Photo: Marki Williams
Top Pick
HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e
The Best Inkjet All-in-One Printer for Home and Small Offices
Looking for a reliable all-in-one printer that simplifies your document management? The HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e stands out with its user-friendly software, cost-effective ink options, extended warranty, and thoughtful design. It delivers sharp print quality, making it a strong contender in the crowded all-in-one printer market. While it may not explicitly feature fax capabilities, a common function in many All In One Printer With Fax models, its overall performance and features make it a top choice for home and small office environments needing print, scan, and copy functionalities. However, consider the implications of HP+ and Instant Ink subscriptions before committing.
Buying Options
$200 from HP
$200 from Amazon
$200 from Walmart
The HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e excels in ease of setup and daily use, striking an impressive balance between print quality, speed, and dependability that many competing printers struggle to achieve. Its modern, sleek aesthetic is a welcome departure from bulkier, less stylish models, almost making you overlook minor drawbacks like the small touchscreen and somewhat flimsy output tray.
HP offers optional services with the 9125e, including the Instant Ink subscription and HP+ membership. HP+ extends the warranty and potentially lowers printing costs, but it also introduces restrictions on printer usage. Carefully evaluate these options to ensure they align with your printing needs and preferences.
Effortless Setup Experience: Connecting the 9125e to your Wi-Fi network is remarkably simple, thanks to the integrated on-screen keyboard. During our tests, the entire setup process, including ink cartridge installation, was completed in under 10 minutes. This streamlined, contemporary approach makes the installation processes of other printers seem outdated and cumbersome.
The HP Smart app (available on Android and iOS) further simplifies setup from your smartphone, allowing you to add the printer in just a couple of steps.
However, the app-driven installation process aggressively promotes HP+ and Instant Ink subscriptions with repeated “exclusive” offers. While easy to navigate if you’re prepared, this persistent upselling can be overwhelming if you’re undecided, potentially leading to hasty decisions about these services.
Instant Ink: Potential Cost Savings: HP’s Instant Ink program offers tiered plans based on monthly print volume, ranging from 10 to 700 pages. (A three-month trial is included with printer purchase upon HP+ signup.)
Instant Ink can reduce per-page costs to as low as 4¢ and at worst 14.9¢. A significant benefit is the uniform cost for both color and black-and-white printing. The service automatically orders and ships replacement ink cartridges when levels are low, at no extra charge. Unused pages roll over up to three times your monthly plan, and additional sets of 10 to 15 pages are available for $1 each if you exceed your limit.
Enrolling in Instant Ink also extends the printer’s warranty to two years, adding further value.
HP+ and Instant Ink: Consider the Trade-offs: The three-month Instant Ink trial requires signing up for HP+, which unlocks enhanced features for the 9125e. These include a more advanced HP Smart app, cloud connectivity, improved security, and the extended two-year warranty.
However, HP+ locks the printer to only using genuine HP ink cartridges. This restriction prevents the use of third-party or remanufactured cartridges, limiting ink options and making you reliant on HP’s pricing. For users seeking an all in one printer with fax and potentially more flexible расходные materials, this lock-in might be a concern, although it doesn’t affect the core print, scan, and copy functions of the 9125e.
HP+ also necessitates a constant internet connection for the printer to function, which could be problematic for users with unreliable internet. Loss of connection can halt printing and display error messages, as documented by HP.
Furthermore, canceling Instant Ink forfeits any remaining ink in the cartridges, which can be wasteful if you have ink left.
Simplified Maintenance with HP Smart Software: The HP Smart software suite, accessible on computers and mobile devices, simplifies printer management. Users can easily monitor ink levels, order replacements, adjust settings remotely, and access the Embedded Web Server for advanced controls. HP’s integrated approach keeps essential functions readily accessible.
The OfficeJet Pro 9125e’s menu screen.
