge multipacks, which is what we use (if available) in calculating our costs per page.

Laser All-In-One Winner: Canon
Best Laser All-In-One: The Canon ImageClass MF217W, which is our favorite laser MFP, impressed us with its fast print times, high-quality outpu and low cost per page.

Epson vs Canon vs HP: Paper handling

If you expect to switch regularly from printing documents to printing on glossy photo paper or other specialty media, consider a model with two input trays. Otherwise, you'll have to swap out media regularly. Getting a duplexer to make two-sided prints will save on paper, but make sure you don't get short-changed on two-sided print quality (as we noted above). Similarly, having an auto document feeder (ADF) is convenient for multipage copying. But not all models produce high-quality two-sided prints and copies, and some ADFs are slow, as is the case with the Epson WF-2760.

If you plan to print and scan from a PC or smart device most of the time, you may not need a sophisticated control panel. But having ample buttons eases operation when you use an all-in-one in stand-alone mode.

Some models come with a touch screen, which can be convenient. For example, the Epson XP-640's touch screen was reliable. On the other hand, the Canon TS6020's touch screen was on occasion unresponsive, and I wished there were a four-way button on the control panel. On the plus side, this Canon touch screen allowed me to swipe my way through menu selections. In general, I have had better luck with physical buttons or a touch panel.

Paper Handling Winner: Epson
Best Duplexer: The Epson XP-640 prints two-sided documents faster than any other model outfitted with a duplexer, spitting out text at 5.5 ppm, versus 3.6 ppm from the next-fastest competitor, the HP Envy 5540.

Epson vs Canon vs HP: Bottom line

So who wins in our Epson vs Canon vs HP printers showdown? Canon clearly has a leg up on the competition, taking seven categories. The Canon TS6020 fared particularly well as our top choice in multiple categories.

Still, Canon's wins were by thin margins in many categories. HP took top honors for color copies, and Epson fares well in many categories, too. (We particularly like how the XP-640 handles photo prints.)

If you're considering brands when buying a printer, our testing indicates that Canon's multifunction devices are hard to beat. For the latest discounts from Canon, check out our Canon promo codes.

Check out all of our printer coverage:

Best printers | Best all-in-one printers | Best photo printers | Best portable printers | Best laser printers 

At Tom's Guide we test a variety of printers that are well-suited to the home and the office, as well as on the go. Most models we test use either inkjet or laser technology, and are designed to sit on a desk or table. Some models, however, are small and lightweight, and therefore portable.

We put each printer we review through the same series of tests to evaluate key performance indicators, including image quality and print speed, in order to help determine which are the best printers on the market.

This is just one facet of our editorial strategy, and you can read more about all the different gear we test and how in our guide to how we test products on Tom's Guide. Without further ado, here's how we test printers, and why it's important for you to know. 

Print Speed Testing

Regardless of the type, all our printers go through a series of tests so you can compare them to similar models. We test print speeds, of course, and for capable models we test copying and scanning speed. In all cases, we use a variety of documents in an effort to duplicate real-life use, and to identify strengths and weaknesses of each model.

Print speed tests are conducted with a text document, with a PDF of colored graphics and text, and with a series of 8-by-10-inch color photographs. 

For monochrome laser printers, we print the photographs in black and white on plain paper. For color laser printers that accommodate glossy paper, we test this feature in addition to plain paper prints to help determine which are the best laser printers. If a model offers a duplexer for two-sided printing, we test its two-side print speed with our text and PDF documents.

For portable printers that do not print on larger formats, we test photo print speeds on 4-by-6-inch glossy paper and compare the results to figure out which are the best portable printers.

Copy and Scan Speed Testing

If a printer offers copying capability, as most do these days, we run speed tests copying black-and-white and color documents that contain a variety of text and graphics. Speed tests for scanning also include text documents and documents with color graphics. We scan to both PDF and JPEG formats.

If the model has an automatic document feeder (ADF) for copying multipage documents, we test this feature for both copying and scanning, and make note of speeds and image quality. If the model has a duplexer, two-sided copying and scanning is evaluated for speed and image quality.

Image Quality Tests

All documents printed, copied or scanned in our timed tests are evaluated for quality and compared to the output of competing models. Text is examined for sharpness and graphics are evaluated for fineness of detail and color accuracy.

In addition to the standard documents used for timed tests, a wider variety of documents are used to evaluate image quality. In print tests, this includes additional photographs of varying subject types. In evaluating copy quality, we duplicate a variety of magazine pages that include different text fonts and dense graphics that are sometimes difficult to replicate in the subtle details. 

For photo-centric models, we make copies of glossy photographs and evaluate the duplicate in order to help determine which are the best photo printers.

