Buying Guide: Best printer 2011: 15 top inkjet and laser printers ~ Tech-PlusPc

What's the best printer to buy? All-purpose printers are a booming market, and you're spoilt for choice, so here's our pick of the best printers on the market right now.

In choosing the best printer your first decision is whether to go for a standard printer, or a multi-function device which includes a scanner and which can also work as a standalone copier.

These aren't much larger than regular printers, but they're a whole lot more versatile, especially when you need to keep a copy of a letter, a bill or any other important document, so our first list includes the best inkjet printers and best multi-function devices.

You should also think carefully about whether to invest in an inkjet or a laser. Lasers are usually associated with office environments, where they produce sharp, smudge-free printouts quickly, quietly and economically, but this can be just as useful at home or in a home office.

And don't imagine that mono laser printers are the only option - colour laser printers are now very affordable, and you can even get get multi-function laser printers, too. So we've also come up with a list of the best laser printers, and not just for office users with budgets to burn, but home users looking for value, quality, compactness and ease of use.

So let's firstly look at the best inkjet printers around - hit the second page for the best laser printers.

1. HP DeskJet 1000 – £30

How do they do it for the money? It's not just that this printer is cheap, because with most budget printers you get stung later on with high-priced consumables, but the black and tri-colour ink cartridges for the DeskJet 1000 are pretty reasonably priced, and you can get XL high-capacity versions too.

And for a budget printer, it's pretty fast, with a quoted maximum of 16ppm mono, 12ppm colour. There are no fancy extras - you even have to supply your own USB cable - but it does exactly what it says on the box, providing low-cost, fuss-free printing for as little money as possible.

2. Epson Stylus SX425W - £60

Epson stylus sx425w

The SX425W gives you a a lot for your money, with built-in memory card slots, wi-fi printing and multi-function scanning and copying. It uses Epson's DURABrite inks, which means that the paper is dry as soon as it emerges from the printer, and you get exceptionally clean, bright and smudge-proof output on plain paper.

Photo output is slightly dull by comparison, though, and like a lot of low-cost printers, the SX425W does cost quite a bit to run. It's perfect though, if you want a versatile yet inexpensive document printer for light or occasional use.

Read our Epson Stylus SX425W review

3. HP PhotoSmart Plus eAll-in-One - £66

HP photosmart plus

Wi-fi printing isn't new, but being able to email your printer is. Once you've gone through a brief setup process, you can send a document to the HP as an attachment, and out pops a perfect print. It can even access the Internet directly to download apps for a whole range of printing jobs from Sudoku puzzles to music paper.

The PhotoSmart Plus doesn't stint on regular all-in-one features, either, coming with memory card slots and four-colour printing with separate ink tanks. Photos don't have quite the same vibrancy as a dedicated photo printer's, but that's only a small part of what this printer does.

Read our HP PhotoSmart Plus eAll-in-One review

4. Canon Pixma iP4850 - £70

Canon pixma ip4850

Maybe you don't want wireless printing? Maybe you don't want built-in copying and scanning? Maybe you couldn't give a fig for memory card slots? Maybe all you want is blinding speed, stunning print quality and a price tag that will leave you grinning like a Cheshire cat.

This is what the iP4850 does best, delivering amazing print speeds for real-world documents (not the bare-bones test sheets used by makers for page-per-minute ratings) and photo and document print quality you'd find it hard to beat anywhere.

Read our Canon Pixma iP4850 review

5. Lexmark Interact S605 – £100

Lexmark interact s605

Lexmark has left behind its reputation for cheap and flimsy printers that cost a fortune to run, and the all-in-one S605 is one of a new wave of classier, more highly-specced models. Lexmark has made the swap to more economical single-ink printing, and although the S605 is aimed at everyday printing and uses only four inks, it can produce great photo quality too.

The print speeds are good too, but the S605's real claims to fame are its wi-fi printing and touch-screen control.

Read our Lexmark Interact S605 review

6. Canon Pixma iP100 - £130

Canon pixma ip100

It's fine using a laptop when visit friends, customers or colleagues, but that's a fat lot of good when your printer's back at the office. The portable Pixma iP100 is the answer, printing anything from photos and business cards to regular A4 documents, and at a decent speed, too.

The rechargeable battery's good for up to 300 prints, which is remarkable in itself, and the quality is fine, both for photos and regular documents, so you could even use it as your everyday desktop printer too.

