Similar to the Windows OS, Apple’s Mac OS X also offers compatibility for printers that produce immaculate results, prolonged life span and look great with your MacBook, and iMac in terms of price, aesthetics and functionality. There are many printers available in the market for Mac OS X but not all of them produce high quality prints. In this article, we have compiled a list of 5 best printers for the Mac OS X home use in 2017 which supports AirPrint.
Brother Printers by Brother Industries, Ltd are award winning best printers. It offers extra ordinary features and performance in all types of printers such as all-in-one solutions, color inkjet, laser, monochrome laser, and color laser multi function printers. Works seamlessly with Mac Sierra.Over all I am impressed with the quality of the prints, I like how when I scanned copies they scan pretty fast, I do not have to wait for the printer to run a few minutes before printer, it prints as soon as I select what I want and press print.' 'Works seamlessly with Mac Sierra.' Hear more from customers.
You can find laser jet printers for Mac also which can be used for college students for high quality print outs. You should consider the purpose, cost and usage of the printer while selecting the printer model. Whether you need color or black only, how about laser jet or ink-jet cartridges?, heavy duty or normal home usage with less print pages per day?, these all come in to consideration while selecting the best printer for your Mac computer. 5 Best Printers for Mac Home and College Students Use in 2017 Owners of products running the Mac OS X who cannot pay for a ridiculously high printer can think of the as the perfect substitute required to print crisp, colorful photos, or black and white images. The first printer in the list of 5 best printers for Mac OS X, possess a maximum dimension of 19 by 13 inches for printing photos and its single tray can hold up to 150 sheets of plain paper or a minimum of 20 sheets of photo paper, which should easily suffice for your daily printing needs. Keep in mind though, the maximum paper storage capacity (specifically the photo printer) will also depend on the actual thickness of the paper itself, so results may vary.
Regardless, if your main tasks revolve around printing text, graphics, and photos on plain paper, the iP8720 would make the perfect match for your Mac OS X product. In addition, one perk of owning the iP8720 is that it features wireless printing that can be executed through the cloud or WiFi with either AirPrint or with Canon’s free apps that have been developed for the Android and iOS platforms.
However, for this feature to work, you will require an access point on your network by which the printer can connect to the access point wirelessly. Since the printer does not possess an Ethernet port, the aforementioned equipment will be necessary for wireless printing to take place. By purchasing the iP8720, you will only be enduring a $299.99 hit, which is a steal of a printer product, seeing as how other products offer less for too high a price. This is one of the best printers for Mac home users and even for college students.
HP is no stranger when it comes to making feature enriched products and the Officejet Pro 8620 e-All-in-One is one of them. Setting you back by $269.99, the Officejet Pro 8620 e-All-in-One can easily provide you with wireless printing functionality by either connecting the printer through the Ethernet port provided in to the router or by wirelessly accessing the feature by joining an access point and the printer. The great thing about the wireless printing functionality is that it is compatible with the iOS, Android, and BlackBerry platforms. Furthermore, using HP’s Web apps provides you with a whole new echelon for wireless printing, and the near-field communication (NFC) chip provided inside the printer will provide additional flexibility even though support is limited. According to HP, the only device that will be compatible with the HP Officejet Pro 8620 e-All-in-One through the NFC chip is the HP ElitePad 900, which is retailing for $479.00. As for paper handling, the single tray can support up to 250 sheets, giving you a large time window before you need to refill the tray. The 8620 also offers a print duplexer (for printing on both sides of a page), and a scanner.
The print duplexer is convenient when you want to avoid the tedious task of flipping over the sheet of paper yourself to perform a manual double sided print. All in all, the HP Officejet Pro 8620 e-All-in-One is another product that will go nicely with your Mac OS X product. We have already listed the best external hard disks for Mavericks, Yosemite Mac OS X Another printer that ends up in the round-off for the Mac OS X is Samsung’s Multifunction Xpress M2875FW.
Providing users with similar wireless printing features (Ethernet and wireless access) as the HP Officejet Pro 8620 e-All-in-One, the M2875FW also provides a WiFi Direct printing feature, which lets users use WiFi to connect directly to the printer from a smartphone, tablet, or laptop that offers WiFi. The WiFi direct feature can easily be located. While the printer still comes with a USB cable, having access to wireless printing is still a necessary perk. If you feel that the wireless printing feature is a bit overkill, you can always sate your requirements with a hardwired M2875FW, which is retailing for $249.99, compared to the $269.99 price of this printer. In terms of paper handling, the M2875FW can handle up a stock of 250 sheets plus a manual feed.
