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How to Choose the Best Budget Printer for Your Home

Brother budget printer

Looking for the Best Budget Printer for Your Home? Consider These.

Need a reliable low-cost printer for your home? We’ll help you to find one!

Like many others, you are probably looking for the best budget printer for your home because you don’t need or don’t have the luxury to buy a top-tier printer. As long as the printer provides you with the best value for money, it will be perfect for you.

In this guide, you will learn the key cost and quality considerations needed in choosing the best budget printer for your home (or home office).

Why You Need a Budget Printer

You may think that the biggest factor in any printer is its price tag but consider this—the bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten. Often, getting the cheapest printer may not deliver the best value in the long run. Instead, consider buying the best value printer based on your priorities and expected usage.

Here is a list of factors that you should consider:

  • Black and White or Colour Printer
  • Laser or Inkjet Printer
  • Cost of Printer
  • Cost of Ink and Toner Cartridges
  • Page Yield
  • Single Function or All-In-One
Monochrome-VS-Colour-Printer

Black and White or Colour Printer

Given a choice, it is obvious that a colour printer would be your first pick due to its ability to generate multi-coloured prints. But when your pocket is on the line, you have to consider if you truly need colour printouts.

In most cases, black and white printers are cheaper than colour printers.

If you print pictures, brochures, flyers, and other promotional materials frequently at home, then it is probably best to choose a colour printer that is as capable as Brother DCP-T520W Ink Tank Printer.

However, if you regularly print text documents or images without colour, it may be wise to keep your costs low by choosing a black and white printer similar to Brother DCP-L2550DW Monochrome Laser Printer.

Laser-VS-Inkjet-Printer

Laser or Inkjet Printer

Both laser and inkjet print technologies are able to shine at home or in your office. However, there’s a good chance that one will be better at meeting your needs than the other. Let us look at these factors in detail.

Cost of Printer

When considering the cost of the actual printer itself, inkjet printers are usually less expensive than laser printers. This boils down to the technology of how these printers put letters and images on paper.

For inkjet printers, they rely on print heads and nozzles to deliver microscopic liquid ink onto the paper. Laser printers, on the other hand, rely on the electrostatic charge of a laser to transfer the toner on to the paper, and then bond them using heat.

The two distinct technologies mainly affect how big the printer is and how expensive a single printed page is. The cost of a printed page is then determined by its main consumable—the use of ink or toner cartridges.

Cost of Ink and Toner Cartridge

Cost of Ink and Toner Cartridges

The cost of the cartridges is a major factor to pay attention to—because when it comes to consumables, it is the exact opposite.

While inkjet printers may be cheaper than laser printers, the ink cartridges of inkjet printers are significantly more expensive than the toner cartridges of laser printers based on their yield. With this in mind, you’ll have to consider how frequently you will be printing, to justify your overall running cost comprising the price of the printer itself and the printer ink or toner.

Some inkjet printers come with internal ink reservoirs that can be refilled with ink bottles—like the Brother DCP-T420W Refill Tank Printer—to help you save money. However, do keep in mind that with certain inkjet printers that use ink cartridges, dried ink may be an issue if it is left unused over a prolonged period of time.

Once again, toner cartridges have the upper hand. Since they are in dry powder form, laser toners last a lot longer than ink cartridges. This further helps you to avoid unnecessary wastage.

page-yield

Page Yield

Here’s where we get into the nitty gritty of printing costs. To minimize your overall printing budget, you need to carefully consider the page yield of your laser or inkjet printer.

The page yield of a printer is the approximate number of pages you can print with a cartridge. You can easily look it up on online catalogs of the printer itself, or the information on the boxes of the cartridges.

These yields are based on a 5% page coverage, which means having 5% of the page’s total area imprinted with ink or toner. Thus, if a page yield is 600 pages, it means that you can print up to 600 pages with 5% page coverage before the cartridge needs to be replaced. For better context, that is roughly 600 pages worth of short paragraphs or emails.

However, keep in mind that if you are printing more full-bodied prints like a legal document or a full-page color photo, your page yield will decrease significantly.

Generally speaking, the page yields of a laser toner cartridge is significantly higher than the page yields of an inkjet cartridge. A toner cartridge can print between 3,000 to 20,000 pages per cartridge whereas an ink cartridge prints between 135 to 1000 pages per cartridge.

Since each person’s printing needs differ, the actual number of prints changes from user to user. You can take the above example as a rough gauge for your own printing needs.

Multifunction printer

Single Function or All-In-One

Printers nowadays have more than just printing abilities; they often also include scanning, faxing and photocopying capabilities.

Choosing the multi-function or single function printer that best matches your needs can help you to save a lot of money.

There are two common scenarios when considering whether to buy a single function or multifunction printer:

  1. You already have or do not need the other functions as you simply need a printer for its printing function; or
  2. You need multiple functions for your home or home office beyond just printing.

If you fall in the first category, getting a single function printer such as Brother HL-L2375DW is likely to be the cheapest option. Re-evaluating your home needs could help you to clarify your printing and document management needs, allowing you to choose the best printer for your budget.

Other Money-saving Printer Functions

When searching for the best budget printer, don’t just stop at considering its main cost components. The real value of a budget printer lies in its other less prominent features.

Printers that can help you save electricity or use it more efficiently usually have functions such as automatic on-and-off circuitry or a deep sleep mode like Brother HL-L3270CDW.

Auto-duplexing capabilities in printers such as Brother DCP-T720DW Ink Tank Printer also help you to save precious minutes, eliminating the hassle of manually turning the paper around.

Don’t underestimate these features as they can help you to keep your electricity bill down, save ink, save paper, and most importantly, save time!

Conclusion

There is no one-size-fits-all budget printer on this planet. However, we hope that with the above factors and options, you can now make an informed choice on buying the best budget printer for your home!

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How to Find the Most Affordable Computer Printers for Different Uses

Brother Inkjet Printer for office use

How to Pick an Affordable Computer Printer that Best Fits Your Needs

Visit any electronics retailer and it’s easy to lose yourself in a sea of printers. There are inkjet printers, laser printers, tiny photo printers, industrial-sized printers to all-in-one multifunction printers.

And let’s not forget about the wide price ranges of printers — from slightly over a hundred to over a thousand dollars (or more).

Where do you begin to hunt for the right computer printer for your home, office or retail outlet?

In this article, we break down the different features and functions of a computer printer to help you find the best computer printer at the right price that suits your unique needs.

Why You Need an Affordable Computer Printer

Getting a computer printer isn’t just a one-off cost. Over time, there are additional costs involved as you need to constantly “feed” your computer printer with different consumables like paper, ink or toner, as well as electricity. Thus, you should consider your total lifetime cost when computing how much you need to spend on printing.

Here are some pointers to consider when searching for an affordable computer printer.

Cost of Computer Printer — Long Term Considerations

It’s prudent to consider the running costs of operating a computer printer, especially when your printing needs increase for work or for school.

Here are two ways costs can add up over the lifespan of a computer printer.

1. Computer Printer Ink or Toner Price

Computer printer ink or toner is likely to be the highest running cost throughout your computer printer’s life cycle. Most of us would assume that ink cartridges are reasonably priced for cheap inkjet computer printers, but this may not always be the case.

