Tony Hoffman The Best Wireless Printers for 2019 Fewer cables in your home or office is a good thing. There are plenty of excellent printers that use Wi-Fi or other wireless technologies to streamline the printing process. Here are our current favorites.
Cable-Free Printing Wireless and have become commonplace in both homes and small offices, and many larger businesses are adopting them as well. Wi-Fi connectivity provides more flexibility in where you put your printer, lets you easily print from mobile devices, and gives you one fewer unsightly cable to worry about or trip over. Although wireless printers have been available for more than a decade, it's only in the past five years or so that they've come into their own. Most home printers have Wi-Fi capability, many of them eschewing wired networking for it, though some have both Wi-Fi and Ethernet. Many business also come with Wi-Fi enabled, and we're seeing more with either standard or optional Wi-Fi as well.
Connecting to Your Mobile Device Newer Wi-Fi printers offer mobile printing support. You can print or via Apple's AirPrint to compatible printers. Mopria-certified printers can print directly from Android devices, and many printer manufacturers and third parties offer apps for printing from iOS, Android, and other devices. Many directly support printing from cloud-based services. What's Wi-Fi Direct?
A small, but quickly growing, number of printers employ Wi-Fi Direct (or its equivalent), a technology that has the potential to greatly simplify wireless connectivity. Wi-Fi Direct-enabled computers and printers can easily connect with each other over a direct, peer-to-peer connection without requiring a wireless access point. A newer and even more direct wireless printing method is Near Field Communication (NFC), in which one has only to touch a compatible mobile device to an NFC-enabled printer for printing to commence.
No Sacrifice On Speed One thing that's held people back from buying Wi-Fi printers is the perception that they may take a hit in speed. That's occasionally true—a lot depends on the specifics of your Wi-Fi versus wired networks—but any time lost in data transfer is usually minimal compared with the total print time, particularly if the printer is proximate to your router. If speed is a concern, pick a Wi-Fi printer that also connects via Ethernet, just in case.
Feb 24, 2017 - 1. HP Officejet Pro X576dw. This Hewlett-Packard inkjet printer is expensive but has many features that make it one of the great wireless printers for Mac.
(All printers offer at least USB 2.0 connectivity.). Pros: Small and spiffy. Voice control with supported smart home UIs.
IFTTT scripting for extending smart capabilities. Impressive print quality. Competitive ink costs with Instant Ink, plus free snapshot printing from your smartphone.
Cons: Borderless prints limited to 5-by-7-inch. Single, small paper input. 'Scans' and 'copies' only via smartphone. Bottom Line: HP's Tango X 'smart printer,' the first we've tested with voice activation and smart home features, is all about printing from mobile devices. It's not perfect, but given its unique free-snapshot printing angle, it will be a tough act for future models to follow.
Since most AIO printers are wireless nowadays, we’ve focused on those that work wirelessly and allow you to print instantly from not only your Mac but also mobile devices such as iPad, iPhone, Windows Mobile and Android devices. Useful To Know: Printers & Macs Before jumping in, to help you decide which AIO printer is right for you, there are a few things worth being aware of when choosing a printer for your Mac. Laser vs Inkjet Although all of the devices featured here can print, copy, scan and fax from Mac, the main thing you’ll probably use it for is printing. You’ll therefore want to choose a printer based mainly on your printing needs because the copy, scan and fax capabilities are similar across the board.
There are two types of printer on the market – inkjet and laser printers. Laser printers are usually more expensive but they are faster and give better print quality, especially for text. Inkjets are almost the same speed nowadays but give better print quality for images. The best printer for you therefore depends in what you want to use it for.
In a nutshell, if you’re mainly going to print lots of text or PDF documents, you’re best going for a laser printer. If you’re going to be doing a serious amount of printing, you’re better investing in a Laser printer such as the HP LaserJet Pro or HP OfficeJet Pro as they print as significantly faster printing speeds. If it’s photos you’ll be mainly printing, then you’re probably better to go for an inkjet machine.
We’ve indicated in these reviews and in the comparison table whether the printer reviewed is laser or inkjet. Cartridge Costs Although printers have never been cheaper than today, the real expense with printers is the cost of replacing the printer cartridges. Color print cartridges, especially for laser printers, can be hundreds of dollars so you should bear in mind how much replacement cartridges cost when making your decision. We’ve made it clear in the reviews and comparison table how many cartridges the printer requires and how much cartridges cost so that there are no nasty shocks after purchasing your printer. Faxing From Printers All of the machines featured here can also be used as a fax machine.
