Five Fastest Inkjet Multifunction Printers

Price: $200

The Epson Artisan 725 Arctic Edition printer delivers high-quality output and features cheap inks. The Artisan 725--a step down from Epson's flagship Artisan 835--features Wi-Fi, USB, and ethernet connectivity; a tilt-up control panel and a 2.5-inch color touchscreen; and automatic duplexing. This printer is speedy, with snapshot-size photos printing at 5.4 pages per minute on letter-size plain paper.

Price: $300

The HP OfficeJet Pro 8500A Plus is a tad pricey, but well worth it. This small-office MFP has excellent speed and print quality, as well as low ink costs. The OfficeJet Pro 8500A Plus features a 2.4-inch color LCD with touch-sensitive controls; Wi-Fi and ePrint connectivity; and intuitive, logical menus. This printer quickly handles all projects: Plain-text pages, for instance, print at a rate of 10.6 pages per minute, while snapshot-size photos take about 4 ppm on regular paper.

The Epson Artisan 835--Epson's flagship multifunction printer--has nearly every feature that a home-office user could want, and then some. The MFP provides Wi-Fi, USB, and ethernet connectivity, as well as automatic duplexing, an automatic document feeder, and a 3.5-inch color touchscreen set within a 7.8-inch, amber-backlit touch panel. The Artisan 835 is quick with photos (snapshot-size photos take about 5.24 pages per minute), but a little slower than similar models with plain-text output (about 7.3 ppm).

Price: $400

The HP Photosmart eStation is more than just a multifunction printer--it's also a tablet. Or, at least, it sports a 7-inch removable touchscreen control panel with limited tablet functionality (such as Web browsing and e-reading). To top it off, the Photosmart eStation is above average in performance: Plain-text output prints at rates of about 8.4 pages per minute, while snapshots on plain paper come out at 3.8 ppm.

Price: $300

The Canon Pixma MG8120 is nothing if not cool-looking--the tiltable touch-sensitive control panel is integrated into the lid. The Pixma MG8120 is well equipped with automatic duplexing, a 150-sheet undermounted tray for plain paper (along with a 150-sheet rear vertical feed for other media), and USB, ethernet, and Wi-Fi connectivity. This MFP is also rather quick for an inkjet, with plain-text output of 8.27 pages per minute and snapshot-photo (on plain paper) output of about 3 ppm.

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