The first thing to consider is what type of printing you need—primarily black and white (monochrome) or colour printing? Colour ink or toner cartridges cost more than black ink or toner cartridges.

2. Printing Paper Costs

Different types of printing paper have different costs. Printing regular documents does not factor much into the overall cost, but if you need to print on special paper, like photos or art pieces, the cost of paper might go up.

Students having a discussion

What Types of Printing Do You Need

Students and working professionals have varied printing needs. Understanding your printing needs would help you to decide which is the best computer printer for students, the office or home.

Laser or Inkjet Computer Printer

Computer printers now offer many different features and functions.

First, you have to decide if you need an inkjet or laser computer printer. Inkjet computer printers are compact and versatile, capable of printing documents, great for colour image printing and producing high-quality photos. They often feature all-in-one capabilities with print, scan and fax functions.

Laser computer printers produce crisp and clean text, perfect if you need to print mostly documents with text. Laser computer printers are also better equipped to handle high volumes of printing.

Single Function or Multifunction Computer Printers

Do you only need to print or would you also need to make copies, scan and fax? Regular or basic computer printers only have one function, which is to print. All-in-One computer printers further provide scanning, faxing and copying capabilities. If you need these additional features, the multi-function computer printers are cheaper than getting separate devices.

Choosing a Computer Printer for Students

If you are a student or you have school-going children in your household, your printing needs are pretty straightforward—school assignments, projects, and reports, with mostly text and occasional colour graphics, charts, or photographs.

Tertiary students preparing for lengthy case studies, theses, or essays may need a sturdy computer printer to deliver heavy-duty printing.

Choosing a Computer Printer for an Office

While we are moving towards a more paperless work environment, there are inevitably situations where printed materials are still needed. It could be sales reports or analytics reports, which may involve colour charts on statistics, or in some cases, presentation decks when clients are concerned.

After a sales pitch, you may wish to leave copies of your proposals in potential clients’ hands. These printouts likely require high-quality colour printing to deliver crisp and sharp images.

Beyond that, photocopying and scanning are two well-used functions in the office, and having a one-stop machine that caters to a range of needs is an asset to any office.

Choosing a Computer Printer for Your Home

Printing needs at home may differ from those in school or the office, unless you are studying or working from home.

Home printing can get a lot more enjoyable, like printing photos of your recent staycation to producing a fun family vacation photo album. Or you may wish to embark on a scrapbook project, where you’d need to print out images to decorate your scrapbook.

Suffice to say, if you are a student purely looking for printing large amounts of black and white text, laser computer printers might be the way to go.

If you require a computer printer for work and need heavy graphics for presentations, both colour laser and inkjet computer printers work for you.

Require a bit of both for your home? Then you’d need to get a computer printer that delivers the best of both worlds.

Printing business documents

How to Share Computer Printer with Multiple Users

Sharing a computer printer with multiple users is commonly seen at home or at your workplace. It’s also one of the best ways to lower costs while still allowing everyone to access printing facilities. Computer printer sharing with different computers and laptops used to be a complicated process—thanks to wireless and remote access computer printers, the days of connecting unwieldy and ugly computer printer cables are mostly over.

For Windows users, go to the Control Panel and select Devices and Printers. Then select “Add a printer”, where you will be asked to choose whether it’s a wireless, networked or Bluetooth printer. Follow the instructions on your screen, and you will be on your way. Alternatively, download and install the driver for optimal printing performance.

For Mac users, it’s equally simple. Download and install the driver, and go to System Preferences, then Print and Scan, and you’ll be able to add the computer printer to your network. ​

Some computer printer models can be wirelessly connected with other electronic devices, such as your mobile phones or tablets. If you have images in your camera to print, transfer your pictures to your mobile device and send them to print, as long as you connect your computer printer to your mobile device. (Certain digital camera models even offer direct wireless connections to computer printers.) ​

The Best Affordable Computer Printers for Students

If you are a student, teacher, or educational professional looking for the most affordable student-friendly computer printer for your needs, Brother has a handful of both laser and inkjet computer printers that tick the boxes on your requirements list.

Brother Laser Computer Printers for Students

Monochrome Laser Computer Printer

DCP-L2550DW (Multi-Function)

  • Print, Scan & Copy
  • Monochrome Laser Computer Printer
  • Automatic 2-sided Printing
  • Wireless Networking
  • Print Quality: Up to 600 x 600 dpi, HQ1200 (Up to 2400 x 600 dpi), Up to 1200 x 1200 dpi
  • Size: 410 mm x 398.5 mm x 318.5 mm

HL-L2375DW (Single Function)

  • Monochrome Laser Computer Printer
  • Automatic 2-sided Printing
  • Wireless Networking
  • Print Quality: Up to 600 x 600 dpi, HQ1200 (Up to 2400 x 600 dpi), Up to 1200 x 1200 dpi
  • Size: 356 mm x 360 mm x 183 mm

Brother Inkjet Computer Printers for Students

DCP-T420W

  • Print, Scan & Copy
  • Colour Inkjet Computer Printer
  • Wireless and mobile printing
  • Print Quality: Up to 1,200 x 6,000 dpi
  • Size: 435 mm x 359 mm x 159 mm

The Best Affordable Computer Printers for Offices

For working professionals in the office, factory, retail outlet or other workplaces, you’ll need a computer printer that has multiple functions as well as colour printing capabilities to impress your clients with. Consider these recommendations from Brother.

Brother Inkjet Computer Printer for Offices

MFC-T920DW

  • Print, Scan, Copy & Fax
  • Colour Inkjet Printer
  • Automatic 2-sided Printing
  • Wired and Wireless Networking
  • Print Quality: Up to 1,200 x 6000 dpi

The Best Affordable Computer Printers for Homes

Finally, for your homes, you’ll need either laser or inkjet computer printers that have a good balance between functions, speed, and flexibility. Do also consider the ability to print in colour—a must for those fun family projects!

Brother Laser Computer Printer for Home

MFC-L3770CDW

  • Print, Scan, Copy & Fax
  • Colour LED Computer Printer
  • Automatic 2-sided Printing, Scanning, Copying and Faxing
  • Wireless Networking
  • Print Quality: Up to 600 x 600 dpi, 2,400 dpi (600 x 2400)

Brother Inkjet Computer Printer for Home

DCP-T520W

  • Print, Scan & Copy
  • Colour Inkjet Computer Printer
  • Wireless and mobile printing
  • Print Quality: Windows: Up to 1,200 x 6,000 dpi
  • Size: 435 mm x 380 mm x 159 mm

With a clearer picture of your needs and what’s available, you’re now ready to find the best affordable computer printer for your unique uses!

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How To Choose The Right Laser Printer For Home Use

close up of printer on home table

Looking For The Perfect Laser Printer? Here Are 10 Top Factors To Consider

Are you looking for a laser printer for your home? Wondering if a laser printer is a worthwhile investment?

Contrary to conventional wisdom, it makes perfect sense for families and home-based businesses to buy laser printers. The main advantages of laser printers are their greater speed, durability, precision, and economy. Indeed, a laser printer can move very quickly, allowing it to churn out documents and images at a much greater speed than the average inkjet printer.

Furthermore, thanks to the advancement of technology, laser printers are now becoming more accessible for home and personal use. The prices for many models have come down considerably and their sizes are getting smaller too!

