As more and more people choose to archive their documents, photos, and files in Google Drive, iCloud, and other cloud storage services, the popularity of printers has declined in the past decade. However, the past few years have forced us to rethink the way we study, work and study, and the humble printer has ushered in a renaissance. If you need one of the best home printers, then any of these printers can do the job brilliantly.

Reason to buy: Epson's EcoTank ET-2850 has the cost-effectiveness of a laser printer and the original quality of an inkjet printer, and can print rich photos.

Applicable objects: families who need color inkjet but are worried about the cost of printing.

Why did we choose Epson EcoTank ET-2850:

Epson's EcoTank printer requires higher upfront investment costs, but it can be compensated by more affordable ink refills. Unlike traditional ink cartridges, you can purchase a large bottle of replacement ink and refill the ink tank in the printer. The printer comes with four ink bottles—a black ink bottle, as well as cyan, yellow, and magenta—each ink bottle provides the equivalent of 90 individual ink cartridges. With four bottles, you can save 360 ​​plastic cartridges without having to go to the landfill. This not only reduces the burden on your wallet, but also reduces waste and is good for the environment. EcoTank ET-2850 is equipped with an ultra-high-yield replacement ink bottle. Epson claims that this ink bottle can be used in most typical households for up to two years!

When printed on Epson photo paper, Epson's ink technology can also produce some amazing photos.

This multifunctional printer is equipped with double-sided printing, a flatbed scanner on the top to meet the needs of document and photo archiving, as well as copy functions, which is very suitable for small home offices that do not require an automatic document feeder. EcoTank ET-2850 is not the fastest printer on the market, but the speed is up to 10 pages per minute, which is sufficient for contracts or forms that occasionally need to be printed. The small 1.44-inch color touch screen helps you manage the top settings of the printer, and supports wireless printing, so you can print from your smartphone or tablet for use by the PC family.

Reason for buying: Canon's Pixma iP8720 can provide colorful photo printing in a variety of sizes and formats.

Suitable for the crowd: aspiring photographers and craftsmen.

Why we choose Canon Pixma iP8720:

The Canon Pixma iP8720 is designed for budding photographers in your home. It is an omnipotent printer, from tax bills and documents to making beautiful color photo prints. This printer supports a variety of paper sizes, from 4 x 6 photos to 8.5 x 11 letter-size documents, to framed portraits up to 13 x 19 inches. Larger size support means you can really zoom in on the spectacular photos you just took on your smartphone, making it an ideal solution for production, scrapbooking, and photo printing.

Canon promises to provide a print resolution of 9600 x 2400 dpi, which can produce stunning, detailed and vivid color photos through the company's all-lithographic inkjet nozzle engineering or FINE printing technology. This printer is equipped with Wi-Fi, you can print content from your smartphone through a supporting application, or print content directly from the cloud, without connecting a printer, and easily convert your pixels into exquisite artworks.

Reason for purchase: HP’s Neverstop Laser 1001nw sacrifices color to support fast printing speed and economical document printing costs.

Target audience: Researchers and professionals working at home, who mainly print text-based documents and PDFs.

Why we choose HP Neverstop Laser 1001nw:

If your home needs to print copies of academic journals, tax forms, contracts, and text-based PDFs, in the long run, having a black and white laser printer can greatly save your printing costs. HP’s Neverstop Laser 1001nw is an excellent single-function laser printer that can print up to 5,000 pages with bundled toner at a cost of about 3 cents per page. Neverstop Laser 1001nw's affordable printing costs make it ideal for home offices, families with children, and even college students looking for an affordable printer.

Neverstop is also a high-speed laser printer with a printing speed of up to 21 pages per minute, and the first page can be completed in just 9 seconds. Compared with inkjet printers, the trade-off is that Neverstop is not designed for photo or color printing. But don't let the black and white world of Neverstop fool you-this printer is still equipped with many modern facilities. It has an LED display, supports mobile printing, is compatible with HP's excellent smart phone smart printing application, and built-in Wi-Fi support.

