- Lowest price in the lineup
- Small footprint for a tight desk
- Lowest rating of any printer in this guide
- Print-only, no scan or copy
The 30-second verdict
The Canon imageCLASS LBP122dw occupies the bare-bones end of the laser printer market, and it's honest about it. You get printing. You get it done quickly. You get low running costs on toner. It won't scan, copy, fax, or talk to your smart home. If you want a compact laser printer that won't drain your wallet on supplies, this machine deserves a look. The 3.8-star rating makes sense: it's straightforward, not defective.
Who this is for
Someone who has printed their way through an inkjet cartridge budget and never wants to do it again. Someone in a tight home office without space for a multifunction tank. Someone who prints maybe 20 pages a day and wants those pages to cost $0.01 each, not $0.15. The LBP122dw is print-only, and that is a feature for people who don’t need print-plus-everything.
If you’re running a team and need scanning or copying, look at the all-in-one laser printers for small offices instead, since this isn’t built for that. Printing under 500 pages a month might still favor an inkjet. Somewhere between those two extremes, though, the LBP122dw does its job well.
What it gets right
Price is the obvious one. At the time of writing, it’s the cheapest laser printer I can find that isn’t refurbished or sold by a marketplace seller with a 1-star rating history. You’re not paying for Wi-Fi, scanning, or a touchscreen. You’re paying for a motor, a drum, and a heating element, and that simplicity shows in the cost.
It’s compact. Not tiny, but genuinely small for a laser printer: it fits on a desk that couldn’t handle a Brother MFP. Footprint matters when the home office doubles as the bedroom.
Toner cost per page sits at the industry standard for a mono laser, roughly a tenth of inkjet pricing. A Canon toner cartridge runs about $40 to $50 and lasts around 2,300 pages, which works out to $0.018 per page. Generic compatible toner brings that even lower. Over a year of normal use, the gap between this and an inkjet adds up fast.
What annoys me
The 3.8-star rating isn’t a coincidence. The LBP122dw has wireless, but setup is Windows-first and driver-heavy—not the simple Wi-Fi add your phone expects. Some reviewers report connectivity drops after weeks of idle time. It’s not a fault; it’s just the reality of a $130 printer.
Print-only means no scanning. If you ever need to digitize a document, you’re either using a separate scanner (see the scanners section) or paying someone else to do it. That’s a real workflow tax for some people.
Build quality is plastic and honest. It will last, but it doesn’t feel like an investment. Compared to a Brother HL-L2405W or an HP LaserJet MFP M140w, the LBP122dw feels lighter and more fragile, even if it isn’t.
Should you buy it?
Yes, if you want the cheapest path into a laser printer and can live without a scanner or copier. Yes, if your desk is small and your printing load is steady but modest. No, if you print rarely enough that a cartridge would dry out before use, though that’s an inkjet problem more than a laser one. And no if you need scanning or copying; that belongs to a different category and is worth the extra desk space.
The Amazon reviews surface feedback from folks who thought they were getting more for the money. Some came looking for scanning capability. Some hit snags with drivers. Some wanted it to feel heavier and more premium. These are legitimate gripes. But if you walk in with clear eyes—knowing you're buying a laser printer that does one job—the LBP122dw will prove its worth long after the initial letdown wears off. Worth your time if you're already tired of the inkjet cycle.
Full specs
| Type | Mono laser, print-only |
|---|---|
| Rating | 3.8 stars |
Questions people ask about the Canon imageCLASS LBP122dw
The 3.8-star rating reflects what the machine is, not a defect. It's print-only with no scan, copy, or fax, so anyone expecting a multifunction unit dings it for missing features it was never built to have. If you only need printing, that rating shouldn't scare you off—the complaints are about scope, not reliability.
It depends on how many pages you print monthly. Below roughly 500 pages a month, an inkjet's lower upfront cost can still make sense. Past that, toner cost per page runs about a tenth of ink, so the LBP122dw pulls ahead. At 20 pages a day, you're solidly in laser territory, and this is the cheapest one that isn't a gamble.
Nothing—this machine can't do it. The LBP122dw is print-only, so scanning, copying, and faxing aren't options at all, not even as a slower workaround. If your office needs any of those functions regularly, this isn't the right printer; look at an all-in-one laser instead. If printing is genuinely all you need, this limitation doesn't cost you anything.