Need tabloid-size output in the office, or truly big photo prints at home? These top-rated wide-format printers handily produce documents and photos on paper that’s 11 by 17 inches or larger—and sometimes, much larger.
Most people never need to print on anything wider than letter- and legal-size pages, which is why most printers are limited to handling a maximum paper width of 8.5 inches. For those who need larger sizes, however, there’s a universe of wide- format printers—from models that can sit or your desktop (if you’re willing to give up that much space), to floor-standing behemoths that can print on rolls of paper several feet wide. Also known as large-format printers, these devices are primarily tools for professional photographers, graphic artists, architects, and the like. But the smaller models print at tabloid size (11 by 17 inches) or supertabloid size (13 by 19 inches), and are relatively common for offices and even for photo enthusiasts at home.
We’ve outlined our top picks below for both offices and homes from among the wide-format printers we’ve tested, along with some of the pros and cons for each. Below that is a discussion of the key issues to consider when shopping for one, followed by a spec comparison of our top choices.Epson WorkForce Pro WF-7310 Wireless Wide-Format PrinterWhy We Picked It
The Epson WorkForce Pro WF-7310 Wireless Wide-Format Printer is a single-function printer for up to tabloid-size (11 by 17 inch) paper, with the bonus of letting you print on single sheets up to 13 by 47.2 inches. So, it’s technically supertabloid-size, but just barely. Two 250-sheet drawers offer a combined 500-sheet capacity for up to tabloid size, so you can keep two different sizes or types of paper loaded. A single-sheet manual feed lets you print on other types and sizes as needed, without a lot of loading and unloading trays. The printer also supports both borderless printing and auto-duplexing (two-sided printing) for pages up to tabloid size.
Supertabloid and larger pages are limited to being fed one sheet at a time, but being able to print at the larger sizes at all is a big plus. The WF-7310 is also surprisingly light for its level of paper handing, at 29.8 pounds. Even better, its output quality was in the top tier for a business inkjet across the board. Who It’s For
The WF-7310 can fit nicely in any office that needs to print at up to tabloid size, whether it also needs occasional output at larger sizes or not. It’s a particularly good choice for smaller offices and even home offices that print relatively few pages. For them, the balance of a low initial price and relatively expensive ink in cartridges will still save money in the long run when compared with more-expensive tank-based printers that offer less-expensive ink.Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8550 All-in-One Wide-Format Supertank PrinterWhy We Picked It
The Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8550 earns the “photo” designation in its name largely thanks to its Photo Black and Gray inks added to the usual cyan, yellow, magenta, and black. This design choice makes it easier to deliver good color accuracy in color photos, and more subtle shading in black-and-white prints. More important, the extra inks pay off, with photo output in our tests that we deemed gorgeous, all the more so for the ET-8550’s ability to print borderless prints at up to supertabloid (13-by-19-inch) size. It also delivered high-quality text and graphics, making it suitable for a general-purpose home printer, including for light-duty use in a home office, and it includes a flatbed for scanning at up to legal size. Who It’s For
The ET-8550 is primarily a home printer for photo enthusiasts, or an inexpensive option for semi-pro photographers or small businesses who want to print small quantities of marketing material at up to supertabloid size. In any of these capacities, it can also serve as a light-duty office AIO. The emphasis here is on light, though, due to the 100-sheet paper capacity in its main tray, plus a 20-sheet insert for snapshot-size photo paper. The initial list price is high for its feature set, but for those who print enough, the savings in running cost thanks to the tank-based design and inexpensive ink can save money in the long run.Why We Picked It
The Brother MFC-J5340DW is the least-expensive AIO we’ve tested that can print on tabloid-size paper. It’s also smaller and lighter than most, which makes it relatively easy to find space for in a small office. It delivers good output quality, fast speed, and plenty of extras, like being able to print from and scan to mobile devices. The catch? The low price, small size, and low weight are all thanks to having only one 250-sheet drawer and a single-sheet bypass tray. Both support up to tabloid-size paper and automatic duplexing, however. That can easily be all you need if you only occasionally switch paper sizes, and if you usually need to print only one- or two-page documents in the sizes you use less often. Who It’s For
One potentially important issue for the MFC-J5340DW is that scanning is limited to a letter-size flatbed and a 50-page ADF that doesn’t allow duplexing and can handle only up to legal-size paper. That rules out the printer for offices that need to scan tabloid-size documents as well as print them, but lots of offices can do without that. For small and home offices where printing at tabloid size is essential but scanning at tabloid size isn’t, the low price and compact size of the MFC-J5340DW can make it exactly the right solution.Why We Picked It
The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-16650 combines a low cost per page (CPP) with a robust level of paper handling and performance that’s often missing in tank-based inkjets. The 550-sheet capacity, split among two 250-sheet drawers and a 50-sheet tray, lets you keep up to three types or sizes of paper loaded at all times. And the 2-cent CPP for standard color pages, as well as for monochrome text, is low enough to be particularly attractive if you print many pages in color.
For printing, the ET-16650 can handle pages up to supertabloid size (13 by 19 inches) and print edge to edge (borderless, or “full bleed”) at up to tabloid size (11 by 17 inches). It also supports auto-duplexing (two-sided printing). For scanning, including copying and faxing, it offers a 50-sheet, tabloid-size auto duplexing automatic document feeder (ADF) to automatically scan both sides of each page in the stack. It also scored well in both performance and output quality in our tests, and its 46.1-pound weight is on the light side for its level of paper handling.Who It’s For
The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-16650 is a tempting choice for any office that needs to print lots of color and monochrome pages in sizes up to 13 by 19 inches as well as scan multi-page documents at sizes up to 11 by 17 inches. Its three trays will make it even more attractive to medium-size offices or workgroups with up to heavy-duty print needs and the need to continually switch back and forth between different paper types and sizes.Why We Picked It
The Epson WorkForce Pro WF-C8690 is an inkjet AIO that delivers the level of paper handling, connectivity, speed, and more that was once available only in floor-standing lasers. It measures 22.5 by 24.1 by 34.1 inches (HWD) and weighs nearly as much as some people, at 101 pounds. And that’s just the base model, with one 250-sheet drawer for up to tabloid-size paper and a multipurpose tray that can hold another 80 sheets as large as supertabloid size. You can also add up to three 500-sheet drawers, for a total capacity of 1,850 sheets in five trays, as well as a combination cabinet and printer stand.
The printer doesn’t skimp on scan, copy, or fax features, either, offering both a tabloid-size flatbed and a 50-sheet automatic document feeder (ADF) that’s rated for 40 images per minute (ipm) for duplex (two-sided) scanning with one image on each side of a page.
