Best Printer for Home, Expert Recommendations

[smith11]

I am in the market for the best home printer and honestly, the more I research, the more confused I get. I’ve spent the past few days going through reviews on NYT’s Wirecutter, Consumer Reports, and even Popular Mechanics, and two models keep popping up as the top picks:

HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e All-in-One Printer

https://www.amazon.com/HP-OfficeJet-Wireless-Printing-403X0A/dp/B0CFM82NS2

Brother MFC-L2820DW Wireless Compact Monochrome All-in-One Laser Printer

https://www.amazon.com/Brother-MFC-L2820DW-Monochrome-Subscription-Replenishment/dp/B0CPL9C83B?th=1

Here’s my situation: I don’t print a crazy amount, but I do need something reliable for schoolwork, the occasional photo, and day-to-day stuff like documents and scanning. Wireless printing is a must, and I’d really prefer not to be burning through expensive ink every month.

Between these two, which one do you think makes more sense for a regular household setup? Or is there another model I should be looking at?
Would appreciate any input!

[isi]

Well, i had this as an "internal" discussion for years, and my result was basically:

• If you print daily, an Inkjet not fully powering down might work. If you fully power it down overnight --> head cleaning in the morning...  
• If you do not print daily (e.g. you print something on the weekend, then the printer is off a week, then the week after a few pages), Inkjets are a complete no go in my experience with HP... Don't even think about them, because there with cleanup routines on every start, you're exactly in the "burning through expensive ink every month" trap... it's even worse if you use it as a scanner, too, because turning it on just for scanning wastes the same amount of ink...

• So, if Inkjet's are not the thing, Laser remains. Laser has the advantage that you can print 100 pages, turn it off, and if you turn it on two weeks later, no trouble, it just prints...
• As you mentioned photos, why not a color laser? These from Brother: MFC-L3720CDW (one-sided scan) or MFC-L3780CDW  (duplex scan) are in a similar price class, a friend of mine has the 3780 and is happy...

I myself gave up on photo printing after the Deskjets, my current printer is an old Samsung SCX-3405, which simply works (just got a new 1500-page 3rd-party toner for 20 bucks a few weeks ago), and photos i print at far higher quality and lower price in the Drugstore 'round the corner (ok, this "in 25 meters" is a happy accident 😉

With the color lasers, because the toners should match because of color mixing, i'd use original color toners, at least...

So, i'd recommend thinking if you want a printer for photos or not, and if not, definitely go for Laser. If yes, well, go for laser, too 😉 - the Inkjet business became a ripoff 20 years ago when ink became more expensive than Chanel No. 5...

But whatever printer you get - check if they accept third-party toner/ink. If not, you're the victim... 😉