Best printer for Mac in 2020: top printers for your Apple device
by Matt HansonBest printer for Mac in 2020: top printers for your Apple device
Hook these great printers up to your Apple device
Image credit: Apple/Epson/Canon
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Welcome to our pick of the best printers for Macs in 2020. No matter what Apple computer you have, be it a traditional Mac, an all-in-one iMac or a MacBook laptop, on this page you'll find the best printers for Mac devices.
Not only have we listed the very best printers for Mac, we've also included our own price comparison tool, so you'll get recommendations for the best prices as well, ensuring you get a brilliant deal.
Getting the best printer for your Mac means ensuring that it can easily connect to your Apple product either via wires or wirelessly. The best printers for Macs will also be capable of high print quality. Many of us use Macs for creative work, so we need Mac printers that will do our work justice.
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1. Canon PIXMA TS8350
Sophisticated Mac-friendly inkjet for creative types
Category: colour 3-in-1 inkjet printer | Print speed: 15ppm | Paper sizes: A4 | Paper capacity: 100 | Weight: 6.6kg
+ 6-ink colour fidelity
+ Attractive design
- Expensive
- Small paper tray
This 3-in-1 inkjet printer looks and feels like a premium model and it has the specifications to match. It uses six individual ink cartridges to achieve superior colour fidelity and prints photos at a sharp 4800 x 1200 DPI resolution. It offers AirPrint connectivity for Mac users and includes an SD Cards slot for photographers. It can automatically print both sides of a page, scan at high-resolution and with the help of its rear paper feed, it can handle almost any kind of printable media from blank CDs to fingernail stickers. It is pretty compact, given the dazzling list of features, and it’s all controlled by a generously sized colour touchscreen.
2. Epson Expression Premium XP-6105
A stylish small-in-one to match your Mac
Category: 3-in-1 colour inkjet printer | Print speed: 23ppm | Paper sizes: up to A4 | Paper capacity: 500 | Weight: 12.1kg
+ Compact design
+ Great price
- Costly cartridges
- No touchscreen
Epson has done well to shrink this three-in-one to the size of a square shoebox without losing any features. Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct and AirPrint make it easy to connect to an Apple device without the need for Ethernet or USB cables. It also offers auto duplex printing, convenient USB and SD card slots and the ability to print on a very wide variety of media from blank CDs to glossy A4 photo paper. It lacks a touchscreen display, but it’s easy to use and the print quality, especially with photos, is excellent.
3. Brother DCP-J774DW
Inexpensive and effective inkjet all-in-one
Category: 3-in-1 colour inkjet MFD | Print speed: 12ppm | Paper sizes: up to A4 | Paper capacity: 100 | Weight: 6.6kg
+ Compact and affordable
+ SD Card and USB ports
- Not fast
- No fax facility
Brother’s entry-level inkjet 3-in-1 bundles all of the key features such as auto duplexing and cloud printing into a delightfully compact unit. The tilting display is easy to read, but if you’re using an Apple mobile device, you can download the free iPrint&Scan app, which particularly well thought out. There are USB ports front and rear, an SD Card slot and Wi-Fi/Wi-Fi Direct, so it’s well connected too. It prints somewhat slowly at 12ppm in mono, but duplex documents appear crisp and consistent and photos on glossy paper look lifelike enough for a budget model.
4. Epson EcoTank ET-M1120
Simple cartridge-free design hits the sweet spot
Category: mono inkjet printer | Print speed: 15ppm | Paper sizes: up to A4 | Paper capacity: 150 | Weight: 3.5kg
+ Very economical refills
+ Simple/pleasing design
- Slow print speed
- High initial cost
The up-front price might seem daunting, but this print-only device includes enough black ink for 6,000 pages and refills are far cheaper than cartridges. Epson’s elegant design won a Red Dot award and we have to agree that there’s something refreshingly simple about topping up the visible reservoir with a bottle of ink. There are few features here, not even AirPrint, but the iOS companion app is excellent and it compliments a Mac particularly well. Wi-Fi is built in and it can turn out duplex pages at a somewhat slow, but steady rate of 15ppm and there’s room in this streamlined machine for 150 sheets of paper.