Evaluating the Features

Test results and image quality are two solid measurements of a printer's worth. But whether a well-performing model is worth an Editor's Choice distinction, sometimes comes down to how user-friendly it is. That's why we run every printer through all its paces, simulating a busy day-to-day workflow to make sure we understand what works great, and what's just so-so.

For starters, we evaluate how east the setup is. Whether it's easy or a mind-boggling, we let you know. We use the software and repeat tests using the mobile phone app, to ensure it's as good as operating from a computer. If there's an LCD, we spend significant time operating the on-screen menus to evaluate them. If it's a touch screen, we do a lot of tapping and/or swiping to see if it's a breeze or something closer to a headache. We set up both wired and wireless connections (if offered) to ensure that neither configuration is troublesome. We also calculate startup time.

Estimating Ink/Toner Costs

For all printers, we discuss the estimated ink or toner costs. These costs are derived from data provided by the printer manufacturers, which are based on standardized testing and industry-accepted test images. If high-capacity cartridges are available, we discuss the difference in costs per page versus standard cartridges.

For printers that offer an ink or toner subscription program, this estimated cost is discussed for comparison purposes.

In the end, all of our testing is in pursuit of a single goal: to give you the most useful data possible, so that you can make a well-informed buying decision and find the printer that's just right for your needs.

For more information on our testing methodologies, read the rest of our guides to how we test products on Tom's Guide.

The Form 3+ from Formlabs replaces the Form 3, one of the best resin-based 3D printers we’ve tested. This is an area in 3D printing that’s seen a lot of competition in recent years, as a number of lower-cost models have sprung up, looking to challenge Formlabs’ pricier printers.

While devices like the Photon Mono X offer a lower-cost entry into SLA printing, the Form 3+ remains the 3D printer of choice for professionals who need dependable and high-quality 3D printing. Formlabs’ latest printer takes all the great features of the Form 3 and improves ease of use and print speeds to remain the ultimate 3D resin printer.

Formlabs Form 3+ review: Price and availability

The Form 3+ originally cost $3,499, but Formlabs subsequently announced that the printer's price was rising to $3,750, citing supply chain issues. The printer remains available directly from Formlabs. Even before the bump in cost, $3,500-plus is a lot to pay for a printer, especially compared to the Photon Mono X, which now costs around $500.

There are optional add-ons for the Form 3+. The Build Platform 2, which is designed to help you remove parts from the build platform, costs $229, while post-processing devices like the Form Wash and Form Cure cost $599 and $750, respectively. (That $750 reflects a $50 price hike on the Form Cure.)

Formlabs Form 3+ review: Design

Formlabs describes the Form 3+ as a LFS (Low Force Stereolithography) printer that uses a 250 mA UV laser to zap resin into a solid. The Form 3+ retains the same heavy, industrial-style design of previous Formlabs models, with an orange see-through plastic cover that folds up from the front to provide access to the build area. 

The Form 3+ has a total build area of 5.7 x 5.7 x 7.3 inches, a total of 237 cubic inches, with a layer size of between 25 and 300 microns (0.001 to 0.012 inches) That’s much smaller than most FDM printers, and many SLA printers. If you need something bigger, Formlabs also offers the Form 3L, a step-up model that can print up to 13.2 by 7.9 by 11.8 inches: a total of 1,230 cubic inches. 

Below the lift-up cover of the Form 3+, you’ll find a large, clear touch screen that shows the status of the print and allows you to control prints in progress. Prints can be sent to the Form 3+ over Wi-Fi, ethernet, or USB connection to a computer running the PreForm software. There is also a USB port on the printer’s back for a USB drive.  

The back of the Form 3+ is also where you’ll slide in the resin cartridge. This holds a liter of resin, and each cartridge is coded to tell the printer what type of resin is in it. The design means that you don’t have to touch the resin yourself — a small printer-controlled valve at the bottom releases the resin from the tank into the print tray. That’s a lot easier than filling the tray by hand, and means that the Form 3+ only dispenses as much resin as is needed for the print. That’s important, as resin left in the print tray can go bad over time. 

The design of the print tray is also new for the Form 3+, with an improved mixer that moves the resin around before printing and a floating level sensor that measures how much resin is in the print tray. Much like the float in your toilet, this latter feature controls the flow of the resin so that there is enough to do the job, but no more.

The other new feature that we tested on the Form 3+ is the Build Platform 2, a revamped design for the platform that the print is built on. This is the part that is lowered into the reason that the print forms on, layer by layer. 

Usually, this is a solid flat slab of metal, so when the print is finished, you then have to pry the print off with a scraper. The new Build Platform 2 design uses a flexible metal panel held in place by magnets. After printing, you use the handles on either side to release the panel from the magnets and bend it, which makes removing the print much easier: it usually just pops off without needing any prying or other persuasion. It’s an optional extra, but it is well worth the $229 if you are printing a lot. 

