Deeper Dive: Our Top Tested Picks
EDITORS’ NOTE
January 1, 2026: With this update, our list of recommended laser printers remains unchanged. All picks have been vetted for currency and availability. We’re currently testing two new printers, from HP and Canon, in PC Labs for possible inclusion in this roundup and our other printer roundups.
- Prints, scans, copies, and faxes
- Relatively fast
- Competitive toner costs
- Excellent print, copy, and scan quality
- 50-page single-pass auto-duplexing ADF
- Wide range of wireless connection options, including NFC
- Modest 30-sheet multipurpose tray
The Brother MFC-L3780CDW uses LEDs instead of lasers to draw pages on photoelectric material before transferring toner to paper, but it works just like a laser otherwise. More important, its excellent output quality combined with relatively low print costs help it earn top honors for a color laser all-in-one printer for cost-conscious small offices. It also offers typical—which translates to capable—paper handling for both printing and scanning for its price and performance category. Plus, it scores well on image quality for copies, scans, and prints.
Print speed: The MFC-L3780CDW lives up to its 31ppm rating in our testing using a long Word document, which means it is fast for its price class, and has a noticeable advantage over much of its competition for long text documents. On our business applications suite, which includes color output, it was a little slower than comparable models, but much closer to the fastest in the batch than the slowest.
Print volume and capacity: Paper handling for printing starts with a 250-sheet tray, plus a 30-page multipurpose tray for printing on a different type or size paper than you normally use. For heavier-duty needs, you can add an optional second tray for a total 500-sheet capacity. If you want to keep refills down to once a week, that translates to 2,000 sheets per month, or close to 4,000 pages if you print mostly in duplex.
Print quality: Output quality was top tier or close to it across the board in our tests, with well-formed text even at small font sizes, and accurate, saturated color for charts, graphics, and photos—though contrast in color output was a little less than it should be. Photo quality is more than acceptable for brochures, real estate flyers, or similar business documents.
Cost efficiency: Running cost is relatively low compared with comparably priced printers, and even some that are more expensive have a similar or higher cost per page (2.3 cents per black-and-white page and 12.3 cents for color when we reviewed it).
Connectivity and mobile printing: In addition to Ethernet and USB, the MFC-L3780CDW offers both Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Direct, plus support for AirPrint and Mopria for mobile printing. Brother also offers a mobile app for printing, scanning, and copying. And the printer works with popular cloud storage sites, including Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneNote.
Feature set: The MFC-L3780CDW prints, scans, copies, and faxes. For scanning, it offers both a letter-size flatbed and a 50-sheet, single-pass duplexing ADF that can handle up to legal-size pages.
Ease of setup and use: The bright, colorful 3.5-inch touch screen offers distinctive icons that do an excellent job of representing each function and are also labeled, making it especially easy to navigate the onboard menus. Even better, you can create and save as many as 48 shortcuts for frequently used settings needed for copying, scanning, faxing, and emailing. And with a bit of planning, you can use the tab structure to organize your shortcuts in whatever way you like. And for initial installation, the MFC-L3780CDW offers Wi-Fi Protected Setup for one-button setup with your Wi-Fi router.
Security and management: The MFC-L3780CDW offers wireless NFC badge authentication, which could be valuable if you need to protect sensitive business information. It’s also compatible with external card readers, offers secure printing, and more.
Offices/workgroups that print up to 2,000 pages: If you need to print in color as well as black and white, and need to print up to 2,000 sheets (in simplex or duplex) per month, this printer will be a spot-on fit. The high quality and fast speed will be a nice extra.
Offices/workgroups that need high-quality output: If you need particularly high-quality, professional-looking output for both text and color graphics, the MFC-L3780CDW is a must-see choice.
Offices/workgroups that need business photo quality: No laser printer can claim true photo quality or even match a mediocre inkjet on that score, but if you’re a real estate agent who needs handouts with pictures of houses for potential clients, or want to print your own flyers or brochures with photos, the MFC-L3780CDW delivers good enough photo quality for the task at hand, and more conveniently than going to a print shop.
Type
All-in-one
Color or Monochrome
Color
Printing Technology
LED (Laser Class)
Connection Type
Wi-Fi, Ethernet, USB, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi Direct
Maximum Standard Paper Size
Legal
Number of Ink Colors
4
Number of Ink Cartridges/Tanks
4
Rated Speed at Default Settings (Color)
31 ppm
Rated Speed at Default Settings (Mono)
31 ppm
Monthly Duty Cycle (Recommended)
4,000
Monthly Duty Cycle (Maximum)
50,000 pages per month
Printer Input Capacity
250
Cost Per Page (Monochrome)
2.3 cents
Cost Per Page (Color)
12.3 cents
Scanner Type
Flatbed with ADF
Maximum Scan Area
Legal
Scanner Optical Resolution
1,200 by 1,200 pixels per inch
Standalone Copier and Fax
Copier, Fax
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Brother MFC-L3780CDW Review
- Robust mobile connectivity
- Excellent print quality
- Relatively small footprint
- Expandable
- Competitive running costs
- Somewhat high purchase price
A sterling example of a workhorse color laser AIO, the HP LaserJet Enterprise MFP M480f has maintained its place as one of our top-rated printers since 2021. It produces great-looking pages with nicely formed, highly legible text, vibrant color graphics, and business-quality photos at a reasonable running cost. For printing, it can hold up to 850 sheets of paper (with optional drawers). For scanning and copying, its duplexing ADF can hold up to 50 sheets. And it also offers what HP says is its most advanced embedded security features.
Print speed: In our tests, the M480f essentially matched its 29ppm rating for printing our Word file, which is on the low side compared with its closest competitors and gives it a bit of a disadvantage for long text documents. On our business applications suite, which includes color output, it was also a little slower than the models we compared it with, but not excruciatingly slow. Most offices should find the speed acceptable.
Print volume and capacity: The default paper capacity is 300 sheets, consisting of a 250-sheet tray plus a 50-page multipurpose tray for printing on a different type or size paper. For heavier-duty printing, or if you need to keep a second type or size of paper loaded for regular use, you can also add a 550-sheet optional tray for a total of 850 sheets. If you want to keep refills down to once a week, that translates to 3,200 to 3,400 sheets per month, or roughly 6,600 pages if you print mostly in duplex.
Print quality: Output quality was nothing short of stellar, with well-formed text even at small font sizes, and graphics with accurate, saturated color, smooth gradients, and precisely printed detail. Photos also looked good for a business laser, with minimal graininess; vibrant, accurate colors; and great details.
