Best printers for home and office: Brother, HP, and more

Before anything else, you have to decide between ink and laser. I’ll go into detail when it comes to each model, but the most important consideration is the paper type, as it’s a limitation rather than a benefit. Laser printers use heat in the bonding process, which means if you regularly print on windowed envelopes or photo paper, you’ll need to either use an inkjet printer or change to a thermally safe alternative, which can be expensive if you print a lot.

Inkjet printers are the most common flavor of home printers, and they work as you’d expect, by boiling ink until it sprays through a series of tiny holes. Didn’t you expect that? Me too! Very exciting stuff.

Inkjet printers come in two versions, either with prefilled cartridges or built-in tanks. The latter quickly became more popular thanks to better prices, more convenience, and a massive reduction in wasted plastic. If you’re going to buy a new printer in 2025, you should choose an ink tank, if not a laser printer. They require more work to set up and maintain, since you have to keep the tanks covered, and they must remain in one place on a flat surface to avoid leaks. I can’t imagine many situations where the printer is constantly moving and tilting, but that’s a consideration.

Did you think InkJets were cool? Laser printers work by blowing up a tube filled with dried plastic particles, then fusing them into paper with heat. They tend to cost more upfront, but the cost per page is generally lower. While a $20 ink cartridge can print 200 pages, a $60 ink cartridge can print 2,000 pages. They tend to be much faster than inkjet printers, and you don’t have to worry about them drying out. Plus, the pages come out of the printer nice and warm, and you can’t really put a price on that.

There are also thermal printers that are typically used for receipts or shipping labels. Instead of filling a printer with ink and applying it to a surface, it applies heat in fine patterns to special paper, allowing you to print text and images at low resolution, usually in a single color. If you print shipping labels or simple labels at home, they can save you a lot of time and ink cost, but they have more limitations.

Laser printers are my favorite type, as long as your paper type and budget can support them, but most home users will be happy with an ink tank printer.