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Best black and white printers

Amanda Hoyer
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Finding the best black and white printer is harder than it should be. With so much debate about inkjet versus laserjet, it’s hard to choose. Many printers emphasize color payoff, ink consistency, and versatility in printing mediums. Maybe you need these features, or maybe you want something affordable, flexible, and simple. Either way, picking out a printer with a clear idea of what you want proves harder than necessary. Read on for a list of the best black and white printers out there, no matter your printing priorities. Whether you’re working from a home office or large office space, there’s a printer for you.

Best all-in-one printer

Many printers come with a singular function: printing only. Often, need more than printing alone. The best all-in-one printer is the Brother HLL2395DW. With this device, you get a machine with fast printing, scanning, and copying. If you’re sharing a printer with other people, this is the best choice. You’ll find high printing speeds up to 36 pages per minute. And the print tray holds up to 250 pages with automated double-sided printing. Usability is simple, too, as the printer comes with a touchscreen and access to cloud storage and Microsoft Office’s suite of programs. Small offices may want to consider a slightly smaller printer. If you’re looking for a high-yield toner and greater long-term savings on price per page, look no further.

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Person peeling shipping labels

Best label printer

Not all black and white printers are just for paper. If you produce your own shipping labels or print your own, you need a reliable label printer like the MUNBYN ITPP941. If you ship products in boxes, you’ll love this thermal printer. You don’t need any ink or toner, just thermal label paper. The paper refills make labels less than a nickel each. If you’re printing labels in bulk, it’s super cost-effective. You’ll also find this printer’s software is cross-compatible with Mac and PC. With batch printing up to 700 labels in one run, you can print with ease. The MUNBYN ITPP941 also runs seamlessly on Etsy, Poshmark, and eBay (great for small business owners who DIY everything).

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Best budget-friendly printer

If you need a label printer and a regular printer, you need something that’s budget-friendly. The HP LaserJet Pro M15w can manage a range of  100 to 1,000 pages per month. If you’ve got a home office or co-work with a small team, this may be the printer for you. You get wireless and corded access (with an included USB cable). That means you can print right out of the box, which is ideal for wireless printers since connectivity issues are common. The 150-page tray capacity and print speed of 19 pages per minute are pluses. The compact size also makes it ideal for small spaces.

Best tank printer

A tank printer may be your preferred printer type. If you don’t want to spend money on ink cartridges, consider an ink tank printer’s refillable tank system and bottles. When a printer’s ink levels run low, all you have to do is fill the tank with the right amount of ink from the bottle.

Basic

The basic tank printer does exactly what it sounds like. It’s a black and white printer, although multicolor is always an option, too. The HP Neverstop Laser 1001nw offers a reloadable, mess-free toner system. That means easy ink exchanges for you and anyone in your office. Compared to cartridge printers of similar size and price, you get about 5,000 pages worth of toner. This HP printer is wireless and also connects with a USB cord. Its print quality is exactly what you need for black and white printing, even if you seek a machine for extreme color payoff or higher resolution.

All-in-one

Maybe you need more than just a printer. If so, check out the Epson EcoTank ET-M3170. Its cost-effective ink bottle refills create around 6,000 prints for a quarter of a cent per print. Epson’s monochrome printer is sustainable, too, meaning you don’t have to dispose of messy ink cartridges. Perfect for daily use, this all-in-one printer comes with a two-year warranty, 250-sheet paper tray, auto-duplex printing, and high-quality scanning. Its print rate (20 pages per minute for a single side and 9 pages per minute for duplex) isn’t the fastest rate around.

Best overall printer

It’s the printer you’ve been waiting for: The best black and white printer overall. The Brother MFCL2750DWXL offers enough functionality for multiple people. You get two years of toner in the box, with an assumed print rate of 3,700 pages a year — you get a great deal.

With 36 pages per minute for printing and copying, that’s the fastest rate on this list. Although it’s a monochrome printer, it can do color scans, too. The wireless printer’s 2.7-inch color screen lets users print from or scan to major cloud services.

Time to pick and print

With this list of the best black and white printers, you’ll find the best monochrome printer for your needs. Whatever drives your priorities for printing, any one of these can meet them. Assess the important printing jobs for your office. Whether it’s packing and shipping, documentation, or printing a whole book at home, there’s a printer for your budget and concerns.

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Amanda Hoyer
Amanda Hoyer
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Degreed in Psychology and English, Amanda fell into copywriting and blogging when she discovered an innate gift for narrative…
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