To decide if you should give laser printers a shot, you may need to first think about your expected usage.

Do You Need a Laser Printer?

Do you frequently need to print high volumes of black and white documents?

Value having clear and sharp text on your printouts?

Always need your printing jobs done in a hurry?

If your answers to the above questions are “Yes,” then it’s likely that you and your laser printer will be a match made in heaven.

But don’t go running off to the electronic or hardware stores yet. You need to first consider the pros and cons of laser printers.

Pros of Laser Printers at a Glance:

  • Laser printers are built for speed and volume. If you are a high-volume user who appreciates efficiency, this will definitely spark your interest.
  • Laser printers also produce crisp, sharp text. If your print jobs are mostly text documents with the occasional image or two, laser is probably your best bet.
  • Laser printers tend to have a lower cost per page. Although toners are more expensive, you will get higher yield in terms of more pages out of a toner cartridge compared to a traditional inkjet cartridge.
  • Most lasers also come equipped with high capacity paper trays which saves you the hassle of constantly having to top up paper.

Cons of Laser Printers at a Glance:

  • The upfront cost of a laser printer is usually higher, although the newer models are surprisingly affordable.
  • Laser printers cannot handle photographic paper but inkjet printers can.
  • Laser printers tend to be bigger and thus would take up a larger footprint in your home.

What to Consider When Buying a Laser Printer for Your Home

1. Upfront Cost

When it comes to buying a laser printer, your first consideration is typically the cost of the printer itself. While you may desire certain features in your printer, it is often your budget that will take up the bulk of your decision-making process.

If affordability is top of mind for you, you may want to check out the Brother DCP-L2550DW. This laser workhorse is designed for personal productivity and cost-efficiency, and the bonus is that it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. It is also multi-functional, with wireless and mobile printing features, as well as scanning and photocopying capabilities.

2. Size of Printer

With their relatively larger footprint, laser printers in the past tend to only be found in offices and other professional work settings. However, there have been notable improvements in this area in the past few years, resulting in the creation of consumer-friendly laser printers that are smaller and more suitable for home use.

Arguably though, if you only have limited space on a desk, it may be easier to find an inkjet that fits into that smaller space. However, if space is not an issue for you, do consider getting a laser printer for its speed and efficiency.

3. Printer Connectivity

Most modern printers — whether inkjet or laser — offer various forms of connectivity such as Wi-Fi and Ethernet.

If you prefer to directly communicate with your printer from your mobile phone, look for Wi-Fi Direct capability. This allows a direct connection to be established between your device and the printer. Near Field Communication (NFC) is another feature to look out for. With NFC-enabled printers, you can print or scan directly from your mobile devices. Simply place your NFC-enabled mobile devices over the NFC tags on the printer to establish the connection.

You may also want to consider the ease of printing from Cloud services such as Google Docs, Dropbox, OneDrive, and Evernote. Do read up on the different services that your ideal printer supports, as this could translate into time (and sanity!) savings. It would be a breeze to print from Cloud services without needing to use a computer.

As a leading edge printer company, Brother offers direct Cloud printing services on its range of modern laser printers.

4. Types of Functions

Before rushing out to buy your new laser printer, you’ll have to ask yourself what types of documents you will be printing to determine the type of printer you should get.

These days, laser printers often come equipped with useful functions such as scanning and copying. You may not use these features frequently, but when you do need to call upon them—for instance in scanning your child’s educational certificates, or your testimonial letters—it’s nice to know that you have them all available at a touch of a screen/button.

Fancy being able to send scans directly from your printer to your mobile device or email? With Brother Cloud Apps—a free suite of innovative, cloud-based applications—now you can!

5. Types of Print Jobs

Laser printers are specifically built to quickly print out large numbers of documents and pages, whilst inkjet printing is generally a better fit for occasional or low-volume print usage.

Wish to have the versatility of printing both images and photos? You may need to weigh your options more carefully here.

Colour lasers offer superior print quality and colour depth and richness — if you are talking about printing on normal paper — but if you need to print on photo paper for poster quality prints, nothing beats an inkjet printer.

6.Black and White vs Colour

With the technological advancements in laser printers, the quality of both their monochrome (black and white) and colour prints have seen vast improvements in recent years. As such, whether you’re printing photos for personal use or professional use, you can expect excellent colour prints from your laser printer.

7. Print Speed

When it comes to speed, laser printers beat their inkjet counterparts hands down. These mean machines can churn out around 40-50 pages per minute while inkjet printers print at a more gentle speed of 16-20 pages per minute.

When comparing your printer’s pages per minute (ppm) rating, do bear in mind that such ratings usually depict printing under optimal conditions—usually with documents consisting of unformatted black text sent to the printer. Once factors such as document formatting, colour, and images are thrown in, your print speeds may slow down.

8. Cost of Toner

When purchasing a laser printer, the cost of replacement toner needs to be considered in addition to the initial upfront cost. ​

You may also need to take into account the cost of other consumables such as a replacement drum unit, which transfers the toner onto the paper, over the long-term.

9.Paper Handling

Most printers can handle paper up to A4 sizes, so if you’re looking at printing documents on A3 paper, your options may shrink by quite a bit. Printers that can print on A3 (or larger) tend to also have a larger footprint, requiring more space at home.

If you need things to be printed on envelopes or other types of specialty paper, you will need to look for a printer with a multi-purpose tray. Do also check your printer’s specifications to assess the weight limit of the paper that it can handle (in gsm).

Most people tend to overlook this, but there are other smart paper handling features that could make your life a little easier. These include functions such as automatic duplexing, which allows seamless 2-sided printing, as well as the ability to scan or copy multi-page documents via an automatic document feeder (ADF).

10. Power Consumption

Power consumption is another point worthy of consideration. In particular, you may wish to look out for eco-friendly printer models that come with a deep sleep mode. Do also check how much power the printer uses when it is actively engaged in printing tasks.

What are the Best Laser Printers for Home Use?

black and white laser printer for home use

The Brother DCP-L2550DW monochrome laser Multi-Function Centre combines wireless and mobile printing, scanning and copying capabilities to deliver productivity and ease of operation. With a fast print speed of up to 34ppm, and excellent print quality that guarantees sharp, clear text and graphics every time, this laser printer offers great value for money.

Brother colour laser printer

The Brother MFC-L3770CDW digital colour all-in-one delivers print, copy, scan and fax functions for home and small offices. Its 250-sheet capacity adjustable paper tray minimizes refills, while its 30-sheet capacity multi-purpose tray tackles diverse print needs including cardstock and envelopes. Its two-sided copying and scanning function further help Work From Home (WFH) folks to save precious time while creating more convenience.

Having a trusty printer in your home is vital to your professional or school success. With the above key considerations and printer recommendations, we hope you will be empowered to choose the best laser printer for your home.

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How To Use an NFC-Enabled Printer on a Mobile Device

Your Handy Guide to Using an NFC-Enabled Printer on a Mobile Device

Keen to print directly from your mobile device to an NFC-enabled printer?

We know how attractive that idea can be! Especially when you dread the following printing scenarios:

  • Needing to log on to your laptop just to print a few documents
  • Being confused by the convoluted set-up process involving wireless printers

There are many perks that an NFC-enabled printer can bring to your home or office. Read on to find out how you can print from your mobile device via an NFC-enabled printer, as well as the benefits that NFC enabled printers bring.

