Choosing the Best Home Printer

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A Printer Buying Guide by Staples

Whether you’re looking to print out a hard copy of your grocery list, your personal tax return, a flight confirmation for your upcoming family vacation or full-colour family photos, a home printer offers versatile performance that makes it a great addition to your home.

Understanding printer features and what they can offer will help you in your decision to choose the best home printer that meets your needs.

In This Buying Guide:

Customer Snapshot
Selecting the Right Type of Printer (Chart)
Additional Features to Consider
Printer Tips for Home
Key Questions
Related Products

Customer Snapshot

Key considerations when looking into purchasing a home printer might include whether or not you’ll want the ability to print in black and white or full colour, whether you want the added capability of scanning or copying, how you want to connect to your printer and how affordable it is.

Explore all of the printers available at Staples.

For a simple and affordable way to accommodate occasional printing at home , a basic printer may be all you need. This type of home printer is handy for general-purpose printing of basic documents such as receipts, lists, schedules, homework and more. For printing images and photos, colour may be an important consideration for your home printer. If you’re looking to scan or make copies, you may want to look at a multifunction printer that offers additional features.

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A multipurpose printer or all-in-one printer is a convenient addition to your home if you want to scan, copy, or even fax documents in addition to printing them. Multipurpose printers can save you money, time and offer great convenience, allowing you to do everything from scanning important documents for safe keeping or for emailing, to making multiple copies of flyers or an extra copy of your child’s latest drawing or painting. Multifunction printers are available in inkjet and laser models.

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Inkjet printers spray a stream of tiny water-based ink droplets directly onto paper. This type of printer can reliably print a combination of text and graphics but is especially good at at reproducing high-quality colour photos. Compact and lightweight inkjet printers can accommodate a wide range of paper types and sizes. When factoring in the cost of replacement ink cartridges over laser toner, inkjet printers can often be a more cost-effective option for home use. Read our Photo Printer Guide here.

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Instead of standard ink cartridges, super tank printers are equipped with refillable ink reservoirs and can print several thousand pages before they need to be replenished. These high-capacity coloured inkjet printers will cost more up front than a standard inkjet printer but can save you money in the long run if you find you are printing a large quantity of documents, images, photos and more or to handle the printing needs of all your family members.

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Laser printers use toner powder and a laser beam to transfer images and text onto paper. Laser printers are the best printers for clearly and efficiently reproducing high volumes of black and white text documents. While there are colour-toner lasers, the costs of multiple toner cartridges can make them a less effective choice for home use as they don’t work well with special paper used to print photographs. However, coloured laser printers can be a great choice for printing presentations and documents documents if you have a home office. Read our Office Printer Guide here.

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Selecting the Right Type of Home Printer

Use this chart to help you determine which type of printer you need for your home printing needs.

Feature	Basic Printer	Multifunction Printer	Super Tank Printer	Inkjet Printer	Laser Printer
Colour/B&W The ability to print in colour and/or black and white	Varies per model	Varies per model	Most come in colour; Varies per model	Best option for colour printing	Best option for black and white printing
Fax/Scan/Copy Extra functions the printer can handle	N/A – Print only	All or some of these functions; Varies per model	Varies per model	Look for a multifunction model	Look for a multifunction model
Speed Measured in Pages per Minute (PPM)	Based on inkjet or laser; Varies per model	Based on inkjet or laser; Varies per model	< 20 PPM on average	< 20 PPM on average	> 35 PPM, up to 100-200 PPM in some faster models
Print Resolution The quality of printing measured in Dots Per Inch (DPI)	Based on inkjet or laser; Varies per model	Based on inkjet or laser; Varies per model	Based on inkjet or laser; Varies per model	Check model for print resolution	Check model for print resolution
Monthly Print Volume The number of pages your printer can print in a month without issue	Printer models within each type – basic, multifunction, and super tank– may vary in monthly print volume. Make sure to check the duty cycle of your selected model.	Printer models within each type – basic, multifunction, and super tank– may vary in monthly print volume. Make sure to check the duty cycle of your selected model.	Printer models within each type – basic, multifunction, and super tank– may vary in monthly print volume. Make sure to check the duty cycle of your selected model.	Look for the page yield on an ink cartridge, in addition to a printer’s Duty Cycle	Look for the page yield on a laser cartridge, in addition to a printer’s Duty Cycle
Paper Size Common sizes include Letter (8.5x11), Legal (8.5x14), Tabloid/Ledger (11x17	Letter or legal	Letter or legal; Additional sizes vary per model	Letter or legal; Additional sizes vary per model	Check model for size capabilities	Check model for size capabilities
Replenishment Replacement needs for ink or toner	Regular cartridge replenishment based on print volume	Regular cartridge replenishment based on print volume	Lower ink replenishment needs due to larger reservoirs	Uses ink cartridges (black, cyan, magenta and yellow)	Uses laser toner that typically lasts longer than ink
Duplex The ability to print on both sides of a page at once	Printer models within each type – basic, multifunction, and super tank– may support duplex. If this is a key feature you require, make sure to check the capabilities of your selected model.	Printer models within each type – basic, multifunction, and super tank– may support duplex. If this is a key feature you require, make sure to check the capabilities of your selected model.	Printer models within each type – basic, multifunction, and super tank– may support duplex. If this is a key feature you require, make sure to check the capabilities of your selected model.	Look for a model that supports duplexing	Look for a model that supports duplexing
Connection How you connect to the printer; cable, wireless network, Cloud Printing or with your content on a memory drive	Printer models within each type – basic, multifunction, and super tank – may support different connections. Make sure to check the connection capabilities of your selected model.	Printer models within each type – basic, multifunction, and super tank – may support different connections. Make sure to check the connection capabilities of your selected model.	Printer models within each type – basic, multifunction, and super tank – may support different connections. Make sure to check the connection capabilities of your selected model.	Look for wired, wireless, Cloud Printing or memory drive connection	Look for wired, wireless, Cloud Printing or memory drive connection
Price	$	$-$$	$$-$$$; Can be more expensive but consider cost of ink replenishment	Typically cheaper up front, but consider cost of ink replenishment	Typically more expensive up front, but replenishment is generally cheaper