Cost efficiency: Running cost is typical for comparable enterprise-grade color laser AIOs (2.3 cents per black-and-white page and 14.1 cents for color when we reviewed it).
Connectivity and mobile printing: In addition to Ethernet, the standard connection choices include two USB 2.0 host ports, one USB 2.0 device port, and Wi-Fi Direct for direct connections to mobile devices. You can also optionally add dual-band Wi-Fi, and near-field communication (NFC), a mobile touch-to-print protocol. Beyond that, mobile printing support includes AirPrint, Mopria, HP ePrint, and the cloud-based PrinterOn Print.
Feature set: The M480f prints, scans, copies, and faxes. For scanning, it offers both a letter-size flatbed and a 50-sheet, single-pass duplexing ADF that can handle up to legal-size pages.
Ease of setup and use: Setup is fairly typical. In addition to the physical setup, you download and install the appropriate drivers, HP Smart app, and scan software for both USB and network connections. The drivers include both PCL 6 for most business use, and a PostScript 3.0 emulation, for publishing and graphics design environments. HP Smart is a combination of driver and interface that can generate reports, monitor consumables, and let you create one-touch workflow shortcuts for commonly repeated tasks. It runs in a browser on any PC, and also has mobile versions for Android and iOS. You can also configure and execute scan and copy jobs, create and modify workflow shortcuts, and more from the 4.3-inch color touch-screen control panel.
Security and management: The M480f offers more enterprise-level security and management functions that we can conveniently list here, starting with its onboard web portal for remote configuration, which runs in any browser, including on your smartphone or tablet. Available management programs include HP Web JetAdmin Software, HP JetAdvantage Security Manager, and more. And HP boasts that the printer has “the world’s most secure printing,” with features that run the gamut from monitoring memory to detect and stop attacks in real time to checking the firmware on startup to confirm it hasn’t been compromised.
Offices/workgroups that print up to 3,400 pages: This printer will be a great fit for offices that need to print in both color and black and white at up to roughly 3,400 pages per month in simplex, or roughly double that number if they print mostly in duplex.
Offices/workgroups that need quality: The M480f is designed to print (as well as scan, copy, and fax) in high-volume environments. If you need that high volume and don’t want to compromise on output quality, it may well be the printer you want.
Offices/workgroups that require enterprise-level management and security: HP’s security and management tools are hard to beat, and this printer adds built-in security features of its own. That alone makes it an attractive choice where enterprise-level security matters.
Type
All-in-one
Color or Monochrome
Color
Printing Technology
Laser
Connection Type
Ethernet, USB, Wireless, NFC
Maximum Standard Paper Size
Legal
Number of Ink Colors
4
Number of Ink Cartridges/Tanks
4
Rated Speed at Default Settings (Color)
29 ppm
Rated Speed at Default Settings (Mono)
29 ppm
Monthly Duty Cycle (Recommended)
4,800
Monthly Duty Cycle (Maximum)
55,000 pages per month
Printer Input Capacity
300 expandable to 850
Cost Per Page (Monochrome)
2.3 cents
Cost Per Page (Color)
14.1 cents
Scanner Type
Flatbed with ADF (Standard or Optional)
Maximum Scan Area
Legal
Scanner Optical Resolution
600 by 600 pixels per inch
Standalone Copier and Fax
Copier, Fax
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HP Color LaserJet Enterprise MFP M480f Review
- Excellent print quality
- Competitive toner costs, especially for color prints
- Wide range of connection options, including NFC
- 2.7-inch color touch screen
- Ample-capacity paper output tray
- Expandable with optional paper input tray
- Control panel messages can be cryptic
The Brother HL-L3295CDW is a single-function color laser printer with excellent print quality, moderately fast print speeds, and an impressively low cost per page. It’s also the best color laser printer for budget buyers in small and home offices who print a lot, need top-quality color output, and want lots of connection options. The 2.7-inch color touch screen can feel a bit cramped, but that’s a small price to pay for a printer that gets so much else right.
Print speed: The HL-L3295CDW held its own for speed among the models we compared it with. For our Word text file, it essentially matched its 31ppm rating, coming in just a touch faster on our tests, and for our full business applications suite, which adds color output and complex graphics, it delivered the fastest performance for its price class. As is common, however, it slowed down to roughly half speed for printing in duplex (two-sided), managing only 14 images per minute (ipm—with one image on each side of each sheet) printing our Word text file.
Print volume and capacity: The HL-L3295CDW comes with a 250-sheet paper tray and a 30-sheet multipurpose tray by default, which is easily enough capacity for most small or home offices. If you need a higher capacity or a second tray so you can switch to a second size or type of paper, however, Brother also offers a second 250-sheet drawer as an option, for a total 530-sheet capacity. If you want to keep refills down to once a week, that translates to being able to print roughly 2,100 sheets per month, or just a bit more than the recommended maximum of 4,000 pages per month if you print mostly in duplex.
Print quality: Output quality is one of the printer’s best points. Monochrome text documents in our tests were near-typesetter quality, with highly readable fonts at 4 points, while charts and graphs offered suitably good-looking, accurate color despite slightly low contrast levels. Photos also offered good color and overall business photo quality, which translates to more than acceptable for brochures, newsletters, real estate flyers, and similar business documents.
Cost efficiency: Running cost for the HL-L3295CDW is on the low side for a color laser in its price range (2.5 cents per black-and-white page and 12.9 cents for color when we reviewed it).
Connectivity and mobile printing: Connection choices include USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi Direct. Support for mobile printing includes AirPrint, Mopria, and Brother’s own print app.
Feature set: The HL-L3295CDW is a single-function printer; no scan, copy, or fax functions here.
Ease of setup and use: Both physical setup and driver installation are standard and straightforward, with drivers downloaded from Brother’s site and a mostly automated driver setup routine. The 2.7-inch touch screen is on the small side, but it’s bright, colorful, and easy to navigate, because it doesn’t try to squeeze too much into the limited area. Along with letting you configure settings, it offers shortcuts for printing from popular cloud services, including Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive, OneNote, and SharePoint, as well as options to create custom shortcuts. It also lets you print a file from a USB thumb drive connected to the USB port on the front panel.
Security and management: Although advanced security features can be superfluous for a home office, they can be useful if you install the printer for a small workgroup in a larger office. Among the HL-L3295CDW’s more notable security features are Secure Print, which lets you send a document to the printer but not print it until you enter a PIN from the front panel, and Secure Function Lock, which lets you restrict specific features, including color printing and printing directly from a USB key.