What is NFC printing?

As its name suggests, NFC printing, also known as Near Field Communication printing, works by establishing the wireless network connectivity between a mobile device and a printer when they are in close proximity. This is a form of short-range wireless technology that most modern smartphones, tablets and devices have.

With such technology, you can literally walk up to the printer, tap your phone on it and watch as your selected prints are printed right before your eyes.

NFC technology has made printing so convenient and fuss-free that you don’t need to log on to your PC or laptop just to print a document!

How to print from Android mobile devices using NFC printing

To use NFC Printing, both your printer and your mobile device must come equipped with Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. Let us walk through the processes needed to activate it on both devices.

How to activate NFC on Android mobile devices

#1 Check if your mobile device supports NFC

Are your mobile devices already NFC-enabled? Well, you will be glad to know that the latest Android smartphones and tablets are mostly NFC-enabled. You can check by searching on your device settings for “NFC”.

(Unfortunately, as of now, there isn’t an easy way for iOS devices like iPhones to print using the NFC technology.)

#2 Activate NFC on mobile device

To activate NFC on your Android phone or tablet, follow the steps below:

  1. On your Android device, tap on “Settings”
  2. Select “Connected devices”
  3. Select “Connection preferences”
  4. You should see “NFC” and “Android Beam” options
  5. Turn both of them on

Once NFC is activated on your mobile device, you can direct your attention to the printer.

How to use an NFC-enabled printer

#1 Check if your printer supports NFC

How do you know if a printer is NFC-enabled? Most printers will have an NFC icon located on the printer—this will also be the area where you should place your device to establish a connection.

NFC printer icon

#2 Enable NFC on Brother printer

To turn on the NFC capability on a Brother printer, follow these simple steps:

  1. Select Settings (screwdriver icon)
  2. Select “All Settings”
  3. Select “Network”
  4. Select “NFC”
  5. Select “ON”
  6. Select Home (house icon)

#3 Install and use Brother iPrint&Scan app to select the print job

To print via NFC on a Brother printer, you will need to install Brother iPrint&Scan App on your mobile device.

If you are printing a photo or a document, ensure that the memory card containing the image or document has been inserted into the mobile device.

To select the print job, here are the steps needed:

  1. Open the Launcher on the mobile device
  2. Tap the Brother iPrint&Scan icon (carefully read and accept the terms of the license agreement)
  3. Select the document to be printed

#5 Establish NFC connection and print

When the Print Preview screen is displayed, hold your mobile device against the NFC icon on your Brother printer. Be sure to line up both the NFC tags.

NFC printing via mobile device

Once your mobile device is connected, you will hear a sound and “Touch to beam” will be displayed on the mobile device’s screen.

Simply tap your device’s screen to proceed with printing, while maintaining the proximity, and voila! You have just printed directly from your mobile device to your NFC printer!

Benefits of NFC Printing

NFC printing has become a popular mode of printing because it is fuss-free and convenient.

What users appreciate the most is its fast and seamless connection. Thus, the quick tap-and-print process of NFC printing can help to optimize business productivity.

Brother’s NFC-Enabled Printers

Searching for the best NFC-enabled printer for your home or corporate office? Check out some of Brother’s best printers with NFC features!

Inkjet

Laser

For Home Use:

For Business & Office Use:

Once you get your hands on an NFC-enabled printer, you would understand why it’s so popular and better appreciate this state-of-the-art technology!

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How to Choose the Best Black and White Printer for Home Use

black and white printer for home

Looking for the Best Black and White Printer for Your Home? Look no further!

Having trouble deciding on the best black and white printer for your home? Wondering if you’ll save more money replacing your old colour printer with a black and white printer?

Let us help you to resolve your dilemma!

In this article and infographic, you will discern the differences between colour printers and black and white printers, see how they compare in terms of cost, page-yield, and other variables, and learn how to choose the best monochrome laser or inkjet printers for your home printing needs.

Black and White Printer VS Colour Printer

If you already own a colour printer, but rarely ever print in colour, the question you may ask yourself is this: “Should I ditch my colour printer for a laser black and white printer?”

Technically, you could just print in black and white or grayscale by changing your print settings. However, that may not be the best solution going forward.

Here are the two biggest reasons why you should consider switching to a monochrome printer.

Cost

In the long run, your printing costs could go up as some printers require you to change the entire colour cartridge once a certain colour is low or empty. You’ll then end up paying for the colours that you are not even using!

That’s not all. If you only need to print in black and white but accidentally selected an incorrect setting, your printer will use up other colours too.

Contrary to popular belief, printing in grayscale actually uses colour to help create better tones, smoother transitions, and more print detail in the midrange. So think twice before you print with grayscale, expecting only the black cartridge to be used.

Ultimately, if you are sure that you only need black for your printing, getting a black and white printer can help you save costs on both the printer and its cartridges. A monochrome printer is generally cheaper than a colour printer. Black ink or toner is also cheaper than CMYK ink or toner.

Page yields

Monochrome printers also have higher page yields than colour printers.

As there is only one type of cartridge to cater for (i.e. black), the cartridges for monochrome printers can store more ink or toner of the same colour, resulting in higher page yields per cartridge.

Paired with its cheaper cartridges, you can look forward to a markedly reduced cost per page with a monochrome printer!

How to Choose the Right Black and White (Monochrome) Printer

So you’ve considered the pros and cons and decided that a black and white printer will suit your home printing needs to a tee.

But that’s not all there is in choosing the right black and white printer.

Knowing your printing preferences—such as whether you will need to print image-heavy documents or text-heavy documents most of the time—will also help you make the best decision.

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What to Consider When Buying a Color Printer

What to Consider When Buying a Color Printer

Not Sure Which Color Printer Suits You Best? Here is Your Printer Buying Guide

Decided to take the leap and invest in a colour printer for your home or small office?

Perhaps you’ve created a gorgeous work of digital art and wish to share it with the world by displaying your art in your home. Or maybe you feel that having the right colour images can help to improve the impact of your work documents or presentations.

But how do you choose the best colour printer to meet both your professional and personal needs? After all, there are literally thousands of different colour printers out there.

The good news? Colour printers have evolved over the past few years—many models now offer superior photo-quality print results and convenient state-of-the-art features—so you are totally spoilt for choice. You will also be glad to know that most colour printers today include multiple functions like copying, faxing and scanning. 

Types of colour printers

When searching for a colour printer, it’s generally a toss-up between an inkjet printer or a laser printer. This decision largely hinges upon what you print and how often you print.

Let’s consider inkjet printers first.

  1. Qualities of an inkjet colour printer

An inkjet printer is a type of printer that works by expelling ink droplets onto paper. Such printers use liquid ink from individual color ink cartridges or internal ink reservoir tank, which are then expelled through separate nozzles—each one spraying a different colour of ink.

Pros of an inkjet colour printer:

  • Affordability

Cost is one of the biggest advantages of colour inkjet printers. Even the least expensive inkjet printers are able to produce images with great quality.

If price is a top-of-mind concern for you, then an inkjet printer would be your best bet for low-priced colour printing in a home/small office setting.

