Best Printers for 2025 Australia

What printer should I buy?

This question is a hard one as there is no "Best printer for 2025" that suits everyone's needs that I can recommend. The final choice really revolves around what you want to do with the printer and how much printing you will be doing. If you print reasonable volumes and frequently then you need a printer that can use generic or 3rd party inks or toner. In saying this almost all printers fit this category other than some of the latest HP's. The latest HP printers are becoming a huge headache for those wanting to use 3rd party cartridges as they are employing tactics that block non genuine cartridges and the HP "e" series printers go one step further as they are locked to the HP server and are only able to run on genuine HP cartridges. Most other printer brands such as Brother, Canon and Epson work perfectly fine with generic cartridges and by using them you can save a fortune.

The factors that we must consider depend fully on the requirements of the user. Are you happy with a straight printer or do you need an MFC (print/scan/copy)? Are you requiring colour or will black and white be acceptable? Do you print regularly or only once a fortnight? These questions are very important in helping us to select the printer which best fits your needs. Before we get too involved just a warning: When you purchase any inkjet printer which is "on sale" remember that companies don't sell stuff cheap if there's not some kind of ROI for them. All of these "on sale" printers at bargain prices use cartridges with built in printheads. This means that part of the printer is actually built into the cartridges and you are paying for this every time you purchase them. What I'm saying is that they are a rip off, printer manufacturers have been doing this for years and they ALWAYS make their money back and more on the cartridges. DON'T GET SUCKED IN BY THIS! It's a SCAM. You can identify these printers as they almost always use only 2 cartridges. One being the black and the other a tri-colour. When one of the colours in the tri-colour cartridge runs out you have to ditch the whole cartridge and buy another expensive replacement. How ridiculous is that!

Some advice when buying a printer

One point I cant stress enough when buying a printer at your local Officeworks, Harvey Norman or any other large store is don't believe all of the advice that you are given. The number of people we get ringing up who have been fed the wrong information on printers is ridiculous. I always tell people that the amount of training that most of these sales people have is only very basic as they have a huge range of products that they need to cover so their actual knowledge of various printers is minimal. They are also trained to promote certain brands as companies receive kickbacks and incentives if they sell certain amounts of a particular item.

This is in no way a criticism of these folks as I am simply trying to get across the fact that we are talking everyday of the week to customers Australia wide so we know what works and what doesn't. Also we know which printers are cheap to run, easy to use and reliable so PLEASE take our advice on the printers we recommend. Also let me stress that almost every other site that has a post like this on best printers to buy are complete nonsense. The majority of them are written by people in third world countries and they are simply posted to provide fresh content for marketing purposes.

When recommending printers there are several aspects that I always take into account.

1. The initial cost of the printer
2. The reliability and longevity
3. The overall running costs
4. Does it meet the average users requirements

Let's take a look at the top contenders and why I chose them.

  Best overall Home Printer       Brother MFC-J4440DW

• Very low running costs compared to most other printers ( approx 4 cents per page )
• As with all of the latest Brother printers they are built strong and will last for many years
• This is an A3 printer and offers every feature that you would ever need
• It sells for around $235 which makes this very reasonable for an A3 printer
• The reviews and feedback so far about this printer have all been amazing
• For further details checkout the Brother MFC-J5340DW at Officeworks
• For a full review checkout the Brother MFC-J5340DW Review by PC Mag
• Here are the consumables for this printer Brother MFC-J5340DW Ink Cartridges

 

  Best Home B&W Printer          Brother HL-L2400DW

• Very low running costs in B&W only ( approx 2.7 cents per page )
• Super Fast print speed of up to 30 pages per minute
• Built incredibly tough for longevity and reliability
• Priced at around $159 this represents great value for a laser printer
• The reviews speak for themselves, our customer feedback has been excellent
• see the full details at the official Brother website Brother HL-2400DW Specifications
• See what people are saying about the printer Brother HL-L2400DW Reviews
• Here are all of the consumables for this printer Brother HL-L2400DW Cartridges

 

 Best Refillable Tank Printer     Epson EcoTank ET-3800

• Extremely cheap running costs using refillable bottles ( approx 0.75 cents per page )
• Robust design, with double sided printing, wi-fi connect to smartphone or tablet
• Utilizing a high capacity refillable ink tank system filled by four separate ink bottles
• Priced at around $550 this is an entry level EcoTank printer
• See the full details at the official Epson website Epson EcoTank ET-3800 Specifications
• See what people are saying about this printer Epson EcoTank ET-3800 Reviews
• You can purchase the printer here Epson EcoTank ET-3800 at Officeworks

 

 Best Printer under $200          Brother DCP-J1200W

• Very low running costs compared to most printers ( approx 8 cents per page )
• Robust and reliable, will last for many years
• Compatible with AirPrint, Mobile and Wireless printing
• Compact, slimline design to complement your home or office
• Priced at around the $199 mark this is a quality printer for this small amount
• For all of the details go to the Brother website Brother DCP-J1200W Printer Specifications
• Checkout the comprehensive review Brother DCP-J1200W Review
• You can purchase the printer here Brother DCP-J1200W at Officeworks

In Conclusion: In selecting the printers above I have not just scanned the web and stolen other peoples opinions but I have tried to give a very honest opinion of what I truly believe are the best printers available. I have been in the print industry since 2007 and I personally use and recommend Brother printers as they are just so well built. If you are looking for more information about the viability of EcoTank style printers then take a look at the following article I wrote some time ago: Inkjet vs EcoTank Printers.

As far as the legitimacy of articles on many other printer cartridge sites please don't take them too seriously as many of them are simply drop-shippers who wouldn't have a clue about printers and the articles are simply created to try and gain website traffic. I don't say this to be nasty but after reading the best printer compilations over the past several years from several other sites I wonder if they simply pulled them out of a hat.

Finally if you are willing to pay that bit extra for one of the Brother printers above you will have a device that will serve you well for many years to come. So that's the list for 2025, Best of wishes in selecting your new printer.