Small/home offices that print up to 4,000 pages: The HL-L3295CDW will be an obvious good fit for offices that print both black and white and in color at up to 4,000 pages per month.
Small/home offices that need color plus high quality: The combination of near-typesetter-quality text, good color quality for both graphics and photos on plain paper, and both a low initial price and a low running cost for a color laser, makes the HL-L3295CDW of obvious interest for a home or small office that needs high-quality output for color as well as text and other black-and-white pages.
Small/home offices that need business photo quality: Small businesses that print brochures, newsletters, real estate flyers, or similar business documents that need business-quality color photos will find the HL-L3295CDW is up to the task, more economical than most of the competition, and more convenient than going to a print shop.
Type
Printer Only
Color or Monochrome
Color
Printing Technology
Laser
Connection Type
Ethernet, Wi-Fi, USB, Wi-Fi Direct, NFC
Maximum Standard Paper Size
Legal
Number of Ink Colors
4
Number of Ink Cartridges/Tanks
4
Rated Speed at Default Settings (Color)
31 ppm
Monthly Duty Cycle (Recommended)
4,000
Monthly Duty Cycle (Maximum)
50000 pages per month
Printer Input Capacity
250 + 30
Cost Per Page (Monochrome)
2.5 cents
Cost Per Page (Color)
12.9 cents
Learn More
Brother HL-L3295CDW Review
- Prints, scans, copies, and faxes
- Compact design
- Excellent print quality
- Wide range of connection options
- 2.8-inch color touch screen
- Easy-to-use control panel and shortcuts system
- Relatively modest print speeds
- Somewhat high toner costs for both monochrome and color
- No option for additional paper trays
The Xerox C235 is a small AIO color laser printer with superb print quality, an easy-to-use control panel, and a flexible shortcuts system for customizing the printer’s tasks. With its modest print speeds and moderate workload ratings, the C235 is best suited for workplaces where top-notch print quality is required, but only at moderately heavy output levels.
Print speed: When printing our standard 12-page Microsoft Word text document (excluding the first page), we clocked the unit at 13.0ppm in duplex mode and 24.7ppm in simplex mode. That simplex result was 0.7ppm better than its rated speed. The C235 has its strong points, but document print speed isn’t one of them. Compared with models with similar features and prices, it would come out somewhere near the middle in overall performance.
Print volume and capacity: This model’s paper output bin has a modest 100-sheet capacity. The 1,500-page recommended monthly print volume rating for the C235 suggests it’s best suited for only a moderate-level workload. Xerox rates the C235 as having a 30,000-page maximum monthly duty cycle.
Print quality: Everything this model prints looks clean and professional, with no stray dots, unexpected vertical lines, or misplaced patterns.
Cost efficiency: The C235’s running costs are relatively high. You’ll pay about 3.5 cents to print a monochrome page and about 17.5 cents to print a color page.
Connectivity and mobile printing: Despite its low price, the C235 does offer a fairly robust range of connectivity options. In addition to the usual USB and Ethernet connectivity, you’ll find dual-band Wi-Fi (2.4GHz/5GHz), as well as Wi-Fi Direct.
Feature set: The C235 prints, scans, copies, and faxes. The C235 is compatible with Apple AirPrint, Mopria Print, Mopria Scan, and Chromebook printing. It’s also compatible with Xerox’s Workplace app for Android, iPhone, and iPad devices. Using the Workplace app, you’ll be able to print, scan, and copy from your mobile device.
Ease of setup and use: The setup process is relatively easy. The four toner cartridges are preinstalled, though you’ll need to temporarily unload them to remove a large number of plastic restraints. Once the printer is fully unpacked, you can load some paper, plug in the unit, and enter the basic info (such as language, date, and time) into the control panel. If you plan to use the C235 with a computer, you can use the supplied old-school CD-ROM disc to install the necessary drivers, or otherwise download them.
Security and management: This model has a dedicated USB port for walk-up printing via a thumb drive. However, it doesn’t have an integrated NFC card reader for security-based badge authentication.
Offices/workgroups with moderate printing needs: Given its relatively low purchase price and superb print quality, the C235 could be an excellent pick if you need top-quality printing at moderate output levels. Just try not to overwork it.
Offices/workgroups that need high-quality output: The C235 is a mixed bag of pluses and minuses, but what it does well, it does extremely well. This model’s print quality is among the best that we’ve seen for this category of AIO laser printers.
Type
All-in-one
Color or Monochrome
Color
Printing Technology
Laser
Connection Type
Ethernet, Wi-Fi, USB, Wi-Fi Direct
Maximum Standard Paper Size
Letter
Number of Ink Colors
4
Number of Ink Cartridges/Tanks
4
Rated Speed at Default Settings (Color)
24 ppm
Rated Speed at Default Settings (Mono)
24 ppm
Monthly Duty Cycle (Recommended)
1500
Monthly Duty Cycle (Maximum)
30,000 pages per month
Printer Input Capacity
250 + 1
Cost Per Page (Monochrome)
3.5 cents
Cost Per Page (Color)
17.5 cents
Scanner Type
Flatbed with ADF
Maximum Scan Area
8.5″ x 11.7″
Scanner Optical Resolution
600 x 600 dpi
Standalone Copier and Fax
Copier, Fax
Learn More
Xerox C235 Review
- Prints, scans, copies, and faxes
- Fast 37ppm printing and copying
- Available 1,200-by-1,200dpi resolution (default is 600 by 600 dpi)
- Single-pass duplexing ADF for scanning, copying, and faxing
- 5-inch touch-screen control panel for easy control
- Graphics and photos show dithering
The Canon imageClass MF462dw impressed us when we reviewed it as the no-compromise mono laser AIO for its category, for not much more money than its competition. It offers fast single-sided printing, hardly slows down for two-sided printing, and delivers top-tier output quality. Even better, its duplexing automatic document feeder (ADF) can keep up with the printer for equally fast copying, and the duplexing works for faxing too, which isn’t true of all competitors. It also offers the convenience of a 5-inch touch screen control panel that, among other talents, can show a QR -code to easily bootstrap to a Wi-Fi Direct connection from a mobile device.
Print speed: The MF462dw was as fast as or faster than most of the competition we compared it with for printing our Word text file. It tied for first for first-page out time, and effectively tied for first for the rest of the file, matching its 37ppm rating. It was also essentially tied for first for our full business applications suite, which includes files with color graphics. But where the MF462dw really shines is for duplex printing, slowing down far less than typical for printing on both sides of each page. In our test, it maintained a solid 33 images per minute (ipm), with one image on each side of the page.
