The one I found was inexpensive, but not cheap, with exactly the features I wanted and nothing more. Instead of a printer, I was shopping for an electric toothbrush.

And frankly, at this point, you’re over printer shopping, so you click the Wirecutter link that takes you to and two days later you’re the proud owner of the Best All-in-One Printer.Īn experience much like this led me to fall in love with Wirecutter. Plus, it comes with a scanner, which you just realized you need. (But would you regret not being able to print in color?) Ultimately you decide the Best Printer for Most People is good enough for you. (Wouldn’t it be fun to hang up nice prints?) You wonder for a moment about the budget pick. You briefly consider the gallery-quality photo printer. You read a bit about price per page and pages per minute and paper tray stability. They lay out all the printer pros and cons in a detailed essay following the recommendation. Their approach (which is detailed clearly and concisely at the top of the review) seems objective, transparent, and comprehensive. Wirecutter did all the research for you-almost 500 hours comparing and testing printers. Right away, Wirecutter points you to the Best Printer, exactly what you were looking for. You click through to Wirecutter, the Times’ product review site. So, being a bit overwhelmed-but still a person of taste and discernment-you google “best printer.” The first three results look too scammy or too nerdy, but the fourth result is the “paper of record,” the trustworthy New York Times.

And honestly, do you even want to comparison shop for a printer? You’d like to trust that cute Instagram influencer, but can you be sure they’ve disclosed which brands gave them free stuff? On top of that, it’s relatively easy to buy Amazon reviews. When you look for independent reviews you find a host of blogs and YouTube channels that simply repost corporate PR. It’s borderline-impossible to distinguish between two similar printer models, let alone compare specs across brands.

Printer shopping, like shopping in general, turns out to be a bewildering and stressful experience. Do you find yourself in need of a printer? OK, maybe need is a strong word, but couldn’t you use one? A personal printer might seem superfluous in the digital age, but working from home means you can’t use the one at the office and the print/ship store is stressfully crowded with people returning impulse buys.

New york times wirecutter productreview