Color laser printers are the go-to choice for home offices and small businesses. But which should you buy? Here are our picks for the best color laser printers.
The best color laser printers can be a great investment, saving you quite a bit of time and money. For shoppers worried about the long-term ink costs, you’ll find color laser printers surprisingly affordable. Laser prints use toner which lasts a very long time, delivering a low cost per page for monochrome documents and affordable color prints. That’s why you need the best color laser printer with quick performance and reliability to help run your home office or small business.
If you need to scan documents for record-keeping and photo capture or want the convenience of a color copier, the best all-in-one color laser printer is an essential tool for your small business or personal use.Quick Overview
HP Laserjet Pro MFP M283cdw: Best color laser printer
HP Color LaserJet Pro 4301fdw: Best all in one color laser printer
Brother HL-L3230CDW: Best color laser printer for small business
Canon imageClass MF656Cdw: Best color laser printer for photos
Brother MFC-L3710CW: Best Brother laser printer for photos
Brother HL-L3270CDW: Best budget color laser printer
HP Color LaserJet Enterprise MFP M480f: Best color laser printer for medium-sized businesses
Brother MFC‐L8905CDW: Best all-in-one scalable laser printer for offices Why you should trust us
Digital Trends has been reviewing printers for 20 years, testing which offers the best quality and fastest speeds. We check the long-term value of each printer, so you’ll know in advance if a low-cost printer has outrageous toner costs.
Printers are complex machines that require a good understanding of the technology to make a solid recommendation. Reviews also highlight problems with compatibility and other details that can become deal-breakers when you depend on particular features.Key considerations while selecting the best color laser printer for you
There are several key factors to consider when choosing a color laser printer. Purchase price matters, but long-term costs can add up quickly. Review the entire list to find the perfect printer.Print quality and color fidelity
If you’re choosing color, you need more than a hard copy; you want your document to look great. You still need razor-sharp text but it’s essential for colors to match what you see on screen and in photos without banding or streaks.Speed and economy
A laser printer should be fast and efficient with low running costs. Otherwise, you’d choose a more versatile and lower-cost inkjet printer.Special features
All-in-one printers include scan, copy, and sometimes fax functions, filling multiple roles in your office. Many printers offer duplex printing (double-sided), an automatic document feeder (ADF), multiple paper trays, Wi-Fi connectivity, and walk-up printing. These details could be critically important when making a purchase decision.
HP LaserJet Pro MFP M283cdwBest color laser printer
Why you should buy this: It’s the best color laser printer you can buy.
Who’s it for: Small business owners and those with a home office.
Why we picked the HP LaserJet Pro MFP M283cdw:
Just because you want a powerful, feature-rich color printer at home, that doesn’t mean it needs to be bulky. The HP LaserJet Pro MFP M283cdw has a simple, modern design, including a helpful 2.7-inch color touchscreen for controls. But it still has enough power (along with scanning, copying, and faxing capabilities) to handle jobs for a small business or home office without breaking a sweat.
At 22 pages per minute, it’s not quite as fast as some larger printers, but it’s compatible with any way you prefer to print or scan, including plenty of mobile and wireless options. There’s even Alexa compatibility for tying it to routines or giving voice commands. If you’re looking for a reliable office laser printer that’s ready for serious work, we suggest starting here.
HP Color LaserJet Pro 4301fdwBest all-in-one color laser printer
Why you should buy this: It’s a modern, eco-friendly color laser printer with great speed and quality.
Who’s it for: Home offices and small businesses that need documents printed quickly.
Why we picked the HP Color LaserJet Pro 4301fdw:
With blistering fast print and scan speeds, the HP Color LaserJet Pro 4301fdw makes short work of challenging jobs. It prints 35ppm for monochrome and color documents and scans with its ADF at 31ppm.
Color documents look great and photos come out nice even on plain paper. A USB port allows walk-up printing via a thumb drive, making the LaserJet Pro 4301fdw an excellent all-in-one printer for home and office.
Brother HL-L3230CDWBest color laser printer for small business
Why you should buy this: High-capacity toner, very fast print speeds, and a wealth of wireless connectivity options.
Who it’s for: Offices with large print volumes or anyone who needs speedy, colorful prints.
Why we picked the Brother HL-L3230CDW:
If you need to take your Brother printer to the next level, the Brother HL-L3230CDW is a fantastic upgrade. It has a reliable printing speed of up to 25ppm, and high-capacity toner cartridges. The printer has onboard controls and you have your choice of wireless, Ethernet, and USB connections.
It has a 250-sheet paper tray. While it’s compact, the printer can still handle a variety of papers including card stock and envelopes via its manual slot.
Canon Color imageClass MF656CdwBest color laser printer for photos
Why you should buy this: Great color print quality in a multifunction printer.
Who it’s for: Anyone who needs to print or copy photos and graphics quickly.
Why we picked the Canon Color imageClass MF656Cdw:
Laser printers are not photo printers, per se, but models like the Canon Color imageClass MF656Cdw go a long way to blurring the lines between them, which makes sense coming from a company like Canon, known for its cameras. While we wouldn’t recommend it for photographers, the MF656Cdw is hard to beat for an office that needs to make or reproduce documents that contain graphics and photos.
While the 22 ppm print speed of the Canon Color imageClass MF656Cdwdoesn’t match the HP M283fdw, it does offer duplex printing, copying, and scanning from its 50-sheet document feeder.