However, its important to note you will need a landline in your home or office to use this feature. To fax from an all-in-one machine, you need to connect it via a telephone cable to your landline connection – you can’t fax from a printer via your WiFi connection. If this is a problem, or you’re intending to fax regularly from your Mac, we strongly recommend reading our guide on the where you’ll find information on how to fax using online services or via fax apps from macOS. Other things worth being aware of when buying any kind of printer are:. Print Resolution (dpi): You’ll find that not many manufacturers make the print resolution (measured in dots per inch – dpi) very clear or even state print resolution on product descriptions. Most print at around 2400 x 4800 dpi but you should check with the manufacturer if this is a crucial issue for you. Scan Resolution (dpi): This is usually made clear in most manufacturer product descriptions and most printers scan in 1220 x 2400 dpi but we’ve made the scanning resolution clear in the reviews.
Double Sided Printing (Duplex Printing): All the wireless printers here can print, scan and copy double-sided, also known as duplex printing. This is very useful as it saves significant amounts of paper if printing on both sides is not an issue for you.
If you need single side printing, they can of course do that too. Print Speed (ppm): Print speed is measured in Pages per Minute (ppm) and most models can print color at around 10 ppm and black and white printouts slightly faster.
The exceptions are the HP LaserJet Pro and HP OfficeJet Pro which can both print significantly faster at 19 ppm and 70 ppm respectively. Note that in the comparison table, we’ve indicated the maximum draft color printing speed per printer – if you print in high quality the speeds will be slightly slower. Budget: Multifunction printers can range from under $100 and $200 suitable for general home use to those designed for small businesses costing anything up to $1500. A Note On Brother Printers & Macs Although PC users experience less problems than those on Mac, we’ve found that the Brother brand of printers cause the most problems on Mac and are best avoided.
The drivers either often do not work properly with OS X or are not updated regularly enough by Brother to be compatible with the latest versions of macOS. This either results in no communication between Mac and Brother printer or the printer refusing to print in draft mode thus using valuable ink on documents that don’t need to be printed in high quality. Wireless printing in particular can be very hit and miss when trying to print to a Brother printer from Mac.
The wireless range between Brother printers and Macs is also often so poor that you need the printer sitting right next to the Mac in order for wireless printing to even work. Coupled with frequent paper jams when using Brother printers alongside Macs, in our experience, it’s advisable to avoid the Brother brand of printers on Mac. With all this in mind, here then are our reviews of the best printers for Mac of 2018 in order of ranking. To help in your decision, you can see how they compare head-to-head in the comparison table at the end.
The Canon PIXMA range is one of the best-selling all-in-one printers ever and has been successful due to a combination of good value for money, reliability and high quality results. The is easily the most popular general all purpose printer for Mac users and offers a good combination of high print quality, scan, copy and fax functionality, pleasing aesthetic design and competitive pricing.
The Canon MX922 is a printer, scanner, copier and fax machine and can be used either wirelessly or via a USB cable. There’s a 35-sheet document feeder and it even includes software to design and print your own custom CDs, DVDs, and Blu-rays.
For photo buffs, there’s a neat HD Movie Print feature which can take a frame from an HD movie recorded on a compatible Canon EOS, PowerShot, or VIXIA camcorder and print it as a photo. For those that love to make home movies but also like to have photos of their favorite moments, this is a really useful feature. The MX922 can scan and photocopy documents in high-resolution of up to 2400 x 4800 dpi optical and can also be used as a fax machine if you’ve got a landline connection. Cartridges for the Canon PIXMA MX922 are a bit expensive since there’s 5 of them in all. Overall, the Canon PIXMA MX922 is solid, reliable, produces quality results and is good value for money.
The is an all-in-one printer that can print, scan, copy and fax. It’s geared more at those that want to print lots of photos from mobile devices as it allows you to instantly send and print images from mobile devices. For those that hate running out of printer ink at just the wrong moment, the HP Envy 7855 will also automatically order new print cartridges delivered to your door you when it detects ink is getting low. The HP Instant Ink replacement service can also work out up to 50% cheaper than buying cartridges in store although they’re generally reasonably priced anyway. The HP Envy also features a touchscreen which allows you to print and even edit photos that you’ve sent from your Mac, iPhone or iPad. The scanner is slightly low in resolution with a maximum of 1200 dpi but it’s enough for general use. If you’re intending to print a lot of photos and mobile printing is important to you, the HP Envy 7855 All-ln-One Photo Printer is a very good choice.
