- Table of Contents
- Intro
- Updates
- Comparison
- Best Printers
- Conclusion
- Discussions
HP, also known as Hewlett-Packard, is a home electronics brand that focuses on computer-related products, including printers. They make a diverse range of printers like inkjet or laser, color or monochrome, and all-in-one or printer-only. While their selection can be overwhelming, they're separated into several different lineups to better fit your needs.
Each lineup has different pros and cons that align more closely with their specific usages, and they come at several price points, so you can easily find a printer that works for you.
Note: We're currently in the middle of updating our printers to the newest 1.0 test bench, so some scores may change. We'll update this article as we've retested any relevant printers. You can see the changes to our methodology here.
Updates
- 01/19/2022 HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 reviewed
- 12/22/2021 HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e updated
- 10/13/2021 HP DeskJet 2742e reviewed
- 10/06/2021 HP OfficeJet Pro 8025 updated
- 10/01/2021 HP DeskJet 2755 updated
Best HP Printers
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Best HP Printer For Small/Home Office
Type All in OneTechnology LaserWireless YesColor YesSuperTankNoThe best HP printer for home office that we've tested is the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw. This all-in-one color laser printer has an outstandingly solid-feeling body, and its design allows you easy access to replace the toner. It also has a superb touchscreen that makes it easy to navigate tasks. Thanks to its fantastic black and color page yields, the overall cost-per-print is impressively low. It also prints very quickly and produces extremely accurate-looking colors. The scanning features are fantastic as it has a flatbed scanner with a good scan resolution, high color depth to capture extra nuances in colors, and hinges that raise to accommodate thicker items. There's also an automatic document feeder with duplex scanning. Also, it has a variety of connectivity options, including an Ethernet port, Wi-Fi, Apple AirPrint, and Mopria Print Service, a USB port for printing directly from USB flash drives, and the printer can also fax.
Unfortunately, being a laser printer, it produces poor-quality photos that lack sharpness and have a lot of banding and pixelation. Also, replacement color cartridges are very expensive, making costs build up over time. Although the HP Smart mobile app can't print files other than photos and PDFs, you can still use it to print and copy, scan, and run maintenance tasks, among others. It also doesn't support Bluetooth printing. Overall, this is a superb office printer and one of the best laser printers we've tested.
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Best HP Printer For Printing Photos
Type All in OneTechnology InkjetWireless YesColor YesSuperTankNoThe best HP printer for photo printing we've tested is the HP ENVY Photo 7855. This all-in-one printer produces high-quality photos in just under a minute. Photos come out with vibrant colors, great contrast, and grayscale photos look very rich. It has a high-resolution flatbed scanner on top that works very well for digitizing old photos or documents with great clarity. It has a great variety of connectivity options, including an Ethernet port, Bluetooth compatibility, and it even has ports for SD cards and USB keys to print directly off them. Although its page yields aren't as low as some other options, it has relatively inexpensive ink cartridges, meaning the cost-per-print remains reasonable even if you have to replace the cartridges more frequently.
Unfortunately, it doesn't produce very accurate colors, and its color range isn't very wide, so it's not recommended for users looking for exact, professional color reproduction. Its build quality feels cheap and flimsy, and though the output tray is easy to pull out, it's difficult to push back in, which could be annoying since you have to push the output tray in to access the input tray. Also, its touchscreen display isn't very sensitive, so navigation through its menu may be a bit irritating. Overall, it's a solid choice for a casual photo printer.
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Best HP Printer For Family Use
Type All in OneTechnology InkjetWireless YesColor YesSuperTankNoThough HP's OfficeJet Pro lineup is designed for office use, the HP OfficeJet Pro 9025e is the best HP printer for home use that we've tested. It feels very well-built, and the design allows for easy access to paper jams from the back of the printer. Its touchscreen is responsive and easy to navigate to perform a variety of scanning, printing, faxing, or copying tasks. It also has a high-resolution flatbed scanner with an automatic document feeder that can perform automatic duplex scanning. The printer features an impressive page yield and a very low cost-per-print for color and black documents, and the printing speed is very fast for photos and black text documents. It has excellent connectivity options, including an Ethernet port and a USB port for printing directly from a USB key, and you can also print using the HP Smart mobile app, Mopria Print Service, and Apple AirPrint.
