The sheer range of business printers is bewildering and with the many manufacturers in the market after your money, making the right decision can be tough, which is why we've created this guide to show you the 10 best business printers for your office.
The choice can be doubly tough when you realise why there is so much competition; the real money is made on the many consumables your business will be purchasing to maintain that new printer purchase. What might initially seem like modest costs can soon add up over time.
So where do you need to start? Even the most modest office will likely be networked, and sharing a resource as useful as a printer is an essential. So you should only be looking at printers that are capable of networked use. Wired offers speed and robust function for a fixed office. Wireless is flexible, cheap to deploy but not as fast in use.
Here are the best 10 printers for businesses - as chosen by the Techradar Pro team - large and small, from a basic monochrome lasers suitable for a small business and a home office through to a small departmental multifunction printer .
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The notion of the large, expensive laser printer should have long been dispelled and if nothing else can do that then the Ricoh SP-213w will. This small-footprint mono printer costs less than many inkjets but has the capability to provide basic wireless-based print services to a home office or smaller office. With a monthly duty cycle of 20,000 pages per month, a 1200 x 600dpi print resolution and a print speed of up to 22 pages per minute, its small size shouldn't hide the fact that this could be a little workhorse. Beyond these basics, the Ricoh SP-213w offers manual duplex, a Print and Scan mobile app, support for PCL and a two-year pan-European warranty.
If you want an affordable printer for your business that excels in black and white print quality - and is a speedy performer to boot - then you really can't go wrong with the Samsung Xpress M2835DW. Its small and compact body contains a huge host of features, and its easy to use and understand buttons makes quickly firing off prints a piece of cake.
It supports both wired and Wi-Fi connectivity, runs quietly and can even be controlled via smartphone. Its Eco mode allows you to control the amount of power and ink it consumes while printing, and overall this is an absolutely fantastic business printer.
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There was a time, not so long ago, when colour laser printing was exorbitant. That has fortunately changed with the likes of the Ricoh SPC-240DN doing their best to bring prices down. This is a massive printer at nearly 24kg so you will need to have a strong back and enough desk space to take it on board. Its starter toner kit will produce around 1000 pages and probably better than inkjet ones which dry out with time. It can print up to 16 pages per minute (colour or mono) and has a duty cycle of 30,000 pages per month. It offers both Ethernet and USB ports and, with a 250-page input paper tray, has enough to make a small office pleased. However, at 600 x 600dpi, its print resolution may leave some wanting for more.
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The HP PageWide Pro 477dw isn't going to win any design awards but what it lacks in aesthetics it really does make up for in functionality and speed. This entry-level office multi-function inkjet printer offers all the standard print, copy, scan and fax features you'd want to see in an office workhorse. Add to that wired Ethernet alongside wireless networking and it has all the connectivity, too (including Wi-Fi Direct and NFC). Suited to the home and smaller small office, it has a conveniently compact footprint, until you open its paper trays to print. A top speed of 55ppm is stunning for this class of printer, particularly considering its asking price. The inclusion of a 50-sheet automatic document feeder adds to an all-round excellent paper handling capability. Its ability to multitask with print and copy jobs nicely complements the large touch-capable LCD screen.
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Consumables are usually expensive when it comes to printers. So it is quite surprising that one vendor, Epson, single-handedly decided to challenge that status quo by allowing users to refill their printer using ink bottles. What's even more surprising is that Epson includes two years of ink with the package; no more expensive cartridges and instead, you have enough material to deliver 11,000 pages worth of black and colour inks (that's 700ml worth of liquid). Oh and there's even a three-year warranty making this a great choice for bean counters fixing the TCO of their printers. The ET-4550 lacks the features found on cheaper competitors - it is relatively slower (although it has a higher printing resolution) and has a small paper input tray.
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Ricoh makes it four in our shortlist with the SG-2100N, a bargain basement printer that brings together the best of inkjet and laser technology. It delivers the sort of performance usually associated with devices costing three times its price. A water insoluble, viscous ink combined with a higher-than-average print resolution and a print speed - 29ppm - that surpasses anything at this price range (albeit in draft) make this Ricoh printer one of the best on the market for very small offices. Other features worth noting are manual duplex capabilities, a two-year onsite warranty (parts and labour), a well thought out design, affordable consumables, an Ethernet port and a generous input paper tray.
