Canon Color imageClass MF634Cdw

Speedy Workhorses

As inkjet printers have become more capable in recent years, the differences between them and lasers have narrowed. But laser printers still generally offer better text quality, the ability to print in higher volume, greater paper capacity, lower running costs, and faster speeds than inkjets. Relatively high prices and mediocre photo quality have traditionally relegated laser printers to office settings, but that picture is changing. Prices have come down—though, by and large, they remain more expensive than inkjets—and photo output has improved.

A monochrome laser printer can provide the speed, durability, and paper handling to deal with the high printing volume of a busy office. And inexpensive monochrome lasers with modest paper handling can serve as personal desktop printers in any size office. Many current color lasers print photos are fine for many business uses, such as client newsletters. In higher-quality lasers, overall output quality for text, graphics, and photos is typically good enough for brochures and other marketing materials, allowing many companies to take such printing in-house.

While the vast majority of new inkjets (except photo printers) are all-in-one printers (AIOs), with lasers there's an abundance of both single-function printers and AIOs available. AIOs provide copying and scanning in addition to printing, and often fax capabilities as well. Most laser printers or AIOs include Ethernet connectivity, and some integrate Wi-Fi. There's also Wi-Fi Direct, or its equivalent, for establishing a direct peer-to-peer connection between computer and printer so you don't need to connect to a network, and near-field communications (NFC) touch-to-print, which lets you print from a mobile device by simply tapping it on a specific spot on the printer.

Brother HL-L8360CDW

Many lasers include a touch-screen interface, secure (password-protected) printing, a built-in hard drive, and/or the ability to perform a range of functions over a network. Most have an automatic duplexer for printing on both sides of a sheet of paper, and nearly all have both a flatbed for scanning and an automatic document feeder (ADF) for scanning, copying, or faxing multipage documents unattended. Many higher-end AIOs now offer ADFs for automatically scanning two-sided pages, either reversing ADFs (RADFs), which scan one side of the page, flip the page over, and scan the other side, or duplex scanners, which are ADFs that scan both sides of the page in a single pass, and are thus considerably faster.

LED printers—which use light-emitting diodes instead of lasers as a light source—share many of the characteristics of laser printers, and are considered laser-class devices. They are somewhat smaller than laser printers that share the same capabilities, so they're particularly suitable for smaller offices where space may be at a premium.

Related Story See How We Test Printers

Laser printers have much to offer businesses of all sizes, from sole proprietorships to large corporations, and are increasingly worth considering for home use as well. Take a look at the 10 best lasers we've tested, which span a wide range of prices and capabilities. We update this list often, but check out the Printer Product Guide for the latest reviews. For more buying advice and reviews, check out our top printer picks overall, best inkjet printers, and the best printers for Macs.

Featured Laser Printer Reviews:

  • Brother HL-L8360CDW


    MSRP: $399.99

    Bottom Line: The very well rounded HL-L8360CDW is a fast color laser printer with good output quality, low running costs, and flexible expandability for its class.

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  • Brother HL-L2370DW


    MSRP: $129.99

    Bottom Line: The Brother HL-L2370DW offers above-par text and graphics, good speed and paper handling, a wide-range of connectivity choices, and competitive running costs in a low-priced mono laser for m...

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  • Brother MFC-L6800DW


    MSRP: $699.99

    Bottom Line: The Brother MFC-L6800DW offers a winning combination of terrific speed, an ample feature set, a good set of connection choices, and the capacity for high-volume printing.

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  • Canon imageClass MF249dw


    MSRP: $299.00

    Bottom Line: The Canon imageClass MF249dw is a mono laser all-in-one printer for a home office or micro office that provides an ample feature set, solid speed, good output quality, and a wealth of connec...

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  • Canon Color imageClass MF634Cdw


    MSRP: $399.00

    Bottom Line: The Canon imageClass MF634Cdw prints well and fast enough for the price, and it has a strong feature set. But like all AIOs in its class, its running costs are high.

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  • Dell Color Smart Multifunction Printer S3845cdn


    MSRP: $999.99

    Bottom Line: Although the Dell Color Smart Multifunction Printer S3845cdn is pricey, its speed, print quality, and low running costs make it an excellent color laser all-in-one for your micro or small of...

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  • HP LaserJet Pro M501dn


    MSRP: $549.98

    Bottom Line: The HP LaserJet Pro M501dn is a feature-rich mono laser that provides good speed, generous standard paper capacity, and above-average output quality.

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  • OKI MC573dn


    MSRP: $899.00

    Bottom Line: The OKI MC573dn is a capable color laser-class all-in-one printer with a good feature set and solid speed and output quality.

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  • Xerox VersaLink C405/DN


    MSRP: $979.00

    Bottom Line: A behemoth of a color laser all-in-one, the Xerox VersaLink C405/DN prints well, is respectably fast, and comes with a ton of features, but lower running costs would make it a better value.

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  • Xerox WorkCentre 6515/DNI


    MSRP: $599.00

    Bottom Line: The Xerox WorkCentre 6515/DNI provides above-par output quality, solid speed, and a thorough feature set for an all-in-one color laser-class printer.

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