Which Component In A Laser Printer Prepares The Photosensitive Drum For Writing

Best laser printers 2021

Included in this guide:

The best laser printers give you professional-grade print quality at home, producing page after page of better print quality and lower printing costs than the majority of inkjet printers. Whether you want to run off pages of black-and-white text or a feature filled all-in-one color laser printer that will also scan, copy and fax, we've got the laser printer for you.

Our laser printer reviews look at everything from printing quality speed to ease of use and operating costs. It doesn't matter if you need one for the home or small office or just want an affordable unit, we're here to help you pick the best laser printer for your needs and budget.

The best printers for every use
Who makes the best All-in-One? Epson vs Canon vs HP printers

For a complete comparison with other printers, check out our inkjet vs laser printer guide to see which technology is right for you. And see our picks for the best printers overall to check out all of our top all-in-one picks for home and office.

What are the best laser printers?

Our favorite laser printer overall is the Brother MFC-L2750DW, a monochrome laser printer with all-in-one capabilities that's built to handle all of the printing needs of a small office with speed and efficiency. In addition to fast printing and copying it has a speedy document feeder and extremely low cost per page.

Other favorites include the budget-friendly brother HL-L2390DW, which offers monochrome printing, scanning and copy capability, and sells for a very reasonable price. For a slightly more expensive alternative, the HP LaserJet pro M148FDW is another great laser printer with plenty of features, including a duplexer for two-sided printing and an automatic document feeder for scanning and copying multi-page documents, as well as fax functionality – a must-have for some offices that you won't find on our other laser printer favorites.

Best laser printers right now

Best laser printers: Brother MFC-L2750DW — (Image credit: Brother)

1. Brother MFC-L2750DW

Best laser printer overall

Specifications

Printer Type: Laser

Features: Print, Scan, Copy, Fax

Display: 2.7-Inch Color Touch Screen

Toner: Monochrome

Connectivity: 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Ethernet, USB 2.0

Reasons to buy

+Very fast printing and copying +Very fast black-and-white scanning to PDF +Fast document feeder +Low cost per page

Reasons to avoid

-Average color-scanning speed

The Brother MFC-L2750DW is a monochrome laser printer that delivers pretty much everything you want in an all-in-one printer. Made for small office use, this unit has a monthly duty cycle of 15,000 pages that handles pages quickly and affordably, with some of the best print speeds we've seen and printing costs as low as 2.7 cents per page.

The printer is also loaded with handy features like scanning and copying, fax capability, and a second paper tray. Two-sided copies are extra quick, thanks to two-sided scanning that captures the front and back of a page simultaneously and an automatic duplexer for two-sided printing. The printer even produced two-sided documents faster than some competitors printed one-sided pages. The MFC-L2750DW is especially convenient for an office printer, with easy connectivity that includes mobile printing.

This printer may cost a bit more up front, but the Brother MFC-L2750DW is the best combination of print quality, speed and value we've seen in a laser printer, which is why it's our Editors' Choice.

Read our full Brother MFC-L2750DW review.

Best laser printers: Brother HL-L2390DW — (Image credit: Brother)

2. Brother HL-L2390DW

Best budget laser printer

Specifications

Printer Type: Laser

Features: Print, Scan, Copy

Display: 2-Line Monochrome LCD

Toner: Monochrome

Connectivity: 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Ethernet, USB 2.0

Reasons to buy

+Fast printing and black-and-white scanning +High image quality +Very low cost per page +Above-average color-scanning speed

Reasons to avoid

-No document feeder -No fax capability

The Brother HL-L2390DW is a monochrome, laser, all-in-one printer that offers one thing rarely seen in a laser printer: a low price of entry. And while the cost may catch the eye of home and small-office users, the performance and feature set are nothing to scoff at, either.

But it's not just affordable at purchase; operating costs are low, too, with a cost per page of 3.7 cents using standard-capacity toner cartridges and just 2.7 cents with high-capacity toner.

