PRINTERS ON TEST
12 lightning-quick inkjets & lasers from £80
12 printers for home and office use go head to head. Read the small print to discover which best suits your needs
We may be edging closer to a world of autonomous cars, but paper still rules in homes and offices around the country. Quite right too. While Instagram may be king of the pithy message, if you want to communicate serious information then the combination of paper and ink reigns supreme.
So what’s new? While we investigate the power of refillable ink in a separate article on p90, the truth is that we haven’t seen dramatic changes since our last mainstream group test almost two years ago ( see issue 262, p74). Print speeds continue to rise and quality edges forward, but the main changes are cosmetic: a large touchscreen is now the norm rather than the exception.
Our advice also stays the same. While you’ll probably replace your phone and laptop every two to three years, printers have a tendency to hang around. So think long-haul. Take a close look at running costs, because the upfront printer price is always going to be smaller. Carefully consider exactly what features you’ll need, whether that’s an automatic document feeder for scanning longer documents or speedy printouts. Sadly, these are rarely add-on features.
Luckily, we’ve done the hard work. By testing 12 printers ranging from £80 to £300, and covering the full gamut – some pun intended – from black-and-white laser to five-cartridge inkjet, the answer should be as clear as five-point sans serif text on 75gsm recycled office paper. Printed on the right printer, of course.