Printing the occasional document or photo shouldn’t be tricky, yet choosing a printer can be completely baffling.
You know you want easily read text and have crisp graphics, but do you prefer inkjet or laser? Do you need the printer to have a built-in scanner or just deliver documents as quickly as possible with no bells or whistles? And will you be forking out hundreds for replacement cartridges once you’ve committed?
Inkjet printers are the most popular option for home use, and tend to be cheaper to buy upfront. They print using hundreds of tiny ink dots on the page – the higher the dots per inch (dpi), the better quality the printing. Inkjet printers tend to be a little slower than laser printers and usually use ink cartridges, which need replacing regularly and can be expensive.
Laser printers use a fine powdered toner instead of ink. Lasers beam an image of the document you want to print onto a photo-sensitive drum, which transfers the information to paper with toner powder using wizardry (aka static electricity). The toner needs replacing less often than ink making laser printers a popular choice for offices, where more printing is required at faster speeds.
Most printers will connect to your device wirelessly now but if you only plan on printing from one computer and are looking to cut costs, wired options can work out cheaper. Otherwise, a wireless printer will mean you can also print from a smartphone or tablet. If you’re planning on printing photos, be sure to choose a printer designed for the job and pay attention to the resolution to ensure the quality. Some printers even come with a USB slot to print directly from a memory card if needed.
We tested how all these printers performed using both our PC and our iPhone, producing a mixture of black and white documents and colour photos. We considered how quickly each printer worked, the quality of the finished document and crucially, the ongoing costs for ink.
Shop the best below
Brother DCP-J1200WE Inkjet Printer with EcoPro Subscription
- Cartridge cost: From £20.28
- Pages per minute: Up to 15 – 20
- Scan and copy: Yes
- Wireless: Yes
- Dimensions: H161 x W435 x D359mm
If you want to keep costs under £100, you won’t get better than this printer. Its simple minimal design and no-frills operation mean it’s a cinch to get up and running and you won’t need to pore over an instruction manual for hours.
There’s no touchscreen but it connects to WiFi quickly, supports Apple AirPrint and can be controlled via the free Brother app which does everything you’ll need including scanning and copying. We also liked how easy it was to keep an eye on ink levels using this.
The printer takes all sorts of paper up to A4 including envelopes and we were impressed by the quality of printing, even though it was a little slower to start than more expensive models. Even photo prints were decent quality, particularly given the price of the printer.
Our only real gripe is that it doesn’t print on both sides of the paper automatically, though you can just flip the page over manually for double-sided printing. Best of all, we loved the fact the cartridges came included in the box ready to go and we didn’t need to sign up for an ink subscription service. Replacement cartridges print a whopping 750 pages too so the printer is fairly reasonably priced to run and a no-brainer for the average home user. Free 4-month trial to the EcoPro subscription and lifetime support for your printer included.
Buy now £109.99, Argos
HP ENVY Inspire 7220e AiO Wireless Printer
- Cartridge cost: From £14.53
- Pages per minute: Up to 15ppm
- Scan and copy: Yes
- Wireless: Yes
- Dimensions: H191 x W460 X D383mm
This isn’t the smallest printer to squeeze onto your desk at home, but it’s a cut above the average all-in-one printer and is even made from over 45 per cent recycled plastic. With functions including copying, scanning and automatic two-sided printing, it supports Apple AirPrint and can handle anything you throw at it, producing envelopes, labels and pages up to A4.
Photos turned out particularly well, with super-sharp images and vibrant colours. We especially loved the fact there is a separate tray for photo paper, so you don’t need to remove normal printer paper every time you want to print a photo instead.
We were also big fans of the HP Smart app, which made it easy to scan, print and copy without turning a computer on. If you want to control everything from the printer itself, the colour touch screen makes this model feel a lot more expensive than it is. Six months of ink is included if you sign up for HP’s Instant Ink subscription service, but a monthly fee will apply afterwards unless cancelled. However, if you’d rather buy cartridges as you need them instead, running costs are on the pricey side.
