The Technophile

Color laser printers can help you save both time and money and at the same time, laser printers improve your document workflow. Many of these printers are pretty quick and have minimal print costs per page, making them an excellent choice for homes and offices who are on a budget. The HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw is by far, the best color laser printer available. It prints swiftly, uses a high-capacity toner, and is conveniently compatible with every known wireless printing standard.

Customers who prefer additional security can utilize the NFC card reader on the HP LaserJet Pro M255dw. We've tried and reviewed hundreds of printers, and it's remarkably clear that it provides the finest value for money when it comes to buying a new color laser printer.

However, if our top selection isn't the best fit for your needs, there are a few additional color laser printers worth considering. Do check out and read about the other printers on this list if all-in-one laser printers are on the top of your buy list that can scan, copy, and fax documents, or if you just need a more cheap one. Here is our list of Top Rated Laser printers in 2022.  

1. HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw

Color laser with the best all-around performance for home and office

Source: HP

Pros: 

• Modern compact design
• Quick printing
• Economical monochrome printing

Cons:

• Absence of MFP functionality
• Delay in printing the first page.

Why you should buy this: 

It's the most advanced color laser printer available in the market.

Who is it meant for: 

Owners of small businesses and those who work from home

The following are the reasons why we chose the HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw:

It doesn't have to be bulky just because you want a powerful, feature-rich color printer at home. The HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw boasts a clean, modern appearance with a 2.7-inch color touchscreen for easy control. When compared to larger, business compatible printers, the LaserJet Pro M255dw weighs only 33 pounds and can be easily squeezed into a home office corner.

It's not as fast as other larger printers at 22 pages per minute, and it doesn't have all-in-one functions like scanning and copying. The HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw, on the other hand, is incredibly adaptable, with compatibility for both Windows and Mac, as well as a bypass slot where you can print oddly-shaped materials.

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The best color laser printer for the money

Source: Brother

Pros:

• Text and images have excellent print quality.
• Support for mobile and wireless printing
• Excellent option for home offices.

Cons:

• There are no auto-duplexing options available.
• Toner can be costly.

Why you should buy this:

Affordable, fast, full-color laser prints

Who is it meant for: 

Customers in the home and small business category with a moderate print volume requirement.

Why we chose The Brother MFC-L3710CDW:

Color laser printers are not inexpensive. This economical Brother printer is an excellent addition to a home office or small business if you don't want to buy an older printer. It boasts a 3.7-inch touchscreen, a versatile wireless NFC connection, including a 250-sheet capacity tray, all of which are included in more expensive variants.

This printer is ready to take on your office's print chores, with a numeric pad for copying and scanning, but the space-saving design makes it flexible enough to install desk-side or in an exclusive copy and print room. The high-yield toner options, automatic document feeder and the capability to print from and scan to popular cloud apps and services will all help you save time and money.

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The best color laser printer for business

Source: Brother

Pros:

• Printing at high speeds
• Supports high yield toners at a low cost-per-page

Cons:

• Absence of MFP functionality
• Photo quality could have been better

Why you should buy this: 

Toner with a high capacity, print rates that are lightning fast, and a variety of wireless networking options.

Who is it meant for:

Anyone who need quick, colorful printouts, such as offices with high print volumes.

We chose Brother HL-L8360CDW because:

The HL-L8360CDW is a terrific upgrade if you want to upgrade your Brother printer to the next level. It has fast print rates of about 33 pages in a minute and high-capacity toner cartridges with a 4,500-print capacity. However, it is not light, weighing about 48 pounds.

The Brother HL-L8360CDW has a built-in NFC card reader that has the ability to scan employee badges to enable access, besides other security features, for larger enterprises with security concerns. The 2.7-inch touchscreen controls the printer, which can be connected to your company's Google Drive,  Dropbox, or Microsoft OneDrive accounts.

Apple AirPrint and Google Cloud Print 2.0 allow you to print wirelessly from your home or small office. Cortado Workspace, Mopria, Wi-Fi direct, and Brother's very own iPrint&Scan software are also additional wireless technologies.

