How to Choose a Colour Printer and Scanner for Home Use | Smart Home Pick

The wrong printer costs you time and money—either from expensive ink refills or clogged printheads that waste paper. Most households print between 5 and 50 colour pages a week, and that sweet spot determines whether a colour laser, ink tank, or standard inkjet makes sense. This guide cuts through the specs and naming conventions to help you pick the right machine for your actual needs, not what a sales page suggests.

What You Actually Print Determines Everything

Printers are optimised for different workloads, and buying the wrong type is the most expensive mistake people make. Start with your content mix:

• Mostly text, very little colour: A mono laser printer like the Brother HL-L2460DW handles hundreds of pages per toner cartridge at pennies per page. Colour isn’t needed, so don’t pay for it.
• Regular colour documents and photos (10+ colour pages per week): An ink tank printer such as the Epson EcoTank ET-2800 (~$200) includes enough ink for up to two years of typical use. The per-page cost is lower than any cartridge-based printer.
• Occasional colour pages (5–50 per week) and no photos: A colour laser printer avoids the dried-nozzle problem that plagues inkjets used infrequently. The Canon imageCLASS MF665Cdw ($430–$470) delivers 27 pages per minute with a 50-sheet automatic document feeder.
• Photography and wide-format prints: You need a dedicated photo inkjet like the Epson EcoTank ET-8500. Standard laser printers cannot produce the colour depth and smooth gradients that photo paper demands.

Scanner Features That Save You Hours

A flatbed scanner alone will frustrate you the first time you need to digitise a ten-page document. Two features separate a usable all-in-one from a paperweight:

• Automatic Document Feeder (ADF): This lets you stack pages and walk away. Without it, you lift the lid, place one page, press scan, lift, replace—for every single page. The Epson EcoTank ET-3950 includes both an ADF and automatic duplex scanning (both sides in one pass).
• Automatic duplex scanning: Without this, you scan side one, flip every page manually, then scan side two. With it, the machine flips pages for you. Worth paying extra for any multi-page workflow.

If you only scan a single page occasionally, the flatbed-only Brother HL-L3280CDW ($280–$320) saves desk space and money. For regular document handling, skip models without an ADF regardless of the deal.

Costs That Matter More Than the Sticker Price

The purchase price is a fraction of what you’ll spend over three years. Ink tank printers like the Epson EcoTank series cost more upfront but deliver the lowest per-page cost—roughly equivalent to one cent per colour page. Cartridge-based inkjets like the HP Envy series are cheap to buy but expensive to refill, often costing more in ink per year than the printer itself.

For colour lasers, toner yield varies dramatically. The Canon MF665Cdw uses CRG-046 cartridges, and a standard colour toner set runs roughly $250–$300. At 5–10 colour pages per week, that set lasts around a year. Check toner availability on the manufacturer’s US site before buying—if the specific cartridge is listed as backordered, you could face delays.

Before You Buy: Two Quick Checks

Confirm toner or ink availability: Visit the official manufacturer site, search for the exact cartridge part number (for example, ‘CRG-046’ for Canon models). If stock shows ‘Backordered’ or ‘Limited’, consider a different model or wait. Running out with no replacements available is a real headache.

Verify driver compatibility: Download the latest driver directly from the vendor site for your operating system—macOS 14+ and Windows 11 23H2 are the current standards. Installing from third-party sites risks driver conflicts; safe mode installation bypasses software conflicts if you run into trouble.

When you’re ready to buy, our tested roundup of the best colour printer and scanner models covers real-world performance and value for every budget.