HWM+HardwareZone.com Tech Awards 2016: Editor's Choice - Part 2

Best AIO Color Inkjet Printer

Best AIO Color Inkjet Printer

While laser printers still lead the way in terms of print speed and throughput, today’s inkjets are no slouches either. Volume of print notwithstanding, nothing quite beats an inkjet when it comes to printing photos and graphics. And when you add more functions like scanning, copying and faxing, an all-in-one (AIO) inkjet printer can be a very useful addition to home and small businesses. We put two such inkjet multi-taskers to the test, basing them on specific criteria: besides print, copy, and scan, they must also do fax, introduced to the market in the year of 2015 and cost under S$500.

Nominees:

• Canon Maxify MB5370
• Epson WorkForce Pro WF-5621

And the winner is…

In our opinion, the greatest strength of the Maxify MB5370 is its fast print speeds and very decent image quality. And its appeal gets stronger if its business features (e.g., Settings Restrictions, Operation Restrictions, scan/fax to network folder) are exactly what you're looking for. It also comes with two 250-sheet paper trays, which saves the hassle for frequent paper loading; for the WF-5621, you need to buy the second tray separately.

While the Epson WF-5621 is slightly ahead in terms of color print speeds, the MB5370 is ahead when it comes to black-and-white printing. Also, the MB5370 has a twin-CIS (contact image sensor) ADF that allows for double-sided scanning in a single pass, a very useful feature that the Epson model lacks. That and its slightly better print quality seal the deal at the end of the day. 

For more details on how we selected our winners, check out the full reviews and articles listed at the References section at the end.