Best all-in-one printers in 2020
Thanks to this great article from Tom's Guide, we're delighted to share with you the best all-in-one printers for scanning, copying and printing documents and photos.
The best all-in-one printers meet all of your document handling needs. From printing and copying documents to high-resolution scanning and sometimes built-in fax capability, the best all-in-one printers offer a lot of functionality beyond merely printing. We've tested and reviewed dozens of printers, from inkjets and laser printers to portable printers that scan and copy, devoting more than 150 hours of testing to find the best all-in-one printers available.
Our favorite printers not only offer fast, high-quality document printing, but also have excellent features, straightforward setup and support, and a low cost per page. Features like Wi-Fi Direct make it easy to print from your phone or laptop, and automatic duplexing lets you print on pages front and back without having to flip pages and re-feed them into the printer by hand. We address the ease of use and cost of printing in all of our evaluations, so be sure to check out our in-depth reviews for any printer you may want to buy.
Our favorite printers run the gamut from basic home office printers to multifunction laser printers and even a portable printer with scanning and copy capability. The best printer overall is the Brother INKvestment MFC-J995DW, which is not only a great printer, it's also super-affordable, with the most affordable ink of any all-in-one printer we've reviewed. And the Brother MFC-L2750DW is a laser multifunction printer that produces sharp-looking text every time, making it our favorite all-in-one laser printer.
1. Brother INKvestment MFC-J995DW
Printer Type: Inkjet | Features: Print, copy, scan, fax | Display: 2.7-inch color touch screen | Ink/Toner: Four cartridges (black, cyan, magenta, yellow) | Connectivity: 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Ethernet, USB 2.0
There's much more to the cost of a printer than just the purchase price: Ink costs can eat away the savings you expected from your affordable inkjet device. If you want one of the best all-in-one printers with the most affordable ink, we recommend the Brother INKvestment MFC-J995DW. The printer features extra-large ink cartridges, and comes with an estimated years' supply of ink in the box, which adds up to the lowest per-page ink costs we've seen.
On top of that, the Brother INKvestment MFC-J995DW offers solid printing, scanning and copying. Print speeds beat the category average and two-sided printing is among the fastest we've seen. And it did all of this while delivering high print quality across the board. That same zippy speed and above-average quality was found in scans and copies, making it a great choice for anyone, even if you aren't buying it for the affordable ink.
2. Brother MFC-L2750DW XL
Printer Type: Laser (Monochrome) | Features: Print, copy, scan, fax | Display: 2.7-inch color touch-screen | Ink/Toner: Black toner | Connectivity: 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Ethernet, USB 2.0
The Brother MFC-L2750DW XL multifunction laser printer is packed with features like a fast ADF, fast duplex printing and copying, fax capability, and a second paper tray. This device is monochrome laser printer that lends itself well to fast document printing that looks sharp and clear every time. It's easily one of the best all-in-one printers overall, and our favorite laser printer – so long as you don't need to print in colour. The MFC-L2750DW XL turned in great document quality, and the fastest speeds to date for text and mixed text/graphics files. The printer even made two-sided prints faster than some models can handle one-sided documents.
3. Brother MFC-J985DW
Printer Type: Inkjet | Features: Print, copy, scan, fax | Display: 2.7-inch color touch screen | Ink/Toner: Four cartridges (black, cyan, magenta, yellow) | Connectivity: 802.11 b/g/n, Ethernet, Wi-Fi Direct, near-field-communication (NFC)
If you’ve got to print a lot of text documents on a daily basis, the Brother INKvestment MFC-J985DW inkjet is the best all-in-one printer to get, whether it's for the home or a small office. The high-yield cartridges used by the MFC-J985DW offers the lowest cost per page at higher volumes, and the printer is built to handle up to 2,500 pages a month, making it perfect for printing dozens of pages a day.
