This process tends to self-select slightly older models that have been around long enough to accrue abundant reviews. But since you want a reliable machine, this approach is a great way to pick the top contenders. More: The best cheap printers make affordable, quality prints at home ZDNET experts have analyzed the top three printers with excellent sentiment ratings in each category: Also: See how the top 10 inkjet printers compare: Epson, HP, Brother, and more The EcoTank printer comes with ink tanks that you refill from bottled ink. Epson estimates that one set of ink bottles provides the equivalent of about 80 cartridges. If you print often, especially in color, this cartridge-free approach can save you a lot of money. The EcoTank’s print speed is 10.5ppm for black and white, and half that for color. Plus, this unit includes Wi-Fi direct so you can print without connecting to a router. A big win is it includes enough ink to print 6,500 pages black and 5,200 color, which may justify the printer’s price upfront. While the standout fact of this printer is price, it’s worth noting that it comes in more than just white. There’s a blue and white, and a flashback-to-the-70s sea green as well. We’d classify this as an almost all-in-one. It’s got the usual print, copy, and scan features, but leaves out fax. While most buyers many not care about fax, fax machines are still a billion dollar market – and it’s expected to have a compound annual growth rate of 4.93% over the next five years. This Deskjet 3755 printer is cloud-enabled and connects via Wi-Fi. You can scan documents straight to Google Drive, Dropbox, and iCloud. It prints from 3.5" all the way up to 8.5 x 14", and can even handle envelopes. Plus, it features a 60 sheet paper tray and can print at 8 ppm black, 5.5 ppm color. One big win: it includes two full print cartridges in the box. At $89, this is a happy little printer. You can print from your Android or iOS device and computer via Wi-Fi. Plus, you can also scan and copy documents quickly. Also: See how we rank the top 9 laser printers: HP, Canon, Xerox and more However, these machines don’t print full-page glossy images. Instead, these are small form printers that produce classic film photos. Let’s kick off our list of top-sentiment photo printers with this Fujifilm winner: This photo printer averages five stars with more than 10,000 ratings. Think about that. It’s a printer with more than 13,500 ratings and a five-star average. That’s almost absolutely, totally, and in all other ways inconceivable. For. A. Printer. Folks love this thing. It’s a portable printer that spits out snapshot-sized prints. And it’s portable, so you can bring it to parties or on vacation for hand-sized images everywhere. Plus, it uses the same film as the Fujifilm Instax camera line. Clearly, this is meant to appeal to a certain type of user, but if you’re that user (or you want to buy a gift for them), this Fujifulm will undoubtedly bring some level of joy and happiness – again, not a phrase one would associate with a printer. This printer makes sticker sheets with the option to print circular stickers. What makes this printer stand out over the Kodak next on our list is that you can print Instagram and Facebook images right from your smartphone. Beware: this is a smartphone-only printer that connects to Android and iOS, but not Windows or MacOS. This small, inexpensive device prints on 2x3-inch sticky-backed paper that can adhere to just about anything. It’s a bit of a novelty printer, but with a smartphone in every pocket, it makes sense. You can surround yourself with memories or scrapbook special moments easily with this niche device. Urban Dictionary defines Kodak as “Something old, outdated, unfashionable, out of style, irrelevant, passe.” Ouch! Even so, something’s clearly working for Kodak, because the brand has picked up its second win in the sentiment contest for photo printers: The Kodak Step. Despite its enormous popularity, at first I doubted the appeal. Who needs a printer for stickers? But then I started working on a project where this printer’s services would be ideal. I reached out to Kodak and they sent one. My ultimate USB charging tower prototype was the result, and the Kodak Step was instrumental in making it come together. This is a monochrome laser printer. That’s it. There’s no faxing or copying or any of that fancy stuff. Just print lots of pages nice and fast. The printer itself is relatively compact, offers a 250 sheet paper capacity, and 32 pages per minute print speed. This powerful little beast connects via USB or Wi-Fi, and you can print directly from your smartphone. This printer is an inexpensive workhorse. If you need to print a lot of black and white pages for a decent price, this is the printer for you. This Brother printer costs roughly $120, and it offers duplex printing at 27 pages per minute. With a 250 sheet paper bin, it’s a capable device. However, it only connects via USB 2.0 – no Wi-Fi, no AirPrint, no Google Cloud Print. Not even Ethernet. Just plug in a USB cable from your computer to the printer, and print away. An HP monochrome laser printer managed to show on our sentiment list this time. When we previously updated this guide, Brother completely monopolized this segment of our guide. But now, HP’s M110ww is giving Brother a run for its money. It connects over Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and USB, and can print up to 21ppm. But what sets this apart from others in its class is its small size. Most laser printers are much larger. This gets the job done without occupying half your desk. You can follow my day-to-day project updates on social media. Be sure to follow me on Twitter at @DavidGewirtz, on Facebook at Facebook.com/DavidGewirtz, on Instagram at Instagram.com/DavidGewirtz, and on YouTube at YouTube.com/DavidGewirtzTV. I’d recommend not basing your decision solely on printer price. Consider the cost of ink and how often you’ll need to replenish ink source. If you factor that into overall cost, you’ll get a better idea of which printers are best for your budget and needs.
