The best color laser printers are a great investment that can save you time and money compared to cartridge-based inkjet printers. Laser printers use toner, which lasts a long time, delivering a low cost per page for monochrome documents and incredibly fast color prints. The best color laser printers offer high-quality prints and reliability that help keep your home office or small business productive.
If you need to scan documents for record-keeping and photo capture or want the convenience of a color copier, an all-in-one color laser printer is an essential tool for your small business or personal use. For a small added cost, you get expanded capabilities. That’s why we include several all-in-one models from the best printer brands.
Digital Trends has been reviewing printers for 20 years and testing them to determine which ones offer the best quality and fastest speeds. We check the long-term value of each printer, so you’ll know in advance if a low-cost printer is truly affordable or if it has outrageous toner costs.
Printers are complex machines that require a good understanding of the technology to make a solid recommendation. Our hands-on reviews help you make informed decisions by highlighting compatibility concerns and how well advertised features actually work.
There are several key factors to consider when choosing a color laser printer. Purchase price matters, but long-term costs can add up quickly. Review the entire list to find the perfect printer.
Print quality and color fidelity
If you’re choosing color, you need more than a hard copy — you want your document to look great. You still need razor-sharp text, but it’s essential for colors to match what you see on-screen and in photos without banding or streaks.
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Speed and economy
A laser printer should be fast and efficient with low running costs. Otherwise, you should choose a more versatile and lower-cost inkjet printer.
Special features
All-in-one printers include scan, copy, and sometimes fax functions, filling multiple roles in your office. Many printers offer duplex printing (double-sided), an automatic document feeder (ADF), multiple paper trays, Wi-Fi connectivity, and walk-up printing. These details could be critically important when making a purchase decision.
Why you should buy this: It’s a modern, eco-friendly color laser printer with great speed and quality.
Who’s it for: Home offices and small businesses that need to print documents quickly.
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Why we picked the HP Color LaserJet Pro 4301fdw:
With blistering fast print and scan speeds, the HP Color LaserJet Pro 4301fdw makes short work of challenging jobs. It prints 35 pages per minute (ppm) for monochrome and color documents and scans with its ADF at 31 ppm.
Color documents look great and photos come out nice even on plain paper. A USB port allows walk-up printing via a thumb drive, making the LaserJet Pro 4301fdw an excellent all-in-one printer for home and office.
HP Color LaserJet Pro 4301fdw
Best all-in-one color laser printer
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Canon imageClass MF654Cdw
Best budget color laser printer
Pros
Bargain price
Great print quality
Fast performance
Good photo quality
Media tray for easy envelope printing
Cons
No duplex scanning
High color toner cost
Why you should buy this: It’s the best budget-friendly option for home offices.
Who it’s for: Home offices that want an affordable and dependable color laser printer.
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Why we picked the Canon imageClass MF654Cdw
If all you need is a printer that’s fast, reliable, and has great quality at an affordable price, Canon’s imageClass MF654Cdw offers great value. On sale, it can be found as low as $300, a great bargain for a color laser printer with great color graphics quality. With a slight tweak to settings, you can set photos to print at 1200 dots-per-inch, resulting in good plain paper pictures.
At 22 pages-per-minute, it’s not the fastest color laser printer, but it works well for standard-size documents. The 5-inch color touchscreen and USB-A port on the front makes walk-up printing simple.
Canon imageClass MF654Cdw
Best budget color laser printer
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HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw
Best deal on a color laser printer
Pros
Lightning-fast print speeds
Good print quality
Two paper trays
Easy setup and use
Reliable operation
Cons
Fixed-angle, monochrome display
Color cost per page is just OK
Why you should buy this: It’s a great bargain on an excellent HP color laser printer.
Who it’s for: Anyone upgrading to a faster color laser printer.
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Why we picked the HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw:
A top-of-the-line HP color laser printer usually costs a lot more than this. The list price is $570 but HP has an introductory sale that prices the Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw like a budget model.
The HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4201dw outputs the first page in a speedy nine seconds and has sustained print speeds of up to 35 ppm. That matches the pace of our top pick and triples the color document speed of most inkjet printers. Yet, photo quality is great for a laser printer.
A clever dial makes controlling the Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw easy. It also features a USB-A port on the top so you can plug in a thumb drive for easy walk-up printing.
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Automatic two-sided printing saves paper on long documents and high-yield toner cartridges cut the cost per page to 2 cents for black and 12 cents for color prints. Setup is quick and easy with the HP Smart mobile app, or you can connect the LaserJet Pro MFP 4201dw directly to a Windows PC or Mac.
HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw
Best deal on a color laser printer
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Brother HL-L3295CDW
Best color laser printer for low-cost toner
Pros
Excellent color document print quality
Fast prints on long documents
Low toner cost with super high-yield cartridges
Includes over 1,000 pages worth of toner
Walk-up USB port for quick printing
Low noise
Cons
Screen is hard to see when seated
Touchscreen use is awkward
Paper curls
Why you should buy this: It’s a color laser printer that supports XXL toner cartridges.
Who it’s for: Offices that print in color frequently and need to minimize the cost per page.
Why we picked the Brother HL-L3295CDW:
The Brother HL-L3295CDW is a great choice for high-volume printing. It’s an affordable color laser printer with surprisingly low-cost toner. One of its standout features is the affordable XXL toner cartridges. Cost per page is as low as 2 cents for monochrome and 10 cents per page for color documents.
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In terms of performance, the printer delivers crisp, high-quality prints at a speed of 31 pages per minute. It also features wireless connectivity, allowing for convenient printing from mobile devices and computers. This flexibility makes it perfect for small offices or home workspaces where multiple users need to print documents.
This isn’t the best choice for printing photos, but charts and color documents look great. The Brother HL-L3295CDW also boasts a compact design, automatic two-sided printing, and a 250-sheet paper capacity. Overall, the Brother HL-L3295CDW is an excellent choice for those seeking a reliable, affordable color laser printer with low-cost toner.
Brother HL-L3295CDW
Best color laser printer for low-cost toner
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Canon imageClass MF753cdw
Best laser printer for photos
Pros
Superfast print and scan speeds
Good print quality
Two paper trays
Easy setup and use
Reliable operation
Cons
Color cost per page is just OK
No borderless printing
Why you should buy this: Great color print quality in a multifunctional printer.
Who it’s for: Photographers and small businesses who needs to print or copy color documents and photos quickly.
Why we picked the Canon imageClass MF753Cdw:
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Laser printers are known to be fast and rugged, and the Canon imageClass MF753Cdw fits this description well. This printer is built for speed and durability, blasting through big jobs at up to 35 pages-per-minute. Picture quality is surprisingly nice for a laser printer, with accurate colors and minimal grain. The imageClass MF753Cdw is hard to beat for an office that needs to make or reproduce color documents that feature graphics and photos.
Canon’s imageClass MF753Cdw matches the fastest color lasers and offers full-duplex printing, copying, and one-pass duplex scanning from its 50-sheet document feeder. If your business outgrows the 250-sheet paper tray, you can add a 550-sheet cassette to expand capacity.
The only downside to the imageClass MF753Cdw is the somewhat high cost of color toner, a common issue with color laser printers.
Canon imageClass MF753cdw
Best laser printer for photos
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Brother MFC‐L8905CDW
Best all-in-one scalable laser printer for offices
Pros
Fast print speeds
Duplexing supported
Economical operating costs
Cons
Large size takes up space
Why you should buy this: It delivers fast printing speeds and long-lasting supplies at affordable operating costs.
Who it’s for: Small and medium-sized businesses.
