Whether you work in an office, at home or not at all, a multifunction printer can still be convenient, if not essential. While we print and scan far less than we used to, there are moments when paper still wins. I routinely print shipping labels, recipes and other essentials, and I almost always print out my articles before submitting them because I seem to spot errors on paper more easily than on a screen. Multifunction printers can also fax, though it’s been many years since I’ve needed that feature.

I still use the scanner, though not nearly as often as I once did when it was the main way to get photos and documents into a computer. Most of my photos now come from my phone, and most documents arrive digitally, but I still have old family photos to scan and occasionally receive paperwork by snail mail that I need to store or forward electronically.

Over the years I’ve owned numerous printers. Around 2016, I bought an HP PageWide Pro MFP 477dw, which is still my favorite all-around printer. Although technically an inkjet, it’s fast, prints both sides in a single pass, and produces output that’s almost as good as lasers for many tasks. It’s also economical — around 2 cents per page at the industry’s standard 5% coverage, even though real-world documents usually exceed that.

Unfortunately, HP stopped making PageWide printers in 2021, so unless you find a used or leftover unit, you can’t buy one. I can still get ink, but even though mine is working great, I know there will be a day when it stops working. According to Keypoint Intelligence, HP explained that the gap between office laser and inkjet technologies has narrowed significantly in recent years in areas such as footprint, acquisition cost, operating cost and energy efficiency.

Inkjets and lasers HP still makes traditional cartridge-based inkjets, starting with inexpensive models such as the $59.99 DeskJet 2855e All-in-One. It’s a good light-duty printer and scanner, and the three months of free ink make it an attractive offer. But ink is pricey, around 15 cents per black-and-white page at the rated density, and real-world pages are often denser. Still, for occasional printing, the economics may be acceptable. If you want significantly lower ink costs, consider a “tank printer,” where you refill ink from bottles instead of inserting cartridges. Epson pioneered this with its EcoTank line, and HP, Canon and Brother now offer similar systems. These printers cost more upfront but are dramatically cheaper to run. If you print frequently, they pay for themselves quickly.

I’m only quoting prices for genuine HP ink or toner. You can get third-party supplies for a lot less, but read several reviews (including negative ones) to see what people are saying about quality, potential machine damage and compatibility. Many HP printers require cartridges to have authentication chips, but some third-party products include those chips.

Laser print for businesses and home offices

For businesses and home-office users, a laser printer often makes more sense. Lasers are typically pricier than basic inkjets but offer sharper text and graphics (though not always photographs), and with the exception of tank printers and the discontinued PageWide models, they’re almost always cheaper to operate than cartridge-based inkjets.

You can find basic monochrome laser printers for around $100, which is fine for light duty. But if you want color, faster speeds and lower cost per page, expect to spend more.

High-End HP printer for small offices HP offers good color laser printers starting at about $300, suitable for home office use. But because I run a small nonprofit organization and regularly print brochures and handouts, I wanted to try something faster and more robust, with lower operating costs for a laser. So, I asked HP to loan me the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4301, which sells for about $659 for the model that connects via Wi-Fi, USB and ethernet.

The HP 4301 prints up to 35 pages per minute in black or color and supports automatic two-sided printing. Paper handling includes a 250-sheet main tray, a 50-sheet multipurpose tray and a 50-sheet automatic document feeder, and you can add an optional second tray. Print resolution is 600×600 dpi. Scans go up to 1200×1200 dpi using either the flatbed or the duplex automatic document feeder. It’s rated for up to 50,000 pages per month, far more than most people will ever need.

I don’t scan very often, but I love how the scanner automatically detects whether a page has content on both sides, and if it does, it scans both sides in a single pass. The resulting digital file is properly collated even if the original document is double-sided. HP markets the printer as “AI-enabled,” meaning it can do things like generate smart titles, file names and “actionable summaries.” I haven’t tested those features and doubt I would use them.

Print quality is excellent, as good as what you’ll get from FedEx Office or even professional print shops, though print shops can do edge-to-edge printing and other tricks that the 4301 can’t. It’s also cheaper than outsourcing, but dense documents such as brochures consume a lot of toner, so real-world costs can be several times higher than HP’s 5% coverage specification. Using the price of genuine HP toner, printing at 5% coverage would cost about 2.9 cents per black page and 4.7 cents for color. But my dense, graphics-heavy brochures can exceed $1 per double-sided page based on estimates from ChatGPT, which is still often cheaper than professional printing for small batches.

Photo printing

Some ink jet photo printers do a decent job of printing glossy or matte photos, but when quality matters, I never print my own photos, because I can get excellent prints from Walgreens and many other services at a very reasonable price, especially when considering how common it is to waste supplies when doing your own photo printing. Walgreens, for example, charges 39 cents for a 4 x 6 print but frequently offers half-price or other discounts, which definitely makes it cheaper (and much better) than home printing. If there’s a problem with print quality, it’s on them. You can pick them up at a nearby store or route it to any Walgreens in the country in case you want to share them with far away friends and family.

Ultimately, the most cost-effective printer isn’t simply the cheapest one, but the one that balances upfront cost with ongoing toner or ink expenses along with the print quality, speed, durability, and convenience that meet your needs.

Larry Magid is a tech journalist and internet safety activist. Contact him at larry@larrymagid.com.