5. Epson Expression Home XP-2100
Bargain AirPrint inkjet ticks (almost) all the boxes
Category: colour inkjet 3-in-1 | Print speed: 8ppm (mono) | Paper sizes: A4 | Paper capacity: 100 | Weight: 4kg
+ Very low price
+ AirPrint and Ethernet
- No auto-duplex
- Slow to print
At this aggressive price point, you might not expect much from a printer, but this 3-in-1 can print, scan and copy in colour and at a decent resolution. There’s inbuilt Wi-Fi with AirPrint compatibility for Apple users, while Epson’s iPrint companion app makes it even easier to print and scan remotely via an iPhone, or iPad. Sadly, there’s no auto duplex mode and no LCD, but it is able to print on a wide variety of media with room for 100 sheets of plain A4 paper in the main paper tray, or 20 sheets of photo paper. Usually, the catch with cheap printers is the cost of replacement cartridges, but in this case Epson’s Starfish ink is quite competitively priced too.
6. Canon Pixma G5050
Cartridge-less system smashes the page costs of this AirPrint all-in-one
Category: 3-in-1 colour inkjet printer | Print speed: 13ppm | Paper sizes: up to A4 | Paper capacity: 250 | Weight: 6.5kg
+ High page yield
+ Low ink costs
- Not very fast
- Expensive
This costly, but cost-effective all-in-one AirPrint device has swapped its cartridges for refillable ink tanks. That slashes your per-page cost considerably and Canon has included enough ink for 6,000 black and white pages and 7,700 colour – hence the hefty price tag. It prints quite slowly, but with a paper capacity of 350 sheets (250 in the main tray plus 100 in the rear tray) and such a high ink yield, it can keep on printing. It comes equipped with Wi-Fi and auto duplex mode and can be easy controlled by the iOS/Android companion app.
7. Epson SureColor SC-P600
The Mac-friendly printer for photographers and designers
Category: A2 colour inkjet printer | Print speed: 3ppm | Paper sizes: up to A2 | Paper capacity: 100 | Weight: 8.7kg
+ Roll paper option
+ Vivid A2 prints
- Large footprint
- High running costs
This A2-size print-only device will suit any business that needs to turn out professional large format colour documents. The resolution of 2,880 x 1,440 dpi gets closer to that of your Mac monitor than most and it uses Epson’s nine-colour UltraChrome HD inkset for lifelike colour shading. These cartridges come in high capacity 80ml options, while the paper input can also be upgraded to hold a roll. Unsurprisingly, it takes up quite a bit of room and the cost is high, but it’s considerably lower than outsourcing your poster prints.
8. HP Deskjet 3630
Easy AirPrint all-in-one
Category: 3-in-1 colour inkjet printer | Print speed: 20ppm | Paper sizes: up to A4 | Paper capacity: 500 | Weight: 12.1kg
+ Instant Ink ready
+ Low price point
- Costly cartridges
- Flimsy plastic
At less than £40 (around $52), this three-in-one printer is something of a steal. Of course the catch comes with the relatively high price of the inkjet cartridges, but if you take out HP’s Instant Ink subscription, even this cost drops. The printer itself is rather flimsy, but it’s well kitted out with Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct and AirPrint in for easy mobile printing from your Apple device. The free iOS companion app is also particularly user-friendly.
9. HP Color Laser 150nw
Simple and small laser printer for the Mac user
Category: colour laser printer | Print speed: 18ppm | Paper sizes: A4 | Paper capacity: 150 | Weight: 10kg
+ Small in price and size
+ AirPrint and Ethernet
- No auto-duplex
- No display
This colour laser printer could not be smaller or more basic in its design. There’s no LCD, no front USB port and very few features. It can’t even print on both sides of the page. However, if you only want to print on plain A4 paper and don’t need auto duplex, then this refreshingly basic print-only device will do so quickly and cheaply. Being a laser, it easily undercuts the running costs of an inkjet. Wi-Fi with AirPrint is built in, so it’ll connect readily to a Mac, or iOS device and it’s one of the few printers we’ve come across that includes a USB cable in the box.
10. Canon Pixma G4510
Canon cuts ink cost with its cartridge-less solution
Category: 3-in-1 colour inkjet printer | Print speed: 10ppm | Paper sizes: up to A4 | Paper capacity: 100 | Weight: 5.4kg
+ Low ink cost
+ Plenty of ink included
- High price point
- Small display
By swapping ink cartridges for bottled ink, this inkjet printer has a far higher page yield and much lower per page cost. You can clearly see when the ink reservoirs are running low and with Wi-Fi built in and AirPrint compatibility, it’s easy to scan and print using your Apple device and the iOS companion app. It can auto duplex print and includes an automatic document feed and fax facility.
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