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Why we picked the Brother MFC‐L8905CDW :
The Brother MFC‐L8905CDW features ultra-high yield toner cartridges that supply up to 9,000 monochrome pages and 8,000 color pages, so you rarely need to interrupt a busy workday. An optional 500 sheet paper tray expands the onboard capacity of 250 sheets in the main tray and 50 sheets in the multi-purpose tray.
Print speeds of up to 33 ppm make short work of long documents and extra copies. This sturdy business printer offers duplex for fax, scan, copy, and print functions and can connect to any device with Wi-Fi, Ethernet, or USB. A USB port allows walk-up operation with a thumb drive, while an NFC reader limits access to authorized personnel.
The Brother MFC‐L8905CDW has a recommended duty cycle of 4,000 pages per month but it can handle printing up to 60,000 pages in a month. For such a rugged printer, Brother didn’t skimp on convenience features. The seven-inch color touchscreen can be customized with up to 64 shortcuts to speed up frequent operations.
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Brother MFC‐L8905CDW
Best all-in-one scalable laser printer for offices
HP Color LaserJet Enterprise MFP M480f
Best color laser printer for medium-sized businesses
Pros
Compact size with loaded features
Solid security features
Smartphone app support
Cons
Higher than average cost-per-page print costs
Why you should buy this: It’s a speedy all-in-one printer that’s designed for printing and digital document archiving with intuitive support for cloud storage.
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Who it’s for: Small businesses that need a speedy color laser printer.
Why we picked the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M480f:
Workgroups and businesses that don’t have much office space to spare to house a large printer will appreciate HP’s Color LaserJet Pro MFP M480f. The MFP M480f adds multifunctional features that will help with your office’s document needs, including a built-in flatbed scanner, automatic document feeder, and duplexing capabilities. The M480f is a well-rounded multifunction printer that can still output up to 29 ppm in black and white or color.
This speedy but compact number has built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low-Energy, and mobile printing is supported across a number of devices and platforms. The big limiting factor on this printer is its small 250-sheet paper input tray, though larger offices with bigger print jobs can upgrade to the optional 550-sheet tray. Duplexing is supported to help save paper and the environment. A front-facing USB port makes it easy to print from a storage drive. The printer can print from or scan to a variety of cloud providers, making it easy for digital document archiving. Businesses on a limited print budget can invest in high-yield toner cartridges for a lower per-page print cost.
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HP Color LaserJet Enterprise MFP M480f
Best color laser printer for medium-sized businesses
Brother MFC-L3780 CDW
Best color laser printer for shared offices
Pros
Fast, reliable printing at 31 ppm
Quick, high-resolution scanner
Duplex printing and scanning
Includes over 1,000 pages in toner
Easy setup
Cons
iPhone and iPad app is surprisingly slow
Photo-quality isn’t great
It’s a heavy printer that requires lots of space
Why you should buy this: It’s a sturdy all-in-one with guest access and security features.
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Who it’s for: Small businesses that need easy access without losing control.
Why we picked the Brother MFC-L3780 CDW:
The Brother MFC-L3780CDW is a reliable multifunction color laser printer that’s ideal for small businesses in shared spaces. Walk-up printing is simple with the USB thumb drive port, and an NFC card reader controls access to the printer to ensure confidentiality and manage printing costs.
It offers fast print speeds reaching 31 pages per minute on long documents. High-volume isn’t a problem thanks to it’s sturdy design. Its 250-sheet main tray can be expanded to 500 sheets with an optional accessory tray.
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The 3.5-inch color touchscreen makes it user-friendly and setup is quick via the mobile app. Overall, the Brother MFC-L3780CDW combines reliability, multifunctionality, and security, making it a great choice for any small business or home office.
Color laser printers versus inkjet printers: what’s best?
Laser printers are better for text documents, as they produce crisp text even at small font sizes. Over time, they are also cheaper to run than cartridge-based inkjets. However, laser printers require a larger initial investment. If you don’t print very often, a cheap inkjet printer could make more sense and it may take a long time before its higher operational costs catch up to the higher initial cost of a laser printer. For smaller print jobs, the faster pages-per-minute rate of a laser printer also won’t be much of an advantage.
