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Buying Guide: Extreme Performance Awards: The Fastest Printers
PCMag.com has been Lab-testing products for almost 30 years so that consumers and businesses can make informed buying decisions. We rate each product by comparing its performance and overall value on a scale of one to five. The top products can earn our Editors' Choice award, indicating they are the best in their class. But what about products that excel in one particular use case? What about a product that scores so highly on one of our tests that it sets a new benchmark for the industry? PCMag.com recognizes these pioneering products with the Extreme Performance Award.
How does a product earn a Extreme Performance Award? Simple: It has to be the top performer on a particular PCMag Lab-based test. These awards are based on reproducible benchmarks tests. Here, we feature the eight fastest printers (within their respective categories) that we've tested: inkjets and lasers, single-function and multifunction (MFPs). There are a few surprises, which you'll find out below. One great plus is that they're not just one-trick ponies, bringing more to the table than pure speed.
High speed alone does not make a printer great— when evaluating each machine, we also factor in features and output quality. Fortunately, these fastest printers are all above average overall; nearly half of those included here are Editors' Choice models and all have garnering ratings of at least good. (Printer output quality in general is considerably better than it was a few years ago, so we're not seeing any lightning-fast lemons.)
We test business printing speeds using a suite of tests from QualityLogic, timing the emergence of each printed sheet using a device resembling an electric eye. While companies rate their printers' speeds based on text-only printing, our test suite combines text-only pages, graphics-only pages, and pages with mixed content. Thus, our speed ratings (measured in effective pages per minute, or ppm) are slower than the official rated speeds, but more indicative of a printer's ability to handle a variety of document types.
With printers, the need for speed is greatest in business models. A little to our surprise, the fastest monochrome laser single-function printers that we've timed are not the behemoths destined for larger offices. Both the Canon imageClass LBP6300dn (14.5 ppm) and HP LaserJet Pro P1606dn Printer (14.5 ppm), are best suited for small or even home offices. In mono laser multifunction printers (MFPs), the Lexmark X364dn (13.4 ppm), which provides heavy-duty printing for small offices, edged out the Canon imageClass D550 (13.2 ppm), which is limited to USB connectivity, making it best suited as a personal printer.
Our fastest color laser printer, the Editors' Choice Xerox Phaser 6360DN (9.5 ppm), is an oldie but goodie that has ruled the roost for nearly 5 years. Xerox announced a few months ago that they are finally taking it out of service, and they're selling the remaining stock for half the listed price. The fastest color laser MFP, the Brother MFC-9970CDW (6.6 ppm), is geared to small to mid-sized offices and features a color touch screen.
Inkjets have traditionally been slouchier than lasers, but some of them have shown impressive speed gains of late. The Epson B-510DN (10.5 ppm) can print at a pace that puts many color lasers to shame. The HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus e-All-in-One (5.9 ppm) and Epson WorkForce Pro WP-4540 All-in-One Printer (5.8 ppm) both sizzle on the MFP side.
This being technology, those boundaries are going to move. In a few months—maybe even days—we will test devices that best those listed below. They will make the list, too. Until then, these products represent the leading edge of performance.
FEATURED IN THIS ROUNDUP:
Mono Lasers
Canon imageClass LBP6300dn
Price: $300 street
The Canon imageClass LBP6300dn's fast speed, high-quality text, and ample paper handling make it an attractive choice as a monochrome laser printer for a micro or small office or workgroup.
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HP LaserJet Pro P1606dn Printer
Price: $229 direct
The HP LaserJet Pro P1606dn delivers fast speed, high-quality text, and reasonably good paper handling, but loses points for its graphics and photo quality.
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Recommended by Our Editors
Lexmark X364dn
Price: $500 street
The Lexmark X364dn offers exceptionally fast speed, reasonably good output quality, and a full set of functions—printing, scanning, copying, faxing, and direct e-mail.
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Color Lasers
Xerox Phaser 6360DN
Price: $1,599 direct
The Xerox Phaser 6360DN delivers fast speed along with quality that's a little below ideal, but still good enough for most business purposes.
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Brother MFC-9970CDW
Price: $700 street
The Brother MFC-9970CDW's output quality is a little disappointing for graphics and photos, but the color laser multifunction printer offers fast speed, high quality text, and lots of features.
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Inkjets
Epson B-510DN
Price: $550 street
The Epson B-510DN offers laser-class speed and a lower cost per page (based on claimed yield and ink price) than most inkjets or lasers.
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HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus e-All-in-One
Price: $299.99 direct
The HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus e-All-in-One inkjet MFP offers most of the features you might want in a micro, small, or busy home office, but comes up short on graphic and photo output quality.
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Epson WorkForce Pro WP-4540 All-in-One Printer
Price: $399.99 direct
Focused primarily on business needs, the Epson WorkForce Pro WP-4540 delivers laser-class speed, a low claimed cost per page, and surprisingly good paper handling.
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