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The Best MFPs for Business

M. David Stone
 & M. David Stone Contributing Editor

Our team tests, rates, and reviews more than 1,500 products each year to help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.

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    Buying Guide: The Best MFPs for Business

    Brother MFC-6490CW

    Whether you prefer the term multi-function printer (MFP), all-in-on (AIO), or some other variation on the name (multi-function copier, or MFC, is still around), printers that do more than just print have some clear advantages over their single-function brethren; namely, they save space and money compared to buying multiple separate machines. And who doesn't like saving space or money?

    At a minimum, an MFP will give you a printer, copier, and scanner in one package. Beyond that, if it's designed primarily for office use, it will usually work as a standalone fax machine, and may even work as a standalone e-mail sender. If it has fax capability, it may also let you fax a file from your PC's drive without having to print it first. And whether it works as a direct e-mail sender or not, it may give you an easy way to scan documents and automatically attach them to an e-mail message you can send from your PC.

    If you're looking for an office MFP, one of the printers included here may well be the right one. This roundup includes color and mono printers, inkjets and lasers, and different levels of paper handling that run the range from suitable for a home office to suitable for a small to medium size office or workgroup. Each is an Editors' Choice in its own category. There's a good chance that one of them is your best choice as well.


    Best Budget MFP for Printing at Tabloid Size

    Brother MFC-6490CW

    Price: $300 street
    As one of the few inexpensive MFPs that can both print and scan at up to tabloid-size (11 by 17 inches), the inkjet-based Brother MFC-6490CW has little to no direct competition. It can fax over a network; work as a standalone fax machine, copier, and e-mail sender; and hand a scanned file off to a PC's e-mail program. It also includes two paper drawers with a total 400-sheet capacity and a 50-page ADF (automatic document feeder) that can also handle tabloid-size paper. Read the full review ››



    Best Monochrome MFP for a Small Office or Workgroup

    Brother MFC-8480DN

    Price: $400 street
    If fast, high-quality monochrome output is what you need to print, the Brother MFC-8480DN can deliver it, along with the ability to scan and fax over a network and work as a standalone copier and fax machine. In addition to its 50-page ADF, it even offers a legal-size flatbed, which is unusual in a desktop MFP and should come in handy in most offices. Read the full review ››

    Recommended by Our Editors

    The Best All-in-One Printers for 2026
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    Best Color MFP for a Small Office or Workgroup

    Canon ImageClass MF8350Cdn

    Price: $699 direct
    As a printer, the color laser Canon ImageClass MF8350Cdn offers exceptionally fast speed with high-quality output. It also scans and faxes over a network, works as a standalone fax machine and copier, and includes a 50-page ADF. Its paper handling complements its speed nicely, with a 250-sheet drawer, 50-sheet multipurpose tray, and automatic duplexer (to print on both sides of the page) standard. An optional second tray boosts the capacity to 550 sheets. Read the full review ››



    Best Color MFP for Light Duty Printing in a Home Office or Micro Office

    Epson WorkForce 310 All-in-One

    Price: $129.99 direct
    The inkjet-based Epson WorkForce 310 is a near-perfect fit for a home office or micro office with light-duty printing needs—and not just because of the low price. In addition to printing, it can scan and fax over a network and work as a standalone copier and fax machine. It even includes a 30-page ADF that can handle legal-size documents. Read the full review ››



    Best Color MFP for a Home Office or Micro Office

    HP Color LaserJet CM1312nfi MFP

    Price: $499 direct
    Unusually small for a color laser MFP, and squarely aimed at a micro or home office, the HP Color LaserJet CM1312nfi MFP prints, scans, and faxes over a network, and works as a standalone fax machine and color copier. Features include a 50-page ADF that can handle up to legal size pages. But the printer's best feature is its high-quality output across the board—for text, graphics, and photos. Read the full review ››


    About Our Expert

    M. David Stone

    M. David Stone

    Contributing Editor

    My Experience

    Most of my current work for PCMag is about printers and projectors, but I've covered a wide variety of other subjects—in more than 4,000 pieces, over more than 40 years—including both computer-related areas and others ranging from ape language experiments, to politics, to cosmology, to space colonies. I've written for PCMag.com from its start, and for PC Magazine before that, as a Contributor, then a Contributing Editor, then as the Lead Analyst for Printers, Scanners, and Projectors, and now, after a short hiatus, back to Contributing Editor.

    I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who worked on every "Project Printer" blockbuster PCMag ever produced, often writing 15 or more reviews for the year's big printer blowout. (I snuck in a single review one year when I was writing a book, strictly so I could keep that claim alive.)

    I've always worked for PCMag as a freelancer, which has freed me to take time away to write nine books, be a major contributor to four others, and write for other publications, including Wired, Computer Shopper, Projector Central, and Science Digest, where I was Computers Editor. I also wrote a computer column at one point for The Newark Star-Ledger.

    Although I started my career primarily as a science (mostly physics and astronomy) and science-fiction writer (published in Analog), my non-computer-related work runs the gamut from the Project Data Book for NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (written for GE's Astro-Space Division) to the script for a video overview of a top company in the gaming industry (that would be gambling, not video games). My books include The Underground Guide to Color Printers (Addison-Wesley), Troubleshooting Your PC (Microsoft Press), and Faster, Smarter Digital Photography (Microsoft Press).

    Having covered a wide range of subjects, I've developed a serial expertise in many of them. The ones most relevant to my current work at PCMag.com are all imaging technologies.

    The Technology I Use

    I buy new PCs for my writing desk infrequently, because it takes a week or more to customize the settings the way I want them. At the moment, I have an HP Envy tower running Windows 10, but it's old enough to have a Windows 7 sticker on it. Its latest lease on a longer life is courtesy of a newly installed 500GB Samsung SSD 870 EVO.

    Elsewhere in my house is an assortment of older and newer PCs. The older ones are dedicated to specific tasks, like the one I've been using to slowly digitize all the paper stored in my filing cabinets, while the newer ones are testbeds for printer and projector reviews.

    For writing, I use Microsoft Word 2003, because I find it too annoying to take my hands off the keyboard to give mouse commands using the Ribbon. My workhorse printers are a Xerox Phaser 6280 color laser and a Dymo LabelWriter 450 Twin Turbo for labels and stamps. I also have a Canon Pixma iP8720 for printing photos, and a Canon ImageFormula DR-C225 for scanning.

    My first computer was bought to replace my IBM Selectric for writing. After rejecting both the IBM PC (which had just been introduced) and the Apple II because of the keyboards, I chose a Vector Graphics Vector 3 CP/M machine with dual floppies. The first MS-DOS machine I was willing to use for writing was the IBM AT, with its much-improved keyboard compared with the original PC and its gargantuan 20MB hard drive.

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