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For photo printing, this is the best color laser printer

Source: Canon

Pros:

• Printing quality for photos and text is excellent.
• Control panel with a large touchscreen
• Excellent user interface and navigation

Cons:

• Color printing has a high cost-per-page.
• For larger offices, there are no expanding paper input capabilities.

Why you should buy this:

A multifunction printer with excellent color print quality.

Who is it meant for:

Anyone who needs to take a quick print or duplicate photos or graphics.

The Canon Color imageClass MF634Cdw was chosen because:

Although laser printers aren't technically picture printers, models like the Canon Color imageClass MF644Cdw blur the borders between the two, which makes sense coming from a business famed for its cameras. While we wouldn't advocate it's use for photographers, the MF644Cdw is an excellent choice for any office that needs to create or print documents with graphics and photographs.

While the Canon Color imageClass MF644Cdw's print speed of 22 ppm isn't as fast as the HP M281fdw's, it does feature automated duplex printing, copying, and scanning thanks to its 50-sheet document feeder. It can handle the regular printing demands of small to medium-sized offices with monthly duty cycle of 30,000 prints maximum and a recommended cycle from 200 to 2,500.

You can also send print jobs wirelessly through Google Cloud Print, Mopria, Wi-Fi direct, Apple AirPrint,and Canon's Print Business app, in addition to USB.

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The best color laser printer for all-in-one printing

Source: Kyocera

Pros:

• Printing at high speeds
• Prints that are cost-effective
• MFP functionality that is solid
• For office environments, a number pad for easier controls is available.

Cons:

• Bulky size

Why you should buy this:

It prints, faxes, scans and copies documents rapidly and accurately.

Who is it meant for:

Small enterprises that require a color laser printer that can handle all of their printing needs.

Why the Kyocera Ecosys M5526cdw was chosen by us:

The Kyocera Ecosys M5526cdw is an excellent option if you want to save both money and resources with a laser printer but don't want to sacrifice the extended capacity of an all-in-one printer machine. It can print in black and white and color with a speed of up to 26 pages per minute, supports A3 and A4 paper sizes. It can photocopy, scan as well as fax all in one machine.

The toner cartridges for each color last nothing less than thousands of printouts, and the printer is equipped with Amazon Dash buttons, so you can immediately order more cartridges when you run out. A4 and legal-size documents may be scanned and faxed, and there's an integrated address book and secured data transfer for easy transmission and greater message security.

The Kyocera Ecosys M5526cdw is not only a more efficient print option than inkjet printers, but it is also constructed to the Ecosys standard, which means it is made with fewer resources, making it a more ecologically friendly purchase.

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Best color laser printer for medium-sized organizations

Source: Brother

Pros:

• Print quality is excellent.
• Printing at high speeds
• Paper trays that expand

Cons:

• Absence of MFP functionality
• Not a very big touchscreen panel

Why you should buy this:

The Brother HL-L9310CDW has built-in security features and can be customized with additional paper trays to ensure that your paper supplies are not depleted.

Who is it meant for:

Medium-sized businesses want to cut their printing expenditures per page.

Why we chose Brother HL-L9310CDW:

Brother's HL-L9310CDW color laser printer is designed for medium-sized enterprises, making it more inexpensive to sustain higher volume printing than other color laser printers recommended on our list. This laser printer has ultra high-yield cartridges that produce enough toner to do 9,000 pages of printing, lowering your cost-per-page print expense. This printer is also scalable because it was designed for business. Larger firms might add more trays to ensure they don't run out of paper in the middle of a project. Up to four trays can be installed in the Brother HL-L9310CDW, each holding 520 sheets of paper for a total input capacity of 2,080 pages.

Advanced security measures, wireless and mobile printing compatibility, and connection with prominent cloud storage providers are among the other work-friendly features. Because you must scan your badge to obtain your prints, NFC functionality helps to assure printed data security. A USB-A port makes printing from flash drives simple, and the 2.7-inch touchscreen makes browsing the printer's settings simple. The Brother HL-L9310CDW has a print speed of 33 pages per minute, but note that it is a single-function printer, so it won't be able to satisfy your document archiving requirements because there's no built-in scanner or copier.

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Best color laser printer for larger enterprises

Source: HP

Pros:

• Printing speeds are extremely rapid.
• Toner cartridges with a high yield that last a long time
• Upgrades to memory and storage are available.

