Technologies
The Best Printers, According to the CNET Staff Who Use Them
Even in the modern age, we still need physical copies sometimes.
While 2023 feels like the distant future, filled with apps and digital files, we still sometimes need hard copies. Pictures need scanning, tickets need printing and lost cat posters must go on streetlights.
While we have a tested-to-destruction list for the best printers, we’ve also put together a list of printers the CNET staff use at home and the office, and the reasons why they chose that particular model.
A printer is one of those things that I don’t use often, and when I do need to use it, I hope that it works. I’ve gone through several printers in recent years, because every time I want to use it the ink is dried out or something else needs to be fixed. I was looking for a low-maintenance option that had affordable ink replacements, and that’s where I came across this Epson model.
It’s an all-in-one unit, so I can still scan documents to my PC when needed, but the best part is that I’ve yet to find the ink dried up when I wanted to use it. It also prints reliably for small and medium jobs. The ink isn’t expensive, and you can buy an XL version of the cartridge which offers 2.5x the capacity for a little extra money. Overall, it’s a great printer if you don’t need to print tons of pages in a short period of time (because it’s a little slow) but still want something that won’t make you go broke when you need new color or black ink.
— Jared DiPane
Epson
The big selling point of the EcoTank line is that it does away with cartridges. Even if you only print a couple of times a week, it’s worth the extra cost. My family prints more than that and we’re still on the original ink refills that came with the printer after years of use. The 3750 model was replaced by the 3850 in September 2021 but they’re essentially the same printer.
Because it’s a lower-end model in the line, the printer isn’t a speed demon with color prints and its tray holds only 250 sheets. It doesn’t have a touchscreen, just a small display and navigation buttons that aren’t backlit. But it has all the other features I’d expect from a compact all-in-one for a small office or home office: You get wired and wireless connections with mobile printing, an auto-document feeder and automatic two-sided printing. Print quality is respectable, too. It excels on black-and-white documents but it’s OK for photos as well.
— Josh Goldman
James Bricknell/CNET
Sublimation is the process of transferring ink from paper to another material like t-shirts, mugs and canvases. There are plenty of options if you are looking to convert a standard printer to use sublimation ink but if possible you should buy a dedicated printer for the job.
The Sawgrass SG500 is purpose-built to print using sublimation ink and paper. It works great too: You can print up a storm of artwork to put on t-shirts for the whole family. If you’re interested in starting your own business using your own art, then this printer is well worth the price.
— James Bricknell
Brother
I’ve had the nearly identical older, now-discontinued version of this printer (the HL-L2340DW) for at least five years and it’s been solid. Unlike some other printers I’ve had, it rarely gets disconnected from the Wi-Fi network so my whole family can easily print stuff from their various computers and phones without me having to troubleshoot the connection. Printing is fast and since its laser ink isn’t expensive per sheet. I’m fine with black and white and the few times I need color I’ll print at the local drugstore.
The one downside is that double-sided printing always jams the feed so I have to take it apart, pull out the paper and restart the job. Sometimes the software seems to select double-sided on its own and I discover the hard way, but once I change back to single-sided (which is what we use most of the time) it’s all good. (Editors’ note: Avoid the HL-L2300DW version, which lacks Wi-Fi.)
— David Katzmaier
HP
My wife loves to make stickers using our HP Envy and the Cricut Explore 3. The Envy has excellent color saturation, especially on the glossy sticker paper she uses. It also has the added bonus of being a scanner, which is especially helpful to scan all our mortgage documents while we move house.
The biggest selling point though is the two-year supply of new inks. Running out of ink is the worst part of using a printer at home, but HP’s replacement service takes away that hassle. It’s worth the money just for that.
— James Bricknell
Brother
I have to make an absurd amount of labels for our son’s Tupperware, school items, folders, cooking products and so on. This makes it so easy. There are different fonts, sizes and styles to choose from.
The keyboard is dreamy and a far cry from the old-school turnstile. I also love the built-in cutting function. Gone are the days of needing scissors when you’re done.
— Danielle Ramirez
HP
Full disclosure: I was the guy who proudly kept his home printer-free while using the office printer for those once- or twice-a-month necessities. Then came the pandemic, and I found myself in need of shipping labels and other documents at home. This tiny HP LaserJet fit perfectly on the bookshelf in my equally tiny Brooklyn apartment, and it reliably prints from PCs, Macs, Chromebooks and smartphones, all over Wi-Fi.
The 2022 model (M110w) is nearly identical to my 2020-era unit (M15w), but take note: The «cheaper» M110we seems to require a subscription to HP’s cloud-ink solution, so go with the pricier model if you want to avoid an always-on connection. Also, this laser printer is black-and-white only, but that’s a feature for me, not a bug.
— John P. Falcone
Originally published June 2022, and updated periodically. Most recent update swaps the Brother HL-L2305DW for the older, discontinued HL-L2340DW.
Other articles from the CNET team
Technologies
Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Aug. 20 #535
Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Aug. 20, No. 535.
Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.
Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a tough one. It helps to know a little something about different currencies, but there was one on there that was completely new to me. If you need hints and answers for today’s Strands puzzle, read on.
I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.
If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.
Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far
Hint for today’s Strands puzzle
Today’s Strands theme is: Mint condition
If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: We’re in the money!
Clue words to unlock in-game hints
Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:
- GULP, GLOB, LORE, DOLL, DOLE, DOLED, ROPE, ROPER, WALL
Answers for today’s Strands puzzle
These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:
- EURO, PESO, DOLLAR, POUND, RAND, RUPEE, KWANZA
Today’s Strands spangram
Today’s Strands spangram is GLOBALCURRENCY. To find it, look for the G that’s four letters to the right on the very top row, and wind down.
Technologies
Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, Aug. 20
Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Aug. 20.
Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.
Today’s NYT Mini Crossword has a few challenging clues (4-Down threw me off), but it’s mostly OK. Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.
If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.
Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword
Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.
Mini across clues and answers
1A clue: Something worn by an infant or marathon runner
Answer: BIB
4A clue: Diversion on a long flight
Answer: MOVIE
6A clue: Phobos and Deimos, for Mars
Answer: MOONS
7A clue: Join highway traffic
Answer: MERGE
8A clue: Coloring for a camp shirt
Answer: DYE
Mini down clues and answers
1D clue: Loudly voiced one’s disapproval
Answer: BOOED
2D clue: Material in walrus tusks
Answer: IVORY
3D clue: Experience four seasons in one day, say?
Answer: BINGE
4D clue: «Delicious!»
Answer: MMM
5D clue: Opposite of WNW
Answer: ESE
Technologies
See Six Planets Line Up in the Upcoming Planet Parade Tonight
Mark your calendar so you can catch Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus in the sky at the same time.
Fresh off the excitement of the Perseids meteor shower is a chance to see six planets lined up in the sky at once. These events, colloquially known as planet parades, only occur about once or twice a year, with the most recent one in February showing off all seven planets in our solar system at once. The next one will feature six of our closest celestial neighbors, and the event starts on Tuesday.
The six planets sharing the sky will be Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus. Mars will technically be there at the beginning of the night, but it dips below the horizon right after sunset, so it won’t be visible when all of the others are. Of those, Mercury, Venus and Jupiter will be visible to the naked eye, while the others will require high-powered binoculars or, preferably, a telescope.
Even though they’re spread out across the eastern and southern skies, the planets pair up with this one, making many of them pretty easy to find if you know what to look for. From east to west, here’s where each one will be.
- Mercury — Eastern sky near the Cancer constellation. It’ll pop over the horizon just before sunrise, so you’ll have limited time to view it before the sun comes up and obfuscates it.
- Venus — At the lower tip of the Gemini constellation in the eastern sky, a couple of hours before sunrise.
- Jupiter — Will be near Venus, also in the Gemini constellation. It rises about an hour before Venus does.
- Uranus — Will be near the upper tip of Taurus, rising after midnight. This one will require some magnification. If you see Pleiades, a cluster of stars at the upper tip of Taurus, you’ve gone too far upward.
- Saturn and Neptune — These two are right next to each other and will be sitting between the Pisces and Cetus constellations in the southern skies. Neptune will be closer to Pisces while Saturn will be closer to Cetus.
Since it takes a long time for planets to move through the night sky, Aug. 20 is the starting point, and it’ll run through the rest of the month. Once September hits, Mercury will be too close to the sun, which will obscure it. From that point, there will be a five-planet parade for a while until Venus sinks below the horizon in early October. So, in all, you’ll have a chance to see at least five planets for over a month.
Will the planet parade be visible from my region?
Yes. We double checked Stellarium’s sky map from a variety of locations across the country, and everything above will be applicable everywhere in the continental US. Per Starwalk, the parade will also be visible in other parts of the world after the following dates for about the same amount of time (one to two weeks).
- Abu Dhabi — Aug. 9
- Athens, Beijing, Berlin, Tokyo and London — Aug. 10
- Mumbai and Hong Kong — Aug. 11
- Reykjavik, São Paulo and Sydney — Aug. 12
The planets will move based on date, though. The above locations are where they’ll be around Aug. 20, but if you’re looking a week or so later, they’ll be in the same general area, but will shift to a slightly different part of the sky.
Will I need any special equipment?
Yes. Neptune and Uranus, especially, will require some sort of magnification to see. We recommend a telescope, but high-powered binoculars may work if the sky is dark enough. Saturn is also difficult to see without magnification, so you’ll want it for that too. Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury should be visible on their own with the naked eye.
We also recommend taking a trip out to the country, as light pollution from suburbs and cities can make it even more difficult to see Neptune and Uranus. The moon will be out as well, which may make Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury harder to see. Other factors like weather may also make it more difficult to see all of them. If you’re lucky, you may see a few shooting stars at the tail end of Perseids as well.
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