Printers & Scanners/ The Best Printers for Mac. Mac-connected printers support most of the printing and AIO features you can access on a Windows machine. (Any features not usable with Macs are. Instantly connected to my Mac, iPhone and iPad.I had the same model for several years and it finally died so I looked for another HP printer and this is just a. Products 1 - 40 of 3809 - Buy products such as Canon PIXMA MX490 Wireless Office All-in-One Inkjet Printer/Copier/Scanner/Fax Machine at Walmart and save.
Tony Hoffman The Best Photo Printers of 2018 Your photos deserve to exist as more than mere bits and bytes. Here's what you need to know to pick the right photo printer—for snapshots or big, bold art prints—based on your output needs. Also, check out our top-rated picks, based on our deep-dive reviews. What Makes a Photo Printer, Exactly?
True —in contrast to standard inkjets that manufacturers merely call photo printers—fall into two broad categories at the consumer level: dedicated photo printers, and near-dedicated ones. As the name indicates, dedicated (also known as 'small-format') photo printers are designed to print nothing but photos.
You simply can't use them for outputting documents, because they don't accept letter-size paper stock. They are limited to snapshot sizes, comprising maximum paper sizes of 2 by 3 inches, 4 by 6 inches, or 5 by 7 inches (or panoramic variations on these sizes). But this category of printer isn't defined just by its limits. These printers are relatively small and portable. They're also much less computer-centric printers than they are standalone consumer electronics products, with an emphasis on ease of use.
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What both categories have in common is that they focus on printing photographs. Here is what you need to consider to make the right choice. Do You Even Need a Photo Printer? There's no such thing as a dedicated or near-dedicated photo printer all-in-one, but some dedicated photo printers add functions beyond printing. (That said, many inkjet-based home and office all-in-ones do print excellent photos; see for our tops picks there.) Most include menus with basic editing features that let you crop an image, remove red-eye, and the like. A few add so many editing choices that they are essentially home photo kiosks, often including a large touch screen to let you easily give commands. Models like these often also add features such as the ability to scan slides and film negatives.
Some also include enough in-device memory to store hundreds of photos, so you can bring the printer with you, show the photos, and print them out on the spot. A few dedicated photo printers are even built into other kinds of devices, such as cameras. Near-dedicated photo printers don't offer the same kinds of extras as dedicated models. By definition, however, they're also capable of printing standard business documents, although it's generally a waste of their talents—like using a brand-new Porsche as a town car.
Some are harder to use for standard office printing than others, mainly because you may have to swap out ink cartridges when you switch between glossy and plain paper. If you must use a near-dedicated photo printer for office printing as well as photos, even occasionally, be sure to pick one that lets you switch easily between photo paper and plain paper. What Does It Cost to Print? To get the cost per photo for a dedicated photo printer, simply divide the cost of the print pack by the number of photos it will print. To get the total cost of ownership, multiply the cost per photo by the number of photos you expect to print over the printer's lifetime, and then add the printer's initial cost. This total is the best basis for comparing prices. Do You Print in Black and White?
With most printer categories, you should consider whether you really need color. Photo printers turn the question on its head, so you should consider whether you need black and white, which many printers can't handle well. The most common flaw in black-and-white printing is a tint, or different color tints that show up in different shades of gray.
If you print black-and-white photos, you'll need to check out black-and-white photo quality apart from the printer's color photo quality. This is more often a problem for dedicated, rather than near-dedicated, photo printers, but you need to consider it in either case. (In our reviews, we note such tints and their severity when we encounter them, but we don't use monochrome images to test small-format printers.) Assessing Printer Size: Portable or Desk-Bound? Inexpensive dedicated photo printers range in size from small enough to fit in a pocket to too large to carry very often.
If you want to bring a printer with you to events like parties or Little League games, pick a size you won't mind carrying. Also, consider whether you'll need to run it from batteries.
If so, make sure there's a battery available, if only as an option, and find out how many photos you can print on a full charge. Near-dedicated photo printers are far larger than most standard inkjets, because they're typically designed for printing on cut-paper sheets as large as 13 by 19 inches, as well as banner-size variations in some cases. Some print from roll paper, as well. Beyond the printer size itself, some printers in this class need additional room behind them to feed large paper stock or accommodate a roll feeder.
To print on large paper with some near-dedicated photo printers, you have to feed a single sheet from the front, after which the printer loads it by feeding it all the way out of a back slot on the printer, and then prints while moving the paper forward again. If you don't have enough free flat space for this approach to printing, look for a printer that can handle roll paper, that can feed large-size cut sheets from a standard tray, or that can do both. Connection Options: Wired or Wireless? More broadly, what do you want to print from? Most dedicated photo printers can print from a computer over a USB connection, but they're really meant as standalone devices. Almost all newer models come with Wi-Fi connectivity, and many can print directly from PictBridge-supporting cameras and memory cards.