Print volume and capacity: The default paper capacity is typical for the price class, at 350 sheets, divided into a 250-sheet tray plus a 100-sheet multipurpose tray for printing on a different type or size paper. For heavier-duty printing, or if you need to keep a second type or size of paper loaded for regular use, you can add a 550-sheet optional tray for a total of 900 sheets. If you want to keep refills down to once a week, that translates to 3,200 to 3,600 sheets per month, or roughly 6,400 to 7,200 pages if you print mostly in duplex.
Print quality: Print quality is a particularly strong point. In the printer’s default mode, using 600dpi-by-600dpi resolution, output was solidly in the top tier for a mono laser, with text readable even at 4 points, and both graphics and photos offering good contrast and detail, with only minor dithering. When we set the printer for 1,200dpi by 1,200dpi, it delivered even better quality, including still better-formed text to make 4-point fonts even more easily readable and even less obvious dithering, plus crisper fine detail in graphics and photos. Not everyone will need the step up in quality, but it’s available if you need it.
Cost efficiency: The running cost for this model is well within the typical range for mono laser AIOs in its price class (2.4 cents per page when we reviewed it).
Connectivity and mobile printing: Connection choices include USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi Direct. One particularly nice touch is that you can set the control panel’s touch screen to show a QR code, and establish a Wi-Fi Direct connection by letting your phone read the code. The printer also supports AirPrint, Mopria, and Canon’s own app for mobile printing and scanning.
Feature set: The MF462dw prints, scans, copies, and faxes. It also offers both a letter-size flatbed and a 50-sheet, single-pass duplexing ADF that can handle up to legal-size pages. And unlike some of the competition, the MF462dw’s ADF can duplex for faxing, as well as for scanning and copying.
Ease of setup and use: Setup is easy. The toner cartridge ships already in place and ready to work, so physical setup requires little more than loading paper and connecting a cable (or not, if you connect by Wi-Fi). Software setup is mostly automated, other than making a choice in print drivers between PCL6, the typical option for business use, and PostScript 3, which some graphics and publishing software requires. The 5-inch color touch-screen control panel also makes it easy to give commands, initiating a Copy, Fax, or Scan, for example, or calling up a QR code when you want to connect a mobile device.
Offices/workgroups that print up to 3,600 pages: This printer is an obvious good fit for offices that print up to 3,600 black-and-white simplex pages per month, or roughly double that for duplex pages.
Offices/workgroups that need particularly high quality: If you need top-quality mono output, the MF462dw belongs on your shortlist. Its 600dpi-by-600dpi output is top-tier, and its 1,200dpi-by-1,200dpi output is even better. If you need that level of output quality, it will be hard to beat.
Offices/workgroups that print mostly in duplex. Most printers slow down tremendously when printing in duplex. The MF462dw hardly slows down at all (by only a little more than 10% on our tests). If you print mostly in duplex, that alone may make it your top choice.
Type
All-in-one
Connection Type
Ethernet, Wi-Fi, USB, Wi-Fi Direct
Maximum Standard Paper Size
Legal
Number of Ink Colors
1
Number of Ink Cartridges/Tanks
1
Rated Speed at Default Settings (Color)
NA
Rated Speed at Default Settings (Mono)
37 ppm
Monthly Duty Cycle (Recommended)
750 – 4,000
Monthly Duty Cycle (Maximum)
80,000 pages per month
Printer Input Capacity
250+100 expandable to 900
Cost Per Page (Monochrome)
2.4 cents
Cost Per Page (Color)
NA
Scanner Type
Flatbed with 50-sheet DADF
Maximum Scan Area
11″ x 17″
Scanner Optical Resolution
600 x 600 dpi
Standalone Copier and Fax
Copier, Fax
Learn More
Canon imageClass MF462dw Review
- Lightning-fast 50ppm rating for both printing and copying
- High 1,200-by-1,200dpi maximum resolution
- Roomy legal-size flatbed
- Single-pass duplexing ADF
- 5-inch color touch screen control panel
- Toner cost is just 1.1 cents per page
- Slower two-sided printing speed
The four-function Brother MFC-L5915DW all-in-one (AIO) printer is an economical choice for fast, high-volume printing, further boosted by the convenience of having a high maximum paper capacity. Its fast laser printing and copying is paired with a low enough cost per page that—compared with less-expensive printers with lower capacities, slower speeds, and higher running cost—it can save you more than enough money over its lifetime to pay for its extra cost when you buy it.
Print speed: For simplex (one-sided) printing, the MFC-L5915DW is faster than comparable models across the board, matching its 50ppm rating on our Word text file, and also coming in first for our business suite, which includes files with color graphics. For duplex (two-sided) printing, the MFC-L5915DW doesn’t maintain its first-place status. However, it managed 27 images per minute (ipm) on our Word text file, which still counts as a fast clip. If many of the documents you print are simplex and 100 pages or longer, the speed counts as a significant advantage.
Print volume and capacity: The default paper capacity is 350 sheets, using a 250-sheet drawer and a 100-sheet multi-purpose tray for printing on a different size or type of paper. If you need higher capacity or use several types or sizes of paper regularly, you can add up to two drawers, choosing between 250-sheet or 520-sheet capacities for each, for a maximum 1,390-sheet capacity. (You can also add an optional cabinet stand to convert the printer into a floor-standing unit, and give you a convenient place to store paper.) As a point of reference, if you print in duplex on roughly half the sheets (with two pages on each sheet), the maximum capacity would let you print 8,000 pages per month—Brother’s recommended monthly maximum—and still keep paper refills down to once a week.
Print quality: Text output in our tests was solidly in the top tier for a mono laser, with most fonts readable even at 4 points. Graphics were a step down from top tier, showing an overall darkening, some banding in fills, and other issues. But they were good enough for most business use short of boardroom-level reports. Photos showed similar issues but were roughly equivalent to a 1990s black-and-white newspaper photo. Setting the printer for 1,200dpi by 1,200dpi delivered essentially the same quality overall as printing at 600dpi by 600dpi.
Cost efficiency: Its running cost (just 1.1 cents per page when we reviewed it) is significantly lower than that of much of its competition. If you print enough to need this printer’s high capacity, the savings on toner can easily cover its higher price compared with a less-expensive printer with higher running costs and pay a dividend as well.
Connectivity and mobile printing: Connection choices include USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi Direct. For mobile printing, the printer supports AirPrint, Mopria, and Brother’s own print app.
Feature set: The MFC-L5915DW prints, scans, copies, and faxes. It also offers both a legal-size flatbed and a 70-sheet, single-pass duplexing ADF that can handle up to legal-size pages. Notably, the ADF can duplex for faxing as well as scanning and copying.