  • Excellent Print Quality

As we have alluded to above, the advancement of ink technology has enabled inkjet printers to provide high-quality output for both images and text. Due to their finer and smoother colours and detailing, inkjet printers are built for high-resolution photo printing.

With the level of quality of most colour inkjet printers today, it can be difficult to differentiate between a professionally-printed photograph and one that’s been printed using your inkjet printer – especially when printing on photo paper!

  • Smaller Footprint

Inkjet colour printers also tend to be more compact in size compared to laser colour printers. Even inkjet printers that are multi-functional do not have a large footprint. This makes them suitable for homes or workplaces that have tight spaces. 

Cons of an inkjet colour printer:

  • Slower Speed

Most inkjet printers are designed for low-volume printing. Thus they may take longer to churn out large print jobs.   

The slower print speed of inkjet printers, however, is slightly mitigated by the fact that an inkjet printer can start printing as soon as the printer is turned on, without needing any warm-up time.

  • Qualities of a colour laser printer

Colour laser printers combine the speed of traditional monochrome laser printers with the ability to print in colour. In laser printers, colour is added to the page by melting toner powder onto paper.

The initial cost of laser printers may be higher than inkjet printers. Likewise, the toner cartridges used in laser printers are also pricier than the inks used in inkjet printers. However, colour laser printers could still be an economical option in the long run due to their lower cost per page and faster print speeds.

Here is a breakdown of the main advantages and disadvantages of colour laser printers.

Pros of a colour laser printer:

  • Faster print speeds

Laser printers are traditionally built for speed (around 50 pages per minute!) while inkjet printers print slower at about 16-20 pages per minute.

When comparing your printer’s pages per minute (ppm) rating, do bear in mind that such ratings usually depict printing under optimal conditions—usually with documents consisting of unformatted black text sent to the printer. Once factors such as document formatting, colour, and images are thrown in, print speeds will tend to slow down.

  • Cheaper printing cost per page

Everyone knows that the higher upfront costs of laser printers and toner cartridges are partially offset by their lower cost per page. This is because laser toner cartridges can print significantly more pages than inkjet cartridges—even in colour.

How do we calculate the cost per page?

Cost per page is the most accurate way of measuring your printer’s cost-efficiency. To calculate your printer cartridge’s cost per page, simply take the price of the cartridge and divide it by the expected page yield of one cartridge:

For black and white printing:

cost per page = cartridge price /  cartridge page yield

For colour printing:

cost per page =(black cartridge price /  black page yield) +( 3x colour cartridge price / colour composite page yield) + (drum price / total composite page yield)

  • High-volume print jobs

Colour laser printers are known to be workhorses—they simply come built with the capacity to quickly churn out large numbers of documents and pages.

  • Good colour print quality 

With the technological advancements in laser printers, the quality of the colour prints has seen vast improvements in recent years. As such, whether you’re printing photos for personal use or professional use, you can expect excellent colour prints from your laser printer.

Cons of a colour laser printer:

  •  More suited for document printing

Colour lasers are designed to print documents. While they can also handle graphics-and-text documents like brochures and newsletters, laser printers may not be optimal for printing photographs. 

  • Larger footprint

Due to their relatively larger footprint, colour laser printers function best in larger offices and other professional work settings. If space is not an issue for you, you may want to consider colour lasers for your printing needs even in your home.

Quick and Easy Tips To Improve Colour Print Quality

How do professional photographers and designers create high-quality colour prints? This is the million-dollar question that we will address in this next section.

  • Vibrant colour yield (RGB to CMYK Colour Variances)

There are two ways to print in colour: RGB or CMYK.

RGB stands for Red, Green and Blue. The RGB colour mode combines these base colours in varying quantities to form just about any colour you can imagine. For example, if you want to create a yellow colour, you would simply combine green and red.

CMYK works quite differently from RGB—here, the printer uses subtractive colours, or Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. In CMYK mode, all of the colours are subtractive which basically means that the more colours you add together, the darker the resulting colour is going to be.

When printing documents on CMYK printers, do ensure that you are creating your documents in CMYK colour mode. If they are not designed in CMYK, you can also convert them to CMYK through a photo editing program such as Adobe Photoshop, or layout programs such as Quark Xpress or Adobe InDesign.

●      Print Resolution

Print resolution is measured in DPI (dots per inch). The more dots there are in an inch of paper, the sharper the resulting image. 

Your printer needs to have a resolution of 600 dpi in order to print high-quality documents (and 1200 dpi to achieve sharp, detailed images).

When shopping around for printers, you may notice that print resolution is always presented as a set of two numbers, for example 1200 x 3600 dpi. This means the maximum resolution of that printer is 1200 multiplied by 3600 dpi.

●      Paper Type

Substandard paper can result in substandard colour print quality so be sure not to overlook this small but important factor! Often, print problems such as excessive colour bleeding or colour dullness can be attributed to low-quality paper.   

How to Choose the Right Colour Printer

Now that you’ve learned the characteristics of both colour inkjet and laser printers, your next task is to choose the best colour printer for your use.

1. Print Quality

If you’re expecting to print a lot of photographs on glossy or matte photo paper, a colour inkjet printer may be the best fit for you as the quality of the output is superior when photo paper is used.

However, if printing on plain printer paper, the print quality of a colour laser printer is on par with an inkjet printer.

2. Print Volume

Colour laser printers also work well if you need to churn out many documents per day—for most home printer buyers, this usually isn’t a dealbreaker as they normally only print a few documents every few days.

Thus, as you can see, the right colour printer for you really boils down to your expected print usage and your preference in terms of print quality.

Types of Colour Printers from Brother 

Considering getting an inkjet or laser colour printer? Take a look at these recommended models from Brother.

  1. Best for Affordability
Brother DCP-T420W printer

The DCP-T420W is an affordable colour inkjet printer that offers cost-savings in the long run due to the ultra high yield ink bottles, which allows you to print 7,500 pages in black and 5,000 pages in colour. It also delivers professional quality prints with crisp black text and vibrant detailed images.

  1. Best for Features

The DCP-T520W combines multiple functions of printing, scanning and copying into one nifty printer. It uses the same ultra high yield ink bottles as the DCP-T420W, thus allowing you to enjoy better page yields and lower costs per page.

  1. Best for Efficiency
Brother HL-T4000 printer

If you have a need for speed, the HL-T4000 might be your ideal choice for a printer. It features automatic 2-sided printing, prints up to A3 size, uses ultra high yield ink bottles, and is able to print up to 22 images per minute or 35 pages per minute (in fast mode).  

  1. Best for Versatility and Overall Performance

Brother’s latest inkjet Multi-Function Centre MFC-J3530DW delivers business-class performance at a reasonable price. With low printing costs, you can print high volumes without constantly worrying about your bottom line. Furthermore, it also offers A3 paper printing capabilities, so you can expand and showcase your work without having to lose any details.

  1. Best for Speed

Brother’s colour laser all-in-one MFC-L8900CDW delivers excellent colour performance with fast print/scan speeds. It also offers lower cost thanks to super and ultra high-yield toners. This intelligent multi-tasking printer is equipped with a dual CIS Automatic Document Feeder that allows you to scan up to 70 sheets directed to your preferred medium. It also comes with advanced security features.