(Make sure the printer is compatible with the memory card format you want to use.) Nearly as many models can print from USB thumb drives. A few print from internal memory, but you need to transfer the files to the memory first, so find out what connection you need to use to transfer the photos.
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Finally, a growing number of compact models can connect by Bluetooth to print from smartphones and other Bluetooth-enabled devices. The connectivity options for near-dedicated photo printers are much the same as for standard office printers. Some models offer just a single USB connector. Others add an Ethernet jack for easy sharing on a network. Some offer Wi-Fi connectivity, as well, and a few offer all three options: USB, Ethernet, and Wi-Fi. Few models at this level offer PictBridge connectors or similar choices, because the assumption is that serious photographers will want to print from photo-editing programs on their computers. Is the Output Quality Up to Par?
Whatever printer you're considering, be sure to check on the output quality before buying. With dedicated photo printers, the main print technologies used are inkjet and thermal dye. A printer of either kind will at least match the output quality you'll typically see in drugstore prints. With an inkjet, you'll typically buy your ink and your paper separately, so you'll want to match the printer maker's paper recommendations. With thermal dye, you'll get the ink cartridge and matching paper in a single pack, designated for a fixed number of prints.
Another technology seen in small dedicated photo printers is known as Zero Ink, or ZINK. As the name implies, it uses no ink cartridges; instead, special ZINK paper, when heated precisely by the printer, generates the image from chemicals impregnated in the stock. ZINK technology is currently limited to printers with print sizes ranging from 2 by 3 inches to 4 by 6 inches, and the output quality doesn't quite stack up to inkjet or thermal dye. ZINK output is best described as 'good enough' for photos that will wind up in a wallet or behind a refrigerator magnet. Any near-dedicated photo printer should offer output quality suitable for a professional photographer's exhibition prints, but you should obviously check to make sure. Keep in mind, too, that different people have different tastes, so choosing between two or more printers with superb, but slightly different, output may depend entirely on which one you like better. Note that the type of paper you use can make a difference in the overall effect for a given image, so ask what papers are available for the printer.
Most manufacturers offer an assortment of fine-art papers for near-dedicated photo printers. In many cases, you can also get paper-specific color profiles for a given printer so you can use it with third-party fine-art papers, as well. Finally, two other issues fall loosely under the heading of quality: ruggedness and lifetime. Don't expect much in the way of ruggedness for fine-art papers for exhibition, but you do need it for stacks of 4-by-6s that you might hand out for people to look through.
Photos from most printers today are reasonably waterproof and scratch-resistant, but some fare better than others. Claimed photo lifetimes also vary, with longer lifetimes obviously preferred. As a point of reference, traditional silver halide color prints last about 20 years when exposed to air. Print Speeds and Quantities: Do They Matter?
Don't worry too much about print speed in these classes of hardware. For photos, quality matters more, and even the slowest printers today offer tolerable print speeds, at about 2 minutes for a 4-by-6 on our tests. Keep in mind, too, that measured speeds are typically slower than claimed speeds, and (as we note in our reviews where applicable) the speed for any given printer may vary depending on the source from which you're printing. The usual rule for printers is to find out the printer's monthly duty cycle (the maximum number of pages or photos the manufacturer rates that you can print per month), as well as its recommended duty cycle, and make sure the latter number covers more pages than you plan to print. Unfortunately, this is almost impossible with most dedicated and near-dedicated photo printers. That's because most manufacturers don't rate the duty cycle for these classes of printer.
That's as inexcusable as a car manufacturer not telling you how often to change your oil, but, for now at least, it's the state of the business. Our rule of thumb for these printers? If you'll be printing enough that you're concerned about the duty cycle, and the manufacturer doesn't rate the duty cycle, don't buy the printer. You may need to look instead for printers aimed strictly at professional photographers and retail stores. Ready for Our Recommendations?
Pros: Excellent print quality. Relatively light and compact. Can print on many different types and sizes of paper. Multiple high-quality ink tanks produce deeper blacks and saturated colors. Cons: Paper roll add-on comes without a cutter.
Wastes some ink when switching between matte black and glossy papers and back again. Bottom Line: The Epson SureColor P800, which can print to a wide variety of paper sizes (including rolls with an optional adapter), is an excellent photo printer for pros and hobbyists alike.
Pros: Smaller than its predecessor. Easy to set up and use. Good overall print quality.
Robust mobile device app. NFC makes it easy to connect to a mobile device.
Cons: Can't print from a PC. High running costs. Print speeds are slow compared with the competition. Mobile app crashed a few times during testing. Bottom Line: The Kodak Mini 2 HD Instant Photo Printer produces good-quality photos, and its wireless capabilities make it easy to connect to the mobile app. But somewhat slow print times and stiff running costs hold it back.