We review products independently, but we may earn affiliate commissions from buying links on this page. Terms of use. With its low running costs and above-average output, the Epson WorkForce Pro WF-M5299 ($209.99) is an entry-level monochrome inkjet printer that's positioned to compete with laser machines. In fact, thanks to its ink bags that can support up to 40,000 pages, its long-term costs blow its laser competition out of the water. It's also fleet-ready, affordably priced, and has an expandable paper-input capacity. All those perks make it a great value for small- to medium-size offices and workgroups, earning it our Editors' Choice. All-Business Printer At 17.7 by 16.7 by 22.8 inches (HWD) and weighing 33.7 pounds, the WF-M5299 is several inches bigger and heavier than entry-level competitors like the Brother HL-L2370DW, the Canon imageClass LBP251dw, and the HP LaserJet Pro M102w, as well as our favorite medium-volume monochrome laser printer, the Brother HL-L6300DW. You can configure, monitor, and generate reports for the WF-M5299 from its built-in web server from your browser over your network or the internet. There's also a control panel on the front of the body that consists of a handful of navigation and other buttons anchored by a 2.4-inch color LCD, as shown below. Paper handling consists of a 250-sheet cassette up front and an 80-sheet multipurpose tray that pulls up from the back, as shown below. If 330 sheets from two sources aren't enough, you can increase input capacity to 830 sheets with an optional 500-sheet tray ($199.99). The WF-M5299's maximum monthly duty cycle is 45,000 pages, with a recommended monthly print volume of 2,500 pages. While that maximum duty cycle is impressive, the recommended volume is on the low side. Unlike most other inkjet printers, the WF-M5299 uses neither ink cartridges nor reservoirs that you fill from bottles. Instead, it gets its ink from an aluminum bag housed in a tray that slides in just below the main paper tray. In this case, they come in three sizes ranging between 5,000, 10,000, or 40,000 pages. Connectivity, Security, and Fleet Support Standard connectivity consists of Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct (for connecting to mobile devices sans a network) and connecting to a single PC via USB 2.0. Third-party mobile solutions include Apple AirPrint, Fire OS, and Google Cloud Print, and Epson throws in a few mobile apps of its own, namely Epson Email Print, Epson iPrint Mobile, and Epson Remote Print. You can also print from various cloud sites from the control panel, and from USB thumb drives via the port located on the left-front side of the chassis. Basic security includes securing your print jobs with PINs, or you can restrict users, groups of users, or entire departments from accessing certain features or the printer itself. The secure web portal mentioned earlier allows you to monitor past or live usage data and generate corresponding reports. The WF-M5299 is also compatible with MPS (managed print service) software applications from ECi (FMAudit), PrintFleet, and others. These applications collect, store, share, and analyze critical fleet usage data. The WF-M5799 also supports Epson Open Platform (EOP), an enterprise-grade application that allows you to integrate WorkForce Pro printers with web-based document workflows and other enterprise applications. Fast for the Price Epson rates the WF-M5299 at 24 pages per minute, which is typical for an entry-level monochrome machine. To assess how well it stacks up against its competition, I put it through its paces using our standard Intel Core i5 testbed PC running Windows 10 Professional over an Ethernet connection. The WF-M5299 printed our 12-page Microsoft Word text test document at the average rate of 27.5ppm (pages per minute), or 3.5ppm faster than its rating. See How We Test Printers While this is a decent score for a $200 printer, nearly all competing monochrome laser machines mentioned here beat it, some significantly, and the midrange Brother HL-L6300DW was nearly twice as fast. The entry-level Canon LBP231dw and Brother HL-L2370DW beat the MF-M5299 by 2.6ppm and 5.5ppm, respectively, and the HP M102w came in 12.3ppm slower. When I combined the above results with those from printing our colorful and complex Acrobat, Excel, and PowerPoint business documents containing charts, graphs, and other business graphics, the WF-M5299 managed a score of 16.9ppm. Here, our WorkForce test unit beat all but the two Brother models in this group, with the M102w falling behind by more than 5ppm and the midlevel HL-L6300DW outpacing the WF-M5299 by 6.6ppm. In any case, just shy of 17ppm is a highly respectable score for this portion of our tests. Respectable Monochrome Output Like its laser counterparts, the WF-M5299 churns out pristine-looking, highly legible text down to the smallest point size that can be easily read without magnification. Its grayscale graphics are acceptable for most business applications, and the test photos I printed were more than good enough for reproducing images embedded in web pages, in-house reports and handouts, and perhaps for external handouts. Overall, I've no complaints about the WF-M5299's output. Excellent Running Costs A distinct advantage of using an inkjet alternative to an entry-level or midrange laser printer is that the former is usually less expensive to use. When you print thousands of pages each month, how much you pay to use a printer can be far more important than how much you spend to buy the machine itself. In most cases, a printer with a budget price like this one will cost you more to use in the long run. That's not the case here. When you buy Epson's 40,000-page ink bag, your cost per page will run about 0.8 cents. None of the laser machines mentioned here comes close to having running costs that low. The Value Is Black and White There are some reasons, such as medical HIPAA compliance, that only laser output will do. Nowadays, though, for everyday business use, inkjet machines can often pose a better value. The Epson WorkForce Pro WF-M5299 is less expensive to use than its monochrome laser counterparts, and its ink containers can support as many as 40,000 pages, which is a great convenience feature as well as a cost savings. Those perks, paired with its excellent output, affordable price, and business-friendly features, make it an Editors' Choice. Epson WorkForce Pro WF-M5299 Monochrome Printer Bottom Line: An entry-level monochrome inkjet printer, the Epson WorkForce Pro WF-M5299 prints well and is very inexpensive to use, making it an exceptional value for small- to medium-size offices.

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