If you’re looking to save money in the long term and need to print pictures, check out inkjet solutions that rely on tanks for ink rather than cartridges. Since the tanks are refillable with bottled ink, tank printers cost much less than color toner for laser printers. Not only will tanks be better for the environment through less waste, but they will save you money for larger print jobs. That’s why tank printers rank highly on our list of the best inkjet printers.
Laser printers are still more durable, reducing maintenance costs if you print at high volume. Lasers generally offer faster printing speeds, saving time on large print jobs. That’s why businesses often choose laser printers. Some inkjet printers, like the Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 are nearly as fast as lasers.
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Beyond print quality, inkjet photo printers can also handle a wider variety of paper types and sizes compared to laser printers. Some very large inkjets are available that can print posters and banners. A color laser printer will handle inline photos and graphics in documents just fine. Most modern color laser printers, especially those made for small offices, will be able to handle standard sizes and types of print jobs, from standard documents to labels and card stock.
While color laser printers have gotten much better at handling photographs, if you’re looking to make detailed, color-accurate photographic prints to hang on your wall, display in a gallery, or sell to customers, a high-end inkjet photo printers is still the way to go (or simply outsource the work to a photo lab).
Do color laser printers come with Wi-Fi or AirPrint support?
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Yes. As with inkjet printers, wireless connectivity has become standard on color laser printers. That means you can use Apple AirPrint for your iPhone and iPad with nearly any printer, and Android’s print service is equally adept at connecting. There are more details about mobile use below.
For scanning, maintenance, and other specific features, you will need to install the manufacturer’s mobile app from Apple’s App Store or Google Play. The mobile app will often provide more options for quality, input tray, and paper size and type.
How often will I have to buy toner?
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This depends on how much you print. Toner cartridges can often print more than a thousand pages before you need replacements. You can replace individual colors, so you won’t have to buy a full set of four each time. For light home use, you could easily go a year or more without replacing toner. For office use, the replacement interval will be shorter, but toner could still last a few months.
Some color laser printers accept high-capacity toner cartridges that last two to three times longer than standard cartridges. Check the specifications of your printer for exact details of the page yield.
How can I save money on toner?
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The first step is to print efficiently; that is, double-check your page layout settings and make sure everything is correct before you hit that print button. You can also save money by preventing wasted color toner by setting a black and white printer as the default.
When it is time to reorder, you can save money by buying third-party toner cartridges. However, buying third-party toner likely isn’t recommended by your printer’s manufacturer, but so long as you make sure it’s compatible with your printer, it should work just fine. However, some printers, like the HP model above, look for a toner that uses a special chip identifying it as original equipment. HP warns that while some other cartridges may work today, they may not in the future.
Can I buy a color laser printer with built-in fax?
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Yes. Many all-in-one laser printers can scan, copy, and fax documents. If you’re doing a lot of faxing, copying, or scanning, be sure to choose a printer with an automatic document feeder (ADF), and if you want to do double-sided scans and double-sided prints, a model that has a duplex ADF and duplex printing will be best. Double-sided prints can also help save money if cost is a concern. Note that not all all-in-ones — also called multifunction printers — have fax modems, so be sure to check the specs before you buy. If you need a multifunction printer, be sure to check out our best picks for all-in-one printers.
How do you test color printers?
To find the best color laser printers, we factor in criteria such as speed, price, maintenance costs, and any unique features that help them one-up the competition.
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Our selections are based on our long- and short-term testing; experience with earlier models; familiarity with the company’s technologies; consultation with industry experts, fellow journalists, and users; online forums; lab results; and other third-party reviews. We look across the board — not just at our own experiences — to find consensus on what we think are the best-performing printers you can currently buy. We also look at list pricing to determine if a product is worth the cost. We will even recommend printers that aren’t new, provided the features are still best-in-class.
