While many of us live increasingly online with documents in the cloud, there are still an awful lot of printouts to be churned out – particularly if you’re heading somewhere where you really can’t rely on having digital access. Obviously, there’s a vast market for printers, with tonnes of printers from the best printer brands out there, and it can be tricky to select the best printers and, even more importantly, how to buy a certain one.
Luckily, we’ve rounded up some of the best printer deals for you here, so you can find the best printer for your needs, and if you’re looking for something a little more focused than a standard printer, here’s where to find the best 3D printer deals.
Canon Pixma TR4722 — $59, was $99
It is not the best all in one printers; but it is one of the cheapest. Admit it is nice having a printer that can cost so little and still print so well. One can only but admire this piece of hardware. It will work very well in any home, apartment or dorm room models, would do great there. Copies, scanning, faxing, the thing has it all. It conveniently connects to any device in your home with its built- in wireless connectivity. It prints approximately nine pages per minute in monochrome and four pages per in colour.
Canon PIXMA TS6420a — $70, was $130
Another great budget model and available from Canon is the PIXMA TS6420a, an affordable printer that’s considerably quicker than other similar models on the shelves and can ‘churn out’ 13 monochrome images per minute. It’s pretty miniature and can be stored in the tightest of spots, and it’s light so you simply pick it up and shift it away. It’s pretty easy to install, and photos can’t be too bad but the most significant compromise is that the juices are expensive, so the upfront savings quickly get ‘clawed back’ as you’ll need to run and fetch some ink for your printer.
Epson Expression Premium XP-6100 — $100, was $190
The Epson Expression Premium XP-6100 is ideal if you want a printer that’s a little quicker – you can throw 11.3 pages per minute for colours at it, and 15.8 pages per minute of black and white – a little less mono but very respectable nonetheless, so you’re not going to be hanging about either side of midnight once the word gets out that none of the household’s stuff has been sent until its been approved by you. You’ve got better things to do than fiddle about getting things printed anyway: the scan resolution here is up to 9,600 dpi, a terrific result, and the photo or 30-sheet output tray allows you to throw it some weight and leave it to get on with it, OK? Still upping the ante, is the connectivity that’s even better than ever, on every front: Wi-Fi and ethernet.
Fujifilm Instax Mini Link 2 — $125, was $140
A diverting alternative if you’d like something fun to keep on a printer is the Fujifilm Instax Mini Link 2 – this is essentially a little pocketable printer that prints little photos as you would expect to see with an instant camera. Prints are 2 x 3 inches and at around 12 seconds per print they can provide you with the Polaroid-style wait to see what the print looks like. It requires no inkjet cartridge, but it does also only print Fujifilm’s Instax Mini instant film – so you must buy that too.
HP OfficeJet Pro 8139e — $190, was $260
The first is ideal for lighter print duty. The HP OfficeJet Pro 8139e is faster and better for heavier print loads. It has a print speed up to 20 pages per minute black and up to 10 pages per minute colour. Now take any photo or document with you using HP Smart app on your phone. Print, scan, or copy from anywhere. Pro quality printing is more professional (great for forms, reports, brochures and presentations) and also include ADF (Automatic Document Feeder).
Epson EcoTank ET-2850 — $220, was $350
While a conventional desktop printer needs a cartridge to work, one variant of modern printer promises to give you the delights of inhabiting a world in which cartridges are a memory you’ve learned to put out of your mind: ink flow comes from an ‘EcoTank’ – or reservoir – of individual coloured inks, for both the Epson EcoTank ET-2800 that comes with four colours of ink in diverting bottles, and will print crisp photo prints at 1200dpi. You can get replenishment bottles separately.
HP Smart Tank 7301 — $290, was $420
A final good tank printer choice is this HP Smart Tank 7301, a slightly faster print speed than even the Epson at up to 12ppm black and white and up to 7ppm coloured print with the same 1200 x 1200 scan resolution and a 600 DPI copy resolution which is just par for the course of what you’d expect in the sub-$150 range. Included with HP’s inks, you get a dial that tells you when the next set of inks is needed, but it’s claimed that you should get up to 8,000 colour pages and 6,000 black pages, which is a tonne compared to what most home printing wont exceed in a year or two.
Canon MAXIFY MegaTank GX6021 — $450, was $700
If tank-based printer sounds interesting to you, but your needs are more for high-volume printing, I have good news: those options exist, such as the excellent Canon MAXIFY MegaTank GX6021, which can do 15 ppm for colour printing and a staggering 24 ppm for monochrome printing, plus the provided inks will do an astonishing 6,000 black pages and 14,000 colour pages before needing replacement, and its paper tray holds up to 350 sheets so you can print for hours without a pause – essential for high-volume printing.