Most of the other Form 3+ improvements are mostly to the user — these include an improved laser for faster printing and the addition of a heater. 

Formlabs Form 3+ review: Accessories

In addition to testing the Form 3+, we also looked at the Form Wash and Form Cure. These two devices wash prints in alcohol to remove unfixed resin and cure the print with UV lights to finish it off. 

Like the Build Platform 2, they’re optional additions to your Form 3+ setup: you can both wash and cure prints without them using a plastic container and a UV light. But adding them makes things easier and more effective: the Form Wash mixes the isopropyl alcohol to make sure that any nooks and crannies in the print are cleaned, and the Form Cure heats the print while it cures to make sure the resin is completely set. Together, they create an entire production line from loading the 3D model to the fixed print ready for use.

Formlabs Form 3+ review: Software and controls

You control the Form 3+ using one of three ways — from the touchscreen on the device itself, from the PreForm software, and through the Dashboard web interface. The Form 3+’s touchscreen is big, bright, and easy to see. From here you can start and stop prints, plus configure the printer and put it to sleep if you aren’t using it for a bit. 

The PreForm software (available free for Windows and Mac) offers the main way of setting up prints and controlling the printer. This loads the 3D models, orients them for printing, and creates the print file to send to the Form 3+. 

It’s an easy process, especially if you use the one-touch feature that handles most of the work for you. Because the Form 3+ communicates with the PreForm app, you don’t have to set up anything: it knows what type of resin is installed and how to configure the print for that. You do have to press a couple more buttons to send the file (and then go to the printer and start the print), so it isn’t quite one touch, but it is pretty close. 

If you prefer to configure things yourself. PreForm allows you to load multiple models, shrink or enlarge them and move them about the build plate. Alternatively, you can load one model and clone it to print multiples in one print, a process called plating. You can also add print supports, or let the program add them automatically. Once your model is ready, you can send it directly to the Form 3+, save it or put it on a USB drive. 

As for the dashboard, it’s a web-based service that allows you to monitor and control multiple printers, stop or start prints, monitor materials and check the print statistics. The Dashboard can have multiple users, so more than one person can use a single printer, or queue prints up on multiple devices.

Formlabs Form 3+ review: Print process

Once the print file has been sent to the Form 3+, it is time to get printing. Again, this process is pretty hassle-free: you select print and run through a couple of preparation steps (such as opening a valve on the resin tank and confirming that the print plate is in place); then, the printer gets on with it. The preparation process can also be done in advance: if you know you are going to be starting a print in a few minutes, you can prime the printer in advance, then start the print from the PreForm software. 

The printing process itself is automated: you don’t have to watch it. The Form 3+ also includes a heater that warms the inside of the printer, a definite plus for the chilly basement I use for testing printers, as the resin doesn’t flow as well when it is cold. 

This heater doesn’t extend to the resin tank, though, so filling the print tray from the tank sometimes took a long time, especially when switching materials. Formlabs told me that they recommend users put the Form 3+ into an air-conditioned or otherwise heated room, and that users should occasionally take the resin tank out, check the valve that the resin is dispensed from and shake the tank to make sure that the valve is not blocked.  

After several prints timed out while waiting for the cold resin to drip out of the resin tank, I took to manually filling the tray before the first print, another process that Formlabs recommended. That’s more of an annoyance than a widespread problem with the Form 3+, though, especially for those who live in more civilized climates than New England in late winter. 

Once the print is done, you can remove the print bed and finish the print. With the Form Wash and Form Cure devices, this involved putting the entire print bed into the Wash and setting it to run, which immerses and rinses the print in IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol) to remove any liquid resin clinging to the service. That process that takes about 20 minutes. 

The Form Was automatically circulates the IPA to get into the print, then lifts the print out of the liquid to let it dry. Next, you remove your print from the print bed, then trim off the supports (a number of clippers and other tools are included with the Form Wash for this purpose).  Finally, you put it in the Form Cure, which heats the print and bathes it in UV light to harden the resin. After that, the print is complete. 

Formlabs Form 3+ review: Print speed

The Form 3+ is a pretty speedy printer when it wants to be. Using the Draft resin, a print of our 4-inch high Thinker test model took a little more than 2.5 hours. That’s fast because the Draft resin is designed for quick printing on prototypes. The Flexible resin took somewhat longer — 8 hours and 52 minutes for that same model because the Elastic resin uses thinner layers that take a little longer to fix.

