Do you own an inkjet printer? If you are concerned with the quality of your prints, you will want to read this article. We go over the technical differences between paper from Brother, Dynex, Epson, HP, and Kodak, and why one gets our recommendation.
Many of us print off pages of email, school projects, packing slips, and invoices every single day. It's one of those almost-ironic relics of a world before everything started going digital.
But we're not here to debate the ramifications of burning through trees. No, we're wondering how the quality of the paper you do use affects what comes out the business end of your printer. You probably sunk a lot of time into researching the right printer to buy, but did you consider that your paper of choice matters as well?
The texture and composition of paper play a big role in output quality. When copy machines print on standard office paper, the paper doesn’t get wet. However, the composition of cheap office paper is too weak to work well with inkjet printers because ink tends to pool around the point of contact (printer head) and wick through the paper's fibers. The result is a piece of paper in which ink seeps along the fibers, creating miniature spider web-like patterns.

Inkjet paper is specifically different because it's made using a high-quality chemical-based manufacturing process. The goal of this process is to produce a paper with the right degree of absorbency to accept ink, while preventing it from wicking sideways. That's why inkjet paper tends to be heavier, brighter, and smoother than copy paper.
Ultimately, you need to understand that there are three major factors in paper quality: absorbency, brightness, and weight. Photographers often have their personal favorites when it comes to photo paper, which benefits from chemical coats that change how ink behaves once it hits the paper, but this isn't what we use on a day-to-day basis. We do know that matte paper is cheaper, but what makes the paper of one brand different from another?
In order to find out how paper affects the quality of your everyday printing tasks, we're testing six different reams of paper, with 500 pages per ream.
| Price | $6.99 | $4.99 | $8.99 | $10.99 | $6.99 | $8.99 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand | Brother | Dynex | Epson | HP | HP | Kodak |
| Type | Multipurpose | Multipurpose | Bright White | Bright White | Multipurpose | Everyday |
| Brightness (ISO) | 96 | 92 | 96 | 97 | 96 | 96 |
| Weight (lb.) | 20 | 20 | 24 | 24 | 20 | 20 |
That's very true when it comes to Photo Paper, but there are hundreds of attributes that matter. However, it is possible for brand B photo paper to be have more color gamut on brand A printer than brand A photo paper, if they're optimizing for color fastestness or water proofing.
This was a look at everyday paper where differences are negligible on between multiple brands. We got the same results on Epson, HP, Brother, and Kodak printers. We know there are and we have seen different results with Photo Paper. Such as Canon Photo Paper behaving differently on a Canon printer, Epson printer etc....
I have benchmarks from about 10 more printers of varying brands that line up with the results from the MG5220. For the sake of simplicity, we only presented one.
Cheers,
Andrew Ku
TomsHardware.com
I think magic markers smell better.
Maybe more neurotic than obsessive.
Thanks for clarifying that. Just didnt want people to get the wrong idea.
it is good....we need to know who manufacures the best paper if we want our prints to last us a lifetime
I write with a fountain pen. I've got about twenty of them and pick one, plus an ink, at the start of each week. Almost all printer paper is too glossy to take the ink; it sits on the surface so long that I would need to use a blotter.
A paper called "Willcopy Ultra" takes fountain pen ink beautifully. Absorbs it, doesn't bleed. But it's only sold in pallet lots. So, by agreement with my office manager, I buy Staples paper and trade them ream-for-ream.
Dan, whether it's print quality, durability, compatibility with certain inks, or other reasons, people do care. And we spend a lot of money on paper. Any given printer costs me more in ink, and separately more in paper, than I spend for the printer.
What would be a good follow up article is comparing standards in paper and consistency of results. I would imagine results varies sheet to sheet. But what about paper manufactured in different batches. Or paper manufactured at different production facilities.
On the other hand, any article on color should start out with the disclaimer that perception of color is a function of the light you see it in. And lighting conditions vary significantly.
I look forward to more articles by you.
I'd like to see a re-visit to the popular inkjet printer technologies employed by HP and Epson.