The printer market evolves constantly, with manufacturers either introducing better models with new features or basic upgrades. So, you can expect our picks to change as well. But don’t worry — the models you see here will be with you for some time, and if we anticipate better models on the horizon, we will state that upfront to help you decide whether you should buy now or wait.
Which is the best color laser printer for home use?
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When searching for a color laser printer for home use, you probably don’t want a 100-pound beast meant to survive the rigors of a shared work environment.
A compact, budget-friendly color laser might be ideal. Printing photos is a common use for home printers and some models have acceptable quality even on plain paper.
Is a laser printer good for color?
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The first laser printers were monochrome, but the best printer brands make color laser printers so you have the option of creating a more eye-catching document.
However, some handle photos better than others. Typically, more expensive color laser printers include color correction software, alignment options, and image adjustment controls to optimize for better picture and graphics performance.
Laser printers will continue to be manufactured for the foreseeable future. However, there are some concerns about their environmental impact.
Epson, for example, is phasing out laser printers worldwide by 2026, citing the significant energy required to generate enough heat to fuse toner onto paper.
You can use paper labeled as compatible with laser printers, but color laser printers work well with multipurpose and even inexpensive recycled paper. Standard sizes and weights are fine and some laser printers can handle heavy card stock and unusual paper sizes. Check the manufacturer specifications if you need to print on paper that is thicker or larger than normal.
Since laser toner fuses to the paper, the only other restriction is that the paper can withstand high heat. That means inkjet paper might not be compatible with a laser printer. While most inkjet printers require expensive coated paper to get the best results, even a low-cost color laser can print nice color graphics and acceptable photos.
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Since color laser printers work with ordinary paper, that lowers the cost per page a bit. That said, you can find glossy paper for laser printers, but it’s not as common.
How can I prevent banding in color laser photo prints?
While inkjet printers can blend ink droplets for a wide range of colors, the waxy toner of a laser printer offers a limited palette of colors. The result is banding in regions of similar colors with subtle gradations.
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For example, photos with large swaths of blue sky are difficult for color laser printers. The easiest way to prevent banding is to select a different photo. However, that’s not always possible.
If your heart is set on a particular picture, there’s a way to reduce banding with a little photo editing. Load the image into a photo editor and apply a little noise with a filter or effect. It might take some trial and error, but it’s usually possible to reduce banding without making the picture too noisy.
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If you find our top picks aren’t the right fit for your specific needs, there are other color laser and other printer types that are worth checking out. If you’d like a top-rated printer that can match the quality of the best scanners, or you simply just need a more affordable model, be sure to take a look at some of the all-around best printers on the market.
Last week, police in Pakistan charged a man with cyberterrorism in connection with a misleading news article blamed for inciting riots in the UK. The article falsely claimed that the killing of three girls in Southport, UK, was carried out by an asylum seeker and the misinformation spread rapidly on social media, fuelling anger over immigration.
The threat of online disinformation stirring up real-world trouble is a major worry for governments around the world, and it can be especially hard to…
Support for Rich Communication Services (RCS) is one of the lesser-known features in iOS 18, which is now available for everyone. RCS is an enhanced version of SMS for text messaging, and its implementation will enable Apple users to communicate with Android users in a similar way to how they do with other Apple users.
In doing so, you will be able to use read receipts with your friends and family on Android. You can also send high-quality images and videos, view typing indicators, and enjoy enhanced group messaging capabilities.
Getting started with RCS as an iPhone user is a pain-free process. Let’s take a look.
There are a few ways you can tell that you are sending a message in iMessage via RCS.
Step 1: First, even without sending a message, you’ll see “RCS” at the top of the message box as soon as you type in the number of someone not using an Apple device.
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Step 2: You can also recognize the use of RCS when someone sends you something beyond regular text. For example, there’s congratulations confetti, as seen in the example below. That wouldn’t be possible in iOS 17 or older.