That time is a bit quicker than the Form 3, which took between 10 and 17 hours to print. We can’t make a direct comparison, however, as the different printers use different resins. Still, it’s safe to say that the Form 3+ is a little faster than the Form 3. 

Print speeds for the Form 3+ also compare well with other resin printers. The Photon Mono X, for instance, took more than 7 hours to produce the same size of print. Much of the speed of the Form 3+ is down to the draft resin we tested it with, but it is obviously a speedy printer that can crank out prints when needed. 

Formlabs Form 3+ review: Print quality

I was impressed with the print quality from the Form 3+, which consistently produced clean smooth prints with excellent detail and finish. The print quality depends a lot on the resin that you use, and we tried two in our testing — the Draft resin and the Elastic 50A. 

Formlabs’ Draft resin produced very clean, smooth prints, but each layer of the print is 0.3mm thick, which in 3D printing terms, is a lot. 

This does mean that the layers on prints are sometimes rather visible on flat edges and surfaces that are parallel to the print bed. In other areas, our test prints were very smooth, with well-reproduced details and smooth, organic curves. 

The print quality of the Elastic 50A resin was also excellent, with fine detail on our test prints. The prints in this material lived up to the elastic name: the clear resin is pliable and stretchable when cured, but is not rubbery: it holds its shape in fine details. 

The elastic nature of this resin does mean that it is a bit of a pain to work with, and we did find that the supports for the prints left traces on the final print that were difficult to remove: little pock marks in the otherwise smooth surface of the print. These aren’t a big problem on the draft resin, as the brittle nature of the cured resin means that the supports come off cleanly. 

But the elastic resin doesn’t snap off cleanly, and I had to trim off the surface marks with a sharp knife.This could probably be minimized by using  less support material to minimize the parts that need to be removed, though.

Formlabs Form 3+ review: Materials

The Form 3+ is designed to use resins from Formlabs, which offer a very wide selection of resins for special purposes, including high-strength engineering, dental, jewelry, and medical use. The cost of these varies from $149 for the draft resin to $299 for the extra rigid engineering resin or the castable Jewelers resin. Medical-grade resins can cost up to $349. That’s expensive, but given that the more specialist resins have been through things like FDA testing so they can be implanted into your body, that’s not unreasonable. 

Formlabs doesn’t offer different color resins: instead, they offer a color kit that includes clear resin and five dyes (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black, and White), allowing you to make your own colors. They include 16 recipes as a starting point, but you will need to mix a full liter of resin to get the result: you can’t mix smaller amounts. 

Older Form printers used to offer a feature called Open Mode that allowed you to use other resins, but this is not available on the Form 3+. 

Formlabs Form 3+ review: Verdict

If 3D printing is a part of your daily work,  the Form 3+ remains the printer to beat. It works quickly, is easy to set up and use, and prints with great quality. It’s not cheap, though: the package that we tested costs just under $5k. That could buy you two or three other cheaper printers, like the Photon Mono X, and a print finishing system. 

But a printer like the Photon Mono X lacks the finish of the Form 3+, and prints from the former machine will require more handling and tweaking to get the best quality. You also don’t get the ability for multiple users to queue and manage prints. 

Whether to pay up for the Form 3+ comes down to time and resources. If you don’t mind taking the time to tweak the printer, finish the prints then reprint them to get the results you want, a cheaper SLA printer will do just fine. But if you want to print and move on to the next task, the Form 3+ is the 3D printer to get.

Regardless of make or model, there's a good chance that your printer has something in common with everyone else. Over the course of your printer's lifespan, you'll likely end up spending more on replacement ink, toner cartridges, or drums than you spend on the printer itself.  Buying replacement printer cartridges should be easy and affordable — but far too often, it's neither of those things. 

Depending on whom you ask, the reason for this will vary. Some people believe it's simple greed. Others posit that printer manufacturers make the bulk of their profits not on printing hardware, but on ink sales. 

One common theory amongst consumers is that OEM companies operate on a razor blade business model when selling their printers. Either they sell the devices at a loss, or they charge just enough to break even, at which point they must recoup by overcharging on cartridges. 

The reality, according to manufacturers, is that the technology involved in making ink and developing new printer models is almost prohibitively expensive. They spend a fortune on research and development. Then they spend even more ensuring top-notch quality and reliability. 

Whatever theory you subscribe to, the simple truth is that printer ink is expensive. But it doesn't need to be. By learning a bit about printer ink specifications and being conscientious with your purchases, you can save yourself a tidy sum.

Understanding printer type and page yield

Page yield is the vital statistic of an ink cartridge — and fortunately, it's a rather easy concept to grasp. It's simply the average number of pages a cartridge will print before it needs to be replaced, per the manufacturer. This number tends to vary considerably depending on the type of cartridge you've purchased; page yield is also impacted by how ink-intensive your printing jobs tend to be.