  1. Best for Home and Small Business

The Brother MFC-L3770CDW colour laser printer delivers superior colour performance and fast print and scan speeds, making it the perfect companion for your home or small business printing needs. This workhorse is able to boost your productivity with fast colour print speeds of up to 24ppm.

Conclusion

Deciding on the best colour printer for your home or office will depend on your specific printing needs and the factors that stand out the most to you. 

We hope this detailed comparison between inkjet printers and colour laser printers will help you to make the right buying decision for yourself!

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How To Choose the Right Printer (Flowchart)

buying printer flowchart

Looking For The Right Printer? This Flowchart Will Help

Which printer should you buy—inkjet or laser printer? How do you select the most suitable printer for your home or office?

With so many different brands, functions and types of printers out there, this seemingly easy task can suddenly seem astronomical by proportion!

Do you need your printer to have wireless connectivity? Do you only need the print function or an all-in-one multifunction printer? Which printer can handle all your printing needs?

To save you the headache, we have put together a useful flowchart to help you figure out which is the best printer for you.

Follow your desired attributes path and find your best matched printer!

How infographic looks like:

Buying-Printer-Flowchart
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The Biggest Printer Problems And Their Solutions

Printer problems and solution

Frustrated With The Never Ending Printer Problems? Here Are Some Solutions

Are you struggling with your home or office printers? Wonder why your wifi printer does not work properly? Frustrated with printing errors from your duplex printer?

These problems can be a huge headache to those who simply want their printing work done. 

Help is here! In this article, we have put together a list of the most common printer problems and their solutions.

  1. Slow Printing with Wifi Printers
  2. Home / Office Printer Not Printing
  3. Duplex Printer Printing Error
  4. Extra Printed Blank Sheet of Paper
  5. Paper Jams
  6. Unclear Printed Texts
  7. Poor Quality Inkjet Printed Photos
  8. Poor Black and White Print Quality
  9. Thick Ink on Inkjet Prints
  10. Unreliable Error Messages

Take a deep breath, calm yourself down, and try these solutions before you call your printer repair man!

1. Slow Printing with Wifi Printers

In today’s fast-paced world, a slow printer can be exasperating when you have a sizable number of pages to print.

The common reasons for slow printing are due to large photo sizes and large presentation files. You can either lower the quality of the output or simply send a part of the document at a time to speed things up.

If you are printing wirelessly, do check that the distance between your printer and your router isn’t too far—poor wireless connection could be a possible cause for slow printing. A simple solution would be to place your wireless printer as close to the router as possible, since wifi speed slows down with distance.

Do also check your print settings. Higher quality prints do take more time to print. If an average print quality (eg. for a text document) is good enough, consider switching your printouts to draft mode or the lowest quality setting your printer has to speed up your printing process.

2. Home / Office Printer not Printing

Are you staring at a printer that is just not printing? Well, you are not going crazy, there’s probably a reason for it. Before you start kicking your printer, consider checking if the paper tray is empty—yes, we’ve all made that silly mistake!

OK, there is paper in your tray. So what could have gone wrong?

Consider checking the connection of your printer. There may be multiple printers in the office and you may not have connected to the right printer.

There is a chance that you have accidentally sent the print job to another printer—be sure to double check just in case you are printing confidential documents!

If your printer is still not working, then your print driver may be corrupted. You need to upload the latest version for your model and reinstall it on your computer. Should that still fail, it is best to call your local printer technician.

3. Duplex Printer Printing Error

Having a duplex printer should save you the hassle of flipping each printout manually. But what’s the point of having this functionality if your printer prints the back page upside down?

Fret not, there’s an easy solution to this. All you have to do is select Print on Both Sides, and opt to Flip on Long Edge. Your print jobs should be in the correct orientation now.

But what if you encounter disorderly pages, where the last page is at the top of the document?

There is a way around this incorrect manual sorting—simply print your pages in reverse. This can be found in the Advanced Settings box. You should only select this if your documents are to be put in order once the printing is complete.

4. Extra Printed Blank Sheet of Paper

“Why is there an extra sheet of blank paper after my prints?”  

No, your printer isn’t intentionally wasting paper. Rather, this extra sheet of paper probably came about due to your print settings. This is typically used in offices with multiple users and high print volumes, to separate print jobs from different users and avoid documents from being mixed-up.

If your printer is only for your personal home use, you can change the settings using your printer preferences. You should be able to deselect the option for separator pages from there.

5. Paper Jams

Printer paper jam problems
Close-up Of Businessman Hand Removing Paper Stuck In Printer At Office

Close-up Of Businessman Hand Removing Paper Stuck In Printer At Office

Paper jams are one of the most common issues people have with their home or office printers. This can happen due to static electricity (which causes pieces of paper to stick to each other) or when your printer tray is overloaded with too much paper.

A quick tip is to square off the stack of paper before placing it into the tray, ensuring that the pages line up and are flushed with the tray guides. Remember not to overfill the tray!

Jams may also occur when the print media used is not compatible with the printer. There are certain types of print media that are way thicker or bigger than the normal A4 Paper which is commonly used in most printers. Be sure to check that your printer is able to handle such media types and change your PC settings to match the print media.

6. Unclear Printed Texts

This problem may be caused by multiple reasons. Thus, you should go down this list to consider which option is the most likely possibility.

First, consider if you are using the draft mode or low print quality setting. Such settings may cause your printed texts to become unclear. By switching to a higher quality print, you will get clearer texts. However, be prepared to forgo your print speed—some printers are not able to simultaneously handle fast and high quality prints.

If you are using a laser printer, there is a high chance that the toner has settled, resulting in blurry texts. All you have to do is to remove the cartridge(s) and shake it gently from side to side to release any residual toner clinging onto the side of the cartridge. This works 90% of the time, but remember that the toner will eventually run out and needs to be replaced.

Finally, if you are using an inkjet printer, check if your unclear prints are due to a dirty nozzle or misaligned print head. Thankfully, you don’t have to deal with this manually (though you can if you wish).

Simply launch your printer’s maintenance menu and select “Clean Ink Cartridges”, “Clean Heads”, “Deep Cleaning” or a similar function. Cleaning the printhead will help improve the quality of the printout. As it uses a fair amount of ink you should only do it if you notice that the print quality is particularly bad.

7. Poor Quality Inkjet Printed Photos

Poor quality inkjet prints would commonly be due to a misaligned print head, dirty nozzles or empty ink cartridges. You can troubleshoot this by following the steps described in the previous point above.

The type of print media used may also affect the quality of your prints—especially if you intend to print photographs or posters in high definition colour. Make sure that you use the right photo paper. Often, third party photo papers are unable to reproduce your prints with the same resolution as the original photo papers from your brand.

Don’t forget to check that you have chosen the right paper type in your print settings and that it is set for photo printing.

It is also possible that your printer is low on one colour, causing discolourations. To achieve vibrant print reproductions of photos in the right hues, you need to ensure that inks in all the different colours are available—having one colour less can make a huge difference to your print quality.

8. Poor Black and White Print Quality

Do you turn off the colour when printing black and white documents? This is probably the cause of poor prints, especially for black and white images.

The colours give your documents smoother gradations and richer tones compared to solely using black. Thus, if you are printing a high quality black and white document, consider turning on the colour option for the best results.

