Even though a lot of content has gone digital, there’s still a need for printers in the home and in the office, whether it’s something as simple as printing a character sheet for your tabletop game, or an important PDF that you need to have a physical copy of. Of course, it’s pretty well-known that printers and printer ink can get quite expensive, which is why it’s a good idea to take advantage of these Prime Day deals on printers to save yourself an extra little bit of cash. We’ve collected some of our favorite deals on printers below, including inkjet, laser, and photo printers, for you to pick from. While you’re at it, be sure to check out these Prime Day laptop deals if you’re considering a PC upgrade to go with your new printer.
Best Prime Day laser printer deals
Laser printers are the cream of the crop, and you can have them lay idle during the summer months without worrying about your ink cartridges drying up. Usually, they’re quite expensive, though, so pick up one of these Prime Day laser printer deals while you still can:
- HP LaserJet MFP M140w —
- Canon imageCLASS LBP122dw printer —
- HP LaserJet M209dw printer —
- Canon imageCLASS MF262dw II —
- HP LaserJet Pro 4001dw —
Best Prime Day inkjet printer deals
Inkjet printers are the compact printers you’re probably used to and work well for frequent users. Here are the best deals for Prime Day to either get one on the cheap or upgrade your quality to something nicer:
- Canon Pixma MG3620 —
- Canon MegaTank G3270 —
- HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e —
- Epson EcoTank ET-2800 —
- HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e —
Best Prime Day photo printer deals
If you love taking photos but don’t want to lug around a massive printer, there are a lot of great smaller photo printers that are extremely portable. They do require you to buy special photo paper to use that is proprietary to the company, but that’s the compromise when it comes to having such small and portable printers. That said, we did include a bigger and more traditional printer that excels at making photos.
- KODAK Mini 2 Retro 4PASS Portable Photo Printer —
- Canon SELPHY CP1500 Compact Photo Printer —
- Liene 4×6-inch Photo Printer —
- KODAK Dock Plus 4PASS Instant Photo Printer —
- Canon PIXMA G620 Wireless MegaTank Photo All-in-One Printer —
How to choose a printer on Prime Day
There’s been a lot said on how to choose a printer. It’s a surprisingly difficult subject for the simple 2D prints they make, and it could even be argued it is easier to shop 3D printer deals, simply for how much fewer options you’ll have.
Before buying any printer, you’ll want to make sure you’re getting the right kind. The differences between inkjet and laser printers are numerous, but in general you can choose between them based on your needs. We consider inkjet printers to be more versatile, they are often cheaper, and tend to be more compact. Unfortunately, ink cartridges need to be smaller and will “dry up” at the end if not used for some time, thus leading to more frequent changes and more dealings with used ink cartridges. Laser printers are better, cost wise, in the long run and toner doesn’t expire as quickly as ink. They’re bigger, however, and (despite toner being resource efficient) cost more for the printer itself. Our guide to reducing long term printer costs will help you further save, even beyond your printer purchase.
Next, you’ll want to look at the printer’s raw stats. If you’re printing out lengthy papers for peer review on the regular, consider the printer’s speed, measured in PPM or Pages Per Minute. You’ll also want to check out the printer’s DPI, Dots Per Inch, if you want to make hi-res images.
One last thing to check out is the printer’s complete capabilities. Is it an all-in-one printer that scans, copies, and faxes or is it just a printer printer that is made to do a single job? Make sure whatever capabilities you want your printer to do are mentioned somewhere in the manufacturer briefing. Don’t assume all printers do everything, though many will.
How we chose these printer Prime Day deals
Our goal here was to give you a wide selection of printers, both inkjet and laser. But, for Prime Day, there’s a lot more going on that just choosing the best cheap printers that happen to be on sale and calling it a day. It’s not to say that we don’t include those items — they’re popular for a reason and right for many consumers — but, ultimately, our printer buying advice is to avoid buying the cheapest Brother printer without intentionality. We’re scouring for the best printers at the lowest prices (including from Amazon competitors) here, not just the cheapest printers.
In fact, if you’re the type that would normally just pick the cheapest Brother (or HP, Canon, Epson, or any of the other best printer brands) this is a fantastic time to get a mid-tier printer of the same brand instead. In this way, you can get extra DPI, print speed, and/or quality all for a price that might now rival what the cheapest printer was just a month ago. In other words, this is the time to either get a cheap printer super cheap or a good printer cheap, and there’s no shame going either way.
A final piece of Prime Day printer buying advice: Check the extras. If you go with one of the best HP printers, for instance, check to see how many months of their Instant Ink program you’ll get for free. Many of today’s printers have companion apps with extra features, some paid. Check to see what you get on there, if anything, as part of the deal to see just how sweet the deal really is.