If you mostly print text documents and contracts, you'll get more mileage out of a cartridge than if you use it to print full-color photos.  

When purchasing a printer, pay careful attention to the average page yield. Even two printers with otherwise identical price points and features may use different cartridges. It also goes without saying that you'll want to lean towards purchasing a model that uses high-yield cartridges — the cost of constantly replacing inefficient ink adds up fast.

You'll also want to think about your printing needs, and consider which type of printer is the best fit:

• Inkjet printers may be cheaper, but their cartridges have lower yields, especially with cheaper models. That said, they are well-suited for printing photos and graphics. If you print often, however, your printing budget is likely to inflate very quickly. 
• Laser printers use toner cartridges, and are generally the best option for home offices and businesses with heavy-duty printing needs. Although the units cost more upfront, toner cartridges can usually print thousands of pages before they need to be replaced, and won't dry out if they go unused for a long time. 
• Similar to laser printers, ink tank printers have high page yields, though they also offer print quality similar to inkjet printers. There are several trade-offs, however — in addition to being slower, ink tank printers are prone to blockages or drying if unused for too long.

As you've probably guessed, your best bet for most use cases will be either ink tank or laser. High-yield models such as these mean less money spent on ink in the long term. Those savings can climb even higher if you purchase proprietary cartridges in bulk. 

Of course, all this is assuming you're buying name-brand printer ink. If you're really looking to save yourself a tidy sum, there's another option. You can get more affordable ink cartridges from a non-OEM supplier like LD Products.

Why LD Products ink is the smart buy

A leading online retailer of aftermarket printing supplies, LD stocks thousands of high-quality cartridges for every major printer brand. Offering the same level of quality as proprietary ink and toner, you get amazing prints at a fraction of the cost. Plus, every cartridge comes with an unbeatable lifetime guarantee. 

In short, LD Products offers precisely what you need to take control of your printing budget and enjoy whatever printer you've purchased to its fullest extent.

To drive home the point, have a look at the table below, which shows the price comparison of three top-rated cartridge series.

LD Products Price Comparison

The HP Envy Inspire 7955e ($270) is a versatile inkjet printer that offers plenty of features for a fair price. Outfitted with an automatic document feeder (ADF) and a duplexer for making two-sided prints, this full-featured all-in-one is well equipped for most office tasks, and offers a second input tray for photo paper. This model does not, however, offer fax capability.

The Envy Inspire is optimized for use on a network, and is best suited for an online setup. For example, to use the HP Smart software to make my first scan, I needed to set up an account with HP. This quickly prompted a query asking whether I was liking the HP Smart app, as well as a solicitation to sign up for an Instant Ink subscription. To control ink costs, you will most likely want to sign up for a subscription (more on that later).

The Envy Inspire uses two ink cartridges: a pigment-based black and a dye-based tri-color cartridge. The 7955e comes with six months of free ink refills via the HP Instant Ink subscription plan. You'll want to sign up fast: The starter color ink cartridge ran out very quickly in my testing. The recommended monthly page volume is 300 to 400 pages.

HP Envy Inspire 7955e review: Design

There are two input trays: a 125-sheet cassette and a 15-sheet photo paper tray, which handles 5 x 5, 4 x 6 and 5 x 7-inch sizes. Custom sizes can't be accommodated in the photo paper tray, though panoramic paper can be fed through the main input tray. The output tray can hold up to 60 sheets. The ADF holds up to 35 sheets.

The 2.7-inch color touch screen is handy for stand-alone operation. I found it responsive to my entries and swiping through menus. It's a little on the small side, however. The comparably priced Canon Pixma TS8320 sports a 4.3-inch color touch screen. For operating the printer from a PC or mobile device, HP offers the previously mentioned HP Smart app. There are not any media card slots or USB direct port for connecting a thumb drive.

You'll need some space to accommodate this network-centric printer's footprint. Measuring 18.1 x 20.5 x 19.2 inches, the Envy Inspire 7955e is larger than many inkjets, including some models outfitted with ink tanks (which tend to be bigger than those that use ink cartridges). Having a duplexer for making two-sided prints also tends to add volume to the chassis. But by comparison, the Canon G6020 (which uses ink tanks and has a duplexer) is still significantly smaller than the Inspire 7955e, measuring only 15.9 x 14.6 x 7.7 inches.

You will want to give this HP some vertical clearance, as well. The scanner lid's hinges don't offer resistance for holding up the lid and ADF, so you'll need to prop it up at 90 degrees if you want to use both hands while placing a document on the scanner glass. Despite its size, this HP Envy weighs a modest 17.9 pounds.

