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
Skip Your iPhone’s Lockscreen: Here’s the Hidden Flashlight Trick You Need to Know
A couple of taps can really make a difference on your iPhone.
Not long ago, your iPhone’s lockscreen would only allow two app shortcuts that you couldn’t change: camera controls and a flashlight toggle. However, iOS 18.2 allows you to customize these shortcuts to almost anything you might want. This small but impactful change is one of many ways iOS 18 supercharges customization for iPhone and iPad users. But what if you still want an easy-to-access way to toggle your flashlight without unlocking your phone?
Apple introduced an accessibility feature in iOS 14 that, once enabled, allows you to perform actions by just tapping on the back of your phone. The feature is called Tap Back and it remains a sleeper feature that’s sneakily hidden away in your settings menu. Enabling Tap Back essentially allows you to create a button on the back of your iPhone to perform an action without needing to take up any space.
Once you have Tap Back enabled, it doesn’t take long to see how much of a game-changer it can be with its added convenience. Below, we’ll show you how to set it up so a couple of taps on the back of your iPhone will let you launch just about anything you want.
For more, check out what’s in the latest iOS 18.4 release.
How to set up Back Tap on iPhone
Whether you want to link Back Tap with your flashlight, camera or launch a different iPhone app, the path through your iPhone settings begins the same way.
On your compatible iPhone (iPhone 8 or later), launch the Settings application and go to Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap. Now you have the option to launch your action (in this case, your flashlight) with either two or three taps. Although two taps is obviously faster, I would suggest three taps because if you fidget with your phone, it’s easy to accidentally trigger the accessibility feature.
Once you choose a tap option, select the Flashlight option — or a different action if you prefer. You’ll see over 30 options to choose from, including system options like Siri or taking a screenshot, to accessibility-specific functions like opening a magnifier or turning on real-time live captions. You can also set up Back Tap to open the Control Center, go back home, mute your audio, turn the volume up and down and run any shortcuts you’ve downloaded or created.
You’ll know you’ve successfully selected your choice when a blue checkmark appears to the right of the action. You could actually set up two shortcuts this way — one that’s triggered by two taps and one that’s triggered by three taps to the iPhone’s back cover.
Once you exit the Settings application, you can try out the newly enabled Back Tap feature by tapping the back of your iPhone — in my case, to turn on the flashlight. To turn off the flashlight, you can tap on the back of your iPhone as well, but you can also just turn it off from your lock screen if that’s easier.
For more great iPhone tips, here’s how to keep your iPhone screen from dimming all the time and canceling all those subscriptions you don’t want or need.
Technologies
All the Nintendo Games You Can Update to Switch 2 for Free
Bad news: Mario Kart World will cost $80. Good news: These classic games will get free revamped versions for Switch 2.
Nintendo’s Switch 2 launch event on Wednesday has upset some fans for one key reason: pricing. The new console will be released on June 5 at a starting price of $450, and it will have new games, like Mario Kart World, Kirby Air Riders and Donkey Kong Bananza. But those games could cost as much as $80 (and that’s before factoring in possible tariffs).
Fortunately, Nintendo has also announced that some Nintendo Switch games will get free updates to improve playability on the upcoming console.
«By connecting your Nintendo Switch 2 to the internet, you can download free updates that may improve performance or add support for features such as GameShare in select games,» the company posted.
Here are all the Nintendo Switch games that can get a free update for the Switch 2.
- Arms
- Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury
- Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics
- The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
- The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
- Game Builder Garage
- New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
- Pokemon Scarlet
- Pokemon Violet
- Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain
Nintendo also announced that other Switch games will have upgraded versions of the base game, called Switch 2 Editions. These games, which include The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, may offer improved graphics, unique ways to play the game with the Switch 2 hardware, and other features.
You can buy a digital or physical copy of these games if you’re purchasing them for the first time. But Switch 2 Edition games are not free if you already own the Switch version of one of these games, so you’ll have to buy an upgrade pack to play the updated version.
It’s unclear how much Switch 2 Editions of games and upgrade packs will cost, and it’s also unclear how upgrade packs will work with physical versions of Switch games.
The Nintendo Switch 2 will also be backward compatible with certain games. While we don’t know all the Switch games that will be playable on the Switch 2, we know some Switch games have startup (PDF) or in-game (PDF) compatibility issues with the upcoming console.
For more on the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct, here’s what we know about the upcoming console and what to know about games like Mario Kart World and Duskbloods.
Technologies
Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Friday, April 4
Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for April 4.
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 about knocked me out. I struggled with 1-Across, «Elphaba’s broom in ‘Wicked’ or Aladdin’s lamp in ‘Aladdin,’ thinking it was a word like «magic» but with one less letter. And I was also stumped by 4-Down, «kibble nibblers,» which I thought for sure was «dogs» or «pups.» 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.
The Mini Crossword is just one of many games in the Times’ games collection. 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 at those Mini Crossword clues and answers.
Mini across clues and answers
1A clue: Elphaba’s broom in «Wicked» or Aladdin’s lamp in «Aladdin»
Answer: PROP
5A clue: Thorough investigation
Answer: PROBE
6A clue: Metaphor for an unquestioning rule-follower
Answer: ROBOT
7A clue: Harvard and Yale, for two
Answer: IVIES
8A clue: ___ Wearhouse (department store chain)
Answer: MENS
Mini down clues and answers
1D clue: Definitively determine
Answer: PROVE
2D clue: Herald of spring
Answer: ROBIN
3D clue: Orchestral reeds
Answer: OBOES
4D clue: Kibble nibblers
Answer: PETS
5D clue: Fastidiously proper
Answer: PRIM
How to play more Mini Crosswords
The New York Times Games section offers a large number of online games, but only some of them are free for all to play. You can play the current day’s Mini Crossword for free, but you’ll need a subscription to the Times Games section to play older puzzles from the archives.
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