AliceAre you tired of the same old grayscale prints that seem to drain the life out of your classroom materials? You need to infuse your teaching resources with a burst of energy and vibrancy that captivates your students’ attention and ignites their curiosity. Whether you’re crafting science visuals, adding an artistic touch to literature handouts, or bringing history to life through vivid timelines, you need a printer you can trust. But which is the best color printer for teachers?
We understand that your teaching materials are more than just sheets of paper; they’re gateways to knowledge and inspiration. The best color printer for teachers is more than just a tool; it’s essential for your students’ educational journey, helping you transform abstract ideas into tangible, captivating visuals. So, without further ado, let’s get into our list of the top 5 best color printers for teachers – cause black and white is so last semester!
Product Comparison Table: Best Color Printer for Teachers
| Title | Price | Rating (Amazon) | Best in class | Buy | |
 | Epson EcoTank ET-2760 Wireless Colour SuperTank Printer | $$$ | 4.5 stars | Most Efficient | Amazon |
 | Epson Surecolor SC-P900 Professional Photo Printer | $$$$ | 4 stars | Best for Posters | Amazon |
 | HP InkJet Pro 8710 All-in-One Wireless Printer | $$ | 4 stars | Best for Cardstock | Amazon |
 | Brother VC-500W Compact Color Label Printer | $$ | 4 stars | Best for Stickers and Labels | Amazon |
 | HP LaserJet Enterprise M553n Color Laser Printer | $$$$$$ | 4.5 stars | Best for Large Volumes | Amazon |
Epson EcoTank ET-2760 Wireless Colour SuperTank Printer
The Epson EcoTank ET-2760 Wireless Colour SuperTank Printer is fast, affordable and easy to use. As a multifunctional machine, it scans, prints and copies too. Its biggest innovation is being entirely cartridge-free; high-capacity ink tanks mean no more tiny, expensive ink cartridges. Instead, it uses Epson’s exclusive EcoFit ink bottles for easy replacement, eco-friendliness and big savings – each ink bottle replaces 90 conventional cartridges.
Epson promises up to 90% cost reduction on EcoFit ink bottles versus traditional cartridges, enough to print 4500 pages in black or 7500 in colour. Best of all, the printer comes with 2 years worth of ink in the box (4 bottles), so you can say goodbye to faded lines on your printables for the foreseeable future. Connectivity options include WiFi, hands-free voice activated printing and the Epson Smart Panel smartphone app. The primary downside is slow printing speeds, at approximately 5ppm.
Pros
- Exceptional ink economy for low costs-per-page
- Wireless connectivity
- High resolution for good quality prints
Cons
- Slow printing speeds
- WiFi connection fairly weak
Verdict
The Epson EcoTank ET-2760 Wireless Colour SuperTank Printer offers the lowest cost-per-page of all the printers on this list, at a tiny 1 cent per sheet based on an average monthly yield of 150 pages. The ink technology in this machine is truly unique, and makes it an excellent choice if you often print ink-hungry items like color worksheets. This is by far our most ink-efficient best color printer for teachers.
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Epson Surecolor SC-P900 Professional Photo Printer
The Epson Surecolor SC-P900 Professional Photo Printer is quite expensive, but produces professional results to rival a print shop – even at paper sizes larger than A2 (up to 44”). It produces quality prints with the deepest tones, an expanded blue colour gamut and less graininess. UltraChrome Pro 10 ink, the new F10 printhead and black enhance overcoat technology (BEO) guarantee clear finer detail and texture even in black areas.
The resolution is very high at 5760 x 1440 dpi, too. Posters, learning resources, and even photos you print with this machine will always come out true-to-colour. However, the most impressive feature of this printer is its large format capability, plus a huge range of supported media: fine art media, vellum and even poster board. The print speed may be relatively slow, though.
Pros
- High resolution for high print quality
- Supports large formats and unusual media
- Wireless connectivity
Cons
- Extremely expensive to buy and run
- Large and bulky
- Slow print speed
Verdict
The Epson SureColor SC-P900 is one of the most expensive to run out of any of the printers we surveyed (around $420 per cartridge set), but the results are great, even in very large formats. This makes it our best color printer for teachers who want to print posters. The print speed is slow, however. But if you need an extra-large printer to make posters or signs, this is the perfect printer for you. Especially if you’re printing them on unusual media.