Print Quality

The print resolution, or quality, of a printer is measured in Dots Per Inch, or DPI. The higher the DPI, the clearer and more detailed the image, text or picture. If your printing needs are mostly text-based, a home printer with 600 DPI is sufficient. For small text or graphics and images, it’s best to bump up to 1200 DPI.

Connectivity

Home printers offer a variety of ways to connect to laptops, tablets and other devices. USB ports allow you to physically connect your personal printer to a home computer and many home printers include Ethernet ports to allow network sharing. Wi-Fi-enabled printers connect wirelessly so you can print from your mobile devices quickly and conveniently. Print-from-anywhere technology such as Google Cloud Print and Apple AirPrint lets you print documents from any web-enabled device.

Additional Desk Features to Consider

Optical Character Recognition (OCR)

OCR is the ability of a machine to recognize printed characters in a variety of fonts. Available on some all-in-one printers, this feature converts a scanned document into a word processing document that you can edit on a computer or tablet. While OCR functionality usually only applies to printed text documents, some models are also able to recognize handwriting to make them great for editing homework notes, written recipes and more.

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PictBridge

Personal printers equipped with PictBridge-capable USB ports let you print directly from your digital camera without removing your SD card or connecting to a computer. This feature is available on select inkjet printers and can be a convenient option if you print pictures often.

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Near Field Communication (NFC)

NFC is short-range wireless technology that connects with your smartphone or tablet. Simply hold your NFC-compatible device up to your NFC-enabled home printer for quick and easy printing through a dedicated app. This is a great feature for wireless printing from any smart device in your home.

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Printer Tips for the Home

Colour vs. Black and White

If you aren’t planning on printing coloured flyers or documents, photos, graphics or images, a black and white printer might be a great choice as it reduces the number of ink cartridges you need to a single colour.

Ocasional vs. High Volume

For occasional printing at home, an inkjet printer is a practical choice. If you anticipate printing a high volume of documents, a laser printer may be more cost-effective over time. In addition to how many pages you will be printing, you should also consider the minimum and maximum paper size and whether or not you require duplexing for two-sided printing.

USB vs. Wi-Fi

A USB or Ethernet port connection is sufficient for a home printer that will be connected to a stationary laptop or computer. If you have multiple family members who want to print from various locations around your home, a Wi-Fi-enabled printer that offers wireless connections to different devices or a printer with print-from-anywhere technology such as Google Cloud Print and Apple AirPrint might be a more convenient choice.

Home vs. Home Office

Upgrading functions from print-only to include faxing, scanning or copying in an all-in-one printer might be an important consideration if you plan to use your home printer for work or are considering setting up a home office to save you the cost of purchasing additional equipment.

Cost vs. Performance

Upgraded features, functions, quality and connectivity can add to the price of your home printer. If budget is an important consideration, review your needs, determine what features and functions are most important to you and balance that with the costs. Don’t forget to look into the cost of ink or toner cartridge replacement as well as it can vary from printer type and model.

Key Questions

With a better understanding of the types of home printers that are available and their important features, ask yourself the following questions to determine what type of printer is right for your home:

What kind of documents do I want to print?
Do I want to print photos and images?
How often will I be printing?
Who else will be using the home printer?
What types of computers or devices do I want to connect with my home printer?
Do I want to be able to copy, fax or scan with my printer?
How much do I want to spend on my home printer?

Taking the time to research all your options and reviewing your needs is an important step in determining what you’re looking for in a basic inkjet printer, an all-in-one colour laser printer or a specialty printer.

After you’ve narrowed down your options, check out reviews on different models to help you decide which home printer is a great choice for you.