Photograph: Marc SimonWhether in the office or at home, we can all benefit
from a little extra space on our desks. A multifunction printer reduces the
number of separate pieces of equipment you need within reach by performing
several tasks in one spot, and it could cost less than buying multiple devices.
But to help you make sure your investment isn't squandered, we tested both
inkjet and laser MFPs on a variety of tasks. We measured how quickly the models
made prints, copies, and scans, and we judged the output quality of each
function.
The average price of inkjet MFPs we've tested has dropped roughly $50 over the past year. For this story we tested seven inkjet MFPs, ranging from $100 to $200, most of which printed about as fast as the average stand-alone inkjet printer. The MFPs' photo print quality, however, still lags behind that of recent stand-alone inkjets we've seen.
We also tested six laser MFPs that cost from $350 to $1730. (We've never tested this many laser MFPs at once.) We found that, on average, these models printed text faster than small-office monochrome laser printers do, and printed graphics at about the same speed. For both text and graphics, their print quality scores were about equal to those of small-office lasers.
Scanning speeds for inkjet and laser MFPs, however, were a mixed bag: While half of the MFPs on the chart scanned a photo at low resolution in roughly 17 seconds (about 1 second faster than the average for SOHO scanners), the remaining models took anywhere from 28 seconds to 40 seconds to perform the same task.
Our pick for the best inkjet was the Canon MultiPass MP390, which combines extensive features with fairly good performance. At $200, it incorporates a media card reader and a fax machine. It printed text and photographs well, and it's speedy enough for light use.
Among the laser MFPs, we liked the Brother MFC-8840DN the best. Though its speeds were about average compared with other lasers, it earned high marks in all of our output quality tests. The scan function was the only disappointment, due to its stripped-down features.
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