Reason to buy: HP Envy Inspire 7900e combines HP's best inkjet printing technology with outstanding home office functions.

Applicable objects: families with multiple printing needs and families sensitive to printer noise.

Why did we choose HP Envy Inspire 7900e:

This all-in-one machine can not only print, scan, copy and even fax-through the accompanying smartphone app and optional subscription digital fax service-it also incorporates the best inkjet printing technology from HP's various brands . Compared with the previous Envy printers, the HP Envy Inspire 7900e is more inspired by the design of the HP OfficeJet Pro series. It is a fast printer that can print up to 15 pages per minute. Automatic two-sided printing, flatbed scanner and top automatic document feeder, and mobile printing support complete some of the basic functions of this printer.

For families with more diversified printing projects, HP Envy Inspire 7900e also supports ink cartridges that use the company's new ink formula. This translates into stunning photo output, which makes HP Envy Inspire 7900e a versatile household staple, and it is also good at printing tax forms with clear text when printing vivid vacation photos.

The HP Envy Inspire 7900e has a quiet mode that reduces noise output by 40%, so you will not distract family members working in the same room, for those who need to squeeze into and share a common home office. The only downside is that the Envy Inspire 7900e is not technically available yet-it will be launched later this year. At the same time, if you need a suitable alternative, be sure to check out the company's OfficeJet Pro series.

Traditionally, laser printers require higher upfront costs, but toner has a longer service life and is more affordable in the long run. On the other hand, the upfront price of inkjet printers is relatively cheaper, but if you do a lot of printing, please be prepared to stock replacement ink. Modern inkjet printers with ink cartridges, such as Epson’s EcoTank on our list, are balancing the playing field with ultra-high-yield refillable ink cartridges that come through affordable and sustainable ink refills rather than cartridge replacement Reduce the cost per page.

In addition to economy, laser printers are better at printing fine text. When you print documents with finer fonts, the details will be obvious. Laser printers are also available in color versions, which are ideal for home businesses that need to print flyers, business cards, brochures, or other marketing materials. In addition to being able to process text-based documents, inkjet printers are also more suitable for color and photo printing, so they are likely to be more versatile home printers.

If you buy a laser printer in the market, be sure to check out our selection of the top color laser printers on the market. We also listed the best inkjet printers you can buy today.

No, most inkjet printers and multifunction inkjet printers are designed to meet the needs of document and photo printing. Some companies, such as Epson, even claim that photos printed on their printers—especially when paired with the company's own photo paper—can be stored for at least 100 years and will not fade when stored in an archive environment.

In view of the limited space in most homes and dormitories, you'd better choose a multifunction printer that can meet all your copying, scanning, archiving and printing needs. However, if you have more powerful printing needs, be sure to check out our selection of some of the best all-in-one printers on the market. Business users will want to see our best selection of best small business printers.

Many manufacturers support high-yield or ultra-high-yield printer cartridges or toner, which will be a little more upfront cost than standard cartridge sizes. However, you will be able to get more ink from larger capacity toners and ink cartridges, so you will save money in the long run.

To calculate the cost of your printing, divide the total cost of your ink cartridges or toner by the output or the number of pages that the manufacturer expects the toner can use. For example, a $35 ink cartridge can print 300 pages at a cost of less than 12 cents per page.

Some manufacturers, such as HP, even offer managed printing subscription services. For example, HP will ship new print cartridges to you immediately before you run out based on data collected from Internet-connected printers.

Generally, if you want to print flyers, documents or PDFs, any standard printer or copy paper will do. If you are working on a creative project, you can find heavier paper and paper of different sizes. There are specialty papers for brochures, business cards, greeting cards, flyers, photos and other printing projects.

Some printer manufacturers even provide downloadable templates through smartphone apps or on your desktop or laptop. Some of these projects and templates include calendars, stationery, and even prints for coloring projects.

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