The best laser printer offers an alternative to inkjet printers that's ideal for busy people who often need to print a lot of pages. Because they're generally faster, and the running costs will be lower.
To help you pick the right one, we've gathered the best laser printers on sale today, all in one place. So how do you choose between them? Well, that depends on where your specific needs lie.
Do you need to print in color, or just black and white? Do you want scanning, copying and faxing as well as printing? Do you wish to connect wirelessly, via an Ethernet cable, or by USB? How many sheets of paper will you want to load up at one time? What resolution do you need to print at (this is measured in dots per inch, aka dpi). Answer these questions, and it will soon become clear which is the best laser printer for you.
Do note, though, laser printers aren't that great at printing photos. So if that's your priority, see our roundup of the best photo printers instead.
Finally, you may notice that Epson, one of the biggest printer manufacturers, is absent from this list. That's because late last year, they announced they would be phasing out laser printers for sustainability reasons, arguing that the inkjet printers use less energy and materials overall. However, this view is far from ubiquitous and Epson's claims are disputed by other manufacturers.
Best laser printers in 2023
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If you're looking for a decent laser printer for an affordable price, here's our top recommendation. This multifunctional printer covers all the bases, offering printing, scanning and copying, and has reasonable running costs and a nice 5-inch color touchscreen.
Sold as the Canon imageCLASS MF653Cdw in the USA, and the Canon i-SENSYS MF655Cdw in Europe, this mid-range laser printer is designed for small business and the home office. Its print speed of 21ppm will be fast enough for most uses, and the capacity of 250 sheets will save you having to constantly load in extra paper (note there's an automatic document feeder too). Best of all, print resolution tops out at 1200dpi, enabling finely detailed output.
There's a good range of connectivity options, including USB 2.0, Ethernet, Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Direct, while a USB 2.0 port enables you to print and scan directly from or to a USB stick. Up top, there’s a 600dpi color scanner, which can operate at up to 9600dpi, and this supports scanning and copying for both single-sided and double-sided pages.
In short, while other laser printers may beat it on specs, overall this does everything most people will need, and at a very attractive price. For more details, read our Canon i-SENSYS MF655Cdw / imageCLASS MF653Cdw review.
Like the sound of our number one pick, but don't want to be hanging around too long for your pages to print? Well, the Canon i-SENSYS MF754Cdw is offers pretty similar specs overall, but with a faster print speed of 33ppm. So if that's important to you, then you might be happy spending a bit more money on this model. (Meanwhile, if that's still not fast enough for you, check out number 8 on our list, although that model will cost you a lot more.)
More generally, our reviewer found the Canon i-SENSYS MF754Cdw worked very well in practice, whether printing, scanning, copying, or faxing, and appreciated its wide-ranging paper size options, extensive wired, standalone and remote connectivity options, and intuitive and customizable 5-inch color touchscreen. For more details, see our Canon i-SENSYS MF754Cdw review.
If you're not interested in color printing, the Lexmark MB3442adw is our pick as the best laser printer overall. It offers two-sided printing, copying, faxing and automatic two-sided scanning, via a very nice 7.2cm color touchscreen. It's also the fastest on our list, offering print speeds of up to 40 pages per minute.
You can print via Ethernet, USB 2.0 or Wi-Fi. Its paper capacity of 550 sheets should be enough for most needs. And there's the option to add an extra tray to bump that up to 900. On top of that, it's relatively compact and lightweight, making it easy to move around your home office.
Need to print in color, and not bothered about other features such as scanning? Then check out the Kyocera Ecosys P5026cdw. It does a great job of accurately printing your files, time after time, at a high resolution of 1,200dpi. It offers very respectable speeds of up to 26 pages per minute, and duplex printing comes as standard. You can print via Wi-Fi or by inserting a USB stick.
Just note this is a one-use printer: there's no scanning, copying or faxing. And while there is a touchscreen display, it's pretty small and basic. But that helps keeps the cost down, and so as long as none of these are deal-breakers, this is an excellent value buy.
Need a laser printer but watching the pennies? Then we'd suggest the HP LaserJet Pro M15w. It's very cheap, but surprisingly capable. It's also nicely compact: HP claims this is the "world's smallest laser printer in its class".
