What Is The Best All In One Photo Printer

Canon Mx492 Wireless All

It is hard to believe that a product is so cheap while offering so much, but there it is the Canon MX492 providing color printing, photocopying/scanning, and faxing, all for a weeks worth of groceries.

Naturally, the inkjet technology will cost you more in the long run due to ink refilling, but if you have taken the appropriate workload into account, the Canon MX492 should offer you with just what you need.

The Pros of the Canon MX492:

• Extremely cheap.
• Small for an all-in-one device.
• Wireless functionality and full integration with online storage and sharing services like Airprint and Google Cloud Print.
• Included ink, sufficient for up to 200 pages, depending on the selected quality.

The Cons of the Canon MX492:

• No duplex printing.
• Loud, but expected for an inkjet printer. The quiet mode somewhat helps.
• Non-intuitive software and installation process, especially for the wireless connectivity.

It is almost impossible to find a printer that does so much at this price point. As such, it is a perfect gift for someone who occasionally needs to print documents, postcards, photos, invitations, scan or photocopy something, or simply use it as a fax machine. Just keep in mind that it is not intended for heavy loads.

What Makes Top Rated Photo Printers

The best photography printers all share several traits in common, ranging from high print quality, to long lasting ink cartridges, and the ability to print on many different sizes of paper.

I have determined which are the top rated photo printers using the criteria below, listed in order of importance. If you want to do any further research, feel free to use the questions in this list to guide you.

• What is your price limit?
• How good is the color accuracy?
• What print sizes are possible?
• Whats the DPI of each print?
• How many sheets can each ink cartridge print?
• What is the printers connectivity?

Assessing Printer Size: Portable Or Desk

Inexpensive dedicated snapshot printers range in size from small enough to fit in a pocket to too large to carry very often. If you want to bring a printer with you to events like parties or Little League games, pick a size you won’t mind carrying. Also, consider whether you’ll need to run it from batteries. If so, make sure there’s a battery available, if only as an option, and find out how many photos you can print on a full charge.

Most near-dedicated photo printers are larger than most standard desktop-style inkjets, because they’re typically designed for printing on cut-paper sheets as large as 11 by 17 inches or even 13 by 19 inches, as well as banner-size variations, in some cases. Some can print from roll paper, as well. Beyond the printer size itself, some printers in this class need additional room behind them to feed large paper stock or accommodate a roll feeder.

To print on large paper with some near-dedicated photo printers, you have to feed a single sheet from the front, after which the printer loads it by feeding it all the way out of a back slot on the printer, and then prints while moving the paper forward again. If you don’t have enough free flat space for this approach to printing, look for a printer that can handle roll paper, that can feed large-size cut sheets from a standard tray, or that can do both.

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What Is The Difference Between An Inkjet And A Laser Printer

Canon Pixma Tr: Best All In One Printer Overall

Reasons to avoid

The Canon PIXMA TR8620 is our top pick for the best overall all-in-one printer as it offers the perfect blend of functionality, print quality and style. It looks superb and manages to stay compact while still offering lots of powerful features making it perfect for a small home office.

The print quality is exceptional, whether youre printing regular black and white or color images, or using it as a photo printer. Its not the fastest printer out there, but its respectable when it comes to speed at around 15 pages per minute for black and 10 pages per minute in color.

What impressed us the most about the Canon PIXMA TR8620 is that it offers the complete package at a very reasonable price. It prints all types of documents well, it scans and copies efficiently, and it comes with extra features including an ADF and wireless printing from your mobile device. Its not quite the best at any one thing, but it does everything to a high standard with no major weaknesses.

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A Note About Paper Handling

Whats a printer without paper?

Some printers are top-loading, meaning you insert the paper from the top. Others feature a paper tray on the bottom. Most printers, except some travel ones, allow you to adjust the size of the paper feed to accommodate things like envelopes and unique page sizes. Some printers also allow you to adjust for the thickness of paper used, like heavyweight cardstock.

Students and environmentally minded consumers may want to consider a printer with a duplexing feature. This feature allows the printer to print double-sided documents on its own. Theres no need to remove and flip the paper manually. You’ll save both paper and time.

HP printers rank among the fastest for double-sided printing.

Best For Features: Hp Smart Tank Plus 651

Courtesy of Best Buy

Though technically neither a laser nor an inkjet printer, the HP Smart Tank Plus 651 uses a cartridge-free ink tank. One bottle of ink should last for approximately two years, making this ideal for anyone who needs to frequently print graphics. In addition to printing in black and color, this printer copies, scans, and faxes. It even has a 35-page document feeder, a 100-sheet tray, and a flatbed scanner.