9. Thick Ink on Inkjet Prints

Do your prints have a thick band of ink clustered around certain sections? This happens when your printer is unable to print at a certain resolution, usually on an uncoated paper. When it encounters this issue, it will try to adjust for the higher resolution by using more ink, causing the thick patch of ink (also known as banding) to appear.

To solve this problem, simply opt for a lower print resolution on your printer.

10. Unreliable Error Messages

Wonder why error messages like “low toner” or “ink error” appear when you’ve just replaced your toner or printer cartridge? Unless your new cartridges are faulty or broken, resetting your computer and printer usually fixes this problem. Do follow the instructions of your printer model to reset it properly.

Conclusion

Printer problems like slow printing, poor quality printouts, and paper jams can pose a huge inconvenience, especially when you need to get your work done. Hopefully, these solutions to the most common printer problems can help you to quickly get back on track. Should all of them fail—and we certainly hope that they wouldn’t—you should probably contact your local printer operator for immediate help!

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The Perfect Printer To Suit Your Lifestyle or Business

printing with children

Which Printer Should You Buy? Fit Them To Your Lifestyle Or Business Needs

Are you still searching for the perfect printer? Which printer should you buy for your family at home, a home office, a corporate office with multiple users, or factory?

Having too many choices can be confusing. This is why we’ve done the legwork for you and curated a list of Brother printers that perfectly suit these 7 different personal and professional uses:

  1. Families with school-going kids
  2. Home office (work from home)
  3. Corporate office with multiple users
  4. Industrial/Manufacturing production work
  5. Budget friendly
  6. Techies
  7. Photography fanatics

1. Families with school-going kids

Growing up in a household equipped with a printer makes family and school life so much easier. You can print out handwriting/colouring worksheets, mazes, and puzzles for your younger kids, while your older children can print articles and school assignments at the click of a button.

If you have school-going children under your wing, your ideal printer should be able to handle a wide variety of needs, such as:

  • Printing in colour
  • Photocopying worksheets and assignments
  • Scanning artworks and articles
  • Printing multiple pages of reports, double-sided
  • Printing from a mobile device

Considering the diversity of needs, an all-in-one printermay be your best bet.

home family printer

Brother MFC-T920DW Ink Tank Printer:

  • Able to print, scan, copy, and fax
  • Has up to 6 sec (Mono) / 6.5 sec (Colour) first print-out time
  • Has automatic 2-sided printing
  • Holds up to 150 sheets in the standard paper tray
  • Holds up to 80 sheets in the Multi-Purpose Tray
  • Holds up to 20 sheets Automatic Document Feeder
  • Has wireless connectivity
  • Supports mobile printing with Brother iPrint&Scan, Apple AirPrint, Mopria, Wi-Fi Direct
  • Has up to 1,200 x 6,000 dpi print quality

Say goodbye to expensive printing costs from print shops! With this versatile printer, your family can enjoy effortless printing at home.

2. Home office (work from home)

The best printers for home offices are ones that are able to keep up with your business workload. You may need to scan invoices, print reports, photocopy documents or fax secure information to a coworker, a client or a supplier. Having a printer that can support your workflow will maximise your work efficiency and save you unnecessary headaches.

In choosing the best printer for your home office, you should keep an eye out for the following qualities: 

  • Fast printing speed for work efficiency
  • Automatic duplex printing and scanning for productivity
  • Large paper capacity to reduce frequency of reloads
  • Printing from different devices—mobile, laptop & tablet

To achieve optimal work efficiency and productivity, you should choose a multifunction printer.

print scan photocopy fax all-in-one printer

Brother MFC-L3770CDW Laser Printer:

  • Able to print, scan, copy and, fax
  • Has automatic 2-sided printing and scanning
  • Has fast colour print speed: up to 24ppm
  • Has fast scan speed: up to 27ipm
  • Has multi-tasking capabilities
  • Holds up to 250-sheet default paper tray
  • Holds up to 50-sheet Dual CIS Auto Document Feeder
  • Holds up to 30-sheet manual feed slot
  • Has integrated NFC and USB reader
  • Has wireless and mobile connectivity
  • 3.7” LCD touchscreen to support easy-to-program shortcuts

With this printer in your home office, you can look forward to enjoying a fuss-free and more productive workflow.

3. Corporate office with multiple users

In a workplace with multiple staff, you’ll need to be able to set up a large printer network for different users. Each user may have different needs, ranging from printing and photocopying, to scanning and faxing.

Your printer will also need to be easily accessible by users across the office, either through wired or wireless network connections. The perfect printer for medium to large enterprises also needs to cater to many users and be able to keep up with multiple print jobs.

Essential things to look out for include:

  • Network connectivity for multiple users
  • Printer sharing across multiple users
  • Fast printing speed for work efficiency
  • Automatic duplex printing and scanning for productivity
  • Large paper capacity to reduce frequency of reloads
  • High-volume & low-cost printing
  • Reliability to prevent downtime

To ensure maximum efficiency and minimal fuss, the best printer for your corporate office is a multi-function centre or a business printer.

office inkjet printer

Brother MFC-J3930DW Inkjet Printer:

  • Has automatic 2-sided print, scan, copy, and fax
  • Connectivity includes: Wireless Network, Wi-Fi Direct, Mobile Print, WebConnect, Brother Cloud Apps & NFC
  • Print speed of up to 22ipm (mono) and 20ipm (colour)
  • Copy speed of up to 12ipm (mono) and 9ipm (colour)
  • Scan speed from 2.7 seconds (A4 size, 100×100 dpi)
  • Fax speed 33.6 kbps
  • Holds up to 250 sheets Input Tray (Standard)
  • Holds up to 250 sheets Lower Paper Tray
  • Holds up to 100 sheets Multi-Purpose Tray
  • Holds up to 100 sheets (A4) and 50 sheets (A3) Output Tray
  • Super high-yield ink cartridges available (BK up to 3,000 pages & C/M/Y up to 1,500 pages)

Investing in a reliable printer will help to create a seamless experience for your staff and boost the productivity of the company.

4. Industrial / Manufacturing production work

When your business heavily relies on printing work, the quality of these prints is of the utmost importance. The costs can easily add up when printing large volumes of fliers, brochures, posters and pamphlets. Hence, you need to carefully balance between the cost-efficiency and the quality of these prints.

The ideal printer should be able to keep your print quality high and running costs low.