Buy now £119.99, HP
Brother EcoPro HLL2400DWE Monochrome Wireless Laser Printer
- Toner cost: From £37.40
- Pages per minute: 30
- Scan and copy: No
- Wireless: Yes
- Dimensions: H183 x W356 x D360mm
Got your heart set on a laser printer but not the price tag? This mono laser printer from Brother is a winner for fast, fantastic quality printing with no messing – though bear in mind there’s no scanning or copying function.
It comes ready to go with an included toner that should produce around 700 pages, which is ideal to get printing straight away without worrying about ongoing costs. When the time comes to switch out the toner, replacements are available that yield an impressive 1200 pages so you can install and forget all about it again.
We also liked the printer’s dark grey colour, which looked sleek on our desk, and the fact we could load it with 250 pages at a time so it never ran out of paper mid-print. It’s quiet to run, prints on both sides automatically so it’s super-speedy and offers unrivalled print quality, producing excellent, sharp results every time.
Plus, you get a free 4-month trial to the EcoPro subscription that delivers toner to your door before you run out. Result.
Buy now £109.99, Argos
FUJIFILM instax mini Link 2 Smartphone Printer
- Cartridge cost: Uses FUJIFILM instax mini film, from £11.99
- Pages per minute: Approx 15 secs per print
- Scan and copy: No
- Wireless: Yes
- Dimensions: H124 x W91 x D36mm
Forget boring boarding passes and school projects. Printers don’t just have to be about the dull things in life. This brand-new smartphone printer will bring your photos to life in seconds for instant pocket-sized mementoes and home décor. Available in soft pink, clay white or space blue, the printer is up and running in moments once you’ve loaded it with film and charged it with the included USB charger.
There’s a free instax mini Link App to print images straight from a smartphone and it can even print stills from a video, which we thought was pretty nifty. Credit card-sized photos are printed almost immediately and the quality is excellent.
Printing can also be done continuously - up to around 100 prints per charge via Bluetooth - and there’s a built-in motion control feature to take photos on your phone remotely. But the real fun starts when customising photos. The printer can also be used as a tool to draw in the air and create bubbles, neon, spray paint and more that will automatically appear on the print, while the app can be used to include different frames, stickers and text on the photo. While this obviously won’t replace your home’s bog-standard printer, we had brilliant fun playing with the effects and reckon this would be a dream present for any teenager.
Buy now £104.00, Amazon
Canon PIXMA G1530 Colour Refillable MegaTank Printer
- Refillable ink cost: From £17.99
- Pages per minute: 11ppm
- Scan and copy: No
- Wireless: No
- Dimensions: H177 x W416 x D337 mm
It’s not easy to avoid crippling cartridge costs, whichever printer you buy. But if you want to keep costs to an absolute bare minimum after the initial outlay, this Canon printer is unbeatable. Unlike all other inkjet printers we tested, it doesn’t use cartridges but refillable ink tanks that will run and run before you’ll need to top up. The two black ink bottles included should print an incredible 13,000+ pages (and 26 per cent more if you stick with Economy mode), while the colour inks in the box will produce around 7,700 pages.
We had never used a refillable ink tank printer before but found it straightforward and mess-free to set up. Although it takes a while to get going and is a little noisy, print quality is fantastic too, producing noticeably sharp photos that are also available borderless if preferred.
The printer has a double-sided function and we loved the fact it’s able to print banners up to 1.2 metres in length to liven up our next birthday party. It won’t scan or photocopy though, and offers no wireless capability so you’ll need it plugged into your computer at all times. A small price to pay for cutting those ink costs.
Buy now £149.99, Ryman
Canon PIXMA TS3150 All in One Wireless Inkjet Printer
- Cartridge cost: From £23.99
- Pages per minute: 5 – 10 ppm
- Scan and copy: Yes
- Wireless: Yes
- Dimensions: H145 x W435 x D316mm
If you’re not planning on printing out your life story, but need a cheap, reliable printer at home for the odd document, this Canon model is a great choice. Despite the bargain price, it supports a handy wireless connection so you can print from any device and the print quality is very good. It’s neat and compact out on a desk too, with a paper tray that flips back into the lid when not in use. We also liked the fact it was easy to operate using the buttons and 3.8cm LCD screen on top of the printer rather than always having to refer to an app.
