A3 Printers in Pakistan: Prices, Models and Whether You Need One

A3 (297 × 420 mm) is exactly two A4 sheets side by side. Architects, engineers, schools printing result sheets and registers, and print shops making posters and menus need it; most offices do not. A3 machines are big, heavy and expensive new, which is why most A3 printers in Pakistan's offices are imported enterprise units. This guide covers what they cost, which type to buy, and the alternatives.

A3 printers and their prices (October 2026)

These are tested imported units with their real page counts. For comparison, new A3 printers cost far more: in a September 2026 survey, a new HP LaserJet Pro M706n (a mono A3 printer, no scanner) was listed at roughly PKR 230,000–265,000 by Pakistani retailers, and new A3 colour copiers run from about PKR 300,000 into many lakhs.

Mono or colour, printer or MFP?

• Mono A3 MFP (M5035): result sheets, registers, A3 spreadsheets and copying A3 documents in black. The cheapest way into A3 copying.
• Colour A3 printer (M855): posters, menus, certificates and drawings sent from a computer. Prints up to SRA3 (320 × 450 mm), so print shops can trim to full-bleed A3.
• Colour A3 MFP (M880, E87660): an office or print shop that also copies and scans A3 in colour — a copier replacement.

What A3 costs to run

An A3 page covers twice the area of A4, so it uses roughly twice the toner and a sheet of paper that costs about twice as much. The good news is that enterprise A3 machines take large cartridges — the M5035's 70A is rated at about 15,000 pages, and the M855's 826A at about 29,000 black pages — so the cost per page is still low. Enter your prices in the printer cost per page calculator and double the result for A3.

Need A3 only sometimes? Cheaper options

• Print A3 at a print shop: for a few A3 pages a month, this is far cheaper than owning an A3 machine.
• Tile it across A4 sheets: Adobe Acrobat Reader's Print → Poster option splits an A3 (or bigger) page across several A4 sheets with overlap, for drafts and wall charts.
• Shrink A3 to A4: choose 'Fit' or 'Shrink oversized pages' when printing, or set 71% on a copier — A3 reduces exactly onto A4.
• Legal size instead: if your 'big paper' is really legal (8.5 × 14 in) for court and stamp-paper work, an ordinary A4 laser handles it — see legal size printing.

Before buying a used A3 machine

• Check the lifetime page count and ask for a test print and copy on A3, not just A4 — see how to check page count.
• Plan the space: A3 colour machines are floor-standing or need a sturdy stand, and need room to open trays and doors.
• Use stable power: a surge-protected stabiliser at minimum, and a properly sized pure sine-wave UPS or inverter if you need backup.
• Confirm toner supply for the exact model before you buy, especially for managed models.