This printer also offers ample features for the home office, with built-in fax capability. Quick to scan and make copies, the MFC-J985DW delivers high image quality overall, and offers sharp text on basic documents. The MFC-J985DW all-in-one delivers a lot for the money, but the real draw is its low cost per page, which makes it a great deal over time.
4. Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850
Printer Type: Inkjet | Features: Print, copy, scan, fax | Display: 4.3-inch color touch-screen | Ink/Toner: Four ink tanks (black, cyan, magenta, yellow) | Connectivity: 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, Ethernet, USB 2.0
The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 combines impressively low ink costs with an abundance of business-friendly features to take its place as the best small business inkjet printer we've reviewed. The EcoTank design uses refillable ink tanks and comes with enough spare ink bottles to print thousands of pages. A small business printer rated to print more than 3,000 pages per month, it's more than capable of handling whatever your office team might throw at it. The printer boasts scan, copy and fax capability, dual 250-page paper cassettes, a 50-sheet automatic document feeder and a large, easy-to-use 4.3-inch touchscreen for convenient operations.
In 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 the real draw is the ink savings, extremely low per-page costs for text pages and colour pages. The upfront price may be high, but the combination of quality, features and super-low operating expenses make this one of the best investments you can make for your office.
5. Canon ImageClass MF743Cdw
Printer Type: Laser | Features: Print, copy, scan, fax | Display: 5-inch color touch-screen | Ink/Toner: Four cartridges (black, cyan, magenta, yellow) | Connectivity: 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Ethernet, USB 2.0
The Canon ImageClass MF743Cdw is an all-in-one color laser printer that offers great performance and plenty of features, like a large touch screen and duplex printing. But with a monthly page volume of up to 4,000 pages, it's meant for the office rather than the home. Business users will love the built in 50-sheet automatic document feeder, 550-sheet paper cassette, and work-friendly features like two-sided scanning and low printing costs.
The performance is also top notch, with sharp text, clear graphics and faster-than-average printing of mixed text and graphics. Fast scan and copy speeds are a plus, and the color laser printer has one of the easiest setup options available. That's enough for us to declare the Canon ImageClass MF743Cdw one of the best all-in-one printers and our favorite laser printer for small business users.
6. HP OfficeJet 250
Printer Type: Portable inkjet | Features: Print, copy, scan | Display: 2.6-inch color touch screen | Ink/Toner: Two cartridges (black & tri-color) | Connectivity: USB 2.0, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct
The HP OfficeJet 250 isn't just the best portable printer out there, it's also a full featured all-in-one printer that's small enough to pack along on a trip. With copying and scanning capability built in – a rare offer in portable models – the HP surprised us by complementing that functionality with superb print quality and category-leading speeds.
Whether printing basic text documents, color photos or scanning material to save for later, the quality was superb. And somehow, despite the printer's small size, it manages to boast a 2.5-inch color touch screen, a 10-page automatic document feeder and a total travel weight of just 6.7 pounds with a battery attached. We wish it were a little less expensive, or had slightly better battery life, but these are small complaints given how much you can do with the HP OfficeJet 250.
Find our HP OfficeJet 250 Ink Cartridges here - HP 62XL Ink Cartridges
How to choose the best all-in-one printer for you
There are several key details to consider when shopping for a new printer. Obviously, you want a printer that performs well, so all of our reviews discuss a printer's output quality and speed, but there's more to an all-in-one printer than just churning out documents.
First, consider the price. All-in-one printers sell for as little as £45 for inkjet models, and £170 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).
Next, it helps to determine the style of printer you need. Inkjet printers are generally better suited to producing the full range of colors, making them better suited to printing graphics and photos. Laser printers, on the other hand, can quickly produce professional looking text documents often at a lower cost per page.
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 that 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.
Additional use-cases, such as photo printing are addressed in our selections above, while specific features are discussed in every printer review we do.
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.
How we test all-in-one printers
Every printer we review is extensively tested to determine the performance and output quality. These tests include 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.
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