If you’ve checked the steps above and still can’t get RCS working on your iPhone, there is a reason why — your carrier.
For the major carriers in the U.S., which include AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, RCS should already be enabled. There are also a few regional providers (Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and India) and several mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) that also support it. In short, if you’re on a major carrier, then you should have RCS support, but if you’re on a smaller network, then it might not be supported yet.
So again, if you don’t see the RCS messaging option after completing the steps above on your iPhone with iOS 18 installed, then it’s because the carrier needs to get on board with supporting it. The fix for that is unfortunately just waiting it out. You can check Apple’s wireless carrier support page to check if your carrier supports RCS.
It’s only been a few days since Apple unveiled the iPhone 16 series. The company just began shipping the units to the early buyers yesterday. However, it hasn’t stopped the rumors around the iPhone 17 series from pouring in. Ross Young of Display Supply Chain Consultants has already shared some details regarding the displays of 2017 iPhones. Young predicts the iPhone 17 and the slimmer model, presumably called iPhone 17 Slim or iPhone 17 Pro, will have 120Hz displays.
It’s worth mentioning that most of the information about the iPhones from Young before launch has been true in the past. Notably, he was the first to reveal that the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max would offer 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch screens, respectively.
iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air (or iPhone 17 Slim) will finally get a 120Hz refresh rate
In a post on X, Young said that the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air, or whatever Apple ends up calling will finally get a 120Hz refresh rate. Both iPhones will flaunt the ProMotion technology, which will allow them to deliver a 120Hz screen refresh rate. The newly launched standard iPhone 16 and 16 Plus can still only offer up to a 60Hz screen refresh rate.
Thanks to the higher refresh rate, the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air will be able to provide smoother scrolling and videos. They will also be able to switch to a more power-efficient refresh rate, thanks to the ProMotion tech. This will allow for the always-on display functionality. It will allow the next year’s iPhones to provide various Lock Screen elements, even when they are locked.
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The iPhone 13 Pro can ramp down to 10Hz, while the iPhone 14 Pro through 16 Pro can reduce to 1Hz. But, it’s not clear if it would ramp down to 10Hz or 1Hz on the iPhone 17 series.
iPhone 17 Pro will not offer under-display Face ID tech
In the now-deleted X post, Young was also replying to some queries regarding the iPhone 17 series via comments. He also responded to questions regarding the presence of the under-display Face ID tech on the regular iPhone 17 Pro models. Some misinterpreted the information and reported that the standard iPhone 17 Pro would also have under-display Face ID. However, in a comment later, Young clarified that this tech is not expected on the iPhone 17 Pro.
You can save big today on the Elgato Stream Deck+ with $30 off the control panel on Amazon. Great for streamers or anyone who wants tactile shortcuts and dials for their workflow, the Stream Deck+ drops from its usual $200 to $170 with a discount and a clickable coupon.
Although the Stream Deck+ sacrifices some buttons compared to the cheaper Stream Deck MK.2, this model makes up for it with four dials and a touch strip. Each dial is customizable and clickable, allowing you to layer different dial shortcuts with each press inward. You can twist them to adjust things like volume, smart lights and in-game settings.
Elgato
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Save $30 on Elgato’s Stream Deck model that adds dials and a touch strip.
Its eight buttons are backlit and fully customizable. Streamers can use the Stream Deck desktop app to assign functions for things like muting mics, activating effects or triggering transitions. But you don’t need to be a YouTuber or Twitch streamer for it to be helpful. For example, I’m neither and use a Stream Deck daily to toggle preset macOS window arrangements through the third-party app Moom. It’s also handy for text expansion shortcuts or emojis.
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The 4.2 x 0.5-inch touch strip displays labels and levels for each knob, giving you a clear visual cue about what you’re controlling with each twist. The touch-sensitive bar also supports custom long presses and page swipes.