Along with wireless printing, this all-in-one is compatible with Alexa devices, allowing you to print a document with your voice. But should you need to set up a more complex job, the 2.2-inch touchscreen makes it easy and quick.

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How We Test Photo Printers

From large inkjets to pocket-sized mobile printers, every photo printer we review goes through rigorous testing and evaluation as part of our review process. For photo printing, that involves printing a handful of photos, timing how long each print takes, and then examining the quality of each picture.

Print speed measures the time it takes to print, from the moment we hit “print” until the final photo is ejected from the printer. We do this for single photos and batches of several prints to get a good feel for how long printing takes in a variety of circumstances.

is determined by examining the printed images, noting how well the printer has handled transitions between shades, the sharpness of fine details and how well flesh-tones are reproduced.

Cost of printing is notoriously difficult to estimate for photos, which will use widely varying amounts of ink and color depending upon the image being printed, but we do our best to provide realistic estimates. By dividing the manufacturer’s estimated yield of each cartridge or refill, we can determine the average cost for each individual page or photo print. Where high-capacity ink cartridges and value-priced packages are available, we make sure to include those in our calculations.

Check out all of our printer coverage:

Whats The Difference Between Ink And Toner

If youre unfamiliar with printers, you may accidentally pick up toner instead of ink, or vice versa. Because ink and toner represent the major ongoing costs of having a printer, you should check which one your printer uses before you buy.

So, how do they differ? The difference between ink and toner, primarily, is that one is a liquid and one is a powder. Ink is used in inkjet printers, which physically deposit the ink onto the page. Toner is used in laser printers, where it is statically adhered to the page and then usually thermally bonded to the paper slightly different printing processes, different physical characteristics, the end result being the same: letters on the page.

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A Final Word On Shopping For The Best Home Printers

Although it can be a challenge to find the best home printer for your needs, this guide can help you select the correct model. Whats more is that because there is fierce competition in the home printing market, particularly at the consumer level, youll find that todays home printers are more versatile, include more features and have better overall quality than past models. There are also a wider array of printers to choose from, whether youre looking for an all-in-one, a single-function printer, a laser model or an inkjet printer.

Kodak Mini 2 Instant Photo Printer

The Kodak Mini 2 Instant Photo Printer is a wireless compact photo printer that is about as big as an external hard drive or a power bank. As such, its one of those portable printers that you can just throw into your bag and whip out at parties and events.

Manufactured by one of the biggest film camera brands in the world, it comes as no surprise that the Kodak Mini 2 photo printer produces high-quality prints. This is made possible by its all-in-one cartridge system that combines ink and paper together, as well as its dye sublimation 4Pass printing technology.

This photo printer offers two connectivity options: Bluetooth connection and NFC or Near Field Communication. With NFC, you can connect the device to your phone and print photos in a matter of seconds.

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What Are The Best Photo Printers

In our testing and review of dozens of printers, we found that the best photo printer overall is the Canon Pixma TR8620, one of our favorite all-in-one inkjet printers. It boasts an expanded color palette, with a five-cartridge design that adds pigment black ink for better color and subtle hues.

For a portable printer with excellent photo-printing chops, we have to recommend the Canon Pixma TR150. The printer is small enough to carry in a backpack, but will print documents and photos with great speed and quality.

For anyone printing a lot we recommend the HP Envy 7855, which is the best for printing photos in volume. It balances print quality and ink costs well, with good quality at a reasonable price per photo.

And if you want to print photos on the go from your phone or tablet, we recommend the Kodak Smile Instant Digital Printer, which is great for no-hassle, photo printing on the go. The tiny printer has a streamlined design with minimal buttons and moving parts, so it’s perfect for slipping into a purse, backpack or pocket.

How Should You Choose An All In One Printer

The best all-in-one printers produce high-quality documents and photos, have easy-to-use functions, and are easy to connect. Aside from price, you should pay close attention to each printers list of features, since specific functions like fax capability and compatibility with certain mobile devices varies from one model to the next. Some are built with businesses in mind, with extra-durable designs and high-capacity inks, while printers for the home often have sleeker, compact designs and more media features.

Print QualityAt the end of the day, you want a good quality print out. After all, you can save all the money you like on ink and the printer itself, but if the end results you’re getting are sub-optimal, you’ve wasted your time and money. While most all in one printers deliver good quality printed material for regular black and white text, they do vary when it comes to color and photo printing. We’d always recommend you use a proper photo printer for printing your photographs, but we have considered the quality of image print outs with these all in one models.

While things like wireless printing, personal assistant connections, and the ability to print from smart phones are nice to have features, we wouldn’t say they are vital when it comes to all in one printers. What is important is that your printer is easy to set-up, and simple to install via a Windows PC or laptop.

