I’ve used many printers over the years, both inkjet and laser kind. I usually use the former for photo printing and printing of color-intensive materials, while I reserve the printing of text-heavy documents for the laser printer. The laser printing has several advantages for text-printing: it leaves clear, sharp prints that improve legibility, and it’s usually very fast which is important when printing larger documents. However, this Epson WorkForce printer pretty much matches the lower end laser printer when it comes to both the print clarity and speed. It is also a very compact and efficient printer that is ideally suited for a small or home office.

The setup of this printer was very straightforward. However, you do need a separate “standard” printer USB cable, which is not included with this package. I really don’t understand why manufacturers don’t include such cable these days – they are relatively inexpensive and don’t take up much space.

Once you have configured the printer you can add it to your WiFi network. This was a bit trickier than I would have liked, but in the end it worked out fine. Unfortunately, this printer doesn’t work with AirPrint – I really would have liked to be able to print from my iOS devices as I primarily use them to view content these days.

The print quality was indeed really good, and a casual glance could not distinguish it from the laser prints. The black and white quality was definitely much better than what I am used to from the color inkjet printers – I think those devices oftentimes “mix” various colors in order to extend the overall cartridge life. The print speed was pretty impressive – about 35 ppm. The printer is a bit noisy as it starts the printing job, but otherwise not too much of a nuisance.

Unfortunately this printer doesn’t come with copying and scanning features, something that has become standard with most printers these days. If those are things that you would have wanted form a printer than you might want to consider other options.

The printer comes with a single small cartridge that is sufficient for about 200 prints. The regular size cartridge will give you 2400 prints.

After getting this printer I explored some other low-end printers, both the inkjet kinds as well as the laser ones. It seems that nowadays you can get a pretty decent laser printer under $100, and the price of laser cartridges has also come down a significantly in recent years. In terms of the price – the initial cost plus the long term cost of printing – there doesn’t seem to be that much of a difference between these two main options. In the end it will all come down to your own preferences and the affinity for particular brand. I like this printer well enough, but its many shortcomings don’t make it unique enough for me to wholeheartedly recommend it.