What are All-in-One Printers?

All-in-one printers are convenient devices that are useful to many people and have gained a lot of popularity with businesses as well. Everyone needs to print something every now and then–but companies and people working from home are the most important clients looking for the best all-in-one printers. The main advantage these devices have is that they are multifunctional, so they combine many functions you may need. Your average all-in-one printer can print, copy, and scan, but there are many other options available that you can shop for, according to your needs and budget. They are also usually quite compact, so they won’t take much space in your office or home.

What Should You Look for When Buying All-in-One Printers?

You should always put in a little research before buying electronic devices, and all-in-one printers are no exception. In fact, due to their multiple functions, you probably should pay even more attention and consider all aspects.

• Size: First, you need to decide on the size. Your printer needs to have all the capabilities you want, but also has to fit the available space. And since offices sometimes tend to be crowded, make sure you measure correctly before looking for the best all-in-one printers, as they come in many sizes. Laser printers will tend to be much bigger than inkjet printers–so that might tip the scales in deciding which to buy.

• What do you want to print: The next thing you need to consider is whether you need inkjet or laser technology. It all depends on what you need printed most of the time. Laser printers are best if you want to print a lot of documents. If you want to print photos, you should lean towards an inkjet printer–unless you want to invest in a color laser printer.  

• Speed: You must also decide how fast you need your printer to be. Inkjet printers are slower, but they do a better job with photos, while laser printers are fast and great for documents, even colored ones. 

• Price: The price is another issue. Keep in mind that although laser printers are more expensive at the outset, you won’t need to replace the toner cartridge as often as you would have to replace inkjet cartridges on an inkjet printer. 

• Scanning, Copying, Faxing: You need to decide what features you need, so you can choose correctly from the best all-in-one printers. A high-quality scanner is very helpful, but it will also increase the price. A fax feature is also common among many all-in-one printers, and you can even have the option to store fax numbers or even schedule an outgoing fax document.

The best all-in-one printers have other cool features, like printing on both sides of the paper or straight onto DVDs. If it is a WiFi printer, you can even control them remotely using the Internet. But while many of the options they offer are very useful, you need to make sure you don’t get tempted by functions that sound interesting but aren’t useful for your particular needs, and also raise the price too much. Money is usually an important aspect, but don’t worry. If you carefully go through the affordable all-in-one printers available, you will definitely find the one that fits your checklist.

Why Should You Consider Buying an All in One Printer?

Well, first of all, an all-in-one saves space. You have all the devices you need in one place, and you can thus organize your office better. And then, all-in-one printers are functionally attractive. You can scan, print, copy and fax whenever and however you need. They are like your own little personal assistant.

Main Pros and Cons of All-in-One Printers

Multifunction printers have many positive effects on your activity. You have all the features you need in the comfort of your own office, without taking much space. You save a lot on hardware expenses, and toner and get the speed you need.

However, it all depends on how many people are using the all-in-one printer. If you have a busy office, chances are that you will get a traffic jam if everyone needs to copy or scan at the same time.

What are the Main Features of All-in-One Printers?

There are some features that most all-in-one printers share, like copying, scanning, and faxing options, apart from the simple printing. Depending on your particular needs, there are also other things you need to look for before deciding to buy. Print speed and quality are essential, as well as duty cycle, and ink replacement costs, if you don’t choose a laser printer. The scanner is also important, so make sure it has a good resolution and OCR (= optical character recognition) software. For the copying feature, search for high speed, document sizing, and an automatic document feeder. Speed is also crucial for the fax, as well as its memory. And don’t forget your device needs to be easily connected to Wi-Fi.

Top 5 All-in-One Printers

The market for all-in-one printers is quite competitive, so you will have many brands to choose from. Here are the most popular choices you should take into consideration:

• Brother Compact Monochrome All-in-One Wireless Laser Printer (Model No. MFCL2750DW)

This is a great choice for offices with heavy printing needs. It is distinguished by its compact size, high speed of 36 pages per minute, large paper capacity, excellent wireless printing, and the ability to scan in many formats.

Brother Compact Monochrome All-in-One Wireless Laser Printer

• HP OfficeJet 5255 Wireless All-in-One Printer

This is a small and very versatile inkjet printer which is definitely worth looking into. It has automatic two-sided printing, easy Wi-Fi setup, and it scans, copies and faxes at great speed. Another aspect worth mentioning is that it ensures a low cost per page. It can print on letter-size paper, legal-size paper, 4” x 6”, 5” x 7”, 8” x 10”, and envelopes.

HP OfficeJet 5255 Wireless All-in-One Printer

• HP LaserJet Pro M148dw All-in-One Wireless Monochrome Laser Printer

This is one of the best choices the HP store offers for black-and-white all-in-one printers. Its toner cartridge can suffice for over 1000 pages, and it will print at 30 pages per minute. It uses the HP Smart App, and you can save time by printing straight from your mobile device using the Wi-Fi Direct app, even without a network. You will get professional quality, and the running costs are acceptable.

HP LaserJet Pro MFP M148dw

• HP OfficeJet Pro 8025 All-in-One Wireless Printer

This HP is perfect for a small business or people working from home. It’s smaller than it’s predecessor (the HP OfficeJet Pro 6968), and it has high speed, two-sided printing, and professional quality when it comes to colors and can handle many tasks without losing speed. It can create a searchable PDF, whether you scan the document from your phone or from the printer itself.

HP OfficeJet Pro 8025 All-in-One Wireless Printer

• Canon PIXMA MG3620 Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer

This Canon is considered one of the best all-in-one printers by many customers, as you can see by reading the reviews. It has a high resolution of up to 1200 x 2400 dots per inch, quick wireless setup (using either Airprint, Google Cloud Print, Mopria, or Canon Print,as well as Near Field Communication, which lets you print even if there is no Internet connection in the area), great printing options, and has a nice space-saving design. You can easily print from your mobile or tablet.

Canon Pixma MG3620 Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer

Final Verdict

All-in-one printers are a great invention. We live in a world where we have increasing demands from our devices and expect them to have as many functions as possible–and that’s exactly the need that these printers fill. They save space, time, money, and are easy to use. Just be sure you take into account the amount of work and the number of people who will need to use it, to make sure you make the best decision.