Paper sensors free you from telling the printer what kind of photo paper you have loaded in the second paper tray. At first, this can be confusing. The LCD menu shows both the main tray paper setting as well as the photo paper tray setting, although the photo paper setting is grayed out. This lets you know that you do not need to select the paper type; it has been recognized. You will still need to confirm plain paper sizes in the main tray when you refill it.

The printer offers a quiet mode, which is 40 percent quieter than regular operation, according to the company.

HP Envy Inspire 7955e review: Print Speed 

The HP Envy printed our five-page text document in 32.2 seconds, or 9.3 ppm. This was faster than the average of 9.1 ppm. Graphics printing also was faster than the average. The HP Envy printed our six-page PDF of color graphics and text in 1 minute and 41 seconds, or 3.6 ppm. This was significantly faster than the average of 2.7 ppm.

Using its duplexer, the HP Envy made two-sided prints quickly as well. It printed a 10-page text document on five sheets in 2 minutes and 49 seconds, or 3.6 ppm. After printing the first side of a two-sided sheet, the LCD displays a message that the page is drying, which lasted for roughly six seconds. By comparison, the Canon TR8620 ($180) made the same print  more slowly, at 3.1 ppm. 

Making two-sided prints of our color PDF was also quick. The HP Envy printed the six pages on three sheets in 2 minutes and 52 seconds, or 2.1 ppm. On this document the wait time in between the two sides was roughly 11 seconds. By comparison, the comparably priced Canon Pixma G6020 (which uses ink tanks) made the same print more slowly, at 1.8 ppm.

Similarly, The Envy Inspire 7955e printed photos quickly. It printed our landscape photo on letter-size paper in 2 minutes and 49 seconds. This was much faster than the average of 4 minutes and 20 seconds.

HP Envy Inspire 7955e review: Copy and Scan Speed

Copy speeds were as impressive as print speeds. Copying a color page took just 21 seconds, among the fastest times we've recorded, and significantly faster than the average of 34.2 seconds.

The Inspire 7955e made a black-and-white copy in 15.4 seconds, beating the average of 19 seconds. 

Using its ADF, copies were made quickly. A single-sided copy of a five-page text document finished in 41.9 seconds, or 7.2 ppm. By comparison, the Brother MFC-J805DW made the same copy at 6.8 ppm, while the Canon TR8620 did so at 6.7 ppm.

Scanning speeds were slower than the average. The Envy Inspire 7955e scanned an 8x10 color photograph to JPEG format at 600 dpi in 1 minute and 24 seconds. By comparison, the Canon TR8620 made the same scan in 59 seconds. The average is 1 minute and 10 seconds.

Scanning in black-and-white to PDF format also was slower than the average. Scanning at 300 dpi, the Inspire 7955e produced a PDF in 19.8 seconds, compared to the average of 11.9 seconds. The Canon TR8620, by contrast, captured the scan in just 8.8 seconds.

Using the ADF to scan multipage documents, the Inspire 7955e captured a page of text to PDF format in 28.1 seconds, including a few seconds to confirm the file save. Turning off the edge detect feature shaved a few seconds off the scanning process, but this will require manual cropping for non-standard sizes.

HP Envy Inspire 7955e review: Print Quality

The Envy Inspire 7955e made high-quality prints across the board. Text prints looked attractive; letterforms were dark and the edges looked fairly sharp up close. Lumpiness at the edges was only noticeable at close range.

Graphics printed with attractive, natural-looking colors that were faithfully reproduced in most cases. Fine details looked sharp, though pixels were noticeable in some textures that could have looked a little smoother, when viewed up close.

When using the duplexer, two-sided prints of our color PDF looked slightly less sharp than when printed single-sided. The graphics were not quite as sharp in the fine details, and text edges were softer than on one-sided prints.

Glossy photo prints looked attractive overall, with high-quality reproduction of details, textures and colors. The prints had a tendency to exaggerate reds and yellows slightly, producing a warm or slightly oversaturated look—but not always. One photo I printed multiple times on 4x6 matte paper looked less saturated the first time, but the second print was noticeably more red and closer to the on-screen original.

Photos with dark shadows tended to lose some fine details in the shadow areas of the print, flattening the overall look. On matte paper in particular, this had a tendency to flatten the image slightly.

Scan quality was high. Text and graphics were reproduced faithfully on a par with all-in-ones in its class. In a scan of a photograph, subtle details in dark shadows were reproduced, rather than becoming a blocked-up patch of black. Fine details in scans of photographs were reproduced well, and prints made at full size looked good overall. When viewed at roughly the original 8x10-inch size, the HP Inspire created details that looked sharper on a PC screen compared to the same photo scan from the Canon TS8320. Enlarging the images to actual scan file size, however, revealed artifacts in the HP's scans that produced an unnatural look and distorted edges, presumably from sharpening. As with our glossy prints, the scans leaned warm, emphasizing reds and yellows. This looked pleasing on lighter skin tones, though on other subjects the effect was arguably a little unnatural-looking.

