Best Inkjet All in One Printer

HP Officejet, HP Photosmart and Brother go head-to-head

While inkjet multifunction printers (MFPs) sometimes don't have the text print quality and speed of laser MFPs, they come out ahead when printing color photos. If you don't have a heavy document printing load, consider one of these printers for your home or small office needs.

The delivers excellent quality output at a fast speed. This inkjet MFP is suitable for home use, though, considering its price tag, it has a surprisingly full range of office-centric features as well. There's a duplexer (for automatic two-sided printing), an automatic document feeder for copying and scanning, and a scanning bed that's sized for legal paper. HP preloads web apps onto to this printer for access to web news outlets, such as the Financial Times. The ability to email documents from mobile or other devices directly to the printer for printing is also on board.

The 4.3 inch touch screen provides a highly usable interface for the printer, and through it you can access the well-structured menu of all the features of this MFP, including the web apps. Setup is easy and can be accomplished through Wi-Fi, a wired Ethernet connection or using the USB port.

The text print quality of the HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus rivals the output from a laser printer, even in smaller fonts. Photos printed on glossy photo paper come out clear, with bright colors, and the colors from scanning are also of above-average quality. All of this is served up at what reviewers say is above-average speed.

If top photo quality is crucial, the HP Photosmart 7520 e-All-In-One (*Est. $200) is a well-reviewed all-round multifunction printer that prints great photos with excellent detail. Though its features are less business-centric -- for example, the paper tray holds only half as much paper as the Officejet Pro 8600 Plus -- the text and graphics quality of the 7520 e-All-In-One are also very good, making this printer suitable for an office environment as well as for home use. Setup and use are straightforward, using the 4.3 inch color touch screen and well-organized menus. The 7520 e-All-In-One makes photo printing easy through a dedicated paper tray for photo paper up to 5 by 7 inches and an extra ink cartridge which has photo black ink to use in addition to the standard matte black. With its scanning and copying abilities, the HP Photosmart 7520 e-All-In-One is a fast, photo-centric printer that does much more than print great photos.

If the HP Photosmart 7520 e-All-In-One is too expensive for your needs, or you don't need such high quality text output, take a look at the HP Photosmart 5520 e-All-In-One (*Est. $195) , a pared down version of the Photosmart 7520. The Photosmart 5520's focus is on photo printing, though the photo prints aren't as detailed as with the 7520 model. Color graphics are bright, but black text and graphics are just average. The 5520 is slower than its big sibling, the touch screen is smaller and it lacks the additional photo paper tray, auto document feeder and fax capability. If you're looking for a home, rather than a business, multifunction printer for good photo prints, then consider this model.

The Brother MFC-J825DW (*Est. $115) is another MFP that should be high on the list of the budget conscious business user. While its output is not as professional-looking as the HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus, its text quality looks crisp and dark in most fonts. Color photos printed on glossy photo stock look good, albeit little on the light side. The MFC-J825DW prints and scans at a fairly fast speed.

However, it's the features of the MFC-J825DW that make it most attractive for its price. In addition to the standard print/copy/and scan abilities, it has a built-in fax, a 3.3 inch color touch screen, and both wired and Wi-Fi networking. One unusual feature of this multifunction printer is that it can print on CDs and DVDs.