Ease of setup and use: Setup requires little more than removing the packing materials, connecting the power cord, downloading drivers and scan utility from Brother’s site, and running the mostly automated setup routine. Brother offers both a PCL6 driver, for typical business use, and BR-Script3 (Brother’s Postscript emulation), which some graphics and publishing software requires. The 5-inch color touch-screen control panel offers workflows that make it easy to scan to and print from popular online services, including Google Drive and Dropbox. It also lets you easily modify the 10 predefined workflows and define up to 54 of your own for copying, faxing, scanning, and more.
Security and management: Brother says that its Triple Layer Security will “help safeguard your network, keep your devices secure, and protect documents in transit.” The printer supports secure printing, which lets you send a file to the printer but not print it until you enter a PIN at the front panel. It also lets you add a third-party card reader, so you can swipe a card instead of entering a PIN.
Offices/workgroups that print up to 8,000 pages: This printer is an obvious good fit for offices that print up to 8,000 black-and-white pages per month, or even a bit more. (The maximum monthly duty cycle is 125,000 pages.)
Law offices and others that focus on text quality: The MFC-L5915DW’s natural home is in law offices and similar text-intensive businesses that often print long text documents and need top-tier text quality, but no more than merely decent graphics or photos—if they need them at all.
Offices/workgroups that print long documents in simplex: For printers you have to walk across the office to reach, any can finish the job before you get to the tray. For long documents, however, the MFC-L5915DW offers noticeably good speed for duplex printing, and it stands out for its fast simplex print speed.
Type
All-in-one
Color or Monochrome
Monochrome
Printing Technology
Laser
Connection Type
Ethernet, Wi-Fi, USB, Wi-Fi Direct
Maximum Standard Paper Size
Legal
Number of Ink Colors
1
Number of Ink Cartridges/Tanks
1
Rated Speed at Default Settings (Color)
N/A
Rated Speed at Default Settings (Mono)
50 ppm
Monthly Duty Cycle (Recommended)
8,000
Monthly Duty Cycle (Maximum)
125,000
Printer Input Capacity
250+100 expandable to 1390
Cost Per Page (Monochrome)
1.1 cents
Cost Per Page (Color)
N/A
Scanner Type
Legal size flatbed with DADF
Maximum Scan Area
Legal
Scanner Optical Resolution
1200×1200 pixels per inch
Standalone Copier and Fax
Copier, Fax
Learn More
Brother MFC-L5915DW Review
- Prints, scans, copies, and faxes
- 250-sheet paper tray; single-sheet manual feed
- 50-sheet automatic document feeder
- Automatic duplex printing; single-pass duplexing for scanning
- Compact size suitable for small offices or personal printing
- Separate imaging unit requires costly replacement
- No option for additional paper trays
The Brother MFC-L2900DW XL mono laser all-in-one (AIO) printer delivers every feature a micro or home office needs. In addition to suitable speed, print quality, and paper capacity for printing, it offers a single-pass duplexing ADF for scanning—a rarity for an inexpensive AIO, and a must-have feature for scanning duplex (two-sided) documents. It’s also small enough to at least consider sharing a desk with, a critical plus that helps make this Editors’ Choice pick ideal for micro-to-small-office or personal use.
Print speed: The MFC-L2900DW XL’s print speed is best described as good enough. For simplex (one-sided) printing of our Word text file, it was essentially tied for second place among the models we compared it to, living up to its 36ppm rating. On our full business suite, it dropped to a tie for third place, apparently due to slower processing of the added files that included color and complex graphics. When printing our Word file in duplex, its speed dropped by about 50%, managing only 17 images per minute (ipm—with one image on each side of each sheet).
Print volume and capacity: The default (and maximum) paper capacity is 250 sheets supplemented by a single-sheet bypass tray, so you can print a check or other single sheet of a different paper type without having to pull out the drawer. Assuming you don’t want to refill paper more often than about once a week, the realistic monthly maximum would be about 1,000 pages if you print only in simplex, or about 2,000 pages if you print mostly in duplex (with one page on each side of each sheet).
Print quality: Text output in our tests was more than acceptable for most purposes, but a solid step below top tier for a mono laser. Some of the fonts we tested that are typical for business documents were easily readable at 4 points, but some needed 6 points to pass that bar, and one italic font needed 8 points. Graphics were at roughly the same quality level, showing banding and minor dithering, for example, but they were good enough for most purposes. Photos were at the high end of black-and-white newspaper quality.
Cost efficiency: Running cost for toner is typical for a mono laser AIO in this price range (2.5 cents per page when we reviewed it), but the separate drum is rated at 15,000 pages, so whether you’ll have to buy one or more depends on how much you print. Don’t forget to add that cost in when comparing with other printers (an additional 0.9 cent per page for every 15,000 pages you expect to print).
Connectivity and mobile printing: Connection choices include USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi Direct. For mobile printing, the printer supports AirPrint, Mopria, and Brother’s own print app.
Feature set: The MFC-L2900DW XL prints, scans, copies, and faxes. It also offers both a letter-size flatbed and a 50-sheet ADF that can handle up to legal-size pages. The ADF counts as a standout feature, thanks to its single-pass duplexing (scanning both sides of the page at once), an absolute necessity if you deal with multipage duplex documents regularly. And unlike some AIOs, the MFC-L2900DW XL duplexes for faxing also.
Ease of setup and use: Setup is both standard and straightforward. Physical setup requires little more than loading paper and inserting the combination cartridge and drum unit into the printer. Downloading and installing the driver and utilities is typical, with a mostly automated installation routine.
Security and management: Most micro or home offices don’t need advanced security features, but it’s always better to have them and not need them than the other way around. In that context, the MFC-L2900DW XL offers more than you probably need, including Secure Function Lock, which lets you prevent people from using specific features, including mobile printing, for example, without first entering a PIN.
Home/micro offices: If your office has only one or a few people; doesn’t need color output; needs to print up to 1,000 sheets per month (whether simplex or duplex); and needs to scan, copy, or fax multipage duplex documents, this is a must-see printer, and is probably the one you want.
Larger offices that need desk-side personal printers: For those in large offices who continually print and scan throughout the day, having a personal printer in easy reach is far more convenient than walking back and forth to a shared one. The MFC-L2900DW XL’s duplexing ADF can make the walk unnecessary, and the security features can come in handy.
