Best Printers Overall

Best general-purpose inkjet printers

The best general-purpose inkjet printers can produce letters, directions, maps and grocery lists in a reasonable amount of time and without consuming massive amounts of ink, yet are also able to create great looking birthday party invitations, scrapbooking graphics and personal photos.

The newest addition to Canon's inkjet photo printer lineup, the Canon Pixma iP4700 (*Est. $100) excels at every printing task, scoring high marks in early reviews. PC Pro's David Bayon feels that the iP4700 retains the iP4000 series' quality and wealth of features, but with very minor updates from the iP4600 (Discontinued). The most noticeable change is in design; the iP4700 has rear ports that are more recessed, so that the printer can be pushed closer to the wall, and the silver trim has been dropped for an all-black look. The print engine is rated by Canon to be slightly faster in the iP4700, which is a relatively compact 17 inches by 11.7 inches.

Few reviewers have evaluated this latest upgrade to the Pixma iP4000 line, but those that have say it is at least as good as the iP4600. PC Advisor's Carrie-Ann Skinner is very impressed by the iP4700, citing increased speed and easy setup. She likes the tweaks in Canon's bundled software too, such as automatic color correction. David Bayon at PC Pro isn't as enthusiastic, saying Canon's claims of speed improvement aren't borne out in real-time use. Bayon also laments the lack of media-card slots, and the fact that there's only one USB port. Yet print quality is as good as ever, with "vibrant" colors and "gloriously thick and bold" text, he says. Bayon concludes that "it seems strange to be giving such high marks and an A-List spot to a printer we've freely acknowledged does almost nothing to improve on its predecessor, but since the iP4600 will soon be off the shelves, you'd be crazy not to switch your attentions to the iP4700. It may not innovate, but it's still the best home inkjet around."

Like its predecessors, the Canon iP4700 is rich in features, including two paper trays with a 300-sheet input capacity, a duplexer (which enables automatic printing on both sides of a page), and a PictBridge port for direct printing from cameras. The dual paper-tray system allows one tray to hold letter-sized paper and the other to hold photo paper, so users can easily print both text and photos without switching papers. Alternatively, the trays can be loaded with different sizes of photo paper. The iP4700 also prints on envelopes and other papers ranging from the size of a postcard up to full legal size (8.5 inches by 14 inches).

The Canon iP4700 uses five inks that are both dye- and pigment-based. Despite using fewer colors than many other photo printers, output is where Canon's iP4000 series shines in its price range. In his review of the iP4600 for PCMag.com, M. David Stone writes, "The prints on my tests all easily qualified as true photo quality -- better than you would expect from a typical drugstore, although not quite a match for a professional photo lab or the output from top-tier, much-more-expensive photo printers."

We did notice a few consistent complaints in reviews. A common theme is that the Canon Pixma iP4600 is slow and initial reports say there's not a noticeable improvement in speed in the iP4700. Photo printing times seem acceptable to most, but text printing, especially when printing on both sides of the paper, frustrates some users. We also found many user complaints about the cost of the replacement ink cartridges -- replacing all five inks at once will cost you $60.

Canon's Pixma iP4000 series is a perennial favorite among reviewers, and earlier models like the iP4600 have been our Best Reviewed choices in previous reports. Since the iP4700 matches, if not exceeds, its forerunners, it is our pick for best all-purpose inkjet on the market.

None of the iP4000 printers include an LCD preview screen, which is helpful for previewing photos before you print them. The HP Photosmart D7560 (*Est. $150) has a 3.5-inch touch screen that reviewers praise. It costs more than the Canon Pixma iP4700, but reviews say the D7560 creates great photo prints, and text pages are also good. Experts say print speeds are faster, as well. Like the Canon, the Photosmart D7560 has two paper trays, but one is a smaller tray meant just for snapshot-sized paper.