This mono printer offers printing over Wi-Fi via the HP app, or you can hook it up to your computer via USB. It only works with Original HP Toner, which you can either pay for as you go, or via a subscription service, which is currently offering the first six months free.
On the downside, there's no LCD, and its print speed (20 pages per minute) and paper capacity (150 sheets), aren't as high as some of the laser printers on our list, they should be enough for most people's needs. And so overall, this represents exceptional value for money.
The Brother HL-L5100DN offers a great balance between cost and capabilities. This lightweight mono printer offers print speeds up to 40 pages per minute, a resolution of 1,200 x 1,200dpi and automatic two-sided printing. That's pretty impressive for the price, especially considering it comes with 2,000 pages' worth of toner.
There's no Wi-Fi option, although it will support AirPrint if connected to a wireless network. There's no scanning or faxing. And overall, it lacks some of the sophisticated features of other models on this list. But if you're just looking for a hardworking, high-volume printer this does offers excellent value.
If you have a medium-sized, busy office and need a printer that's going to be in use throughout the day, then the Xerox VersaLink B600dn is our top pick. Yes, it's expensive, but in return for your initial outlay, you get very fast printing speeds, a large paper capacity, and low running costs overall.
The top speed for A4 is 55 pages per minute, by far the fastest on our list. with a first-page-out time of 7.1 seconds. With a 550-sheet main tray paper capacity, you can do a lot of printing without having to reload.
There are lots of cool features too, including automatic duplex printing, scaling, booklet printing, and Secure Print, which holds your document or image in the printer’s memory and waits for you to type your PIN before it releases it.
Overall, then, if you have a team of 10 to 20 people needing to print regularly, you won't go far wrong. Do note, though, that this prints in black and white only, and isn't multifunctional, in that it doesn't include a scanner or copier.
Xerox is known for high quality and performance, but its printers are generally pretty expensive. Here's a notable exception. The Xerox B215 offers mono printing, via Ethernet, Wi-Fi or USB, as well as scanning, faxing and copying, at an affordable price. And it's a very decent performer too.
You get higher than average print speeds of up to 30 pages per minute, and high resolution reproduction at 1,200dpi. Not to mention a generous capacity of 251 sheets plus a tilting, 3.5 inch color touchscreen, which makes this laser printer easy and convenient to use. On the downside, it takes a little time to warm up, but on the whole this is quite the bargain.
This color laser printer is one the expensive side, but you do get good value for money. The Brother MFC-L3770CDW allows you to print, copy, scan and fax, via Wi-Fi or USB. It has a lovely 9.3cm color touchscreen, that makes it easy to access the printer's wide range of document handling functions.
Duplex printing and scanning is included, as is in-built toner sufficient to print 1,000 pages. Print quality is high, at resolutions of up to 1,200 x 2,400dpi, and there's a generous paper capacity of 250 sheets. In short, this is great choice for either a home office or small business.
If you only need black and white printing for your home office, then take a look at the HP LaserJet Pro MFP M227fdw. This laser printer offers excellent quality mono prints, at 1,200dpi resolution, sharp text, bold blacks and crisp graphics. You also get scanning, copying and faxing.
Duplex printing is included, and print speeds go up to 28 pages per minute. You can print via WiFi via the HP app or AirPrint if you have an iPhone or iPad. Alternatively, you can print via Ethernet or USB, and you can print via email when you're out of the office. The touchscreen display works nice and smoothly, and while this isn't the cheapest on our list, it's a reliable and professional choice for any home setup.
Here's another great-value laser printer for small studio, or busy home office. Capable of printing at up to 28ppm, the supplied cartridges should last for around 2,400 mono pages and 1,200 color pages.
With has a 50-sheet auto document feeder and auto duplex for copying, scanning and fax, you can do a lot of printing without holdups. For high-volume jobs, an optional 550-sheet supplemental paper input tray is available, taking the overall capacity up to 850 sheets. There's a nice 4.3-inch color touchscreen, with customisable shortcuts, and you can scan direct to email and PDF.
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