Read our Canon Pixma iP100 review

7. Canon Pixma MG6150 - £130

Canon pixma mg6150

Tricky. Which do you want most, top-quality documents delivered at high-speeds, or borderless photos in full, vibrant colour or perfectly neutral black and white (thanks to an extra 'grey' ink)? Normally, you have to make a choice between efficient document printing and photo quality output, but the MGC6150 delivers both, with Canon's excellent ChromaLife 100+ ink set, a 9600dpi print engine and 4800dpi scanner.

Ethernet and Wi-Fi make it ideal for multiple users, and the interface is clear enough for anyone to grasp. The MG6150 isn't cheap, but quality seldom is.

Read our Canon Pixma MG6150 review

8. Epson Stylus Office B1100 - £152

Epson stylus office b1100

Size matters, especially in business, and while A3 printers normally cost a fortune, the Epson B1100 is the exception. Don't assume it's built down to a price, either. The sturdy build quality is backed up by good print speeds of 30ppm mono, 17ppm colour (though that's for A4, not A3), and you get separate DURABrite inks that Epson claims give you comparable print costs to colour lasers.

The DURABrite inks also deliver quick-drying smudge-resistant output, meaning your printouts are ready sooner and survive longer.

9. Kodak ESP 9250 - £171

Kodak esp 9250

Kodak's top multi-function printer has a much stronger business slant than its cheaper consumer models. Kodak's drive to reduce running costs means both documents and photos could cost you less in the long run, even though the 9250's initial asking price is quite high.

And because it uses just two separate ink cartridges, it's simple to maintain. Photo output is, actually, a tad disappointing, but if the built-in fax machine, 30-sheet automatic document feeder, wi-fi and Ethernet connectivity make up for that.

Read our Canon Kodak ESP 9250 review

1. Samsung ML-1665 - £70

Samsung ml-1665

Laser printers have a lot going for them. They're cheaper to run than inkjets, they produce sharp, dry, smudge-free printouts, they're civilized and they're quiet. They've also got a reputation for being too expensive for anything but office use, but the the ML-1665 changes all that.

You might expect a cheap laser to be crude and slow, but the Samsung is neither. It also has a really smart 'screen print' button that outputs whatever's on your computer screen at the time - perfect for grabbing a quick hard copy without all the fuss of print dialogs and page setup.

2. Brother DCP7030 - £115

Brother dcp7030

With the Brother CCP7030 you get the advantages of a laser printer combined with the flexibility of a multifunction device. The printer might be mono, but the scanner is full-colour, which means mono prints and copies but colour scans.

You get good-quality 600dpi output and the running costs are about average for a mono laser, so the low purchase price doesn't doesn't mean more expensive consumables. It won't be as quick as a more expensive office laser, but given the price, the print quality and the multi-function capability, it's a great buy.

3. Xerox Phaser 6125 - £133

Xerox phaser 6125

How much? For a colour laser? The Phaser 6125's low purchase price is by far its strongest selling point, though, and while the print quality and print speeds are acceptable for light and undemanding home/SOHO use, it could soon prove out of its depth in a busier environment.

And as with many other cheap printers, you face higher running costs, thanks to the cost of replacement cartridges. But if both your printing needs and your budget are modest, the Phaser 6125 is a steal.

4. HP LaserJet P2055d - £157

HP laserjet p2055d

If you want colour printouts, networking and built-in scanning and copying, you're going to have to look elsewhere, because the HP P2055d is an old-school mono laser built solely for quality, speed and efficiency.

It can churn out pages at up to 33ppm, it has an 'instant on' feature which means you don't have to wait for it to warm up, and it offers automatic duplex printing too. The 1200dpi resolution generates super-sharp text, and the 250-sheet feeder means you're not constantly having to shovel in more paper.

5. Samsung CLX-3185FW - £290

Samsung clx-3185fw

The CLX-3185W is a multi-function printer that combines a colour laser, scanning and copying and faxing, and includes networking capability via Ethernet or wireless network - it even comes with a 15-sheet document feeder.

For a machine which does so much, it's surprisingly compact. If it has a flaw, it's the single-drum design, which means that colour documents have to go through in four passes, and this has an impact on the colour print speeds, but you have to set this against the Samsung's features and sheer value for money.

6. Brother HL-4150CDN - £380

Brother hl-4150cdn

Colour lasers were once very expensive, but the HL-4150CDN shows just how far prices have fallen, even for well-specced business models. You get a lot for your money, here, including very good print quality (though photos aren't quite so good), decent print speeds, duplex printing and Ethernet connectivity.

This is ideal for small offices or workgroups, and the Brother also has a neat PIN protection scheme that means sensitive documents won't be printed until you go over and enter a PIN on the printer itself.

Read our Brother HL-4150CDN review