The 3.5-inch screen is touch-sensitive. You can print directly from cameras from its PictBridge connection, or you use the memory-card slots for computer-free printing. The HP uses five separate cartridges of Vivera inks. The four-color photo-ink tanks cost about $10 each to replace, while the standard black cartridge costs about $12, so it's about $52 to replace the whole set. So far, reviews for this model at Amazon.com are great. More than 65 people have rated it. The HP Photosmart D7560 can also print onto special CDs and DVDs, but reviewers say it would be a mistake to buy this printer just for this feature since the software is very limited and the results aren't great. Another possible drawback might be its U-turn paper path, which can make it tricky to print cardstock, envelopes or other stiff media. For $50 less, the HP Photosmart D5460 (*Est. $100) also gets good reviews. Like the D7560, the D5460 uses five ink cartridges and can print from memory cards, but it lacks the D7560's touch screen for previewing photos.

HP also makes some of the few well-reviewed single-purpose inkjet printers geared toward business use. The HP Officejet 6000 (*Est. $80) and Officejet 6000 Wireless (*Est. $90) lack an LCD screen and photo features, but still get a lot of reviewer attention. The Officejet 6000 gets an Editors' Choice award from PCMag.com's M. David Stone, who also points out that the printer is compliant with a number of environmental standards -- even print cancelling is instantaneous, saving ink and money. Stone says the Officejet 6000 "offers an attractive balance of speed, output quality, paper handling, price and cost per page." Stone suggests that most offices should opt for the wireless version of the Officejet 6000, which also adds an auto duplexer. The HP Officejet 6000, measuring 18 inches by 15.3 inches, is a bit larger than the Canon iP4700, so it will jut out a few more inches on your desk.

Justin Yu at CNET says the Officejet 6000's print quality is "exceptional," though he's less enthused about its looks, saying "the matte beige and black color scheme is designed to match the drab, unassuming palette of any office." Yu points out that while low-range multifunction printers, like the Canon Pixma MX330, offer more features for about $20 more, the Officejet outperforms the Pixma MX330 and most other comparable printers in CNET's real-time speed tests. However, Macworld's James Galbraith finds that print times are "average," though they pick up slightly over a wireless network. Simon Williams at TrustedReviews.com finds that print quality and speed are good on the Officejet 6000. Williams even says the 6000 is slightly faster than the Officejet 6500, HP's all-in-one version, though he says the 6500 is a better value. Carrie-Ann Skinner at PC Advisor echoes complaints about the Officejet's aesthetic appeal, and finds the unit bulky as well. The HP Officejet 6000 ships with four ink cartridges -- black, magenta, cyan and yellow -- that cost $50 total to replace.

The HP Officejet Pro 8000 (*Est. $90) is marketed as an alternative to color laser printers for office use. At 19.5 by 18.9 inches, it is a few inches bigger than the Officejet Pro 6000. TrustedReviews.com's Williams says the unit mostly lives up to that ambition, boasting near-laser-quality graphics and text, and better-than-laser photos. Operating costs also compete well with lasers, as long as you use cheaper high-yield cartridges. Williams says the standard duplexer is another perk, especially since it's a feature entry-level lasers lack, but duplex printing is very slow on the Officejet Pro 8000. Like the Officejet 6000, the 8000 also comes in a pricier wireless variant (*Est. $140).

Epson offers an inkjet for the office, the Epson Workforce 40 (*Est. $100), but the limited feedback on this model is middling at best. We found one professional review, by PC World's Susan Silvius. She praises the Workforce 40's speed and budget price, but she feels "disappointed" by print quality on every kind of paper and complains about the 100-page paper capacity. But the biggest drawback is ink cost. Silvius estimates that the Workforce 40's standard capacity cartridges produce black and color sheets at "an outrageous" 7.4 cents and 19.3 cents per page, respectively. Higher-yield cartridges are a better value, but still not very competitive. User reviews at Amazon.com and Newegg.com are more positive, but some complain about noise and shoddy construction.