Read the full review: Ricoh SG-2100N
dell1
This is a colour laser printer, plain and simple. It has a relatively small footprint on the desk thanks to a surprisingly compact design. The printer is fitted with a 150-sheet main paper tray and a 100-sheet output tray, with an integrated drum/fuser unit and manual duplexing capabilities. Controls are adequate, with a two-line LCD display and a number of buttons for basic menu navigation. The C1760NW also offers an Ethernet connector, 802.11n Wi-Fi and a USB 2.0 port; although there is no USB host connectivity. The printer is aimed at office or small workgroups and has a high-rated speed of 15ppm for black and colour. This is a good workhorse for everyday printing, where colour isn't a major part of the mix.
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This is a heavyweight colour laser multifunction device intended for small business or workgroup use. Its slabby black and white design is functional and includes a large touchscreen for control, though the printer is only rated up to a recommended 3,000 pages per month. The MFC-L8650CDW includes a 50-sheet automatic document feeder which handles duplex scans and the printer offers duplex copying and printing as well; a welcome surprise! It's rated at 28ppm for both black and colour prints dropping to about seven sheets when printing in duplex. It can handle input from USB, Ethernet or via wireless hook-up, with support for iOS and Android mobiles. A USB port offers scanning to and printing from USB drives.
brother2
If only the fastest printer will do, then consider the HL-S7000DN . Surprisingly enough, it is an inkjet printer rather than a laser one. It's fast enough to print out the entire contents of the Bible (Old and New Testaments) in about 20 minutes at the speed of 100 pages per minute (that's roughly 500 words per second). If your needs are less ambitious, then the 500-sheet capacity of its input and output tray should suffice. There's also a 100-sheet multipurpose tray to accommodate other media types. As expected, it prints at a resolution of 600 x 600dpi, has a Gigabit Ethernet LAN port, Wi-Fi and a USB 2.0 port. Its maximum monthly duty cycle, 275,000 pages or 16 A4 reams printed every day, should satisfy even the busiest offices.
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You may think of fridges and smartphones before office and business printers when you hear the name Samsung, but the company has a very good reputation for laser printers in particular. The Samsung Multifunction Printer ProXpress C3060FW is a great demonstration of Samsung's proficiency in this area, with an easy-to-use design and plenty of options to expand the printer if your needs change.
While there are more specialised business printers out there that focus on excelling on one thing, such as high speed and volume printing, the Samsung Multifunction Printer ProXpress C3060FW is a versatile and flexible printer that performs brilliantly for a range of tasks.
How to buy a business printer
Multi-function features can be found across the board and at all cost scales. Basic features start with USB Key and card readers for PC-free printing, moving to scanner and copier functions. At the higher end, automatic document feeders (ADF) can manage 50 copies in a single go and produce booklets including duplex printing, stapling and folding. Often the basic ADF features will accommodate most medium-sized offices.
In the past there has been a marked difference in Cost Per Page (CPP) between lasers and inkjets but in recent years, inkjets have managed to drop their prices to compete. Either way it's important you carefully assess the CPP of each device.
Manufacturers measure the toner or cartridge yields with an industry standard ISO rating. So you can safely assess the total price of replacing all the cartridges or toners divided by the print yield across all the potential models.
The total volume of prints you're going to make also needs to be taken into account. Devices often quote a "duty cycle" monthly maximum and recommended figures. These are the total number of prints it's designed to handle per month. If possible assess the number of prints per employee for the office and ensure the device is capable of meeting your current and future demands.
Finally in the past colour especially for laser printers has demanded a premium, that's not so much the case these days. However these models are still more expensive due to the additional materials required for the toners and printer manufacture. There's still a big enough differential that if you don't need regular colour you should opt for a mono model, perhaps using a cheaper inkjet or even out-of-house printing for occasional colour requirements.
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