Editor
A small laminator machine is indispensable for a modern office; although they might seem like technology of the past, laminators are still crucial for a number of purposes. By sealing important documents in plastic, you can keep them on hand and in good condition for whenever you need them. However, with so many makes and models of laminator on the market, it can be hard to know which is right for your office. Usually, the most crucial elements to look for are speed, size, thickness capacity and value for money. You can also invest in machines with unique and useful features, like jam prevention, or power-saving auto shutoff. In turn, it’s important to decide whether you want a machine that uses heat, as this can impact speed; cold laminators (which bond sheets by pressing) are slower than their heat-sealing counterparts. Whatever your specifications, we’re sure this article will help you find the best small laminator for your home or business office.
Product Comparison Table: Best Small Office Laminator
| Title | Price | Rating (Amazon) | Best in class | Buy | |
 | Scotch TL901X Thermal Laminator | $ | 5 stars | Best for Home | Amazon |
 | Swingline GBC Fusion 3000L | $$ | 4.5 stars | Best Efficiency | Amazon |
 | AmazonBasics Thermal Laminator | $ | 4.5 stars | Best Value | Amazon |
 | Fellowes Jupiter 2 125 Laminator | $$$$ | 4.5 stars | Best Customisation | Amazon |
 | Swingline GBC Fusion 7000L Thermal Laminator | $$$$ | 4 stars | Best Overall | Amazon |
Scotch TL901X Thermal Laminator
The Scotch TL901X Thermal Laminator laminates items up to 9 inches wide, using two heated rollers to create bubble and wrinkle-free sheets. It is guaranteed to be safe for use on photos, recipe cards, crafts and art as well as documents, making it perfect for home use. As for size, it can laminate pouches up to 5mm thick, and has settings for both 3mm and 5mm pouches, making it quite versatile. The four-step lamination process is also relatively easy to use regardless of size. For best results, Scotch recommends using Scotch Brand Thermal Laminating Pouches – these are more expensive than generic pouches. Although, the box does include 2 letter size starter pouches to get you going.
Pros
- 2 rollers for smooth sheets
- Simple four-step process
- Laminates two sizes
Cons
- Quite small capacity
- Works best with expensive proprietary pouches
Verdict
If you’re looking for a basic laminator to handle photos, recipes and other household items in your home office, the Scotch TL901X Thermal Laminator is a great option. Being suited to these common home tasks, alongside the simple functions and reliable performance, make this our top choice for home offices. This may not be the best option for large volumes, however, as the pouches can get expensive.
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Swingline GBC Fusion 3000 Thermal Laminator Machine
With a warmup time of just 60 seconds, the Swingline GBC Fusion 3000 Thermal Laminator Machine offers one of the fastest laminating operations on the market. A convenient light comes on when the machine is ready to start, and the machine will even power itself off after 30 minutes of sitting idle – saving you money on your electricity bills. A further alert comes on to tell you if there’s an issue during lamination, courtesy of the Intelligent Jam Alert System, allowing you to quickly and simply resolve things. The maximum laminating speed is 19 inches per minute, enough for over 100 documents per hour. Lastly, you can choose between cold and hot lamination, and the machine comes with 30 assorted pouches.
Pros
- Fast laminating speed
- Intelligent Jam Alert and heat lights
- Auto-off function
- Cold and hot lamination
Cons
- Maximum size of 9 inches
Verdict
For quickly laminating regular size documents in large quantities, you won’t find a machine more efficient than the Swingline GBC Fusion 3000 Thermal Laminator Machine. The fast printing speed and intuitive power and time saving features will mean time and money saved on laminating, which you can spend on other, more important office tasks.
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AmazonBasics Thermal Laminator
One of the most portable on this list, the AmazonBasics Thermal Laminator weighs only 2.6 pounds. It also retails at the lowest price, making it great value for money. The price does mean compromising on some features; it takes a full four minutes to warm up, and can only laminate documents nine inches wide. It does however have two heat settings – one 3 mil for regular documents, or 5 mil for thinner papers. You can also fit a range of different documents within the 9 inch lamination area, including letter sized, business card sized, and photo size documents, meaning it should reasonably do everything your office could need. Finally, a jam release lever allows you to easily release trapped pouches if things go awry.
Pros
- Great value low price
- Laminates a range of sheets sizes
- Jam release lever
Cons
- Long warmup time
Verdict
The AmazonBasics Thermal Laminator is the best value laminator we reviewed, but also has the longest warmup time – enough for some others on this list to have already run off a couple of documents. If you don’t mind waiting, and don’t have a lot of money to spend, this is the perfect laminator for your office. It’ll do all the basics without letting you down.
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Fellowes Jupiter 2 125 Laminator
Unlike the AmazonBasics machine, the Fellowes Jupiter 2 125 Laminator is made for speed and large volumes. This machine uses InstaHeat technology to warm up in just 60 seconds, and laminate documents at the lightning-fast speed of 30 inches per minute – even faster than the Swingline. On top of the speed, the Fellowes Jupiter also excels on performance and quality; using the AutoSense system, it can detect the thickness of inserted pages and automatically calibrate the machine to the best lamination setting. Advanced Pouch Tracking can even detect misfed sheets, and clear jams without any input from you! Best of all, it uses a full set of six rollers to ensure perfectly smooth results every time.
Pros
- InstaHeat and AutoSense technologies
- Fast laminating speed for large volumes
- Auto calibration and jam reversal functions
Cons
- Very expensive
- Large and bulky unit
Verdict
Laminators for business offices need to be big, fast and capable of handling large volumes of work without much human input. The Fellowes Jupiter 2 125 Laminator delivers on all these fronts, meaning you don’t have to dedicate precious man-hours to the task of laminating. However, it is quite expensive, so might be out of the reach of smaller businesses.
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Swingline GBC Fusion 7000L Thermal Laminator
The GBC Fusion 7000L warms up in just 60 seconds, just like the Fellowes. But once it’s warm, it handles a larger range of sizes, much faster: documents up to 12 inches wide, at a speed of 45 documents per 10 minutes. That’s almost 300 per hour! It also has other unique features, such as Advanced Auto Pouch Thickness Detection to detect paper thicknesses and calibrate heat accordingly, or Auto Jam Detection which clears out jams by automatically reversing stuck sheets. You can even choose between hot or cold lamination by using pressure-sensitive pouches. To top it off, the six rollers ensure flawless results—no bubbles or wrinkles. An auto shut-off feature even saves electricity by powering off the device when you’re done.
Pros
- Huge range of technical features (auto shutoff, calibration and jam detection)
- Hot and cold lamination options
- Heats up fast and laminates fast
- Six rollers for smooth results
Cons
- Very expensive
Verdict
Sometimes, you get what you pay for. This is definitely true of the Swingline GBC Fusion 7000L Thermal Laminator; although expensive, it improves on its predecessor the Fusion 3000 with a much faster speed. It beats out the other options on this list at their specialisations, too, offering the largest range of features, the best jam-proofing and the best size support out of any of the laminators we’ve reviewed. This is our best overall small laminator for your home or business office.
