The Most Innovative Inkjet Printers to Meet Your Needs

Sue Marquette Poremba, SecurityNewsDaily Contributor

26 January 2011 10:35 AM ET

It wasn’t all that long ago that the most important innovation in inkjet printers was how one desktop-sized model could seemingly do the job of four different machines. In the comfort of your own home or office cubicle, you could print, make photocopies, scan documents and send faxes. Amazing!

Fast-forward a few years — now there are inkjet printers for digital photos, 3-D printers, and printers with LCD screens, access to Web-based apps, and ones that can print directly from cameras or memory cards. The price range on inkjet printers can run from under $50 to $2,000.

A new printer with all the latest bells and whistles is attractive, but it may not be the right printer for your needs. Before purchasing an inkjet, it is vital to consider the primary use of the printer. If you’re printing out little more than Word documents, a standard inkjet printer will be enough. If the primary use is to print pictures, a photo printer with a more accurate color output and one that can access smaller sheets of photo paper should on the top of your list.

Most printers today for home or small office use tend to be an all-in-one, with at least a printer, copier and scanner. Not all of these printers come with fax machine capabilities today, so if having fax functionality is important, double check the printer’s specs.

After investigating reviews from PC World and CNET, here are five top inkjet printers.

HP Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless. The all-in-one Officejet includes a printing, scanning, copying, and faxing functions and can handle legal-sized paper on both the scanner and in the document feed tray. Excellent for high volume documents. This is the type of printer for the home office. For those who want or need to produce high-quality photos, the better choice is the HP Photosmart Premium Fax All-In-One.

Canon Pixma (Various Models). The family of Canon Pixma multiuse printers were included in both sets of reviews, although there appeared to be no printer from the group that made both lists. The reviews are similar, however, in that the Canon Pixma models have beautiful aesthetics and low ink costs – it may be the ideal family room printer, since it looks nice and can handle heavy printing loads.

Epson Artisan 835. This is an all-in-one printer for the person who focuses on the printer as a way to create art, as opposed to creating work (that’s the role of Epson’s WorkForce series). It has wireless capabilities. The machine comes with bundled software that can produce cards, calendars, brochures and the like. It also has automatic two-sided printing and has the ability to print on CDs and DVDs.

Lexmark Platinum Pro 905. This is a home office workhorse. It has two paper trays, wireless set up, and Smart Solution widgets that add virtual customization to the control panel. There is an interface between the machine and the Internet, where users get the applications they want and need to be added to the touch screen.

Kodak ESP 9250. Think of Kodak and you think of photographs. So it isn’t a surprise that the Kodak machine produces good pictures on photo paper. It is a multifunction machine with low ink costs. This is the type of printer that works best for someone who doesn’t use the printer often but when they do, it is for high-quality print jobs or needs good quality text printing. There is a dedicated tray for photo paper, and there is an iPhone app that allows users to directly print from their mobile device to the printer.