The is an multi-function inkjet printer that claims to offer “performance beyond laser”. It offers the fastest printing speed we’ve seen in an inkjet and Epson claim it’s 40% cheaper to run than a laser printer due to the cost of its cartridges. The Epson Workforce is also one of the few printers that can perform not only double-sided printing but also double-sided scans, photocopies and faxes if that’s important for you.
There’s a touch screen that allows you to send and print photos from mobile devices as well as perform general management of the printer. The Epson Workforce range use 5 cartridges although they are considerably cheaper than for the Canon PIXMA. Annoyingly though, if you’ve run out of color cartridges and just want to print in greyscale, it won’t let you – you must have a full set of cartridges loaded before it will let you print anything at all. The Epson Workforce is WF-370 is a good choice if you need a printer for Mac or PC that can copy, scan and print double-sided and has reasonably priced cartridge refills. The is a more affordable version of the excellent HP Office Jet Pro (see review below).
Although more expensive than most consumer printers, it’s an excellent mid range all-in-one machine that’s also suitable for small businesses and home office use. The HP LaserJet Pro prints at an impressive 19 pages per minute (ppm) which is significantly faster than the Canon, Epson or HP Envy (although much slower than the HP Office Jet Pro). One other useful feature you’ll find in HP LaserJet Pro that you won’t find in most printers is the ability to scan to email. This means you can scan a document and send it directly to someone’s email address by typing it in the touchscreen. You can even send documents to multiple email addresses directly from the printer itself.
The main difference between the HP LaserJet Pro and the more advanced HP Office Jet Pro is that it’s a lot slower and a smaller paper loading cartridge (150 sheets compared to 500 sheets in the Office Jet Pro). Print cartridges are also a lot cheaper for the HP LaserJet Pro. If you’re looking for a small office, small business or home office all in printer for your Mac, the HP LaserJet Pro provides very fast printing with office printer standard features at an affordable price. The is by far the most expensive printer featured here but it’s also the most robust and designed for offices that need a top quality solution.
The HP OfficeJet Pro is extremely fast printing up to 70 pages per minute (ppm) compared to an average of 10 ppm for the other printers featured here. Although it can be used for printing photos, the HP OfficeJet Pro is designed more for large volume document printing rather than photo or leisure use. The HP OfficeJet Pro can hold up to 500 sheets of paper – far in excess of any of the other printers featured here – with an option for an additional 500 sheet paper tray. This is because the HP OfficeJet Pro is designed for offices that print up to 4,200 pages per month and as a result, cartridges aren’t exactly cheap. Like the HP Laserjet Pro, the HP OfficeJet Pro also supports scan to email and double-sided duplex printing, copying and scanning of documents. If you’re looking for the perfect mid-office multi purpose printer for your Mac or PC, the HP OfficeJet Pro is a superb machine. The Best Printers For Mac Compared Canon PIXMA MX922 HP Envy 7855 Epson Workforce WF-370 HP Laserjet Pro M281fdw HP Office Jet Pro x576dw Printer Type Inkjet Laser Inkjet Laser Laser Auto-Sheet Feeder Capacity 35 25 35 150 500 Double Sided Print/Copy/Scan Max Print Speed Color 10 ppm 9 ppm 10 ppm 19 ppm 70 ppm Max Scan Resolution dpi 2400 x 4800 1200 x 2400 1200 x 2400 1200 x 2400 1200 x 2400 No.
Of Print Cartridges 5 2 5 4 4 Full Set Print Cartridge Cost (approx) $50 $25 $20 $130 $400 Easy To Use Touchscreen Mobile Printing Conclusion Which printer you choose depends on whether you’re just a general home user or need to use it for business use. If you’re an occasional home user that just needs to print, scan and copy every so often, the Canon PIXMA, HP Envy or Epson Workforce will be sufficient. If you’re somewhere in between and planning to maybe use it for business purposes, you can’t go wrong with the HP LaserJet Pro because it offers room for you to grow while offering home users the speed and features that businesses enjoy. If you’re a small business or power user, then don’t hesitate to get the HP OfficeJet Pro as the speed in printing alone is well worth the extra money for frequent print jobs. Whichever one you choose, the great thing for Mac users is that unlike on Windows PCs, setting-up a printer is very easy. Macs will automatically install printer drivers for most major manufacturers as soon as you connect the printer to your Mac meaning whichever one you choose, installing it on Mac is far easier and painless than on PC.
Depending on the model and manufacturer, PC users meanwhile may have to download drivers from the manufacturer website or install software that comes with the printer. If you’ve got any comments, questions, problems or experiences with any of the Mac compatible printers reviewed here, let us know in the comments below. You May Also Like:.