How to Choose the Best Black and White Printer

When looking for the best black and white printer, you'll want to consider speed, convenience, and connectivity options

Finding the right black and white printer for your business requires a little research, but it doesn't have to be difficult. The most important thing to know is that you'll want a black and white laser printer, as an inkjet simply can't print fast enough for most business cases. Beyond that, finding the right device for your office is mostly a matter of size, price, and added features. Any good laser printer can produce documents quickly; the ideal laser printer will also fit your desk, your budget, and your workflow.

Luckily, printing technology has come a long way in the past few decades. Not only are these devices much cheaper than they used to be, but they also offer features such as wireless connectivity, sophisticated security protocols, and double-sided printing. Most modern black and white printers also make it easy to replace toner cartridges, so office managers everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief. Read on to find out which printer features you absolutely need, and which you may be able to live without.

Need more information about printer features? Check out our comprehensive guide, A Buyer’s Guide to Printer Types.

What is the best black and white printer?

As is the case with most tech products, there is no single "best" black and white printer. There is, however, probably a "best" monochrome printer for your particular office setup.

Regardless, all top-quality black and white printers have a few features in common. First and foremost, you'll want to look for a laser printer. Inkjet printers might be fine for home use, but their slow printing speeds and high ink costs can make them unsuitable for most professional workplaces.

From there, you'll want to consider printing speed. According to tech review site RTings, a good printer should be able to churn out at least 20 pages per minute. For quick reference, that means printing 100 pages would take five minutes; printing 500 pages would take 25 minutes; printing 1,000 pages would take 50 minutes. Depending on the printer model, someone might have to be on hand to add new reams of paper, though.

Finally, you'll want to ensure that a printer offers wireless features. In the past, Wi-Fi connectivity on a printer was something of a double-edged sword, since the functionality rarely worked the way it was supposed to. Recent printers, however, have ironed out most of their wireless kinks, and can speed up your office's workflow considerably. In fact, many modern printers support wireless printing from remote locations, which is perfect if you have employees who work from home.

Whether you want any additional features depends on what your business does. For example, an all in one black and white printer will also be able to scan, copy, and fax documents. This functionality could be invaluable if you need to digitize and share information. But if all you need to do is print, then you might not want to pay for the extra functionality.

Benefits of a monochrome printer

While black and white printers aren't as versatile as color printers, they make a lot of sense for offices that don't need to print colorful documents. If your workplace tends to print text-based documents rather than photos and charts, a monochrome printer is cheaper and easier to manage. First off, monochrome laser printers tend to be cheaper than similarly featured color models.

Refilling toner for black and white models is also cheaper. That's because you'll need only one type of toner (black) rather than four (black, cyan, magenta, yellow). Using less toner is also better for the environment, as cartridges can easily wind up as e-waste. In short, if it meets your needs, a monochrome laser printer could save your office time, effort, and money.

Black and white laser printer vs. black and white inkjet printer

We've briefly touched on the differences between black and white laser printers and black and white inkjet printers. However, it's worth reiterating here. If your office prints documents on a regular basis, an inkjet printer probably won't be a good fit.

First off, inkjet printers are usually slower. In its tests, Gadget Review found that they tend to print between five and 10 pages per minute. Laser printers tend to start at 20 pages per minute, and many models are even speedier than that. That's at least twice as fast, and potentially more than four times as fast.

Inkjet printers also tend to be ink hogs. A standard black ink cartridge can print 200 to 300 pages; a standard black toner cartridge can print 2,000 to 3,000. Now, consider that a black toner cartridge only costs about twice as much as a comparable black ink cartridge. That makes a black and white laser printer about five times more efficient.

The bottom line is that while inkjet printers are often fine for home use, they're not really fast enough to facilitate the workflow in an office environment.

Our recommendation: RICOH 132 MF

If your small-to-medium-sized business needs a black and white printer, then the RICOH 132 MF is an easy recommendation. This black and white printer, scanner, copier, and fax machine can print up to 34 pages per minute, and hold up to 500 sheets of paper at a time. At only 16.5 inches across, it should fit easily on most desktops. Workers can also expect automatic double-sided printing, as well as optional Wi-Fi capabilities.

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