People often suggest Brother. I have two Brother printers and they are…tolerable. They are much better than HP, but that bar is very low. I think all printers kind-of suck. Lasers are better than inkjet for most uses, and much more affordable than they used to be.
I kind of feel like we haven’t seen a significant advancement in home printer technology in a long time (except for 3d printing, but that’s a very different animal).
I’ve had an Oki mono laser printer for so long, I gave it to my kids. It was a “cheap” printer in the scheme of things, but it was a compact duplex printer and I only ever needed a new $50 toner for it over the years.
It also didn’t come with a 650MB printer driver package with a shitty tray application or a subscription.
Brother. Been using their cheap black and white laser printers for like a 15 years with zero issues. I got a refurbished one like this a few years ago it just works: https://www.brother-usa.com/products/RHLL2350DW
Even the wireless functionality just works. Shows up on my computers and phones with zero configuration.
I got a cheap cannon a few years back £20 brand new. It’s purely wired and the print quality is meh, but i don’t print a lot and it has a scanner. I’ve never really had any trouble with it and with Linux and when I used to have a Mac it’s always been plug and play. Of course they still get you with Ink prices though. But it could be a lot worse.
This is a good opportunity to ask if there’s a better printer company whose printers we should buy instead.
Oh Brother, Where Art Thou!
“I don’t want Fop, goddamnit; I’m a Dapper Dan man!”
People often suggest Brother. I have two Brother printers and they are…tolerable. They are much better than HP, but that bar is very low. I think all printers kind-of suck. Lasers are better than inkjet for most uses, and much more affordable than they used to be.
I kind of feel like we haven’t seen a significant advancement in home printer technology in a long time (except for 3d printing, but that’s a very different animal).
I’ve had an Oki mono laser printer for so long, I gave it to my kids. It was a “cheap” printer in the scheme of things, but it was a compact duplex printer and I only ever needed a new $50 toner for it over the years.
It also didn’t come with a 650MB printer driver package with a shitty tray application or a subscription.
At least with a paper printer you don’t have to do a bunch of fiddly bed-leveling
Yup, and the cleanup is a PITA.
Brother. Been using their cheap black and white laser printers for like a 15 years with zero issues. I got a refurbished one like this a few years ago it just works: https://www.brother-usa.com/products/RHLL2350DW
Even the wireless functionality just works. Shows up on my computers and phones with zero configuration.
I got a cheap cannon a few years back £20 brand new. It’s purely wired and the print quality is meh, but i don’t print a lot and it has a scanner. I’ve never really had any trouble with it and with Linux and when I used to have a Mac it’s always been plug and play. Of course they still get you with Ink prices though. But it could be a lot worse.
Go laser, at least for BW. It’ll last years on one cartridge and ink never clogs because, well, no ink. My 1996 Lexmark just died.
I hear Brother is one of the better for consumer. I have a Canon color laser, and it’s a POS. Fortunately I bought it second hand for $50.