Type
All-in-one
Color or Monochrome
Monochrome
Printing Technology
Laser
Connection Type
Ethernet, USB, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct
Maximum Standard Paper Size
Legal
Number of Ink Colors
1
Number of Ink Cartridges/Tanks
1
Rated Speed at Default Settings (Color)
NA
Rated Speed at Default Settings (Mono)
36 ppm
Monthly Duty Cycle (Recommended)
2,500
Monthly Duty Cycle (Maximum)
35,000 pages per month
Printer Input Capacity
250 + 1
Cost Per Page (Monochrome)
2.5 cents
Cost Per Page (Color)
NA
Scanner Type
Flatbed with 50-sheet DADF
Maximum Scan Area
Legal
Scanner Optical Resolution
1,200 by 1,200 pixels per inch
Standalone Copier and Fax
Copier, Fax
Learn More
Brother MFC-L2900DW XL Review
- Better print quality than most lasers in its price range
- Front-loading tray for easy refills and paper-type changes
- 150-sheet capacity
- Automatic duplex (two-sided) printing
- No bypass paper feed or optional additional trays
- No Wi-Fi or Ethernet
- Does not support mobile printing
The HP LaserJet M209d is our top pick among low-cost, print-only mono laser printers. Its USB-only connectivity makes it a personal printer, although if you want to set up Windows to share it on your network, its paper handling is suitable for up to moderate-duty printing in a micro office. It also delivers fast print speed; its text quality in our tests was top tier for a mono laser in its price range; and it’s inexpensive enough that home users who print infrequently can save time and money that inkjets eat up for cleaning nozzles after the printer’s been sitting for too long.
Print speed: The M209d was as fast as the printers we compared it with, or faster, pretty much across the board for documents up to about 12 pages. For longer documents, it will fall behind, but unless they’re far longer, it won’t be by enough to notice. (If you don’t print long documents regularly, it won’t matter.)
Print volume and capacity: The M209d’s single 150-sheet tray makes it easy to refill, insert a few sheets on top of the stack, or swap out for different paper. If you want to keep refills down to once a week on average, plan on a maximum of 600 sheets per month.
Print quality: Print quality is one of the M209d’s strongest features. Text quality in our tests was both top tier for a mono laser in the M209d’s price class and close to top tier for mono lasers in general. Graphics quality was nearly as good, and although photos were a little dark, they were better than what you’d expect from a black-and-white newspaper photo.
Cost efficiency: Running cost is higher than for most mono lasers that cost more (3.7 cents per page when we reviewed it). So the more you print, the more likely you’ll save money in the long run by choosing a more expensive printer with a lower per-page cost.
Connectivity and mobile printing: USB is the only connection choice, so there’s no way to connect to a network and no support for mobile printing. If you download the HP Smart App, you can use HP’s Mobile Faxing, but it offers outgoing faxing only and doesn’t involve the printer itself. You need only an HP account and the app to send the faxes.
Feature set: The M209d is a single-function printer.
Ease of setup and use: Both physical setup and driver installation for the M209d are even easier than is typical. The toner cartridge ships already installed and ready to use, HP provides a USB cable in the box, and our Windows 10 testbed automatically installed the right driver when we plugged in the cable. For macOS, the M209d offers AirPrint support, to let you print via a USB connection without a driver.
Home offices: If you don’t need color output, network connections, or mobile printing, this may well be the printer you want for professional-looking text and line graphics.
Large offices: Even if you have a floor-standing behemoth in walking distance, it’s often more convenient to have a printer sitting on your desk so you don’t have to take a walk to get the output.
Home users who rarely print: The conventional wisdom is that home users should get inkjets. The reality is that if you leave inkjets sitting for too long, they can clog and then waste a lot of ink in cleaning routines. The M209d can sit for months unused, then print without problems when you need it.
Type
Printer Only
Color or Monochrome
Monochrome
Printing Technology
Laser
Connection Type
USB
Maximum Standard Paper Size
Legal
Number of Ink Colors
1
Number of Ink Cartridges/Tanks
1
Rated Speed at Default Settings (Color)
NA
Rated Speed at Default Settings (Mono)
30 ppm
Monthly Duty Cycle (Recommended)
200 – 2000
Monthly Duty Cycle (Maximum)
20,000 pages per month
Printer Input Capacity
150
Cost Per Page (Monochrome)
3.7 cents
Cost Per Page (Color)
NA
Scanner Type
N/A
Maximum Scan Area
N/A
Scanner Optical Resolution
N/A
Standalone Copier and Fax
N/A
Learn More
HP LaserJet M209d Review
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The Best Laser Printers for 2026
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Buying Guide: The Best Laser Printers for 2026
So, who would find a laser printer preferable to an inkjet? Definitely not a home user looking to print photos, much less a photo enthusiast or professional photographer, and not someone looking for a portable printer. But lasers are a good fit for text and graphic output, particularly in bulk: long research papers, book drafts, contracts in law offices, monthly invoices, and the like. And for printing boardroom-quality reports on plain paper, they do much better than inkjets at producing crisp, professional-looking text and certain types of eye-catching color business graphics. If you print a lot of large jobs, stick mostly to text and graphics, and don’t need high-quality photos, a laser printer is likely the best match.
If high-quality, stable text printing matters most, lasers are also a good choice. Indeed, certain types of businesses, such as medical and law offices, may mandate laser printing for archival tasks and record keeping. And although inkjet text output is often close to laser quality at 10- or 12-point type, most lasers produce much more readable text at small sizes than almost any inkjet. If you need to print at 4 or 6 points, lasers are still the way to go. It can also be cheaper to print marketing materials with photos, including tri-fold brochures or one-page handouts, using a color laser that offers business-quality photo output, than to pay for small print jobs at a print shop.
(Credit: David English)
Also consider how often you print. Conventional wisdom says that inkjets are the best choice for home use. But if you don’t print photos, there’s a strong argument for considering a laser for light-duty home use, as well, particularly if you leave your printer off for long stretches. Unlike ink in inkjets, laser-printer toner doesn’t dry out or clog nozzles. Indeed, laser printers have no nozzles to clog. Even if you leave a laser printer idle for months, it will print without problems when you turn it on again. Aside from the added convenience, eliminating the cost of wasted ink on nozzle-cleaning routines might save you more than a laser printer’s extra cost compared with a less expensive inkjet.
What Kind of Laser Printer Do You Need: Print Only, or an All-in-One?
As with any printer technology, lasers can be either single-function or multifunction printers (MFPs), aka all-in-ones (AIOs), which is to say they can be limited to printing only, or they can add scanning at a minimum, usually copying, and often faxing as well. Either type can be a mono-only printer, or either can print color.