  • High print quality to ensure business standards
  • Fast printing speed for production efficiency
  • Versatile print trays for different-sized prints
  • Multiple types of print media
  • High-yield cartridges to keep high-volume printing affordable

The perfect printer to keep your production work running smoothly is a high capacity multi-function centre.

industrial laser printer

Brother MFC-L6900DW Laser Printer:

  • Able to print, scan, copy, and fax
  • Automatic 2-sided monochrome printing
  • Has up to 50/52 ppm print speed
  • Has up to 1200 x 1200 dpi print quality
  • Has N-in-1 Printing
  • Media types include: Poster Printing, Watermark Printing & Header-Footer Printing (Windows® only)
  • Holds paper sizes of 76.2 to up to 215.9 mm (W) X 127 to 355.6 mm (L)
  • Media sizes include: A4, Letter, A5, A5(Long Edge), A6, Executive, Legal, Folio, Mexico Legal, India Legal
  • Ultra high-yield toner available (up to 20,000 pages)
  • Drum available (up to 30,000 pages)

Alternatively, if colour is required, you can consider the following:

industrial ink tank printer

Brother MFC-T4500DW Ink Tank Printer:

  • Able to print, scan, copy, and fax up to A3
  • Automatic 2-sided monochrome / coloured printing
  • Has up to 22 ipm (mono) & 20 ipm (colour) print speed
  • Has up to 1200 x 4800 dpi print quality
  • Holds up to 250 sheets Input Tray (Standard)
  • Holds up to 100 sheets Multi-Purpose Tray
  • Holds up to 100 sheets (up to A4/letter) & 50 sheets (over A4/letter) Output Tray
  • Media types include: Plain, Inkjet, Glossy (cast/resin), Recycled
  • Media sizes include: A3, A4, LGR, LTR, EXE, LGL, Folio, A5, A6, Photo(102x152mm/4×6″), Indexcard(127x203mm/5×8″), Photo-2L(127x178mm/5×7″), C5 Envelope, Com-10, DL Envelope, Monarch
  • Ultra high-yield ink available (BK up to 6,500 pages & C/M/Y up to 5,000 Pages)

Owning such a printer might mean a bigger upfront investment but lower running costs and improved productivity.

5. Budget friendly

Looking for a pocket-friendly printer? Do not just rush to buy the cheapest printer on the market. Here’s why: The costs of consumables can add up to a hefty amount over time!

Instead, you should carefully consider both the printer cost as well as the cost of its consumables to find out which printer is the most economical over a specific timeframe.

Your usage of the printer may not be heavy duty, but you still need one that is cost efficient. Hence, the printer you choose should have these characteristics:

  • Low average cost of printer and consumables 
  • Low-maintenance printer 
  • Small in size

A low cost and reliable printer may be just what you need:

cost efficient laser monochrome printer

Brother DCP-L2550DW Laser Printer:

  • Able to print, scan, and copy
  • Automatic 2-sided monochrome printing
  • Has energy saving mode
  • Has toner saving mode
  • High-yield toner available (up to 3,000 pages)
  • Drum available (up to 12,000 pages)
  • Dimensions: 410 x 398.5 x 318.5 mm (W x D x H)
  • Weight: 11.8kg
cost efficient refill ink tank printer

Brother DCP-T420W Refill Tank Printer:

  • Able to print, scan, and copy
  • Ultra high-yield ink available (BK up to 7,500 pages & C/M/Y up to 5,000 Pages)
  • Dimensions: 435 x 439 x 195 mm (W x D x H)
  • Weight: 9.7kg

The good news is you won’t be burning a hole in your pocket with these printers!

6. Techies

Do you want a technologically advanced printer that makes your life easier, more productive and fuss-free? In this digital age, connectivity is one of the defining successes of our era.

Maybe you want a printer that can print anything from anywhere or one that can easily manage your print jobs according to your everyday tasks.

With various technologies combined, this printer should have advanced features to meet all your modern needs:

  • Network connectivity in multiple forms like wifi or the ethernet.
  • Control remotely, possibly through your mobile device
  • Intuitive (so you can avoid reading the manual!)
  • Modern technology such as touch screen
  • Memory function for repeated tasks
  • Automated tasks to replace usual manual ones
  • Fast printing speed

Meet the most advanced printers in our collection:

smart laser printer

Brother MFC-L8900CDW Laser Printer:

  • Automatic 2-sided print, scan, copy, and fax
  • Connectivity includes:
    • Hi Speed 2.0 USB
    • Gigabit Ethernet (10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T)
    • Wireless (IEEE 802.11b/g/n)
    • WiFi Direct (IEEE 802.11g/n)
    • WebConnect (Brother Cloud Apps)
    • NFC (Card Reader / Print&Scan / Link to Solutions Center / NFC Shortcut)
  • Up to 31/33 ppm print and copy speed
  • Up to 28/28 ipm scan speed
  • 2.5 sec fax transmission speed
  • 600 x 600 dpi, 2,400 dpi class (2,400 x 600) print quality
  • Has secure print function
  • Display: 5.0″ TFT Colour LCD Touchscreen
  • 1GB memory space
  • Supported Operating Systems include:
    • Windows: Server 2008 (Network only), Server 2008 R2 (Network only), 7, 8, 8.1,
    • Server 2012 (Network only), Server 2012 R2 (Network only),10, Server 2016 (Network only)
    • Mac: OS v10.10.5, 10.11.x, 10.12 (Download only)
    • Linux: CUPS, LPD/LPRng (x86/x64 environment)
smart inkjet printer

Brother MFC-J3930DW Inkjet Printer:

  • Able to print, scan, copy, and fax up to A3
  • Automatic 2-sided printing and copying
  • Connectivity includes:
    • Wireless Network (IEEE 802.11b/g/n)
    • Wi-Fi Direct (IEEE 802.11g/n)
    • Mobile Print (Brother iPrint&Scan, Airprint, Mopria, Google Cloud Print)
    • WebConnect (Brother Cloud Apps)
    • NFC (Card Reader / Print&Scan / Link to Solutions Center)
  • Up to 22ipm (mono) and 20ipm (colour) print speed
  • Up to 12ipm (mono) and 9ipm (colour) copy speed
  • From 2.7 seconds (A4 size, 100×100 dpi) scan speed
  • 33.6 kbps fax transmission speed
  • Up to 1200×4800 dpi print quality
  • Display: 3.7” LCD Touchscreen
  • 256MB memory space
  • Supported Operating Systems include:
    • Windows: Vista / 7 / 8 / 8.1 / 10 / Server 2008 / Server 2008 R2 / Server 2012 / Server 2012 R2
    • Mac: OS X v10.9.5 / 10.10.x / 10.11.x

With these printers, you will be breezing through your print jobs in the least amount of time and effort!

7. Photography fanatics

As a photographer, colours, shadows and light are key elements in your photographic art pieces. In order to do justice to these details, the quality and resolution of your printer is of the essence. As such, your needs are specific to its output quality.

  • Vibrant and high quality colour prints
  • Photo quality inks that are long-lasting and smudge-proof
  • Allow printing across a range of sizes
  • Allow printing from camera, laptop, phone, tablet

The following printer will help to bring your photographs to life.

photo ink tank printer

Brother HL-T4000DW Ink Tank Printer:

  • Able to print up to A3
  • Automatic 2-sided printing
  • Up to 1200×4800 dpi print quality & 1200×6000 dpi PhotoCapture Centre print quality
  • Allow for borderless printing
  • Allow for colour enhancement (Brother image enhancement)
  • Connectivity includes:
    • Hi Speed 2.0 USB
    • Wireless Network (IEEE 802.11b/g/n)
    • Wi-Fi Direct (IEEE 802.11g/n)
    • Mobile Print (Brother iPrint&Scan, Airprint, Mopria, Google Cloud Print)
  • Media types: Plain, Inkjet, Glossy(Cast/Resin), Recycled
  • Media sizes: A3, A4,LGR, LTR, EXE, LGL, Folio, A5, A6, Photo(102x152mm/4×6″), Indexcard(127x203mm/5×8″), Photo-2L(127x178mm/5×7″), C5 Envelope, Com-10, DL Envelope, Monarch

Using this printer will guarantee that the quality of your artworks will never be compromised.