This will allow you to print on different paper stock without having to go through the elongated process of swapping out the paper in the tray during the middle of work. The duplexer is also a nice feature, as it increases overall productivity in an office and home environment. The form factor of the printer is such that it provides enough room for papers to be filled and cables connected without obstruction of your hands as well as being small enough to provide you with sufficient space for the remainder of your office paraphernalia. Adding a M2875FW to a Mac OS X machine is definitely a worthy upgrade. alert-announceQuick Price Comparison/alert-announce Product List Price $195.00 N/A $199.99 $199.99 $699.99 If you’re looking for a cheaper solution to go with your Mac OS X, provides you with a plethora of features without taxing your bank account. It can be the best printer for Mac home use. Retailing for as low as $129.99, the WF-3640 offers wireless printing through Ethernet, WiFi, and through iOS or Android devices through a network Wi-Fi access point.
Cloud printing capability has also been added to the feature table. However, keep in mind that if you want to take advantage of the cloud printing feature, you will have to frequently practice and not get used to attaching the USB cable to the computer. For the price, paper handling is one of the printer’s most commendable offerings. The printer features two paper loaders that are able to accommodate up to 250 papers each, totaling the paper count to a mammoth value of 500 sheets.
Furthermore, there is also a duplexer for two-sided printing that you can take advantage of. If your requirement is to start printing a large amount of paper without continuously adding sheets to the tray, then the WF-3640 is where your long search ends. Another falls in to the round-off, and although it is the most expensive product in the entire round-off ( $869.00), the MFP M521dn can be described as nothing less than a beefed up car engine that can handle a 75,000 page per month maximum duty cycle. Even though this printer is last in line for top 5 printers for Mac OS X, it can still do a great job if you are looking for a Mac laserjet printer. In addition to the ridiculously large paper count, it can print, fax, and scan to an existing computer that is connected to the same network that the printer is connected to. The MFP M521dn is also equipped with a 3.5-inch touch screen, and resonates an easy to use menu system. That’s not all, the MFP M521dn is armed with a 500 sheet paper drawer, a 100 sheet multipurpose tray standard, and an automatic duplexer, making the grand total reach to a healthy figure of 600 sheets.
If you have $185 left in spare, then you can add a second 500 sheet drawer ($185 street), totaling the sheet count to 1,100 sheets. While the MFP M521dn carries a hefty price tag, if the affluent consumer can purchase something as expensive as a Mac OS X product, then this printer should not be difficult for them to procure.
Each printer provides functionality that will be suited to every kind of user who uses Mac OS X on MacBook Pro or MacBook Air. Since everyone’s requirements will differ from the remainder of the consumers, this round-off of these 5 best printers for Mac OS X ( Mavericks, Mountain Lion and ) home use or for college students in 2017 provides you with the perfect combination of price and functionality to satisfy your printing needs.
Since most AIO printers are wireless nowadays, we’ve focused on those that work wirelessly and allow you to print instantly from not only your Mac but also mobile devices such as iPad, iPhone, Windows Mobile and Android devices. Useful To Know: Printers & Macs Before jumping in, to help you decide which AIO printer is right for you, there are a few things worth being aware of when choosing a printer for your Mac.
Laser vs Inkjet Although all of the devices featured here can print, copy, scan and fax from Mac, the main thing you’ll probably use it for is printing. You’ll therefore want to choose a printer based mainly on your printing needs because the copy, scan and fax capabilities are similar across the board. There are two types of printer on the market – inkjet and laser printers. Laser printers are usually more expensive but they are faster and give better print quality, especially for text. Inkjets are almost the same speed nowadays but give better print quality for images. The best printer for you therefore depends in what you want to use it for.
In a nutshell, if you’re mainly going to print lots of text or PDF documents, you’re best going for a laser printer. If you’re going to be doing a serious amount of printing, you’re better investing in a Laser printer such as the HP LaserJet Pro or HP OfficeJet Pro as they print as significantly faster printing speeds. If it’s photos you’ll be mainly printing, then you’re probably better to go for an inkjet machine. We’ve indicated in these reviews and in the comparison table whether the printer reviewed is laser or inkjet.
Cartridge Costs Although printers have never been cheaper than today, the real expense with printers is the cost of replacing the printer cartridges. Color print cartridges, especially for laser printers, can be hundreds of dollars so you should bear in mind how much replacement cartridges cost when making your decision. We’ve made it clear in the reviews and comparison table how many cartridges the printer requires and how much cartridges cost so that there are no nasty shocks after purchasing your printer. Faxing From Printers All of the machines featured here can also be used as a fax machine. However, its important to note you will need a landline in your home or office to use this feature. To fax from an all-in-one machine, you need to connect it via a telephone cable to your landline connection – you can’t fax from a printer via your WiFi connection. If this is a problem, or you’re intending to fax regularly from your Mac, we strongly recommend reading our guide on the where you’ll find information on how to fax using online services or via fax apps from macOS.