In a lot of scenarios, it makes good sense to pick a single-function laser printer rather than spend more money to get what is sometimes the same printer with a scanner added. Consider whether you need heavier-duty scanning (including scans for copying and faxing) than an AIO can handle. If so, you’ll need a separate scanner, anyway, which will likely make the extra functions of an AIO superfluous. Similarly, if you already have another AIO (or a copier and a fax machine), consider whether getting a second AIO will add any convenience or capability.
At the other extreme, you may scan so little that you can take care of the occasional capture with a scan app on your phone or just take photos. Unless you need to scan files to PDF format or use optical character recognition (OCR) to turn the scans into text files, you’ll probably be scanning to the same JPG format that photos use, anyway.
Printer-only models are available in the entire range from inexpensive monochrome units meant for home office (or hybrid work), micro-office, or student use to floor-standing printers (mono and color) that hold thousands of sheets of paper in multiple paper drawers at once. (The latter are suitable for large workgroups or entire departments.) In between are mono and color models designed for home and micro offices, as well as models for small offices and workgroups.
(Credit: M. David Stone)
The added functions in laser AIOs are the same as in inkjet AIOs, with the same potential variations. Almost all print, copy, and scan. Many fax, as well, and scan-to-email features are common. The copying, faxing, and emailing can be limited to standalone capability, through the computer only, or both. And so on.
One common misunderstanding about mono laser AIOs is to think that the scanning they can do is also monochrome only. In truth, with a theoretical exception of some oddball model we haven’t seen, the scanners on any AIO today can scan in color.
Compared with inkjet AIOs, the advantages of laser AIOs include higher quality text, most noticeable at small font sizes, and smudge-proof output. Color laser AIOs also offer more vibrant color when printing on plain paper. However, know that although mono laser AIOs can handle schematics and other simple line drawings well, their output quality for graphics otherwise is often no better than serviceable.
Whether single-function or multifunction, the range of monochrome lasers runs from small, inexpensive models with modest paper handling suitable for personal desktop printing in any size office, all the way up to multi-thousand-dollar models offering speed, durability, and paper handling meant for high-volume printing in a busy, large office. Color lasers add vibrant color graphics. And, as already mentioned, in addition to their high-quality text and graphics, many color lasers can print photos well enough for brochures and other marketing materials, allowing many companies to take such printing in-house.
Will a Laser Printer Cost More or Less Than a Comparable Inkjet?
As surprising as it may seem, a laser printer can be less expensive in the long run than a comparable inkjet. You really have to look at the total cost of ownership to figure that out, though.
A common complaint about lasers is that laser toner cartridges are expensive compared with inkjet cartridges. For inexpensive models, the cost can even exceed the cost of the printer, particularly for color lasers if you need to replace a full set of cartridges (black, cyan, magenta, and yellow toners). But if you compare the cost per page, rather than the price per cartridge, you’ll find the running cost for cartridge-based lasers is actually less than for comparable cartridge-based inkjets. In addition, most lasers are designed to last longer than most inkjets, so you can amortize the initial cost of the printer over more pages as well.
Be aware that tank-based inkjets can beat lasers on running cost, which complicates any broad-brushstroke comparison of costs between the two technologies. The tank-based models cost more than equivalent inkjets that use cartridges, but they let you use far cheaper ink, which you typically pour from bottles into large tanks in the printer. There are also a few lasers that take a similar approach, selling toner in bulk “injectors” rather than in cartridges.
Ultimately, focusing on initial price only or on running costs only when comparing printers is likely to lead to the wrong conclusion about which will be cheaper. You need to take both into account by estimating the total cost of ownership over the printers’ lifetimes. How to Save Money on Your Next Printer: Weighing the Cost of Tank vs. Cartridge Ink gives a step-by-step example of how to compare tank and cartridge inkjets. The same approach will work with any two printers. And don’t forget to factor in the possible savings from ink subscription plans if any are available for a printer you’re considering.
What Kind of Connectivity to Look for in a Laser Printer?
Almost any printer will include a USB Type-B connector for a direct wired connection to a single PC. (USB connectors supporting the faster USB 3.0 protocol are showing up with increasing regularity.) And even if that’s the only connector, Windows will let you share the printer on a network. But the easiest, and most efficient, option for connecting to a network is an Ethernet port, which all but the least-expensive lasers generally include as well. Connecting with Ethernet is usually as simple as plugging in the cable.
Most lasers today also offer Wi-Fi for network connection, either as an alternative to Ethernet or as the only choice. Wi-Fi lets you put the printer anywhere without having to worry about stringing cables, but it is sometimes tricky to set up. AIOs with fax functionality will add a phone-line interface (RJ-45), unless they use cloud-based faxing.
(Credit: Epson)
Support for Wi-Fi Direct is also common, though sometimes that feature comes under a different name. It lets you establish a direct peer-to-peer connection between the printer and a computer or mobile device. However, you don’t actually need Wi-Fi Direct to print wirelessly. If the printer is attached to a network, using either a wired or wireless connection, and you can connect to the network by Wi-Fi from a computer, phone, or tablet, you can print over the network. Just check to be sure that the manufacturer offers a free downloadable app for printing (as well as for scanning, for an AIO) that your phone or tablet can use. Another option that is less common is support for Near-Field Communication (NFC), which lets you initiate the wireless connection to a mobile device by simply tapping the device on a specific spot on the printer.
Laser Printer Output Speeds: This Is Where Testing Matters
Speed ratings are determined differently for laser printers than for inkjets, which is why an inkjet and laser with the same rating in pages per minute (ppm) can come in at significantly different speeds on performance tests. The vast majority of inkjets print by moving a printhead back and forth across the page. And although inkjet ratings are given in ppm, they’re actually based on how fast they can print a page’s worth of individual lines. They’re also often based on a print mode that favors speed over quality.
Lasers are also known as “page printers,” which means they print an entire page at once. The laser draws the image of the page as an electrostatic charge on photosensitive material. The charged areas pick up toner particles to form the image for the entire page, and then the particles are fused to the paper. The process takes essentially as long to print a blank page as a page full of text.
For one- or two-page documents, a given inkjet may beat an otherwise faster laser, because lasers take longer to print the first page than later pages, and the ppm rating is based on the printing speed starting with the second page. Most laser printers’ specs include the much slower first-page-out (FPO) time separately. If you print a lot of longer documents, however, the faster speed starting with page 2 is more important; that is where a laser’s speed makes a difference.