Amazon’s sale covers both the black and white Stream Deck+ models. Make sure you click on the $10 coupon box on the product page to bring it down to $170.
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In a world that is rapidly embracing large language models (LLMs), prompt engineering has emerged as a new skill to unlocking their full potential. Think of it as the language to speak with these intelligent AI systems, enabling us to tap into their vast capabilities and reshape how we create, work, solve problems and do much more. It can allow anyone — including your grandma — to program a complex multi-billion parameter AI system in the cloud.
LLMs are fundamentally built on deep learning algorithms and architectures. They are trained on massive datasets of text. Like a human who has devoured countless books, LLMs learn patterns, grammar, relationships and reasoning abilities from data. Internal settings can be tuned to change how the model processes information and adjusted to improve accuracy. When given a prompt at the inferencing stage, the LLMs use their learned knowledge and parameters to generate the most probable and contextually relevant output. It is because of these prompts that the LLMs can generate human-quality text, hold conversations, translate languages, write different kinds of creative content and answer questions in an informative way.
Many free (open source) LLMs and paid (closed source) hosted LLM services are available today. LLMs are transforming every industry as well as every aspect of our lives. Here’s how:
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Customer service: Powerful AI chatbots provide instant support and answer customer queries.
Education: Personalized learning experiences and AI tutors are available.
Healthcare: LLMs are being used to analyze medical issues, accelerate drug discovery and personalize treatment plans.
Marketing and content creation: LLMs can generate engaging marketing copy, website content and scripts for videos.
Software development: LLMs are assisting developers with code generation, debugging and documentation.
Important prompt types and techniques
Prompts act as a guiding light for LLMs. A well-crafted prompt can significantly impact the quality and relevance of the output of LLMs. Imagine asking a personal assistant to “make a reservation for dinner.” Depending on how much information you provide, such as preferred cuisine or time, you will get a more accurate result. Prompt engineering is the art and science of crafting prompts to elicit desired outputs from AI systems. It involves designing and refining prompts to generate accurate, relevant and creative outputs that align with the user’s intent.
Let us delve deeper by looking at prompt engineering techniques that can help a user guide LLMs toward desired outcomes.
From practice, prompts could be broadly classified as falling into one of the following categories:
Direct prompts: These are small direct instructions, such as “Translate ‘hello’ into Spanish.”
Contextual prompts: A bit more context is added to small direct instructions. Such as, “I am writing a blog post about the benefits of AI. Write a catchy title.”
Instruction-based prompts: These are elaborate instructions with specific details of what to do and what not to do. For instance, “Write a short story about a talking cat. The cat should be grumpy and sarcastic.”
Examples-based prompts: Prompters might say, “Here’s an example of a haiku: An old silent pond / A frog jumps into the pond— / Splash! Silence again. Now, write your own haiku.”
The following are important techniques that have been proven to be very effective in prompt engineering:
Iterative refinement: This involves continuously refining prompts based on the AI’s responses. It can lead to better results. Example: You might start with “Write a poem about a sunset.” After seeing the output, refine it to “Write a melancholic poem about a sunset at the beach.”
Chain of thought prompting: Encouraging step-by-step reasoning can help solve complex problems. Example: Instead of just a complex prompt like “A farmer has 14 tractors, eight cows and 10 chickens. If he sells half his birds and buys 3 more cows, how many animals would give him milk?”, adding “Think step by step” or “Explain your reasoning” is likely to give much better results and even clearly point out any intermediate errors that the model could have made.
Role-playing: This means assigning a role or persona to the AI before handing it the task. Example: “You are a museum guide. Explain the painting Vista from a Grotto by David Teniers the Younger.”
Multi-turn prompting: This involves breaking down a complex task into a series of prompts. This technique involves using a series of prompts to guide the AI to the required answer. Example: “Create a detailed outline,” followed by “Use the outline to expand each point into a paragraph,” followed by “The 2nd paragraph is missing X. Rewrite it to focus on…” and then finally completing the piece.