HP Envy Inspire 7955e review: Ink Cost and Yield

The Inspire 7955e comes with six months of ink. If you continue with the ink subscription, you will need to decide on a plan, depending on how much you expect to print. If you choose to go the old-fashioned route and buy ink cartridges without a subscription, you will pay higher than average prices.

Using standard cartridges, ink costs are high. Costs per page are 9.5 cents (text) and 24.6 cents (color), which are far above the averages of 5.5 cents and 15.7 cents, respectively. Using high-yield cartridges results in lower ink costs, but they are still above what many other models offer: 7 cents (text) and 18.1 cents (color), versus the averages of 4.3 cents and 11.2 cents.

For a full run-down of HP's Instant Ink subscription service, see "What is HP Instant Ink?" <https://www.tomsguide.com/news/hp-instant-ink>. In short, the company offers five plans to choose from, based on how many pages you print. It seems most likely you will save money with the ink subscription plan – compared to the high costs per page without one.

The basic plan allows for 10 pages per month, costs 99 cents, and thus costs 10 cents per page. The $3.99 occasional plan lowers cost per page to 8 cents, allowing 50 pages per month. The 100-page moderate plan costs $5.99, or 6 cents per page.

All these cost per page calculations assume you use up all your plan's pages. You are allowed to rollover pages, however, though there are some limitations. Important to note is that all pages cost the same in these calculations. The more you print in color, the more money, in theory, you could be saving.

However, given the Envy Inspire's large size, it's worth considering whether an ink tank model might make more sense. For example, the comparably priced Canon G6020 offers extremely low ink costs of just 0.2 cents (text) and 0.8 cents (color), without an ink subscription. (HP also makes ink tank printers, though we have not tested one under $300).

If you don't plan to sign up for an ink subscription, be forewarned that the starter ink cartridges (which hold less ink than standard cartridges) ran out very quickly in our testing. After just 22 text pages, 26 color pages, and four 8 x 10 glossy photo prints, the color cartridge needed to be replaced.

HP Envy Inspire 7955e review: Setup and Software

Getting the HP Envy Inspire set up was not as smooth as I'd hoped. For all the promised convenience of a wireless network and internet connectivity, I found myself wishing for the convenience of a plug-and-play USB cable setup. The printer does have a USB port and I did set it up as such for some testing, but you can't use all of HP Smart's features without an online account, which I found frustrating. For example, you can't set up shortcuts for scanning at specific settings or to email, etc. 

Using the QR code on the quick setup guide, I downloaded the HP Smart app to my iPhone. But after briefly connecting with it, the connection dropped and the next three attempts failed. The Envy Inspire's blue light was blinking, indicating that wireless was enabled, but my iPhone could not see it.

Trying another route, I consulted the printer's touchscreen. The menus allowed for entering the printer's IP address. But neither the on-screen menu or the printed quick start guide offered help where this would be found. The touchscreen would not leave the product tour slide presentation, so I was stuck. When I did locate the IP address and tried entering it in the iOS HP Smart app, it would not accept the hyphens. So, I was still unable to connect.

When this got ironed out, I used the iOS HP Smart app to set up a WiFi connection, and pressed the WPS button on my wireless router, when prompted. After connecting, the app instructed me to turn on location and Bluetooth on my phone, though both of them were already on. When selecting the printer in my iPhone's Wi-Fi settings, I was prompted for a password, but I was not sure if it was asking for my iPhone password or my HP Smart password. So, I ended up having HP send me codes that expired in just a few minutes, and I had to repeat the step.

On my Windows 10 PC, I was prompted in the HP Scan software to set up an online account. Right after the first scan, I was asked whether I was enjoying the HP Smart. Given what followed, this question was premature.

You can print text documents, emails and photos from their native applications. But PDF files will not print from Acrobat Reader. To print PDF files on the Envy Inspire 7955e, you must use the HP Smart software.

As for scanning, HP Scan works fine for basic tasks, but it can be finicky and more trouble than it's worth. Although it has presets for scanning and automatically cropping 4x6 and 5x7 photos, it does not have an 8x10 setting and so you will have to crop these scans yourself. There is an auto crop feature, but it's not reliable. When scanning an 8x10 photo collage, the auto crop feature homed in on the frame around the team photo, completely ignoring the remaining 40 percent of the image, including a background and an individual portrait.

After scanning, the software's on-screen "OK" button could not be engaged by pressing enter on my PC's keyboard. To save the scan, I had to mouse over to the on-screen button and click it with my mouse each time.