Unfortunately, while the photo printing quality is decent, images do come out a bit grainy and with some banding in gray areas. Like its predecessor, the HP OfficeJet Pro 9025, scans pulled from the automatic document feeder come out tilted. You also can't raise the scanner lid's hinges to fit thicker items like books, and it doesn't support Bluetooth printing. That said, it's an excellent home printer with a good amount of additional features.
Compared to other brands
- Diverse lineup. They offer many different models that focus on different needs, like photo printing or office use.
- Quick printing speeds. For the most part, both the LaserJet Enterprise/Pro and OfficeJet Pro lineups have pretty quick print speeds for all kinds of documents. Although the ENVY lineup is slow to print black text and color documents, they can print photos fairly quickly.
- Laser printers have affordable cost-per-print. As their toner cartridges can yield more pages before they need replacing, each page you print with their laser printers is affordable.
- Some Iineups have limited scanning features. Depending on the lineup, you may only have access to a flatbed scanner or sheetfed scanner with an automatic document feeder. The LaserJet Pro and LaserJet Enterprise lineups don't typically have any scanning features at all.
- Inkjet printer cartridges have low page yields. Inkjet printers like the HP ENVY Photo 7155 or HP Deskjet 3755 don't yield many pages before their cartridges need replacing.
- No Bluetooth support. Most HP printers can't print wirelessly using Bluetooth, except for the HP ENVY Photo 7855.
HP tends to make a diverse assortment of printers, each of which is designed for different uses. Their photo printing lineup ENVY, for example, is comparable to Canon's PIXMA lineup, while their LaserJet Pro and LaserJet Enterprise lineups are more similar to Brother's current offering of office printers. As a whole, HP's printers have few similar characteristics between lineups, but most tend to lack Bluetooth support. However, thanks to their variety, their printers come in many different price ranges, so you can find something at a price point that suits your budget.
Lineup
HP offers several different printer lineups to suit your specific needs. They use the following names:
- DeskJet = Entry-level, compact inkjet printers for home use. They tend to have somewhat limited scanning features.
- ENVY = Inkjet printers meant for printing photos. They focus on rich and detailed photo printing quality as well as more precise color accuracy.
- LaserJet Pro = Laser printers for small/home office use. Some are monochrome, and others use color toners. Unlike the LaserJet Enterprise line, they usually support wireless connectivity.
- LaserJet Enterprise = Laser printers designed for small businesses that need to print off a significant amount of pages. They tend to be print-only, and they have a very quick print speed. They're marketed as more secure as they tend to use wired connections for printing.
- OfficeJet = Inkjet printers that are better suited for home/small office use. They're usually well-rounded printers capable of printing in black as well as color.
- Smart Tank = Supertank inkjet printers. These printers tend to have outstandingly high page yields.
Recent Updates
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Dec 21, 2021: Changes to text for accuracy; added link to TBU changelog in intro; no changes to picks.
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Oct 22, 2021: Replaced the HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e with the HP OfficeJet Pro 9025e as 'Best HP Printer For Family Use' due to availability; updated text for clarity.
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Aug 24, 2021: Verified availability and accuracy of picks, and updated text for clarity.
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Jun 25, 2021: Replaced the HP OfficeJet Pro 9025e with the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw as 'Best Small/Home Office'. Verified that picks were still available.
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Apr 27, 2021: Replaced the discontinued HP OfficeJet Pro 9025 with the HP OfficeJet Pro 9025e and the discontinued HP OfficeJet Pro 9015 with the HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e now that the replacement models are available at more retailers.
Conclusion
HP is a well-known brand that offers many different printers at varying price points to better suit your needs. As such, their build quality and performances shift around depending on the lineup you're looking at. There's even a noticeable difference in their cartridge performances, with their Smart Tank and LaserJet Pros having the highest yields; this is expected in supertank and laser printers. That said, HP's printers can suit most budgets and printing needs while still offering a fairly well-rounded performance.
For other options, you can check our recommendations for the best printers for small offices, the best home printers, and the best photo printers.