Best laser MFP for the home in 2021 - Canon, HP or Xerox?

From the point of view of design, all the models under consideration are made in simple, strict forms with neatly smoothed edges, except perhaps the Chinese Pantum M6507W stands out for greater roughness and sharpness of corners, and for Canon MF113w one-color design is used, which slightly spoils the aesthetic perception. In this regard, there is some leadership HP MFP M28w, which, due to its simple lines and predominantly white color, will fit perfectly into any interior.

From the point of view of overall characteristics, the MFP from HP again becomes the best, which is also the lightest among all the participants in the comparison. For the home, this is an important point, since in an apartment often every centimeter of space won on the desktop is a great luxury. Pantum turned out to be the most massive of all, and the brainchild of Canon is significantly heavier than the others.

Let's start with the noise of the MFP. In this regard, Pantum M6507W shows itself worst of all, even according to factory data, being a couple of decibels ahead of HP MFP M28w and Brother DCP-1612WR. The quietest here is the Canon MF113w, and the gap is quite noticeable in terms of the price category of devices.As for the convenience of replacing the cartridge, all models use the same scheme with a hinged top cover, which frees up maximum space for maneuvers, there is no need to single out anyone here.

A little more interesting with ease of control. Everyone has an LCD display for information and menu items, but the HP MFP M28w has the smallest screen, which somewhat reduces the comfort of work. In addition, HP MFPs have the least number of button controls, so some functions will have to be activated by repeated pressing, which again is not convenient for all users. For example, the Pantum M6507W does have separate buttons for copying documents with preset scanner settings that allow you to more accurately transfer the details of a passport or payment receipts. Pantum also has a control unit that is adjustable in rotation, allowing you to set the optimal angle. Canon MF113w and Xerox 3025BI also have inclined panels, plus the Canon MFP received a 5-line display, which stands out for its information content compared to competitors.

As can be seen from the table, it works faster than all Canon MF113w. Yes, at Pantum M6507W the same level of black-and-white print speed per minute, but there is a lag in the time of the first sheet, plus the factory data of the Chinese manufacturer should be treated with skepticism.In general, all the MFPs considered in the comparison are fast enough for home use, but the device from HP is a little slower than the others. As for the scanning speed, parity is also fixed there, since the difference is almost indistinguishable.

And here you can already see how Canon provided an advantage in speed - by reducing the maximum resolution. As a result - the lowest user rating for the quality of printed pages, because at 600x600 dpi you will not get high detail, especially for black and white printing, when shades can merge. The HP MFP M28w has the same resolution, so this MFP is also not suitable for high-detail printing. For the better, the model from Xerox stands out, here is the optimal ratio of maximum resolutions for home use and the highest user ratings in the reviews. In terms of scanning accuracy and detail, the Canon MF113w and HP MFP M28w are again outsiders, followed by the Brother DCP-1612WR, and the best work Pantum M6507W and Xerox 3025BI.

For many, this is not the most important point, but nevertheless we will compare it. As you can see from the table, paper loading in the output tray is the same for all models, but at the output, the Brother DCP-1612WR and Canon MF113w are ready to accept only 50 sheets each, while the rest are 100. There is another important nuance - only HP MFP M28w offers a manual feed tray for 10 sheets of paper, while the rest - a maximum of one. That is why the HP MFP becomes the best in this category.

Comparison of the resource of original cartridges in favor of Canon and Pantum, which can print up to 1600 pages, while the Canon MF113w has a more durable photodrum, designed for 12000 sheets, while the Chinese sometimes do not survive this element even 4000. A slightly smaller volume can print Xerox 3025BI , and the rest fit only into a modest 1000 pages, which is generally quite good for the home, especially with extremely rare printing of a couple of sheets per week.As a result, put in the lead Canon MF113w, we will send the Xerox 3025BI to the second place, since it provides for a replacement with a more capacious cartridge (3000 pages), we will move the Pantum M6507W to the third line due to the reduced photoconductor resource, and the list is closed by Brother DCP-1612WR and HP MFP M28w with their minimum volume print.

None of the models has acute allergies to media types; all MFPs print on paper, thin cardboard, envelopes, etc. without problems. But at the same time, the Brother DCP-1612WR is the most demanding in terms of paper density, the HP MFP M28w is a little more successful, and the best “unit” in this nomination is Xerox 3025BI, which is also capable of high-quality printing on various films. The Pantum M6507W also has printing on film, but its quality, according to the data from the reviews, is significantly lower, so let's move the Chinese to the second line.