HP Envy Inspire 7955e review: Bottom Line

The HP Envy Inspire 7955e offers a lot of features and praise-worthy performance for a fair price. The photo paper tray, ADF and duplexer make this all-in-one a versatile tool for home and office tasks. With fast printing and quick copying, plus high image quality across the board, you don't sacrifice quality for speed. The outsized chassis, however, may not fit in cramped quarters. 

Keeping ink costs reasonable requires an ink subscription plan. Some features only work within the HP ecosystem (such as printing PDFs) or require an online account. If this online-dependend and network-centric approach sounds more like a convenience than a limitation, the Inspire 7955e will likely meet your expectations.

Businesses and creators looking to invest in a new 3D printer to create models, prototypes, molds, and end-use parts will run into the question of which technology to use: fused deposition modeling (FDM) or stereolithography (SLA).

SLA was the first 3D printing technology created, and it has long been the preferred printing technology for professional designers and engineers. The SLA printing process uses an incredibly precise laser to cure liquid resin into the solid final part. Thanks to this precision, SLA prints can have incredibly fine detail, smooth finishes, and accurate sizing for machine parts and prototypes. 

SLA printed parts come out dense, watertight, and isotropic, giving them structural integrity in a wider variety of applications. Those qualities combined with the precision of SLA-printed parts even allows them to be used in industrial applications.

There’s also a greater degree of flexibility available with SLA printing. Creators can use different SLA resins to produce hard or soft objects, use resins filled with additives like glass or wax, create either opaque or clear prints, and choose materials for their unique mechanical properties. There are also biocompatible materials available for SLA printing, allowing for customized healthcare products, like dental aligners or surgical planning tools. 

There are some key ways that SLA printing differs from FDM, the other largely popular 3D printing technology. FDM printers deposit material in a melted form to build each layer of the print. Each line the printer deposits can be slightly rounded and may not always adhere perfectly to the layer beneath, creating an anisotropic structure. The resulting prints will show gradation between layers that can impact the aesthetics and functionality of the design. 

The precision of FDM prints is also limited by the size of the extrusion nozzles and inaccuracies caused by the thermal expansion and contraction of the filament, so FDM printers are not as well suited for creating fine details on smaller designs. While FDM prints come out of the printer without requiring cleaning or post-curing, they may require support removal and sanding to remove any unwanted layer lines. This makes them better suited for quick mock-ups or for use in workflows that won’t involve considerable post-production work, which adds time and labor expenses that may negate the relative affordability of the printers and low cost of filament material.

So if SLA printers have so many clear advantages over FDM printers, why would anyone opt for an FDM printer? The answer is thatSLA printing technology hasn’t been as accessible for many companies. The large, industrial machines previously used for SLA printing were expensive, especially compared to many of the affordable FDM printers available on the market today. 

A big factor in the price of SLA printers has been the expensive laser responsible for curing the resin. The resins can also be expensive, and the complicated process of shifting between print layers puts a strain on parts and could cause costly print failures. 

But the relative inaccessibility of SLA printing has gradually been addressed by the introduction of desktop SLA printers from Formlabs. Formlabs has spent the last decade eliminating the prohibitive costs of SLA printing while simultaneously making the technology more versatile, reliable, and intuitive. These investments have culminated in the recently launched Form 3+ SLA printer. 

The Form 3+ is a capable, fast, and reliable 3D printer for business applications. Its versatility allows users to employ it for rapid prototyping, end-use parts, model making, and more. The Form 3+ starts at $3,499 for the basic package.

The precision of the laser in the Form 3+ produces prints that require minimal post-processing. Beyond the smooth finishes of its prints, Formlabs’ software can automatically create support structures for each design and the laser can cure them in such a way that they break off easily and cleanly, further eliminating post-production work. The printer is backed by an ecosystem to improve and simplify the production pipeline, including automated washing and curing machines as well as a quick-release build platform.

The reliability of the printer and the quality of the prints can allow a business to save time and money on prototyping or designing custom parts. While the upfront cost may be higher than an entry-level FDM printer, the flexibility allows this printer to do more, and the reduction in post-production labor, print time, and print failures can outweigh the higher upfront costs. Ultimately, it’s an investment that makes sense for businesses looking to go from concept to final form quickly, precisely, and reliably. 

If you think Formlabs’ Form 3+ may be right for your business or application, you can find out more about the printer here. 

For the month of February, Formlabs will also be running a giveaway on a Form 3+ Basic Package that includes the Form 3+ 3D printer, Build Platform, Resin Tank, Finish Kit, and one liter of Draft Resin, valued at $3,500. You can enter for a chance to win here.