The best printers for your office, according to Consumer Reports

Printers rank among the most expensive tools in any home office, long after the initial purchase. A model with the wrong price point per page can add hundreds of dollars in ink or toner costs within a year.

Consumer Reports tested printers for speed, print quality and long-term cost to help buyers land on a model that fits their workload.

Credit: Brother

Consumer Reports found the Brother HL-L6310DW a standout performer in this group, timing it at five text pages in just 11 seconds. At $470, it costs more than any other model here, and it handles printing alone with no scanning or copying built in. CR calculated its toner and maintenance expenses at $10 a year, keeping ownership costs low despite the high purchase price. Member surveys backed up that value, with CR reporting strong reliability and owner satisfaction scores for the model.

Credit: Brother

The Brother HL-L2480DW packs scanning and copying into the same laser platform Brother uses for its higher-end models, and it carries a price of $250. Consumer Reports rated its text output sharp, clocking five pages at 17 seconds, though its black-and-white graphics ran a costly 17.8 cents a page. A single toner cartridge lasted for about 1,094 pages in CR's tests, a shorter run than several rivals offered. CR also gave it strong marks for reliability and owner satisfaction, marks that offset the added cost of printing in black and white.

Credit: Epson

Instead of cartridges, the Epson EcoTank ET-3958 refills its four ink tanks from bottles, and it costs $380. Consumer Reports calculated a per-page cost of just 0.3 cents for text, a rate that adds up to roughly $4 a year in total ink expenses, well below what cartridge printers typically cost to run. Its scanner handled everything from documents to photo archiving with ease in CR's tests, though color graphics came out underwhelming by comparison. CR rated the model's reliability average and its owner satisfaction good, a mixed verdict for a printer built around long-term savings.

Credit: Brother

Few models in this lineup cost less than the Brother MFC-J1360DW, which carries a price of $90 and packs printing, scanning and copying into a compact frame. Consumer Reports rated its text sharp but priced it at 11.1 cents a page, a steep per-page cost for a cartridge-based inkjet. Color graphics and photo output tested adequate for everyday use, though CR's scans showed a few flaws. CR also clocked a cartridge yield under 400 pages and a WiFi setup slower than most competitors, pairing average reliability with average owner satisfaction.

Credit: Brother

The Brother MFC-L3765CDW is the only printer in this lineup that sends faxes, and it pairs that feature with scanning and copying for $390. Consumer Reports rated its graphics output well ahead of the other color-capable model in this lineup and found its text just as sharp, clocking five pages at 20 seconds. That print quality carries a real cost, as CR calculated 53.7 cents a page for color graphics, a rate that drives an estimated $96 a year in toner. CR also rated its reliability strong and its owner satisfaction good, marks that held up despite the printer's higher running costs.