As is customary for this type of office equipment, especially aimed at home use, the main type of connection of the MFP to a PC is a USB 2.0 cable, but Canon MF113w it is also equipped with an Ethernet network connector (RJ-45), which somewhat expands the possibilities of building a home network, for which the model from Canon receives an additional plus in karma.As for wireless capabilities, Wi-Fi is implemented in all five comparison participants, so there should be no problems with connecting over the air. However, reviews often complain about the difficulty of setting up and connecting Wi-Fi to a Xerox MFP, so we send it to last place.

Most of the participants in the comparison consume in the operating mode in the range from 300 to 400 W, while only Brother DCP-1612WR in the background standby mode, it practically does not eat electricity, showing a phenomenal result of energy saving. It is this model that has the best balance between consumption in work and idle time, for which we award it the first place. The HP MFP M28w also has a good ratio, although the Hewlett consumes a little more than the Xerox 3025BI when printing. But this Xerox model has been on the market for a long time, so it does not have advanced energy-saving technologies, which leads to increased idle consumption. The worst in this category are the Canon MF113w and Pantum M6507W, the former "eats" an insane amount of energy during printing, and the latter does not know how to save energy at all when idle.

Just a few words about the warranty period. Only Pantum offers a two-year factory warranty for its MFP, while other brands are limited to only one year. At the same time, the confidence of the Chinese in the quality of their products is generally confirmed by the high user rating and data on the number of breakdowns - the Pantum M6507W reliability rating is 99.46% according to the DNS service center. On the other hand, this is the worst result among the comparison participants, excluding the Canon MF113w, for which there are no data yet. However, the difference in tenths of a percent is not so significant as to speak about the Pantum M6507W's high propensity for breakdowns. According to reviews, most often the Chinese may have problems with paper capture, plus the power button sometimes fails.

The HP MFP M28w is in service a little less often, in 0.33% of purchases, and the statistics are based on 10,000 sales. The same sample is only for Xerox, while for other models the data is based on 1000 sales. The range of frequent breakdowns at HP is wider: extraneous sounds, overheating, jamming of buttons, display failure, paper jamming, conflicts with new original cartridges.

The Brother DCP-1612WR is a good "strong man" with a low level of calls to service centers. However, it gets there mainly for a banal reason - it simply stops printing without any visible damage. Most likely due to the lack of initial pickiness to the quality of the cartridges used, because even the original ones do not have any chips, which provokes the use of cheap Chinese counterparts.

The best reliability percentage figures for Xerox 3025BI. This is logical, because this MFP has been on the market for a long time, plus it was developed on the basis of even earlier models created at a time when equipment was produced for many years, and not for a short life cycle in order to increase sales. But even with such a reliable model, buttons can begin to sink, the paper capture mechanism fails, and the electronic “brain” flies off.

As for the Canon MF113w, the expected breakdown statistics will be similar to other models in our comparison. It is worth noting that this Canon MFP has a photoconductor with an increased resource, but more expensive consumables. One of the most common complaints in reviews is Wi-Fi settings, which are reset to zero very often, especially when working in MacOS.

The cost of black and white laser MFPs is significantly lower than color, but for many it is still quite high. Accordingly, if there is a task - to save money, then the best choice is Chinese Pantum M6507W, which will cost an average of a little more than 13,000 rubles.A good balance of functionality, reliability and cost is shown by the Brother DCP-1612WR and Xerox 3025BI, but for the Canon MF113w you will have to pay a significant extra, as this brand keeps prices higher than its competitors, but tries to justify them with various "buns". In this case, the MFP is supplemented with an RJ-45 connector, has the most informative display and prints the fastest. As for the cost of the HP MFP M28w, which many experts consider too high, it is partly justified only by its compact dimensions and the convenience of the manual paper feed tray.

By some margin in the average score over 11 nominations, the race for black and white laser MFPs for the home is won by Xerox 3025BI. The victory is logical, this device was the best in the most important categories of comparison: Xerox prints better, works more efficiently with different media and is extremely reliable in operation. Of course, it is worth noting that the original consumables for it will cost a pretty penny, so we recommend that the most economical users look towards other models.

The rest of the comparison participants are in a very dense group. Here it is worth saying only the following: Brother DCP-1612WR definitely good at saving energy and well balanced otherwise, Canon MF113w will give more space when creating a home working network and will please with the speed of printing against the background of a large resource of the cartridge, HP MFP M28w useful for those who frequently use manual tray printing, but Pantum M6507W - a great option to save money when buying.