School years are meant to be the best years of your life, and with the right hardware and supplies, you can focus on enjoying your studies. Things have moved on from the days of handwriting copious notes and essays, so a decent laptop, printer, and other tech accessories will take you from freshman to senior year without breaking a sweat.
The humble Chromebook and affordable Android phones have even transformed college years, and pairing them with the right printer is a great productivity hack. So, give ChatGPT a rest, and get some old-fashioned desk work done with our inspired range of printers, laminators, and other neat devices.
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HP OfficeJet Pro 8025e All-In-One Printer
Best overall$170 $225 Save $55The HP OfficeJet Pro 8025e All-In-One printer is the best all-around printer you can grab. This printer prints, copies, scans, and even faxes from the comfort of your home. It can print 20 pages per minute in black and up to 10 pages per minute using color. It even supports automatic two-sided printing.
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Brother HL-L3230CDW Compact Color Laser Printer
Premium pickIf you need a Laser printer for school, then the Brother HL-L3230CDW Compact Color Laser Printer is a great option. This laser printer lets you connect through USB, Wi-Fi and Ethernet, for easy printing. It can print up to 25 pages per minute and has a paper tray capacity of up to 250 pages. The Brother toner cartridge can print up to 1,400 pages before a replacement is needed.
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Canon Pixma TR4720 All-in-One Printer
Best value$69 $100 Save $31If your printing needs are relatively basic, then the Canon Pixma TR4720 All-In-One Printer will be more than enough for your schooling needs. This printer can print, copy, scan, and fax with ease and supports automatic two-sided printing. The paper tray is front-loading and has a 100-sheet capacity. This printer can print 8.8 pages per minute when printing without color, which makes it a tad slow.
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AnkerMake M5
If you love 3D printers and have the funds, the AnkerMake M5 is a great addition to your repertoire. With PowerBoost 2.0, the M5 can print at 500 mm/s. This 3D printer is incredibly precise and includes an integrated camera to detect errors. It supports a variety of materials including PLA, PETG, ABS, and TPU. The M5 is very easy to assemble and has a large 4.3-inch touchscreen for easy navigation and getting your projects going in a hurry.
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Entina Mini 3D Printer Tina 2
$144 $169 Save $25If you’re just dipping your toes in 3D printing and don’t want to overwhelm yourself while already learning a lot at school, you should look into the Entina Mini 3D Printer Tina 2. This mini printer comes completely assembled and has an auto-leveling system, making this 3D printer suitable for beginners. At just 8.3 x 8.3 x 11.4 inches, this mini printer will leave plenty of space on your desk for other essentials, like a monitor.
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Scotch Brand Pro Thermal Laminator
$53 $76 Save $23Whether you’re homeschooling or a teacher, laminating is great for allowing you to reuse the same materials for years to come. The Scotch Brand Pro Thermal Laminator features never-jam technology and uses a two-roller system with two temperature settings. It can laminate at up to 15 inches per minute using 3-5 mil thick thermal pouches. It only has a five-minute warm-up time, letting you get your task done easily.
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Kodak Step Mini Photo Printer
If you want something to style your various notebooks and binders, then the Kodak Step Mini Photo Printer can help do just that. This printer prints mini 2×3-inch photos onto ZINK paper. It uses no ink, so you never have to worry about replacing cartridges. Simply load the paper, print from the Kodak app, and stick it to whatever you want with the adhesive back.
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Deepin D101 Label Maker
The Deepin D101 Label Maker is great for keeping yourself organized and is very versatile. This label maker supports up to 1-inch wide labels for putting your name on all your school stuff. This thermal label printer doesn’t require ink, toner, or ribbons for convenient printing. This label maker has a rechargeable battery and conveniently uses USB-C for charging.
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T02 Bluetooth Inkless Instant Mini Printer
$30 $39 Save $9Memoking’s T02 Bluetooth printer is a pocket-sized study companion, offering app-based printing over a Bluetooth printer. Its 3.54 x 1.57 x 3.43-inch dimensions make this the tiniest and most portable printer on the market, producing black and white images with surprising resolution. This neat little device doesn’t need any ink as it is thermal. Just keep the thermal paper and stickers topped up for on-demand printing wherever you are.
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Brother DS-640 Document Scanner
$100 $120 Save $20A handheld document scanner is a great solution for grabbing the information you need from reference books and documents. With the Brother DS-640, you can scan documents anywhere with a handheld design just over a foot long. It’s a shame that, in the wireless era, this handy scanner only uses a micro-USB connection to transfer images to your device. However, this Brother scanner does the job efficiently with great resolution.
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Canon Pixma TR150 Wireless Portable Printer
$200 $250 Save $50The last thing you need is to haul a cumbersome office printer around campus. This portable wireless PIXMA TR150 from Canon is a great travel solution. The battery-powered color printer folds out, offering a maximum printing rate of nine pages per minute. Though it’s slower than desktop competitors, print quality is still decent, and you can connect devices to the printer using Wi-Fi. Sadly, the printer doesn’t possess print drivers for Kindle, but Chromebook owners should have no connection problems.
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Jadens Portable Wireless Thermal Printer
If your college expenses don’t stretch to replacing ink cartridges regularly, this smart A4 thermal printer from JADENS allows you to go ink-free. This 10-inch portable printer is under 2 pounds in weight, making it easy to stow in your backpack, and its Bluetooth connectivity works with most devices and apps provided the Android or iOS app is downloaded. However, using thermal printing for college essays and dissertations may be problematic as the prints degrade with time.
Printers and devices for hassle-free school days
Let’s be honest, having a decent printer, scanner, or laminator is great for staying on top of your studies. The convenience of the latest generation of portable, wireless, and thermal printers enables users to complete assignments quickly and to digitally capture essential reference materials that provide added insight to studies.
A reliable printer like our best overall pick, the HP OfficeJet Pro 8025e, provides speed and utility you’ll be thankful for if you’re on a tight deadline. This also goes for the Brother HL-L3230CDW Compact Color Laser Printer and Canon Pixma TR4720 All-in-One Printer, which also provide great printing credentials, albeit at very different price points. So, if a traditional printer is what you’re after, there’s a model to suit any budget.
But beyond turning in a well-presented essay, handy portable printers like the JADENS wireless portable printer, and the neat T02 mini-printer will help you take notes and print information captured with your smartphone.
And, of course, smart devices like 3D printers, laminators, and even photo printers will come in handy to pull together your ideas and present them in the best way possible.
