After installing drivers and setting the printer up on our mobile devices, we didn’t hit any snags when it came to connectivity.
Using the OfficeJet Pro 8720 on a day-to-day basis was a stress-free experience. If you print in color very often, HP’s Instant Ink program can help you save money, but if most of your printing is black and white, Instant Ink probably doesn’t make sense. Unlike some other inkjets, the OfficeJet Pro 8720 lets you replace cyan, magenta, and yellow cartridges separately, so you don’t have to toss the remaining ink in the other two colors if one gets tapped out. Theoretically, it’s also cheaper than prints from monochrome laser printers, though since they don’t waste toner on cleaning, you may actually get better value from a laser machine.
Overall, the 8720 is a little more expensive to operate than some Brother models but cheaper than most Epson and Canon competitors. Bear in mind that these estimates are based on the stated page yields for each cartridge type your real world results are likely to differ due to the ink that gets wasted during cleaning cycles. Those costs have actually gone up slightly since we last updated this guide, but they also fluctuate frequently as ink goes on sale. If you buy the largest cartridges available-XXL black and XL color-a black-and-white page costs about 1.8 cents, while color prints will run you around 9.7 cents. With that in mind, we’re rounding up the best at-home printers according to the people. (See our introduction to this series here.) Our recommendations range from our deputy editor’s beloved minimalistic laser printer to something called the EcoTank, which saved a Hollywood screenwriter from his nightmare with ink.Ink costs remain a thorn in the side of inkjet owners, but the OfficeJet Pro 8720 delivers prints at a reasonable per-page price.
There are color laser printers, but they’re often prohibitively expensive for personal use. If you want to print in color, you probably want to stick with inkjet printers.
Plus laser printers are faster and have superior print quality with text that looks much more precise and clear. And while inkjet printers can be much cheaper, they don’t tend to last as long as laser printers, and you do have to factor in the cost of more frequent ink refills. Inkjet printers use liquid ink, while laser printers use a powder ink that’s melted on the page. The biggest thing to consider is whether you want an inkjet or a laser printer.
Most at-home, nonprofessional printers are all-in-one units, which means they include some form of scanner and fax machine, but if you don’t need those features, you can save a little money by finding a print-only machine. It’s not particularly hard to find a printer that will suit your day-to-day needs. For most of us, a small and discreet printer that can handle the occasional online form or shipping label will be plenty.
Unless you’re a lawyer or an author, or in some other profession that relies on printing a lot of documents, you probably don’t need one of those gargantuan, gray, rectangular printers. But one thing most of us don’t think about having until we actually need it is a printer. Over the past two years, your home may have suddenly transformed into a makeshift office complete with a comfortable desk and chair, a wireless keyboard, and a wireless mouse.