Other things worth being aware of when buying any kind of printer are:. Print Resolution (dpi): You’ll find that not many manufacturers make the print resolution (measured in dots per inch – dpi) very clear or even state print resolution on product descriptions. Most print at around 2400 x 4800 dpi but you should check with the manufacturer if this is a crucial issue for you. Scan Resolution (dpi): This is usually made clear in most manufacturer product descriptions and most printers scan in 1220 x 2400 dpi but we’ve made the scanning resolution clear in the reviews.
Double Sided Printing (Duplex Printing): All the wireless printers here can print, scan and copy double-sided, also known as duplex printing. This is very useful as it saves significant amounts of paper if printing on both sides is not an issue for you. If you need single side printing, they can of course do that too.
Print Speed (ppm): Print speed is measured in Pages per Minute (ppm) and most models can print color at around 10 ppm and black and white printouts slightly faster. The exceptions are the HP LaserJet Pro and HP OfficeJet Pro which can both print significantly faster at 19 ppm and 70 ppm respectively. Note that in the comparison table, we’ve indicated the maximum draft color printing speed per printer – if you print in high quality the speeds will be slightly slower.
Budget: Multifunction printers can range from under $100 and $200 suitable for general home use to those designed for small businesses costing anything up to $1500. A Note On Brother Printers & Macs Although PC users experience less problems than those on Mac, we’ve found that the Brother brand of printers cause the most problems on Mac and are best avoided. The drivers either often do not work properly with OS X or are not updated regularly enough by Brother to be compatible with the latest versions of macOS. This either results in no communication between Mac and Brother printer or the printer refusing to print in draft mode thus using valuable ink on documents that don’t need to be printed in high quality. Wireless printing in particular can be very hit and miss when trying to print to a Brother printer from Mac. The wireless range between Brother printers and Macs is also often so poor that you need the printer sitting right next to the Mac in order for wireless printing to even work. Coupled with frequent paper jams when using Brother printers alongside Macs, in our experience, it’s advisable to avoid the Brother brand of printers on Mac.
With all this in mind, here then are our reviews of the best printers for Mac of 2018 in order of ranking. To help in your decision, you can see how they compare head-to-head in the comparison table at the end. The Canon PIXMA range is one of the best-selling all-in-one printers ever and has been successful due to a combination of good value for money, reliability and high quality results. The is easily the most popular general all purpose printer for Mac users and offers a good combination of high print quality, scan, copy and fax functionality, pleasing aesthetic design and competitive pricing. The Canon MX922 is a printer, scanner, copier and fax machine and can be used either wirelessly or via a USB cable. There’s a 35-sheet document feeder and it even includes software to design and print your own custom CDs, DVDs, and Blu-rays. For photo buffs, there’s a neat HD Movie Print feature which can take a frame from an HD movie recorded on a compatible Canon EOS, PowerShot, or VIXIA camcorder and print it as a photo.
For those that love to make home movies but also like to have photos of their favorite moments, this is a really useful feature. The MX922 can scan and photocopy documents in high-resolution of up to 2400 x 4800 dpi optical and can also be used as a fax machine if you’ve got a landline connection. Cartridges for the Canon PIXMA MX922 are a bit expensive since there’s 5 of them in all. Overall, the Canon PIXMA MX922 is solid, reliable, produces quality results and is good value for money. The is an all-in-one printer that can print, scan, copy and fax. It’s geared more at those that want to print lots of photos from mobile devices as it allows you to instantly send and print images from mobile devices.
For those that hate running out of printer ink at just the wrong moment, the HP Envy 7855 will also automatically order new print cartridges delivered to your door you when it detects ink is getting low. The HP Instant Ink replacement service can also work out up to 50% cheaper than buying cartridges in store although they’re generally reasonably priced anyway. The HP Envy also features a touchscreen which allows you to print and even edit photos that you’ve sent from your Mac, iPhone or iPad. The scanner is slightly low in resolution with a maximum of 1200 dpi but it’s enough for general use. If you’re intending to print a lot of photos and mobile printing is important to you, the HP Envy 7855 All-ln-One Photo Printer is a very good choice. The is an multi-function inkjet printer that claims to offer “performance beyond laser”. It offers the fastest printing speed we’ve seen in an inkjet and Epson claim it’s 40% cheaper to run than a laser printer due to the cost of its cartridges.
