The Best Printer for Mac in 2021

About a decade ago, only a handful of printers were compatible with Apple devices, including the Mac desktops and laptops. Apple used to make its own printers to keep its customers from missing out on printing benefits. In today’s world, however, the company has stopped making proprietary printers, leaving the solution in the hands of third-party companies like HP and Canon. Thanks to advancements in technology, many third-party companies have been able to get their printers to work with Mac devices.

These new printers now come with the necessary drivers for macOS compatibility. And those which don’t come with these drivers allow you to download them during setup. You no longer have to run to a Windows machine to print your documents. Most of these printers offer the same benefits you get on a typical Windows computer, while those that don’t ensure to specify it in their product description or on their websites.

We’ve created a review of ten of the best printers for Mac below along with some buying advice to help you make the ideal decision when choosing a printer for your computer.

TL;DR - Best Printers for Mac:

• HP OfficeJet 3830 All-in-One Wireless Printer
• Canon Color Image CLASS MF743Cdw
• HP DeskJet Plus 4155 Wireless All-in-One Printer
• Canon TS8320 All-in-One Wireless Color Printer
• HP Tango X Smart Wireless Printer
• Canon Office and Business MB2720 All-in-One Printer
• HP OfficeJet Pro 9015 All-in-One Wireless Printer
• Brother Compact Monochrome Laser Printer HL-L2350DW
• Epson Expression XP-960 Wireless Printer
• Xerox WorkCentre 6515/DNI Color Multifunction Printer

1. HP OfficeJet 3830 All-in-One Wireless Printer

Compact 4-in-1 With Airprint

The HP OfficeJet 3830 is a 4-in-1 inkjet printer for Mac. This means that it can copy, scan, print, and fax documents. It is capable of printing up to eight black prints and six colored prints per minute. This compact printer features Airprint and wireless printing, allowing you to conveniently print documents with no worries.

The touchscreen allows for easy operation, and you can even print from your phone and other cloud-based services, such as DropBox, Google Drive, and iCloud. It comes with a year's warranty, and you can choose to run it in Quiet mode for minimal noise. This HP printer is simply one of the best printers you can choose for Mac and iOS devices.

2. Canon Color Image CLASS MF743Cdw

Best All-in-One Laser Printer For Mac

The Canon Color Image Class MF743Cdw is a reliable piece of hardware dedicated to making your printing easier. This monochrome machine comes with a 5-inch touchscreen and a Wi-Fi direct hotspot that helps you connect to your mobile devices without an external router. It also works with Alexa and comes with a three-year warranty.

With a print speed of 28 pages per minute, this Canon printer has a first-print time of 10.03 seconds. It also allows you to print multiple pages on one sheet to minimize paper consumption. And its support for all-in-one cartridges helps reduce overall supply costs. If you're looking for the ideal laser printer for your Mac, this Canon Color Image Printer is one of the best you can choose.

3. HP DeskJet Plus 4155 Wireless All-in-One Printer

The Perfect Color Printer for Occasional Printing

If you're looking for the best printer for Mac to carry out occasional printing, scanning, faxing, and copying tasks, this is an excellent choice to work with. It's a 4-in-1 inkjet printer, and like the HP OfficeJet above, its print speeds are eight pages per minute for black prints and six pages per minute for colored prints. The colored prints it produces are vibrant and rich in color, and its input/output capacity is 60/25 sheets. With that said, this machine is slow, which is why it's only ideal for occasional printing tasks.

While it comes with Bluetooth, WiFI, and a USB port, it doesn't feature a touchscreen, and there's no 2-sided printing option either. Setup is done via a mobile or desktop app, but many customers have had issues with the mobile app and a better result with the desktop app. With that said, if you only make prints at home and only do so occasionally, this is one printer you may want to consider.

4. Canon TS8320 All-in-One Wireless Color Printer

Best Inkjet Printer for Mac Creatives

Are you a creative looking to get the best printer for your Mac? Look no further than the Canon TS8320 All-in-One Color Printer. It's a 3-in-1 printer that allows you to scan, print, and copy files. This machine is easy to operate thanks to its 4.3-inch LCD touchscreen. You get dual-band Wi-Fi connectivity, which means that you can connect your printer to either a 2.4GHz or 5GHz wireless network.

