Even the best home printer might not be the most glamorous piece of hardware you鈥檙e ever going to invest in, but there鈥檚 no doubt that these units are useful, letting you get hard copies of tickets, essays, agendas and many other kinds of documents without having to venture to a print shop.

With working from home very much still a part of life for a lot of us, the printer can be an essential part of the home office setup. Even if you鈥檙e not officially working from home, chances are that, sooner or later, you鈥檒l need to print something, despite the continuing trend towards a paperless existence.

The best printers won鈥檛 cost you all that much and can be relied on to give you good service for a number of years, provided you stick to the recognized brands. It鈥檚 also a relatively easy gadget to shop for, without too many specs that you need to wade through or compatibility issues to consider.

Here we鈥檙e going to focus on all-purpose home office printers, but if you need something a little more niche, check out Gizmodo鈥檚 list of the best photo printers. Note that we鈥檙e going to quote prices on the web at the time of writing鈥攜ou鈥檒l often be able to get these models cheaper in deals.

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When it comes to solid, dependable, low-cost home printers, the Canon PIXMA series is well worth a look鈥攖he brand has been around for absolutely ages, and while you don鈥檛 always get the best performance or professional print shop quality, you do absolutely get value for money. For many home users, something like the Pixma TR7020a is ideal.

Being an all-in-one printer, it can take care of your scanning needs too, and will also produce serviceable copies if required (just don鈥檛 expect the speed or sharpness of an actual photocopier). On-board controls are here, which is always welcome, as they save you from having to do everything through software on your computer or phone.

Despite the low price, there are some appealing features here, including two-sided printing, an automatic sheet feeder, and a paper tray that can hold 100 sheets at a time. Most importantly, it鈥檒l churn out pages with very respectable quality, and you get a host of different connectivity options, including wired and wireless ones.

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Sticking to the budget end of the market, the Epson WorkForce WF-2930 gives you an awful lot of printer for not very much money. You really don鈥檛 want to go lower than this in terms of price when buying a printer, but this model is good enough to satisfy the needs of most home users鈥攁nd as long as your needs aren鈥檛 too demanding, it might suit you.

The screen and console on the front of this printer are relatively comprehensive for a model of this price, and you can even set it up to work with Google Assistant, Alexa or Siri if you want to speak out your orders to your printer. You can also print from a phone using the companion app, which is now par for the course.

You get two-sided printing with the Epson WorkForce WF-2930, a paper tray that holds a decent 100 sheets of paper, an automatic sheet feeder, and better quality prints (in both black and color) than you might expect at this price. Definitely worth considering if you鈥檙e looking to stretch your printer budget as far as it鈥檒l go.

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Laser printers are an interesting proposition: They鈥檙e typically more expensive than inkjets, especially the color ones, and yet they鈥檙e usually more reliable and give you sharper results when it comes to output. If you do a lot of printing at home and need that extra speed and quality, then a laser printer might be worth the extra cost.

Enter the Brother HL-L6200DW, one of several very good laser printers that Brother makes. As you can see, it鈥檚 not much to look at, and it鈥檚 rather bulky鈥攂ut then you鈥檙e not buying a printer for its looks, are you? It dependably churns out sharp and clean pages at decent rates, and you won鈥檛 need to replace the ink as often as you would with an inkjet either.

This is a monochrome model, which makes sense for a big chunk of home users: Ask yourself if you鈥檙e really ever going to need to print color documents or photos at home, because if you won鈥檛, you can save a significant amount of cash when it comes to laser tech. As for features, it has almost everything you could want, though there鈥檚 no scanner.

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If you鈥檝e got a serious chunk of money to spend, you like the idea of a laser printer, and you want to include scanning capabilities as well as color printing, this HP model should be on your shortlist: Make sure you鈥檙e going to make the most of it though, because as you can see, the price jump is quite significant over a monochrome laser printer.

Okay, you鈥檙e going to need a lot of space to set this up as well as a decent budget to be able to afford it, but the printing speeds are excellent, the print quality is top tier, and you only need to replenish the paper tray every 300 sheets. It鈥檒l even output very good quality photo prints, too, so it鈥檚 suitable for getting your digital memories into physical form.

There鈥檚 a large touchscreen console here you can use to manage your printing, scanning, and copying, and you get features like two-sided printing too鈥攁s indeed you would expect when spending this much money. Another added bonus is the USB-A port on the front, which you can use to print from an attached flash storage drive.

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Like the previous printer in our list, the Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5800 is for people who need more out of their home printer and have the money to pay for it: If you need the convenience of inkjet but have a lot of printing to do, then this will fit the bill nicely. As it鈥檚 an all-in-one, high-quality scanning and copying is included in the deal as well.

Offsetting the upfront cost, the printer comes with two sets of ink tanks that will get you through several thousands of pages of prints before you need to buy any more ink, while printing from mobile devices like phones and tablets couldn鈥檛 be much easier. The touchscreen display makes managing copying and scanning jobs straightforward, too.

You鈥檙e going to have to make sure you鈥檝e got enough room for this, of course鈥攃heck the dimensions listed above鈥攂ut on the plus side, the paper trays have a 550-sheet capacity. We also like the way the ink tanks face outwards from the unit, so you always know how much of the cartridges you鈥檝e used up and how soon you鈥檙e going to have to replace them.

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An excellent mid-range choice, the HP Smart Tank 7301 is one of the better-looking printers that we鈥檝e seen from an aesthetic standpoint. That won鈥檛 be a priority for a lot of people鈥攏ot as much of a priority as printing quality, anyway鈥攂ut it鈥檚 worth mentioning if you鈥檙e looking to keep your desk setup looking as visually appealing as possible.

The extra money you鈥檙e spending over the budget models gets you speeds that are a little quicker and quality that鈥檚 a little better. Of course, the more printing you do, the more those upgrades are going to add up. The printer actually uses refillable ink tanks (visible from the front), so you simply pour more ink in rather than replacing the cartridges.

It鈥檚 easy to set up, easy to maintain, and offers plenty of useful features like automatic two-sided printing and a host of connectivity options to choose from. The bottom tray has a 250-sheet capacity, and the device performs well when it comes to scanning and copying, too.

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Sitting in the middle of the budget and the high-end printers, the Canon Pixma MegaTank G7020 has a lot going for it and may well be right on the sweet spot when it comes to price, performance, and features. It certainly justifies its mid-range price, with a comprehensive control panel on the front and top-quality prints in either color or black and white.

From the 350-sheet capacity paper tray to the automatic two-sided printing to the scanning and copying facilities, this is a home printer to be reckoned with. It鈥檚 not the fastest but it鈥檚 not the slowest either, and you鈥檒l get several thousand pages out of the ink that鈥檚 included in the box鈥攕omething to bear in mind when working out costs.

It鈥檚 actually the ongoing costs of the Canon Pixma MegaTank G7020 that鈥檚 perhaps most likely to convince you to buy it. It鈥檚 great in terms of how many pages you get versus how much you have to spend on ink, and in part that鈥檚 down to the refillable ink tanks used by the printer鈥攜ou can see from a glance at the front of the device how much ink is left.

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