The Epson Workforce is also one of the few printers that can perform not only double-sided printing but also double-sided scans, photocopies and faxes if that’s important for you. There’s a touch screen that allows you to send and print photos from mobile devices as well as perform general management of the printer. The Epson Workforce range use 5 cartridges although they are considerably cheaper than for the Canon PIXMA. Annoyingly though, if you’ve run out of color cartridges and just want to print in greyscale, it won’t let you – you must have a full set of cartridges loaded before it will let you print anything at all. The Epson Workforce is WF-370 is a good choice if you need a printer for Mac or PC that can copy, scan and print double-sided and has reasonably priced cartridge refills. The is a more affordable version of the excellent HP Office Jet Pro (see review below). Although more expensive than most consumer printers, it’s an excellent mid range all-in-one machine that’s also suitable for small businesses and home office use.
The HP LaserJet Pro prints at an impressive 19 pages per minute (ppm) which is significantly faster than the Canon, Epson or HP Envy (although much slower than the HP Office Jet Pro). One other useful feature you’ll find in HP LaserJet Pro that you won’t find in most printers is the ability to scan to email.
This means you can scan a document and send it directly to someone’s email address by typing it in the touchscreen. You can even send documents to multiple email addresses directly from the printer itself. The main difference between the HP LaserJet Pro and the more advanced HP Office Jet Pro is that it’s a lot slower and a smaller paper loading cartridge (150 sheets compared to 500 sheets in the Office Jet Pro). Print cartridges are also a lot cheaper for the HP LaserJet Pro. If you’re looking for a small office, small business or home office all in printer for your Mac, the HP LaserJet Pro provides very fast printing with office printer standard features at an affordable price. The is by far the most expensive printer featured here but it’s also the most robust and designed for offices that need a top quality solution. The HP OfficeJet Pro is extremely fast printing up to 70 pages per minute (ppm) compared to an average of 10 ppm for the other printers featured here.
Although it can be used for printing photos, the HP OfficeJet Pro is designed more for large volume document printing rather than photo or leisure use. The HP OfficeJet Pro can hold up to 500 sheets of paper – far in excess of any of the other printers featured here – with an option for an additional 500 sheet paper tray.
This is because the HP OfficeJet Pro is designed for offices that print up to 4,200 pages per month and as a result, cartridges aren’t exactly cheap. Like the HP Laserjet Pro, the HP OfficeJet Pro also supports scan to email and double-sided duplex printing, copying and scanning of documents. If you’re looking for the perfect mid-office multi purpose printer for your Mac or PC, the HP OfficeJet Pro is a superb machine. The Best Printers For Mac Compared Canon PIXMA MX922 HP Envy 7855 Epson Workforce WF-370 HP Laserjet Pro M281fdw HP Office Jet Pro x576dw Printer Type Inkjet Laser Inkjet Laser Laser Auto-Sheet Feeder Capacity 35 25 35 150 500 Double Sided Print/Copy/Scan Max Print Speed Color 10 ppm 9 ppm 10 ppm 19 ppm 70 ppm Max Scan Resolution dpi 2400 x 4800 1200 x 2400 1200 x 2400 1200 x 2400 1200 x 2400 No. Of Print Cartridges 5 2 5 4 4 Full Set Print Cartridge Cost (approx) $50 $25 $20 $130 $400 Easy To Use Touchscreen Mobile Printing Conclusion Which printer you choose depends on whether you’re just a general home user or need to use it for business use. If you’re an occasional home user that just needs to print, scan and copy every so often, the Canon PIXMA, HP Envy or Epson Workforce will be sufficient.
If you’re somewhere in between and planning to maybe use it for business purposes, you can’t go wrong with the HP LaserJet Pro because it offers room for you to grow while offering home users the speed and features that businesses enjoy. If you’re a small business or power user, then don’t hesitate to get the HP OfficeJet Pro as the speed in printing alone is well worth the extra money for frequent print jobs. Whichever one you choose, the great thing for Mac users is that unlike on Windows PCs, setting-up a printer is very easy. Macs will automatically install printer drivers for most major manufacturers as soon as you connect the printer to your Mac meaning whichever one you choose, installing it on Mac is far easier and painless than on PC. Depending on the model and manufacturer, PC users meanwhile may have to download drivers from the manufacturer website or install software that comes with the printer. If you’ve got any comments, questions, problems or experiences with any of the Mac compatible printers reviewed here, let us know in the comments below.
You May Also Like:.