All-in-One Color Laser Printers for a Small Office

The 30-second verdict

Among small-office laser printers, the MFC-L3780CDW stands apart as the only model that handles double-sided scanning and copying in a single pass, no flipping documents halfway through the job. It delivers color output at 31 ppm, automatically feeds 50 sheets at once, and supports both gigabit ethernet and Wi-Fi connections. Nothing fancy beyond that. You'll pay more for this machine than other options on the laser hub, and honestly, it's excessive if your office mainly handles letters and occasional invoices. But if you're routinely processing two-sided batches of receipts, contracts, or statements through the scanner multiple times weekly, the extra cost pays for itself.

The 30-second verdict

The Brother MFC-L3720CDW fills a specific niche that Brother deliberately left open. You get a color laser multifunction unit with fax capability, a 50-sheet automatic feeder, two-sided scanning and printing as standard, and Wi-Fi on both bands—all priced well below the speedier MFC-L3780CDW, which starts to feel like a premium you don't always need. The catch is throughput: 19 pages per minute in color trails noticeably behind the 31 ppm the next model delivers. That said, if your crew handles color spec sheets, promotional pieces, or anything requiring better halftone reproduction than inkjet can manage, and your daily volume stays under 50 sheets total, this machine pays for itself. The one real annoyance is dealing with four separate toner cartridges.

Who this is for

This machine suits small shops that have moved past consumer inkjet printers but aren't prepared to invest in two separate laser units. Think marketing departments, real estate offices, insurance agencies—anyone regularly mailing color brochures or proposals alongside standard black-and-white correspondence. The integrated fax feature alone sets it apart from most competing models, since you're not bolting on an optional module. Both Wi-Fi bands mean you won't get bogged down on a congested 2.4 GHz channel in an office building swarming with routers. However, if your workflow is predominantly monochrome with only sporadic color jobs, black-and-white laser printers deserve a closer look—they're faster and cheaper to operate over time.

The 30-second verdict

What caught my attention about the Canon MF656Cdw is something you don't often find below $1000 in color laser printers: Canon stands behind it with a full 3-year warranty rather than the typical 12 months. If you're printing regularly and want peace of mind about longevity, that's worth factoring in. The 22 ppm output is solid and straightforward. My frustration is that Canon left networking details almost entirely off the radar—no word on Ethernet, no breakdown of available ports—and at this price point, that vagueness makes it harder to compare against competitors. You're essentially betting on the warranty while the spec sheet dodges basic connectivity questions.

The 30-second verdict

The HP LaserJet Pro MFP 3301fdw exists for one specific situation: an office where faxing is genuinely essential to operations. Print, scan, copy, and fax all happen in a single device. You get two-sided printing and scanning as standard, a 50-page automatic feeder, and speed that keeps things moving without frustration. The cost reflects what you're getting—you're paying for fax functionality built in—but if that capability is actually something your business needs, the price is fair for what you receive.

Who this is for

This is the machine for law firms, dental offices, real estate companies, and any workplace that still depends on receiving faxes as signed originals. But if fax has completely disappeared from how you operate, you can skip this and look at a standard printer instead. If faxes show up every week or multiple times daily and you need those actual documents, the 3301fdw eliminates the need for both a standalone fax machine and a separate copier. That efficiency is the whole reason to buy it, and there's no mystery about that.

It also makes sense for small offices that want colour printing, scanning and copying without a second device. The ADF and duplex mean you are not manually feeding paper into a flatbed scanner or standing over the machine watching it print single-sided.

The 30-second verdict

The HP 4301fdw is a genuine business-class color MFP that still includes a fax module. Plenty of offices have not abolished the fax machine yet, and for those that haven’t, this prints well enough, scans reliably, and handles the volume a small team throws at it without complaint. It is also a piece of furniture in its own right. A desk does not fit this printer; the printer fits a desk.

Who this is for

You work in a practice, a sales operation, or a modest office where faxing remains part of daily life: law, medicine, building trades, real estate, insurance. Enough pages go through every day that a consumer inkjet would spend half its time jammed or out of toner at the worst moment. Your office has real space, not a workstation crammed into the corner of a dining room. Color output matters too, for proposals, marketing materials, official documents, often enough that a mono laser would not cut it.