The OfficeJet Pro 9125e’s capacitive touchscreen, while smaller than ideal, offers a more user-friendly interface compared to some competitors. Photo: Marki Williams
Cost-Effective Printing: While not the absolute cheapest, the 9125e provides good value. It includes enough ink for approximately 800 black-and-white or 420 color pages. High-yield HP 936e EvoMore cartridges cost around $240 per set and yield about 2,500 monochrome or 1,650 color pages. This translates to roughly 3.2¢ per black page and 12.8¢ per color page.
While its predecessor, the OfficeJet Pro 9015e, offered slightly lower per-page costs, the 9125e remains a cost-effective choice compared to most non-ink-tank all-in-one printers, excluding budget options like our budget pick. For users prioritizing fax alongside print, scan, and copy, dedicated all in one printer with fax models may offer different cost structures and feature sets to consider.
Impressive Print Quality: The 9125e delivers sharp, dark text, readable even at 4-point font sizes in most fonts. Graphics are vibrant and crisp on default settings, with minimal banding in full-page graphics on standard copy paper.
The “Best quality” setting enhances glossy photo prints, making borderless 8.5×11-inch photos look excellent, although colors may lean slightly blue and exhibit higher contrast than the originals.
Fast Printing Speeds: HP claims speeds of up to 22 ppm for monochrome and 18 ppm for color. Our tests yielded 12 ppm for a grayscale IRS 1099-MISC instruction sheet and 8.1 ppm for a color office document (both PDFs). Duplex printing was only slightly slower at around 8 ppm for both grayscale and color.
Printing a text-only Google Docs file reached speeds closer to HP’s claims, clocking in at a respectable 21.4 ppm.
Scanning speeds were also brisk, averaging 9.2 ppm in grayscale and 6.5 ppm in color. Two-sided scanning reduced speeds to 4.5 ppm and 3.9 ppm, respectively. For high-volume scanning needs, printers with single-pass duplex scanning, like our laser upgrade pick, may be more suitable.
However, for typical home or small office use, the duplex printing speed is likely sufficient. Wirecutter senior editor Marguerite Preston, a user of the previous-generation 9015e for three years, notes, “I usually print double-sided, and I have never been bothered by the pause between sides. It’s plenty fast for me.”
Reliable Paper Handling: The 9125e demonstrated near-flawless paper handling in our tests. It managed full and nearly empty trays without issue, scanned crumpled paper without problems, and consistently fed single pages correctly. Scans from the automatic document feeder were exceptionally straight, a rare finding among tested printers, including other HP models.
Attractive Design: The OfficeJet Pro 9125e’s clean, modern design is a significant improvement over the bulkier aesthetics of older OfficeJet models. While aesthetics are secondary to function, a visually appealing printer is a plus for any home office environment where it will be a long-term fixture.
Minor Drawbacks
- Limited Paper Tray Capacity: The single 250-sheet paper tray is the 9125e’s main limitation. Users must manually swap paper when switching between letter, legal, labels, photo paper, or résumé paper. For offices requiring frequent media changes, this could be inconvenient. Those seeking an all in one printer with fax and diverse media handling might explore models with multiple paper trays.
- Small Touchscreen: The 2.7-inch touchscreen is somewhat cramped. While functional, accurately tapping small on-screen buttons, like the Settings gear icon, can be occasionally frustrating due to mis-taps.
- Color Accuracy Issues: The 9125e’s color accuracy is not perfect. Glossy photo prints tended to be slightly blue and magenta-shifted with overly aggressive contrast. Photographers needing precise color reproduction should consider a dedicated photo printer.
- HP+ and Ink Lock-in: Enrolling in HP+ for cost savings and extended warranty locks users into HP ink and requires a constant internet connection. While HP ink is generally reasonably priced, this restriction and dependency on internet connectivity are potential downsides for some users who prefer more flexibility in ink choices and offline operation, especially when considering all in one printer with fax and diverse connectivity needs.
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