Thanks to its six individual ink cartridges, this printer can provide high-quality printing with well-detailed colors. It's a two-sided printer (duplex printing), which means that you can print on both sides of a sheet without having to flip it manually. Along with your Mac, you'll enjoy using this machine with your mobile devices, such as your iPhone and iPad.

Canon also offers an ink replacement program, known as the Dash Replacement program. You can also use ink cartridges from other brands, but ensure that they are high quality.

5. HP Tango X Smart Wireless Printer

Best Smart Wireless Inkjet Printer

The HP Tango X Smart Wireless Printer is the world's first smart printer. It's a machine dedicated to serving Apple and Mac users. Portable, lightweight, and compact, this wireless inkjet printer supports Airprint and offers quality prints with its hands-free features. You don't need to download any driver or make a USB connection before setting up and using this machine.

Just download the HP Smart App, and you're ready to carry out printing tasks, scan, and even copy documents. The voice activation feature is compatible with Alexa and Google Home, and its wireless connection is stable. Like the other HP printers above, this printer also qualifies for the HP Instant Ink program, and you also get a limited-time three months Canva subscription for free.

6. Canon Office and Business MB2720 All-in-One Printer

Best All-in-One for Office Use

Need a color printer for your small business or office use? The Canon MB2720 is one machine you can choose from. Endowed with two paper cassettes, this printer can print a full ream of paper or up to 500 sheets in one load. Connect it to your Mac, PC, or flash drive via USB, and you're good to go. It also comes with built-in Wi-Fi, and it works flawlessly with the Canon printing app.

This printer comes with features such as scheduled on/off and quick first print to help you run your business efficiently while minimizing running costs. Its first printout time is as fast as six seconds, and the quality you get is similar to laser printing despite this being an inkjet machine.

You can even scan and copy via your mobile phone and cloud-based services. And to make things better, you also get two-sided functionality, which promotes efficiency even further. If you're keen on getting the ideal printer for your small business or office use, this is one of the best printers you can choose.

7. HP OfficeJet Pro 9015 All-in-One Wireless Printer

An Excellent Choice for Micro-Businesses

The HP Officejet Pro 9015 Printer is another excellent option for small businesses and offices. It's designed to enhance efficiency, especially if your printing needs are between small- and medium-duty. This printer comes with a 35-sheet auto-duplexing automatic document feeder for faxing, scanning, copying, and printing two-sided documents with no manual intervention. Its 2.5-inch control panel is an intuitive touchscreen with no extra buttons. The icons embedded into this touchscreen are tiny, which can make touching them a little inconvenient. But overall, the display is highly functional.

To make up for the small size of the display, HP designed a web server that allows you to do everything you can do on the small control panel. The OfficeJet Pro 9015 holds up to 250 papers, and you get a host of connectivity options, including WiFi, Airprint, WiFi direct, USB, and Ethernet. You can also use the HP Smart App to control, scan, and set up your printer. It offers good print quality, close to what you'd get on a color laser machine.

HP also provides discounts on its business ink solutions, allowing users to minimize running costs even further. Simply put, this is one of the best business printers for Mac and PC, especially in a micro-office setting or small workgroups.

8. Brother Compact Monochrome Laser Printer HL-L2350DW

Best Monochrome Laser Printer

If you're looking for a fast printer that lets you carry out more printing tasks while taking less time, the Brother Compact Monochrome is one of the best printers you can choose. This Mac printer comes with a speed of 32 pages per minute. With this speed, you'll be more efficient and flexible. It comes with a 250-sheet paper capacity, and the manual feed slot makes it easy for you to print with multiple paper types, including stock, envelopes, and more.

Thanks to the Wi-Fi and USB connectivity options, you can print from your mobile phone, tablet, Mac, and PC. This printing machine also offers two-sided printing, allowing you to print more while minimizing paper use. This is a machine focused on helping users to reduce costs, which is why it has a Toner Save mode that helps reduce toner costs.

While it would have been better if it supported color printing and had an automatic document feeder, the professional-quality, two-sided printing, Airprint support, and efficiency make it one of the best printers around for Mac.

9. Epson Expression XP-960 Wireless Printer

Compact and Stylish Photo Printer for Your Mac

The Epson Expression XP-960 is one of the best photo printing machines you can choose for your home and creative ideas. This machine provides professional photo quality, allowing you to enjoy beautiful HD borderless photos. This is thanks to its six-color Claria Photo HD Inks. Both text and pictures will come out just the way you want them to. This machine is also fast, capable of printing 4 x 6-inch photos in just 11 seconds.