Printing performance is sharp and faster than average; this printer handles scans and copies quickly, as well. If you want the benefits of a laser printer without the usual expense, the Brother HL-L2390DW is our best budget pick for you.

Read our full Brother HL-L2390DW review.

Best laser printers: HP LaserJet Pro M148fdw — (Image credit: HP)

3. HP LaserJet Pro M148fdw

Great overall laser printer

Specifications

Printer Type: Laser

Features: Print, Scan, Copy, Fax

Display: 2-Line Monochrome LCD

Toner: Monochrome

Connectivity: 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Ethernet, USB 2.0

Reasons to buy

+High image quality +Very fast copying +Above-average print speeds +Fast document feeder +Better-than-average print costs

Reasons to avoid

-Slow scanning -Frustrating wireless setup -Slow startup

The HP LaserJet M148fdw is a monochrome laser printer that lets you print, scan, copy and fax, all at an affordable price. The unit has a rich set of features and is outfitted with a duplexer for two-sided printing, an automatic document feeder (ADF) for scanning and copying multipage documents, and fax functionality. Plus, this printer is built tough enough for the home or the office, thanks to a duty cycle of 20,000 printed pages per month.

We loved the printer's above-average print speeds; razor-sharp text; and rich, detailed graphics. Fax capability is an unexpected but welcome addition to a unit at this price, and the single-side copying was the fastest we've seen in a laser all-in-one.

The HP LaserJet M148fdw has some rough spots, like a clumsy control panel and an unintuitive mobile app, but the overall performance is very good for the affordable price. As an all-around laser printer for the home, this is a great option.

Read our full HP LaserJet Pro M148fdw review.

How to choose a laser printer

When it comes to picking any type of printer the basics are the same. You are probably already aware that laser printing produces professional looking text documents at a lower cost per page than similar inkjet models. But there are other features to consider.

All in one functions like scanning and copying are included in all of the models on the above list, but one less common function is fax capability. If you work with medical or legal documents, faxing is indispensable, and you'll need a printer that includes it.

Print speed refers to how quickly a printer will complete a page in a document. In our reviews we test this capability, measured in pages per minute. If you need to print frequently, or in high volumes, faster print speeds are worth paying for.

Print quality is another concern, though the majority of laser printers offer some of the best print quality you can get, with sharp and detailed letter forms that leave documents looking professional.

What you won't get on most laser printers is color and photo printing capability. While there are color laser printers on the market, they do cost more. And among those, not every color printer is well-suited to printing photos, and those that do require special photo paper specifically for laser printers.

Printing costs are an ongoing concern for any printer, since even affordable toner refills have some associated expenses over time. Look for a lower cost per page in our product descriptions and reviews, and check out the individual reviews for a detailed discussion of how print costs might make one printer better than another.

Check out all of our printer coverage:

Best printers | Best all-in-one printers | Best photo printers | Best portable printers

How we test laser printers

Every laser printer we review is tested along several measures of performance, including print speed, quality and the cost of printing. We time and measure every test print in our benchmarking process, and compare every print to samples from other models. Along with evaluations of ease-of-use and individual features, we strive to accurately represent how well the printer will meet your day-to-day printing needs.

In addition to basic printing of black-and-white text and mixed media documents, we also test the scanning and copying capabilities. We compare the scan with the original image to see how accurately the scan captures details and color, but we also measure the scanning speed and copying output.

To measure the cost of owning and operating a laser printer, we look at the current street price of toner and the estimated number of pages that a given toner cartridge will produce, and calculate the cost of printing a single page. The higher the cost, the more expensive a given printer will be over time.

While these tests are relatively standard across all of the printers we review, we will adapt them as needed to handle different types of printer and unique capabilities of a given device. Wherever possible, we make sure that the tests are done in a way that is comparable from one unit to the next, and repeatable, so that we can confirm our conclusions.

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Brian Westover is an Editor at Tom's Guide, covering everything from TVs to the latest PCs. Prior to joining Tom's Guide, he wrote for TopTenReviews and PCMag.