Challenges and opportunities in prompt engineering
There are some challenges and opportunities in prompt engineering. Although they have improved exponentially, LLMs may still struggle with abstract concepts, humor, complex reasoning and other tasks, which often requires carefully crafted prompts. AI models also can reflect biases present in their training data.
Prompt engineers need to understand this and address and mitigate potential biases in their final solutions. Additionally, different models may naturally interpret and respond to prompts in different ways, which poses challenges for generalization across models. Most LLM creators usually have good documentation along with prompt templates and other guidelines that work well for that model. It is always useful to familiarize yourself to efficiently use models. Finally, although inferencing speeds are continuously improving, effective prompting also presents an opportunity to program LLMs precisely at inference time to save compute and energy resources.
As AI becomes increasingly intertwined with our lives, prompt engineering is playing a crucial role in shaping how we interact with and benefit from its power. When done right, it holds immense potential to unleash possibilities that we have not imagined yet.
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Lenovo has released the ThinkPad T14s Gen 6, a new notebook that comes equipped with Zen 5 core and RDNA 3.5 chips.
This thin and lightweight device measures just 16.9mm in thickness and weighs only 1.3kg, making it an excellent choice for business users on the move.
The ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 AMD is equipped with a maximum of 64GB of LPDDR5x RAM, operating at a speed of 7500 MHz. Additionally, it supports storage options of up to 1TB through PCIe Gen4 SSDs.
Dual display options to suit different needs
Lenovo provides two display options with the ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 AMD, both 14 inches in size with a 16:10 aspect ratio and 88% screen-to-body ratio.
The first option is a WUXGA IPS Low Power Anti-Glare display with 100% sRGB coverage and 400 nits of brightness. The second choice is a WUXGA IPS Touch Anti-Glare display with 45% NTSC coverage, also offering 400 nits of brightness. This option includes Eyesafe technology and 3M DBEF5, which reduces blue light exposure, ensuring comfort during long working hours.
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Under the hood, this device comes with the next-generation AMD Ryzen AI PRO processor, which Lenovo says, “offers exclusive AI experiences with a 3X performance boost” as compared to its predecessor.
The ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 AMD features the advanced Zen 5 core and AMD Radeon integrated graphics, delivering responsiveness, smooth multitasking, and efficient content creation. Powered by the next-generation AMD Ryzen AI PRO processors, it includes a built-in AI Engine (NPU) and will support Copilot+ PC experiences.
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The AMD Radeon Integrated Graphics provides solid performance for everyday tasks, making it suitable for productivity, video streaming, and light photo or video editing. While it may not be ideal for intensive gaming or 3D rendering, it offers enough for standard business applications and moderate multimedia workloads.
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The inclusion of AI in the processor ensures that users experience smart power management, enhanced performance for demanding applications, and better overall efficiency.
The ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 AMD offers up to 64GB of LPDDR5x RAM, clocked at 7500 MHz. On the storage front, the laptop supports up to 1TB of PCIe Gen4 SSD. Also included are stereo speakers powered by Dolby Atmos.
On the camera front, the laptop is equipped with a 5MP + IR camera, complete with a webcam privacy shutter for added security. The IR functionality enables facial recognition for secure login, while the 5MP camera ensures high-quality video for conferencing.
The ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 AMD comes powered by a 58Wh battery, and also packs Microsoft Pluton or Firmware TPM 2, Ultrasonic Human Presence Detection (HPD), and a Nano Kensington lock slot for enhanced security. The device features a matte black finish and is constructed from a combination of carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic, aluminum, and magnesium.
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The ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 AMD connectivity package includes Wi-Fi 7, 5G sub-6, and Bluetooth 5.3. For wired connections, the laptop offers a couple of ports including two USB-A ports, two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 certification, an HDMI 2.1 port, an audio jack, and a SIM card reader for mobile data.
This device will be available starting October 2024, with a starting price of $1699.
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