To test printing speed, we ran off four copies of the four-page ISO document in both duplex (two-sided) and simplex (one-sided) modes. We timed the whole process, from our hitting the print button to the last sheet coming out of the feeder, so it included any warm-up time required from a cold start. We also tried duplex printing at the highest quality setting for each printer. The advantages of black and white all-in-one printers are that they can print, scan, copy, and fax, all from one machine. Depending on your needs, all-in-one monochrome printers can offer a convenient and affordable way to access a broader range of document management features.
In terms of resolution, most modern lasers can render graphics at up to 2400 dots per inch . However, for general text printing, resolutions of 300 to 600 dpi are perfectly adequate. Most reputable brands, such as Brother laser printers, render these resolutions. Both their laser and inkjet printers tend to yield brother monochrome laser printer many pages before you need to replace their ink or toner cartridges. It’s great if you’re constantly printing off several pages at a time. For our best budget pick, we chose the Brother MFC-J1205W. This color inkjet model is a great option for people who print a little more than the occasional one-off projects.
Like our top pick, the M479fdw requires official HP toner cartridges. HP’s one-year warranty for the M479fdw is shorter than what some rivals offer—Canon in particular provides three years of coverage on its machines—but it may actually be better than competing policies. That’s because it provides on-site service within one business day, while other warranties require you to ship your printer to a service center, sometimes at your own cost. For professional-looking brochures or presentations, you’d probably want to use a printer like our upgrade pick, the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw, or punt the job to a pro print shop instead. The HL-L2350DW works with Windows PCs, Macs, and even Linux systems. It’s also compatible with all major mobile printing standards, including Google Cloud Print, which means it’s a solid pick for Chromebook owners.
As with the HL-L2350DW, print quality degrades on this machine when you initiate jobs from Brother’s iPrint&Scan app, so you should use your operating system’s native print dialog instead. Google Cloud Print doesn’t work from the get-go—or didn’t for us, anyway—but you can fix that by disabling IPv6 in the Web control panel’s networking options. You don’t really need to install any extra software for the HL-L2350DW because it has native Windows and Mac drivers. It also works automatically with AirPrint on iOS, and you can add it with the Brother Print Service on Android. It’s perfectly functional, if not as well-designed as HP’s software. Unfortunately, in our testing, printing from iPrint&Scan resulted in horrendous quality, regardless of the quality setting we selected.
Many laser printers employ PIN- and password-protected printing to keep sensitive and confidential data safe and secure. Laser printers use non-liquid-based toner instead of the ink tanks used by inkjet printers. As a result, laser printers have faster print speeds, print sharper text, and prints don’t smear when wet. Laser printers cost more to refill than inkjets, though, and can’t print on glossy paper. The HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw is fast, powerful, flexible, and refreshingly easy to use.
(In this situation, other printers would try, fail, and jam.) When we put exactly 250 pages in, it printed normally; same with just a single sheet in the tray. If you ever do run into a jam, however, the printer’s back has a convenient access hatch for you to remove it. If you have a home office or run a home business, you may be more conscious of printer speed than those who don’t. Our laser picks can pump out as many as 27 pages per minute; the fastest inkjets we’ve tested maxed out at 13 pages per minute. We think laser printers are best for people who need to print a lot, such as small-business owners.
Some people just need a cheap laser printer for occasional black-and-white print jobs. For them, we recommend the Brother HL-L2350DW. Setup is painless, and the machine is compatible with all major platforms, including Windows, macOS, Chrome OS, Linux, iOS, and Android. Its cost per page is a reasonable 3.3¢, it sticks to Wi-Fi like glue, and its price generally hovers around $100.
Tax forms and other documents with tiny fonts were perfectly readable, and larger headers came out with crisp edges and dark centers. All in all, this printer should be more than adequate for printing text-heavy documents. Test graphics and photos, on the other hand, were merely mediocre at default settings, as some light banding was visible in solid-color areas, and graphics appeared a little grainy. The output is good enough for personal use or internal business documents, and you can improve it with adjustments to toner density and resolution settings if you need to hand out documents to clients. This Brother multifunction printer has a 250-sheet capacity, duplex printing and a 50-sheet ADF and is currently on sale for $100.
Since it runs on a 600MHz processor, you can count on smooth, consistent performance. Perfect for offices that demand high volume work, the Brother HL-L2395DW features advanced printing tech that can deliver the first page of a printing task within 8.5 seconds and print up to 36 pages per minute. You won’t have to worry about quality because it’s print resolution of up to 2400 x 600 dpi translates into professional, smudge-free documents. The unit includes built-in Ethernet and Wi-Fi connectivity, allowing it to accept print jobs from anywhere in the office.