Best Cyber Week Printer Deals

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As Black Friday and Cyber Monday bleed into a whole "Cyber Week" of bargains, we're still seeing unusual opportunities for deals on printers. Prices tend to hold steady for most of the year, and along with back-to-school season, the holidays are one of the few times you’ll see widespread discounts on highly rated models. 

We’ve combed through holiday ads from all the major nationwide retailers to bring you the best deals, and uncovered serious bargains on printers at Amazon, Staples, Target, and Walmart. These are great deals, some for nearly 50 percent off.

These deals are live now, but there's no telling exactly how long the discounts will last, so don't hesitate to pounce. If you've been planning to pick up a new printer, now is a good time to buy.

Just keep in mind that shopping for a printer is tricky. Consumers often get lured in by models with surprisingly low sticker prices, only to find themselves drowning in ink costs as time rolls by. To maximize your savings in the long term, you have to consider how efficient a printer is, along with the cost of ink and toner cartridges. The differences between two seemingly similar models can be dramatic, amounting to hundreds of dollars in costs over just a few years.

Manufacturers generally don’t give you that information up front—that’s where we come in. To help you find deals that stay affordable over time, Consumer Reports measures each printer’s performance in our labs, and combines that data with price information and estimates of typical use to calculate a printer’s predicted yearly ink cost. (Your actual cost will vary, but because we use the same formula across the board you can reliably use our estimated costs to compare models.)

Consumer Reports members can find that detail as well as exhaustive breakdowns on everything from features to photo and text quality in our printer ratings.

Here, we’ve selected the best Cyber Week printer deals on efficient models—so your new printer will look like a bargain when you buy it, and over time.

Inkjet Printers

Inkjet printers are more popular than laser printers. They often cost less up front, and they can perform far better when handling photos and graphics. However, they often cost more in the long run because they have higher ink costs. The printers below can all be hooked up over WiFi, and with one exception, they’re all-in-one models, meaning they can also copy and scan. 

Canon Pixma MG3620 All-in-One Inkjet
The deal: $40 at Amazon
CR’s test results: Canon Pixma MG3620
The MG3620 is always a fantastic deal. It’s one of the few truly cheap printers you can buy that isn’t an ink guzzler; estimated yearly ink costs come to a very respectable $108. Our tests show this isn’t the best choice if you need impeccable prints for presentations or other jobs where print quality is critical, but it’s a great choice for basic needs, and it does better than average with photos. You can pick it up for $10 off the usual price at Amazon.

HP OfficeJet 250 Mobile Portable All-in-One Inkjet
The deal: $280 at Amazon, Staples, Walmart
CR’s test results: HP OfficeJet 250 Mobile printer
This is an unusual discount on one of the few portable printers that earn a recommendation in CR’s printer ratings. Most of the year you can expect to pay $380 for the OfficeJet 250. It’s unusually small but doesn’t sacrifice scanning or copying functions to save space. If you need to print on the go, you can purchase a portable battery and print without even plugging into the wall. The estimated yearly ink costs are on the low side for an inkjet printer, coming to just under $100 per year. Consumers who don’t need to copy or scan may also consider the portable HP OfficeJet 200, also on sale at Amazon, Staples, and Walmart for about $100 off—note that HP’s regular inkjet printers don’t earn CR’s recommendation because of low predicted reliability scores.

Canon Pixma G4210 MegaTank All-in-One Inkjet
The deal: $280 at Walmart, Staples
CR’s test results: Canon Pixma G4210
This might seem like a lot to spend on a printer, but it’s actually one of the most frugal options on the market. The G4210 uses tanks instead of ink cartridges, which means ink replacement costs are exceptionally low. You can expect to pay about $6 per year in ink, depending on how much you print, a small fraction of the number for other all-in-one inkjet models. In our tests, we find it performs well above average, too. It usually costs $300.

Laser Printers

Laser printers often cost more up front, but they can save you a lot of money in the long run. They tend to be more efficient than inkjets, and toner doesn’t dry out the way ink does. Below, we’ve selected printers from a few categories, including all-in-one models that copy and scan, along with single-function printers, and both models that print in color and only in black and white.

Brother HL-L2395DW All-in-One Black-and-White Laser
The deal: $100 at Amazon, Staples
CR’s test results: Brother HL-2395DW
The L2395DW is an appealing option for those who want the savings that come with a black-and-white laser printer, but don’t want to give up copy and scan functions. It earns dependable marks in our tests for performance—though the graphics quality is subpar—and should run you about $71 per year in toner costs, which isn’t bad for this category of printer. You can pick it up at Amazon and Staples for about $40 off the usual price.

Canon ImageClass MF264dw All-in-One Black-and-White Laser
The deal: $99 at Amazon
CR’s test results: Canon ImageClass MF264dw
This Canon laser printer prints only in black and white, but it does have scan and copy functions. That makes this discount particularly appealing. The MF264dw usually costs about $175. Combine this bargain with CR-estimated yearly toner costs of $52, and you could be looking at some serious savings.

Canon ImageClass MF267dw All-in-One Black-and-White Laser
The deal: $128 at Amazon
CR’s test results: Canon ImageClass MF267dw
Like the model listed above, this is an all-in-one black-and-white laser printer, but it gets even higher scores in our tests. The MF267dw typically costs around $250, which means you’ll be getting almost 50 percent off. Our estimated yearly toner costs come to just $40, and you won’t have to sacrifice quality, either. Our tests show this model prints black-and-white documents with exceptional quality and speed.

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