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HP InkJet Pro 8710 All-in-One Wireless Printer
The Canon Pixma MG3620 Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer is multifunctional, so it can scan, print and copy, working at speeds of 10ppm for black, and 6ipm (images per minute) in colour. Auto-duplex printing means you can get 50% more out of those costly special cardstocks, too. It can print on colored, glossy, textured and even metallic card types.
Genuine Canon inks deliver the crisp, smudge-resistant professional quality prints the company is known for, at a superb resolution of 4800 x 1200 dpi. This is enough to produce even the most detailed and intricate designs, vividly and true-to-colour. In just a few clicks, the printer will easily connect to your wireless access point or USB, while built-in wireless features allow for easy printing from anywhere in your home. You can even access all the printer’s features using AirPrint, the Canon Print app or Google Cloud Print.
Pros
- High resolution for high quality prints
- Multifunctional (scan, print and copy)
- Range of connectivity options
- Auto duplex feature
Cons
- Jams fairly often
- Low-yield cartridges
Verdict
The Canon Pixma MG3620 Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer is the best color printer for teachers who print on a lot of different types of paper -particularly thick cardstock. It has excellent multifunctional and duplex features, however it does jam fairly often, and the cartridges don’t last long before needing to be replaced. That said, it has the highest resolution of any machine on this list – easily competitive with a laser printer, at a fraction of the price.
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Brother VC-500W Compact Color Label Printer
The Brother VC-500W Compact Color Label Printer is a high-resolution, full-color printer that produces professional-looking results without the need for ink. You can experience full-color printing at an impressive resolution of over 313dpi, as fast as printing a Polaroid. It uses ZINK Zero Ink technology, which embeds all the colors needed for printing directly onto the adhesive-backed paper. This means you’ll never have to worry about running out of ink or dealing with messy cartridges.
The VC-500W also comes with a free Color Label Editor app that lets you customize your labels with a variety of frames, fonts, art, backgrounds, and ready-made designs. As for connectivity, you can print your labels wirelessly from your computer, tablet, or smartphone using AirPrint, WiFi, or USB.
Pros
- High resolution color prints
- Comes with Color Label Editor app
- Wireless printing available
Cons
- Only compatible with ZINK papers
Verdict
The Brother VC-500W Compact Color Label Printer printer, you can easily create custom stickers and labels with minimal effort – no fiddly cutting-out requires. The best feature for us is image quality, and the fact that you can instantly print creations from your phone. Although the proprietary ZINK sticker papers may be expensive, the stickers they make are good enough quality to last on your students’ work for years to come.
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HP LaserJet Enterprise M553n Color Laser Printer
The HP LaserJet Enterprise M553n Color Laser Printer is designed for businesses, so it can get up to a incredible print speeds: a lightning-fast 40ppm in both black and color. This means it can produce a full color print, up to A4 size, in just 7 seconds! There’s also a 650 sheet input capacity, so you can run off reams of sheets before having to refill the paper. The main drawback is the lower resolution – only 1200 x 1200 dpi. This is higher than most desktop printers, but is a natural result of laser printing; colours can also appear slightly less dense than inkjet due to the printing process. However, although the unit itself is expensive, the four preinstalled HP LaserJet toner cartridges promise to yield around 6000 pages of black, and 5000 pages of color.
Pros
- Huge paper input capacity
- Superfast printing speed in black and color
- Comes with high yield cartridges included
Cons
- Doesn’t print large format
- Lower print resolution
Verdict
The HP LaserJet Enterprise M553n Color Laser Printer is our best color printer for teachers who need a big workhorse machine to handle big volumes. This printer can print lightning fast, and at a surprisingly low cost-per-page. The only problems are the high price, and the lower resolution. However, if you want a powerfully fast printer to run off worksheets for the whole school, this is the perfect printer for you.