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Kodak Dock And Wifi Portable Photo Printer

Award:Best for iPhones

WHY WE LIKE IT: This innovative photo printer from Kodak delivers high quality 4×6 keepsake photos and doubles as a smartphone dock and charger.

• Larger than the pocket sized photo printers from Polaroid
• No SD or micro SD card slots

This portable photo printer is designed to print from your mobile phone or directly from a digital camera via USB or micro USB or Kodaks pict bridge software. It also serves as a charging dock, and can power up to two mobile devices simultaneously, a nice extra. Unlike the HP Sprocket photo printer, it has built-in Wifi, and it will print directly from a Wifi-enabled digital camera like a Sony A7, Canon 6D Mk II or Nikon Z6.

The prints are 4 x 6 from this photo printer, making them significantly larger than the prints from Polaroids ZIP and HPs Sprocket compact photo printer. The Kodak doesnt make use of ZINK paper, meaning it has a traditional ink cartridge, though the cartridge does offer up to 120 prints per refill. The best printer for the office is all about work, while this is for people who want the best photos. You can also find other great printer options in our best printer computer guide.

How To Find Black Friday Printer Deals

Your usual Black Friday shopping may focus on sites like Amazon and Best Buy, and there may be a handful of printer deals on those sites, but the majority of sales will be focused on more enticing products, like TVs and gaming stuff.

To score a great deal on a printer, or related product, pay attention to retailers that focus on office supplies. Retailers like Staples and Newegg may not be as well known for big-ticket sales, but during Black Friday they’re just as interested in getting shoppers in the door. If you’re shopping for a discounted printer or cheap ink during the shopping holiday, these are the stores to keep an eye on.

The other place to look is manufacturer pages. Printer makers often have their own deals on Black Friday, so check the websites for the best printer brands: Brother, Canon, Epson and HP.

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What Ink Cartridges Are Compatible With Your Printer

Before you buy an ink cartridge, you need to make sure its compatible with your all-in-one printer. If you get the wrong type, youll be stuck with an out-of-commission printer while you deal with the return and exchange process.

First, you need to find out what model printer you have. The model name and number are usually displayed on the front panel of your printer. If its not there, check the top of the printer, then the cartridge access area or inside the ink access door. In the rare case you cant find it anywhere on your printer, it will definitely be printed in the owners manual.

Then go to the manufacturers website. Big names, such as HP, Canon and Epson, all have complete lists of all the printer models they sell. Searching for your printer is easy when have the model number. Once youve found your model, youll see a list of compatible ink cartridges. Once you know the type of cartridge your printer takes, you can buy directly from the manufacturer or Amazon or search for deals at discount ink cartridge stores.

Cheaper Options For All

You dont have to sacrifice much to get a great all-in-one printer on the cheap. When you dip down below about $150, youd be surprised at how much value you can get for your money. Youre looking at, typically, an inkjet printer, which still packs all the standard print/copy/scan features, and even formerly advanced features like WiFi, app support, and automatic ink refills are now becoming standard at this price point.

What youll likely lose are options like automatic document feeding, higher print speeds, and on-device screens. But really, if you just need to cover the basics? You can do just fine with our favorite budget pick, the HP Envy Pro 6055.

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Best Laser Printers Right Now

Reasons to buy

Reasons to avoid

The Brother MFC-L2750DW is a monochrome laser printer that delivers pretty much everything you want in an all-in-one printer. Made for small office use, this unit has a monthly duty cycle of 15,000 pages that handles pages quickly and affordably, with some of the best print speeds we’ve seen and printing costs as low as 2.7 cents per page.

The printer is also loaded with handy features like scanning and copying, fax capability, and a second paper tray. Two-sided copies are extra quick, thanks to two-sided scanning that captures the front and back of a page simultaneously and an automatic duplexer for two-sided printing. The printer even produced two-sided documents faster than some competitors printed one-sided pages. The MFC-L2750DW is especially convenient for an office printer, with easy connectivity that includes mobile printing.

This printer may cost a bit more up front, but the Brother MFC-L2750DW is the best combination of print quality, speed and value we’ve seen in a laser printer, which is why it’s our Editors’ Choice.

Read our full Brother MFC-L2750DW review.

Reasons to avoid

The Brother HL-L2390DW is a monochrome, laser, all-in-one printer that offers one thing rarely seen in a laser printer: a low price of entry. And while the cost may catch the eye of home and small-office users, the performance and feature set are nothing to scoff at, either.

Read our full Brother HL-L2390DW review.

Reasons to buy

Reasons to avoid