You can make prints from your mobile devices, Mac, and PC with no issues. Connectivity options here include WiFi, USB, WiFi Direct, and SD Card support. Setting it up is also very easy as it comes with a CD ROM that includes the necessary drivers and software. If you are looking for the ideal photo printing machine with vivid colors, high quality, and HD clarity, this is one of the best options you can choose.

10. Xerox WorkCentre 6515/DNI Color Multifunction Printer

Great Value For Money

The Xerox WorkCentre 6515/DNI is an all-in-one printing machine that comes with great capability, speed, an excellent feature set, and great output quality. It features a 5-inch color touchscreen, which sits to the right of the output tray. This touch screen can be tilted upwards for better visibility. There's a USB port underneath the touch screen for your thumb drive and a flat-bed scanner sitting on top of the machine.

Unlike the Brother HL-L2350DW above, this machine comes with an automatic feeder that supports single-pass two-sided scanning and printing. Its total paper capacity is 300 sheets, which can be split into 50 sheets on the multipurpose feeder and 250 sheets on the main tray.

You can even get an additional tray for less than 200 bucks if you'll be using this machine in your office. Its print speed is 30 pages per minute, and the quality you get is above average. This machine prints out great text, but the photos and graphics it produces are simply average.

Printers For Mac Buyer’s Guide

Below are some of the necessary factors to consider when choosing a printer for your Mac device.

Type

There are basically four types of printers, including laser, inkjet, instant photo, and super tank printers.

Inkjet Printers

Compact, lightweight, and versatile, this printer type uses tiny droplets of ink to create prints on paper. They are ideal for printing on a wide variety of paper sizes and types, including scrapbooks, labels, business envelopes, and more. They often come in two types: the 4-in-1 option, which allows you to print, scan, copy, and fax documents, and the 3-in-1 option, which does all of the above apart from faxing.

Laser Printers

This printer type is ideal for business owners or those who make large print volumes every day. It uses toner and static electricity to print documents, allowing you to create prints at a very low cost. Using this printer type to print text-only documents will even help save on costs.

Photo Printers

Otherwise known as instant photo printers, this printer type allows you to instantly print high-quality pictures. They are compatible with digital cameras, mobile phones, memory sticks, and SD cards. Some models even allow you to edit your photos before printing them out. And to make things better, the print quality is almost as good as you’d get from a professional printing service.

Super Tank Printers

The way this printer type operates is similar to how the inkjet printer works. The only difference here is that super tank printers use high-capacity cartridges. This allows you to create more prints without frequently changing your cartridge. There are even models that can print for up to two years without needing to replace the ink.

• On a budget? Check out the best printer under $100.
• Check out the best all-in-one printer.
• See also the best 3D printer under 500.

Connection

USB, Ethernet, and other wired connection options have long been the standard for connecting to a printer. However, there are now also many more options to choose from, including NFC, WiFi, and Google Cloud Print. For Mac users, you want to ensure that the printer you choose can work with Apple’s Airprint cloud-based printing service. This service allows you to print from any Apple device, including your iPhone, iPad, and Macbook. Many printers also offer printing apps, and some models even come with voice activation features.

Print Speed

Usually measured in prints per minute (PPM), your machine’s print speed indicates the number of prints it can make in one minute. Many printers on the market today can print 11 to 13 colored pages in one minute and 13 to 15 black-only pages in one minute. There are even printers that can do up to 30ppm. However, it’s important to note that the type of document you’re printing will affect the print speed.

Paper Size

Not all printers for Mac can print all paper sizes. While most printers will work with 8.5 x 11″ paper, not all of them are capable of printing on envelopes, glossy stock, index cards, etc. Therefore, it’s essential to choose a versatile printer capable of making prints on many document types. There are also some printers for Mac capable of creating custom dimensions, allowing you to print any document size you want.

Conclusion

Choosing the best printer for your Mac shouldn’t be a difficult task. Whether you want to use it for your small business, micro-office, in your home, or your graphic design studio, the printers we’ve reviewed above are some of the best you can choose. To make things even easier, we’ve also covered their main pros and cons, so you know what you’re buying before forking out your cash.

Ensure that you consider your available space, monthly print volume, and desired paper sizes before choosing a machine for your needs. Our guide above is one of the best places to start from to help you understand the necessary factors to consider when selecting the ideal machine for your prints.