We need a new printer. Maybe I am just cynical but I feel increasingly like printers are cheap upfront but then outrageous on ink prices or with forced internet connection and updates at all times and other assorted printer based horror stories that I have been seeing a lot of in the past years.
I’m just wondering if anyone has actually GOOD (or at least ok) experiences with theirs and could point us in the right direction? Reminding me which ones not to use is also helpful here.
Thanks!
If you can swing it, and you will be printing tens of thousands of pages, there is no shame in buying a used HP enterprise printer. HP has already been paid, and you are preventing e-waste at that point.
These things are practically infinitely repairable with third party parts* with manuals, solved questions, and videos. Obviously, $2500 is way too much for a new printer. You can get a used 603 for under $300 on Amazon right now.
These aren’t for everyone. These are the big office printers and are noisy. It will probably last 50k -200k before you have issues. A remanufactured maintenance kit will probably run about $150.
Cheap-ass toner can print well, or it can print like ass. A standard cartridge can last 10k pages, and an x could last 24k. Cheap toner is about $50. Don’t give HP your $250.
*Fuck third party separation pads for the 3000 series like 3015 and the 525. Nothing works. Stay away.
20yo Brother b/w laser printer has been serving my family for decades with a TCO of <$100. I thikn I paid $50 for it new, plus two toner cartridges over the years. It doesn’t have an app or wi-fi or software. It just works.
Hit up a tech surplus store and you can be in the same happy boat.
Well I have OK experiences with Brother printers (in the EU). They complain about third party ink but accept it, if you use their ink, you can send back the used cartridges free of charge for recycling and they are just the ink containers and don’t include the printing head (if that’s the right word). They don’t immediately break after the warranty period. And even their ink subscription seems to be reasonably priced.
Same. Use brother, am very happy. Completely painless printing and scanning using CUPS and SANE.
I concur. All printer companies suck; Brother sucks the least.
Some guy is building an ‘open printer’: https://www.crowdsupply.com/open-tools/open-printer
This is not the first time this has been tried and there are proprietary parts still, but this could be the best we have if it launches. Although, I can’t imagine a world where this doesn’t have significant caveats. I think it’ll probably be workable though.
If you want something a bit more polished, just get a brother laserjet printer like everyone else is mentioning.
I’ve had great experiences with Brother laser printers, until my color laser started refusing 3rd party cartridges. Someone else reported there was a firmware update that made that happen, Brother swears they didn’t do anything.
For that reason, I would not buy a connected printer, ever. The setup I have now is a dumb printer connected to my local network using an RPi Zero W as print server. I would do it this way even if the printer had WiFi connectivity.
I’ve been using a black and white toner Brother printer I got in 2013 and it’s still chugging along. My 3rd party toner cartridges also work well. Sucks your color ones aren’t though.
Does it have WiFi though? Brother swears they didn’t remove third party toner functionality, but they definitely installed new firmware without asking.
Mine does, yeah. Normally I wouldn’t put it on the network, but I’ve just not had a decent place where I could plug it into my PC.
It could just be my model is old enough they don’t bother trying to gimp it remotely? Who knows.
Came here to recommend Brother printers. They willingly accept non-Brother ink (at least my one does).
Mine did, too - until it didn’t :-( But aside from that, it was an amazing color printer. HL- 4150CDN
I have a brother laser printer for black and white stuff and an Epson EcoTank for high quality color printing. I replace the toner on my brother printer maybe once every 2 to 3 years under heavy use. The EcoTank doesn’t use printer cartridges, just straight up bottles of ink that you use to fill reservoirs. It lasts quite a while, but I use this printer considerably less than the brother.
Brother is by and far the best choice for laser printers imo.
I have also an Epson EcoTank and rarely use it, but it works.
Unless you are doing lots of high quality color printing you really just need a simple black and white Laserjet. Use a kinkos or other print shop for anything fancy if needed. Could even find a local print shop if that’s your jam. Colleges can also fill this role depending on enrollment requirements (if you are or have college aged kids).
I know lots of people are saying laser, and it’s not a wrong choice. However, we just got an Epson ecotank inkjet printer, and I have to say I like it. It’s not for big jobs, that’s for sure, but the ink just comes in a bottle. It shipped with a fuckton of ink, too. For light to medium home use, and if you want to print photos (the one thing that inkjet is better than laser for), I think that would be a good option.
+1 for ecotanks
we’ve had one for 5+ years, and only refilled the ink once – we don’t print a lot 🙃
you can also refill them with third party ink and the printer can’t tell, unlike cartridge based printers with their chips
and it means way less waste; the tanks hold way more than a cartridge
Printers are sold at a loss. If you want cheap toner you’d end up paying more for the printer. If you want to be ethical you probably need a second hand one.
Don’t get an inkjet. Get a toner or laser printer.
We have a brother MFC printer and are quite happy with it.
That’s the meat of it there. Most laser printers can be refilled with third party toner cartridges.
laser is the way to go. inkjets are cheaply made with expensive, wasteful, and sometimes proprietary ink cartridges.
laser printers use toner, which prints way way more pages per cartridge than ink. More than 10x. Cost is about the same or sometimes less than ink
The only thing laser isn’t great for is photos. I go to a print shop when i need those, but if you print a ton of photos at home than maybe inkjet makes sense
What local print shops do you have access to. For many paying the $1/page they charge is cheaper than a printer, but if you print a lot that would be 100 times more expensive. The question then is what do the locals offer and how much is the convience of your own worth. Thus find those options first - they might change your requirement when you discover what they can do for you. Color and large sheets are the most likely places you can go cheap. They also likely have quantity discounts to large jobs go to them.
Probably too far out but I saw this on Lemmy recently as a response to HP’s subscription insanity: https://www.techspot.com/news/109674-open-printer-fully-open-source-inkjet-drm-free.html
Brother Color Laser
I’ve had a Brother HL-L2300D laser printer since 2021, and I haven’t even needed to replace the starter toner cartridge that came with it. I use it verrrrry lightly and infrequently, but it’s solid and reliable, plug and play. I’m pretty sure the starter toner doesn’t even have nearly the capacity as a new cartridge would, so for light use this thing will basically last forever.
