The Best Printer Buyer’s Guide – Winter 2021-2022
Do You Still Need a Printer? Of Course You Do!
Despite everyone’s move to digital paper, digital photos, and the cloud, we still all need to print a few things once in a while, and some of us need to print a whole lot all the time! To help you find your way through the maze of printer options available, we’ve compiled this guide to the best inkjet and laser models.
As a rule of thumb, inkjets are great for small-volume printing that requires color, and are the only printers to consider for album-worthy photographs. Meanwhile, laser printers are vastly superior for large-volume printing, with color laser models suitable for business presentations.
Our Latest Recommendations for Winter 2021-22
For Winter 2021-22, we’ve updated this guide with a number of new models from Canon and HP. While printer tech doesn’t change all that often, every brand regularly refreshes its lineups with new features and designs.
The Inkjet Option: Go Canon Megatank, but with a Caveat!
We really like what Canon has done with its Megatank line. It’s a breath of fresh air in the printer business, with honest printing, no tricks or scams. Ever since the Megatank arrived, the entire inkjet business has been turned on its head. All those “cheap” inkjets under $100 that cost well more than $100 to run each year have virtually disappeared. We think that’s great news, because the pricing of these products was deceptive, plain and simple.
In contrast, Megatank printer holds enough ink to print at least 6,000 pages, and replacement ink costs next to nothing. Yes, Megatank printers are more expensive than traditional inkjets, but we believe transparency in pricing is important for consumers, and the high introductory price of this printer is offset by running costs of about half a cent per page, rather than the 25 cents most inkjets cost (yes, we do mean 50x higher!).
Alas, even good ideas can have a hidden flaw, and after our expose of Canon’s first-gen MegaTanks, which you can see below, we now only recommend models released since 2020 with user-replaceable waste ink cartridges.
The Laser Option: Go Brother for High-Volume Printing!
Anyone needing ultra-fast or high-volume printing should absolutely go with a laser printer, available in both black and white (monochrome) and color models, as well as printer-only or multi-function models. Keep in mind that color lasers are not for photo printing, so think twice before you jump up to one of these models, because they tend to be quite a bit bulkier and more costly than monochrome models. They are intended for business color printing, for example flyers, brochures, and presentations.
Also, a heads up: given the huge transition from in-office to remote work, laser printers were sold out for months at a time in 2020 and 2021, but many are finally restocking at reasonable prices, and our sole recommendation is to buy a Brother. Their models offers so much more value and reliability than competitors that there really is no reason to look elsewhere.
Parting Thoughts
We provide links to Amazon and B&H throughout this guide, and the Amazon links will auto-convert for readers in Canada, the UK, and parts of Europe, while B&H will ship internationally. Please help support continued development of this guide by using our links if you decide to purchase one the printers we recommend.
Inkjet Printers
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Personal Photo Inkjet –Canon PIXMA G1220 MegaTank Printer
$160A few years ago, inkjet printer manufacturers came under scrutiny for their tendency to sell printers at a loss, and then make up for that with sky-high ink costs. Well, since then Canon has shaken things up a lot with its MegaTank series. The G1220 is a simple printer-only model, but it brings the economy of the MegaTank design down to a very reasonable price. It offers print speeds of 9.1 pages per minute black and white, and 5 pages per minute in color.
The Guru’s TipHere's a dirty little secret: all MegaTank printers released prior to 2020 are designed for planned obsolescence, as their ink "maintenance" cartridge cannot be replaced once full. We list only models that offer user-replaceable cartridges in this guide.
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Home Office Multi-Function Inkjet –Canon PIXMA G3260 MegaTank @B&H
$200The Guru’s TipThe G3260 is a true multifunction workhorse at a great price. It provide multi-function capability (print, copy, scan), along with wireless connectivity, including printing from mobile devices. And with four huge ink tanks, this machine can print up to 6,000 black and white pages or 7,700 color pages before running out of ink! Adding another 7,700 pages worth of ink will only cost around $15 per bottle, and a full set around $50. With printing costs around half a cent per page, this is absolutely the cheapest printer to operate on a per-page basis.This model adds quite a few features to the one above; in addition to the scan/copy function, it has wireless networking, which makes connecting to multiple PC infinitely easier.
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The Home Office Photo Inkjet –Canon PIXMA G620 Photo Printer
$300The G620 is among Canon’s top-selling printers, and often impossible to find in stock. The reason: unbeatable photo printing quality. If that’s your thing, this is your printer. It uses six dye-based inks that make photos pop, and being a Megatank-series printer, the inks last for thousands of pages (up to 3,800 4″x6″ photos), and are inexpensive to replace.
The Guru’s TipTo be clear, all MegaTank printers we recommend, including this one, have a user-replaceable maintenance waste ink cartridge, which is critical to keeping these printers running.
Laser Printers
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Monochrome Laser –Brother HL-L2300D @B&H
$125 The Guru’s TipAs you skim through this guide, notice the codes used to indicate features in printer models: "D" is for duplex, "N" is for wired networking, "W" is for wireless plus wired networking, and "C" is for color. This model therefore offers duplex as its main feature.
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Multi-Function Monochrome Laser –Brother DCP-L2550DW @B&H
$225 The Guru’s TipWhile you do pay extra for scan/copy, we think it's a very valuable add-on for most people. This model adds faster speeds and wireless connectivity versus the simpler model above.
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Home Office Multi-Function Color Laser –Brother HL-L3290CDW @B&H
$370 The Guru’s TipThis model is a great value for a color printer, but you don't really need color, the black & white model above is probably the better overall pick due to a much lower price and the automatic feed scanner.
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Small Office Color Laser –Brother HL-L8360CDW
$390 The Guru’s TipWhile at first glance this may seem to offer lower value than the all-in-one color laser above that costs less, consider that it is intended for much higher usage, or duty cycle. If you need to print regularly, that's an important factor to consider.
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Small Office Multi-Function Color Laser –Brother MFC-L8900CDW @B&H
$649 The Guru’s TipThis is basically the multi-function version of the model above. The printing capabilities are identical.
Inkjet Printers
Laser Printers
- Monochrome Laser – Brother HL-L2300D @B&H ($125)
- Multi-Function Monochrome Laser – Brother DCP-L2550DW @B&H ($225)
- Home Office Multi-Function Color Laser – Brother HL-L3290CDW @B&H ($370)
- Small Office Color Laser – Brother HL-L8360CDW ($390)
- Small Office Multi-Function Color Laser – Brother MFC-L8900CDW @B&H ($649)
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