Cons:

• Expensive, with above-average operating costs
• Improvements to color printing are needed.

Why you should buy this:

HP's enterprise-class printers offer industry-leading print speeds as well as enhanced security to prevent hacking.

Who is it meant for:

Large offices in need of a color laser printer that can handle large document jobs quickly.

Why we chose HP Color LaserJet Enterprise M653dn:

HP's Color LaserJet Enterprise M653dn color laser printer is a heavyweight champion in the enterprise models. The Color LaserJet Enterprise M653dn can print up to 60 pages per minute in monochrome and color, with automatic duplexing features to help you accomplish larger print tasks in less time in the office, where time is money. The printer comes with two paper trays as usual, however it may be upgraded to five total trays. This printer can handle with ease anything from simple PDFs to more creative projects that demand more color fidelity thanks to Pantone color calibration. High-yield toner cartridges which are optional can help you save money on printing, and the company also offers a printer subscription service for easier supply management.

The printer has the capability to accept PIN codes for privacy and security, but optical badge readers and other alternatives can also be installed. To avoid hacking and provide a more secure printing environment, HP has included its standard BIOS-level security.

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For workgroups, this is the best color laser printer

Source: HP

Pros:

• The compact size comes with a lot of functions.
• Exceptional security features
• App support for smartphones

Cons:

• Printing costs per page are higher than normal.

Why you should buy this:

HP's Color LaserJet Pro MFP M479dw is a fast all-in-one printer that's built for printing and digital document archiving, with simple cloud storage integration.

Who is it meant for:

Small enterprises in need of a color laser printer that can print quickly.

The following are the reasons why we chose the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M479dw:

HP's Color LaserJet Pro MFP M479dw is ideal for workgroups and enterprises that don't particularly have much office space to spare for a large printer. Though it costs more than the highly rated HP Color LaserJet Pro M454dw printer, the MFP M479dw includes multifunction functions like automatic document feeder, built-in flatbed scanner, and duplexing capabilities to help with the document needs of your office. The M479dw is a more versatile multifunction printer than the M454dw, which can still print up to 27 pages per minute in monochrome or color.

This fast but small printer comes with built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low-Energy, as well as mobile printing support for a variety of devices and platforms. The printer's short 250-sheet paper input tray is a major drawback, while larger workplaces with more demanding print workloads can opt for the extra 550-sheet tray. Duplexing is encouraged in order to save paper and protect the environment. Printing from a storage drive is simple thanks to a front-facing USB-A connector. The printer can print from or scan to a number of cloud services, making digital document archiving simple. For a lower per-page print cost, businesses with a limited print budget should invest in toner cartridges that are high-yield.

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Does a color laser printer support Wi-Fi or AirPrint?

Yes. Wireless connectivity has become quite widespread on color laser printers, just as it has on inkjet printers. However, not all models will work with all types of wireless printing technology. For example, the Brother HL-3170CDW supports both Google Cloud Print andApple AirPrint, however the Dell C1760NW does not, although offering mobile printing through its own exclusive software.

How frequently will I have to purchase toner?

This is dependent on how much printing you do. Toner cartridges typically have a yield of 2,000 pages or more (see your printer's specifications for your model's particular yield). Many users may very easily go a year or more without replenishing toner for light home use. The replacement frequency will be shorter for office use, although toner can still last a couple of months.

How can I get a good deal on the toner?

The first step is to print effectively, which means double-checking your page layout options and double-checking that everything is in order before pressing the print button.

When it's time to reorder, third-party toner cartridges can help you save money. A single authentic Brother HL-L8360CDW toner cartridge costs over $78, whereas an E-Z Ink pack of black and color toners (four cartridges in total) costs around $66.

Although buying third-party toner is unlikely to be advised by your printer's maker, as long as it's compatible with your printer, it should function properly. Some printers, such as the HP model mentioned above, check for a toner with a particular chip that identifies it as original equipment. While some alternative cartridges may function now, HP advises that they may not in the future.

We do hope that you have enjoyed reading our blog post on Top Rated Laser printers in 2022. Have we missed any laser printer that should be in the best list? Let us know in the comments.

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Top rated color laser printers in 2022