Printing is a little slow compared to more expensive models, but for average home printing, this shouldn’t be an issue. It also offers borderless printing and accepts paper up to A4 size including envelopes and photo paper, although printing photos is even slower and two-sided printing must be done manually. Ink costs are also on the high side so we’d recommend using Canon’s XL cartridges which work out better value in the long run.
Buy now £55.00, Amazon
HP ENVY Inspire 7224e AiO Wireless Printer
- Cartridge cost: From £14.53
- Pages per minute: 15ppm
- Scan and copy: Yes
- Wireless: Yes
- Dimensions: H191 x W460 x D383mm
Burgeoning home businesses may need a printer with a little more muscle than the average model designed for occasional use. This HP model is ideal for managing a whole family’s needs plus the demands of a decent home office, with excellent WiFi connectivity, Apple AirPrint support and automatic double-sided printing. It has capacity for 125 sheets of paper at once plus an extra feed for photo paper, and offers speedy scanning and copying.
The app is top-notch too and can even scan and email a document making it a brilliant one-stop-shop to do business on the go. Luckily, it’s also fairly quiet to operate, so you can print out essentials when you need them without worrying about waking the whole house. The printer’s best used in conjunction with HP’s Instant Ink service, and a generous nine months’ free ink is included with the machine, before a monthly fee kicks in. New ink will then be sent to you whenever it’s needed without having to do anything at all and the service actually works out considerably cheaper than forking out for cartridges as you go if you’re a regular printer.
Buy now £119.99, Currys
Epson Expression Premium XP-6100
- Cartridge cost: From £11.49
- Pages per minute: Up to 15.8ppm
- Scan and copy: Yes
- Wireless: Yes
- Dimensions: H142 x W349 x D340mm
No need to stick to boring old paper with this clever printer from Epson. As well as classic documents up to A4 with automatic double-sided printing, this machine can print on suitable CDs and DVDs and even create personalised calendars so you can let your imagination run riot. You can also print from any device using wireless connectivity or straight from a memory card via the dedicated SD slot. The Creative Print app allows you to print straight from Facebook or design greeting cards, while Apple AirPrint is also supported. Best of all, the printer has its very own email address so you can email documents for printing from almost anywhere and they’re ready and waiting for you when you get home.
We also loved the fact that this printer has a compact footprint so fits snugly onto our desk without taking over. It has two paper trays so you don’t need to swap between photo paper and plain paper and uses individual colour inks, so you only need to replace the pigment that’s run out (though these are still expensive).
We did have a few hiccups while printing and occasionally needed to restart the machine but otherwise were impressed by this printer’s high-end functions for under £100.
Buy now £99.99, John Lewis
HP Sprocket Portable Photo Printer
- Cartridge cost: Uses HP Zink Photo Paper, from £25.99
- Pages per minute: Approx 15 secs per print
- Scan and copy: No
- Wireless: Yes
- Dimensions: H123 x W66 x D31mm
Want to print directly from your smartphone on the go? Measuring around the size of a traditional smartphone and weighing a tiny 113 grams, the Sprocket Portable Photo Printer is small enough to take with you, allowing you to print photos instantly using just a Bluetooth connection.
The device works using the HP Sprocket app, so you can add frames, filters and stickers to the photos before printing. Capable of printing around 35 prints on a single charge, the Sprocket should last for a couple of days of use. It comes with a USB charging port so it can easily be given more juice on the go, too.
Because of the way the Sproket prints, which uses a technique known as Zero Ink or ZINK, you need very specialised paper to work with this printer. While there are upgraded versions that print slightly larger images, we found it was just easier to source paper for the second-generation Sproket, rather than the newer models.
While this certainly isn’t a printer that’ll produce the kind of high-quality prints pro photographers are seeking, for kids or those wanting photos on the go, this portable printer is the perfect choice.
Buy now £89.99, Amazon
Verdict
The Brother DCP-J1200W 3 in 1 Wireless Inkjet Printer is hard to fault with its wireless capability, simple operation and excellent quality printing, unless you’re desperate for double-sided printing. If you’re only printing from one computer and don’t want to be worry about the ongoing cost of cartridges, the huge refillable ink tanks in the Canon PIXMA G1520 MegaTank Pixma Inkjet Printer will be the answer to your printing prayers.
