Laser printers are generally only monochrome models at this price so aren’t useful if you want to print photos or colour handouts. The flipside is that the lasers use toner that is electronically fused to the paper instead of ink and, as a result, their cartridges last longer.
Ink tank inkjets – inkjets with refillable ink tanks instead of disposable cartridges – are the cheapest to run but they’re relatively new technology and haven’t quite made it down to this price point yet.
Can I get a budget MFP?
MFPs (multifunction printers) usually have a scanner built into the top of the device. This allows the printer to scan and copy documents and means you don’t have to buy a separate scanner, which could save you money and space.
While MFPs aren’t common at the budget end of the price scale, there are MFP models available. These may not have the full range of tools that are available to the most expensive models, such as the ability to send and receive faxes (remember those?), but they can still perform perfectly good scans and make copies.
It’s worth noting that some basic printers now come with free smartphone apps that perform a wide range of functions, such as scanning and copying from your phone’s camera, even if they don’t have the usual flatbed hardware built in.
READ NEXT: The best cheap printers ink to buy
Do I have to compromise on print quality?
There’s no particular reason why a cheaper printer needs to compromise on quality, with print resolutions of most of the models we’ve reviewed here easily rivalling that of more expensive models. What you will find, however, is that some printers are better at some jobs than others.
For example, a home office workhorse might be good at printing pages and pages of text, but not so hot when it comes to printing photos. If photos are the things you’re likely to be printing the most, look out for six-cartridge models, which have extra inks that excel at the subtlety needed to produce great-looking snaps.
READ NEXT: The best photo printers to buy
Is a budget printer economical for ink costs?
Budget, cartridge-based inkjet printers tend to be amongst the most expensive to run. Cartridges are small, expensive and don’t hold as much ink as other ink containers. This reduces the number of pages you can print before the ink runs out.
To make things worse, some of the cheapest inkjet printers only come with two cartridges, one for black and the other to hold all three coloured inks. This is the least efficient way to supply colour cartridges, because the cartridge becomes virtually unusable when a single colour runs out of ink. Printers with colours in individual cartridges tend to be cheaper to run in the long term, although both the cartridges and the printer are typically more expensive to buy in the first place.
Depending on how much you intend to print, it may be worth considering a printer with an ink subscription. These offer free printing during the trial period, then a pay-as-you-go per-page printing service via an automated ink cartridge delivery service.
How we test budget printers
Every printer reviewed by Expert Reviews has been through a barrage of benchmark tests. We use a stopwatch to time how long it takes to print the first page and subsequent pages of a print job to assess speed. And the output from those documents and photos are used to assess print quality. The same settings are used in every review, so we can easily compare models and, if it’s an MFP, we’ll also test the copying and scanning functions in a similar way.
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The best budget printer to buy in 2024
1. Brother DCP-J1200W: The best budget MFP
Price when reviewed: £105 | Check price at Amazon
Physically, the Brother DCP-J1200W is a relatively simple multifunction printer (MFP). It can connect to your devices via Wi-Fi or USB, and you can use it to make copies as a standalone unit. It costs less than £100 and offers great value for money.
It uses a bank of buttons and lights to control its main functions, but if you download the Brother Mobile Connect app you’re presented with a full range of extra tools, such as scanning and photo printing. You can also perform scans from a computer, if you have one connected.
Traditionally, cheaper printers tend to come with very little ink and be expensive to refill but this isn’t the case with the DCP-J1200W. It comes supplied with enough ink to print 720 mono pages and 480 colour pages, and refills work out to 3p per mono page and 6.2p for colour, which is very reasonable for a budget printer.
Read our full Brother DCP-J1200W review for more details
Key specs – Technology: Inkjet; Maximum print resolution: 6,000 x 1,200dpi; Scan specifications: 1,200 x 2,400dpi; Dimensions (WDH): 435 x 359 x 161mm; Weight: 6.5kg; Maximum paper size: A4/legal
