I, too, am looking for a new printer, and it makes my head spin. Below is what I have gleaned. I'm most familiar with Epson inkjet. Individual color cartridges do make sense if you have to print one color more than others, say for a logo. Most new printers seem to have multiple ink cartridges now. Some printers offer extra large black cartridges for printing more text. I'm skeptical of offers of automatic ink shipment, and repeated popup notices are annoying and need to be turned off. My scanner provides images of between 200 and 300 dpi, but I still find it helpful to brighten and sharpen documents using the free image program Paint.NET. Print speed seems more important to people printing lots of statements or flyers. If you are not waiting to print until the morning a paper is due, it shouldn't be an issue for you either. Printer noise is more important to me, but it's not something reported in the reviews. Make sure your new printer can connect with your current computer. Some are wifi/ethernet only. Others are USB connectable but don't always include the cable.
HP has about 40% of the total market, but their printers have more problems than most so I'm not considering them. Brother has the lowest ink costs, but most models seem fairly large. Brother is worth checking out as reliable workhorses. Epson has the best print head quality, but ink costs are higher, and much ink is wasted during Head Cleaning. However, you won't need Head Cleaning if you print regularly every week. If you print seldom or irregularly it is prudent to print one color and one black & white document/photo each week to keep ink from clogging. Use Text setting to minimize ink use with photos.
Laser printers are more expensive, but they don't clog up. I have, however, seen a review about a laser printer deciding the toner cartridge was empty when it wasn't; nothing is 100%. Some people recommend shaking an "empty" toner cartridge and reinserting it for longer usage. If you only need to print black & white text and charts a laser printer offers great print quality and reliability. Color lasers are, of course, more expensive.
Ultimately, you should do a search for "printer reviews 2018". You should also read user reviews, which can give details that were overlooked by professional reviewers that might be important to you. As to negative reviews, remember that people who are very happy with a purchase are likely to tell only a few people, and their reviews are often unhelpful in their brevity. Unhappy people will tell everyone they meet and they don't always put blame where it is deserved. In the end, I have decided to buy the extended warranty for my next printer. If the printer has a major problem after the store's return period ends, I can still return it to the store and get it repaired or replaced in much less time than shipping it to the manufacturer's repair center.