With either kind of printer, graphics and photos add processing time. This extra time isn’t accounted for in ppm ratings. It varies from printer to printer, and it can depend on either your computer or a processor in the printer itself. What this adds up to is that vendor ratings aren’t as useful as comparative reviews for judging speeds. Our tests offer cross-model print-speed comparisons with different kinds of real-world documents, using the same documents for each printer. (See how we test printers.)
How to Judge Laser Printer Output: Text and Color Quality Considerations
Laser printers don’t have the problems with output quality that ink does for printing on plain paper. Toner particles, often chemically grown to uniform size and shape, are tiny bits of plastic. Unlike ink, they can’t bleed into the paper to soften sharp edges for lines and graphics. Precisely positioned by the electrostatic charge drawn by the laser beam on photosensitive material, they’re then fused in place. The precise positioning ensures professional-looking documents, an advantage that may be subtle for 10- or 12-point text, but makes a big difference in readability at 4 and 6 points. And because the fused toner sits on the surface of the page, rather than being absorbed into it, colors in graphics remain vibrant and saturated, instead of having the faded look that’s typical for inkjet color printing on plain paper.
Fusing toner also has an advantage for duplex printing (printing on both sides of a page). Some inkjets will stop momentarily after printing one side to give the page a chance to dry before running the page through the printer again for the second side. Fused toner doesn’t need drying time. This is an important factor for any business that needs cleanly printed double-sided output at top speed. Even more important is that toner won’t smudge if you spill a few drops of water on it later. Most inks will.
Understanding Paper Handling and Duty Cycles
You’ll want to assess the paper trays in any laser model (AIO or single-function) that you’re considering: Will the capacity meet your needs? A good rule of thumb is that you probably don’t want to reload paper more than about once a week.
Paper-tray capacities tend to scale up or down with the printer’s duty cycle (more on this shortly). The key things to look for are adequate capacity, multiple trays (in models that offer optional additional trays, the additions are typically added below the printer’s body), and a multipurpose tray, or at least a one-sheet bypass tray, for easy printing on paper you don’t normally keep loaded. The output tray, meanwhile, should be large enough for the biggest document you’ll typically print.
Recommended by Our Editors
“Duty cycle” is a specification for the monthly page count a printer is rated for. Some printers don’t offer one, which is not an issue if you don’t print much. If you print enough to wonder if you might overtax the printer, however, don’t buy one that doesn’t offer the spec.
(Credit: David English)
“Maximum duty cycle” is the most you can print in a given month without shortening the printer’s life, as defined by the maximum number of pages it can print in its lifetime. “Recommended duty cycle” is a suggested maximum, sometimes based at least in part on how many pages per month you can conveniently print. For example, a printer limited to a 250-sheet paper tray with no additional tray options wouldn’t merit a 10,000-page recommended duty cycle no matter how rugged it is. In general, you’ll want the recommended duty cycle to at least match your typical monthly needs. The maximum duty cycle should be well above the maximum you actually expect to print in any month. You can also use it to judge ruggedness.
Do PCL and PostScript Matter in a Laser Printer?
Do you need HP’s PCL or Adobe’s PostScript? Support for one or both of these two page-description languages (PDLs) is critical for those who need it, but otherwise irrelevant. PCL was once standard for business users, and is still required in some cases, but is not usually needed. PostScript can be essential for pre-proofing commercial print jobs, particularly in concert with desktop-publishing applications that won’t work without it. It also guarantees that when printing a document, page breaks and line breaks will be the same when printing on any PostScript printer, and also the same as you saw on screen, assuming the program was set to use a PostScript driver. (Converting it to PDF format serves the same purpose.)
Generally speaking, if you’re in a position to buy a printer for your business, you should already know if you need one or the other of these PDLs. If you don’t need them, you can often find an identical or similar model for less from the same manufacturer, minus only the PCL or PostScript support. Don’t pay extra for it if you don’t need it.
Other Laser Printer Features: Duplexing, Security, and More
Most lasers today have an automatic duplexer for printing on both sides of a sheet of paper, and all but the least-expensive AIO models supplement their flatbed with an automatic document feeder (ADF), which is essential unless you rarely scan, copy, or fax multipage documents.
(Credit: David English)
Duplex scanning, the ability to scan both sides of a page, is available in many ADFs, with three variations on the feature. The most common choice is a reversing ADF (RADF), which scans one side of the page, flips the page over, and scans the other side. The most convenient (and most expensive) scans both sides in one pass, using scanning sensors both above and below the page. Assuming the same speed for simplex (one-sided) scanning, an ADF that scans both sides at once is more than twice as fast for duplex scans as an RADF, making it the preferred choice if you need to scan in duplex on a regular basis. The third approach to duplex scanning, which is most suitable if you need the feature only occasionally, is a simplex ADF paired with built-in firmware or with software for your PC that will let you scan one side, wait for you to flip the stack over, scan the other side, and automatically interfile the pages in the right order.
Finally, note that some models of both single- and multi-function printers support office-centric security and convenience features that may or may not be useful for any given office. Among these are support for controlling settings and monitoring status over a network; private printing, which lets you send a file with sensitive information to the printer and hold the print job in memory until you enter a PIN code or tap your ID card at the printer’s front panel; and, for those printers that include a built-in hard drive, hard drive encryption and the ability to wipe the drive clean when decommissioning the printer.
(Credit: Brother)
Also in this category are print-volume tracking and access controls that might, for example, let you to limit who is allowed to print in color (the aim being to lower printing costs). For more of these business-focused features, see our guide to the best business printers, which covers both laser- and inkjet-based models.
LED Versus Laser Print Technology: What’s the Difference, and Does It Matter?
LED printers are laser printers’ fraternal twins. Both are electrophotographic printers, which means they print by using light to draw images to be printed on photoelectric material, which attracts particles of toner to be transferred to paper. The only difference is the light source: LED or laser. LED models tend to be somewhat smaller than directly comparable laser printers, which makes them particularly suitable where space is at a premium. But for purposes of comparison, they are essentially variations on a theme, a distinction with little to no real-world difference.
Key printer players that offer LED-based models (as well as laser ones) include Brother and Xerox.
Ready to Buy the Right Laser Printer for You?
We trust that our list of the best lasers we’ve tested, plus this guide’s advice, will make your choice easier. Laser printers have much to offer businesses of all sizes, from sole proprietorships to large corporations. They are worth considering, for some folks, for home use as well.
We update these picks often, but also check out our printer category page for the very latest reviews we’ve posted, including many models that didn’t make the cut here but are also worth considering. And for more printer buying advice and reviews, check out our top printer picks overall, the best inkjet printers, and our picks for best all-in-one printers.
