Additional hot take: get a laser printer for your normal documents and just get photos printed somewhere else. The money you’d spend buying 4x6 photos on someone else’s ink and paper would probably be less than you’ll pay for color ink unless you’re an absolute photo printing maniac. And a laser printer toner cartridge will last you like 1,000+ pages.
Agreed, my wife and I got a Brother laser printer about 3 years ago and I still haven’t had to change the toner. It’s been telling me the toner is low for months but still keeps going strong. Granted we don’t print a TON, but we print enough that the initial cost of a laser printer made sense.
Second this. Bought a Dell one 10 years ago and it’s still working like a charm! Got me through all of Uni Ani besides the finicky diva driver it’s just amazing!
Yep, I bought a Brother laser printer for $120 a few years ago. I don’t use it super often, but it’s been reliable and easy to use whenever I need it. I’ve never had to replace the toner. It just works.
HP is special kind of printers shitcompany. They probably spent years on doing market research to understand what people NOT want, so they can do exactly that. 😂
I recently had an HP printer to set up for a client (IT as well), and it only had USB 2.0 and Ethernet interfaces. The printer needed an internet connection and activation online before it would even let you print over USB, and of course the Ethernet port was dead and wouldn’t connect, so now it’s just a shitty white brick with HP stamped on it. At least they were able to return but how does that make sense in practice?
A laser printer is best no matter if you print a lot or a little.
Brother will generally be an excellent choice. While HP will generally be probably the worst choice you can make.
Edit:
Just to be clear, laser is better if you print a little, because the laser cartridge doesn’t dry, and can last a decade. While even if you don’t print a lot, you will need to replace ink cartridges regularly, because they dry out.
If you print a lot, the laser printer is both more reliable, faster and cheaper to use.
Needed something to print the occasional document for bureaucracy stuff, and I also got a Brother printer a while ago. Used, laser (very important for good value imo), 100 bucks. An older model, black-and-white but with wifi support. Didn’t need to register my license, create a cloud account or whatever other shit companies come up with these days, I could just turn it on and it worked.
They’re incredibly reliable. I’ve had the same Brother laser printer for a good 15 years now. Possibly longer. Old enough that there’s no wifi or bluetooth options, but it’s a network printer because it has ethernet.
Second the recommendation for a Brother. I’ve rarely had problems with them. Above all do NOT buy an HP printer because they come with every form of nickel-and-dime known to mankind.
Alternatively, for the once in a blue moon that the average person needs to actually print things in the modern day, bring your local library a fiver and use their printer. This is the way I do things, because I rarely ever need to print a document. When I do, it’s a ten minute drive and a five dollar or less cost and then I don’t have to bother with owning a printer.
But in general, Brother is a good brand, and a laser printer will be less hassle and easier to manage than an inkjet, but will have a bit higher purchase cost.
A lot of my printing happens when parents visit. They love to print everything. I’m much more likely to use the scanner on my Brother printer than actually print.
Yes on the Libraries! Libraries are often incredibly cheap for printing, and most of them have an online uploading tool so you can print things from your home computer or phone without any hassle. Plus, at least at the library I work at, we have incredibly high quality printers and your docs / photos will come out a lot better than how they would if you were at home, as well as a scanner that can give you a 600dpi TIFF file
Just please try not to hand us a twenty for something that costs 1/100th of that - we often don’t have enough small bills to make change. (Or do and put it on your account for later, if that’s an offered option, or better yet donate the remainder 😉)
FedEx and Staples have document printers for less than 10 cents a page. This is what I’ve been doing for years now, when someone won’t just take a PDF straight up.
Most businesses in the US have a hard rule against connecting any outside hardware to the network, for security purposes. If you bring them a USB drive you will be asked to leave. If you can get whatever you need printed into a company email, you might stand a chance, but it would frequently require you having a personal connection to someone in the company willing to print your document for you, and depending on the document it will often not be appropriate for business email. American businesses are not really set up to be print shops and most of them would likely not help you unless you go somewhere like a Fedex-Kinkos that IS explicitly a print shop.
Libraries, however, will always have a printer you can use. It just costs, usually a negligible amount per page (10-50 cents depending on the particular library), but they’ve got no issues with you showing up with a USB drive and printing off of it, or logging into your own document storage (email, onedrive, etc) to print from there, because the computers are intended for public use.
From my experience, printer support on Linux is often better than on Windows because all the drivers are included in the kernel and you don’t have to go driver hunting on obscure websites.
I just got around to setting up my Brother MFC-2750DW in OpenSUSE Tumbleweed. I was prepared for a long process, but Brother publish Linux drivers for it and the whole setup took about 5 minutes. Works perfectly over wifi. Easiest Linux printer setup I’ve ever done. And it’s happy with third-party cartridges too.
Okay so I see all this talk about ducky printers but if I want one that’s not trying to guck me over which would that be?
Brother printers are fantastic. They cost a but more upfront but actually work
Additional hot take: get a laser printer for your normal documents and just get photos printed somewhere else. The money you’d spend buying 4x6 photos on someone else’s ink and paper would probably be less than you’ll pay for color ink unless you’re an absolute photo printing maniac. And a laser printer toner cartridge will last you like 1,000+ pages.
Agreed, my wife and I got a Brother laser printer about 3 years ago and I still haven’t had to change the toner. It’s been telling me the toner is low for months but still keeps going strong. Granted we don’t print a TON, but we print enough that the initial cost of a laser printer made sense.
Second this. Bought a Dell one 10 years ago and it’s still working like a charm! Got me through all of Uni Ani besides the finicky diva driver it’s just amazing!
This is the way to do it. Getting your photos printed by somebody else will be tons cheaper AND give you better results.
Yep, I bought a Brother laser printer for $120 a few years ago. I don’t use it super often, but it’s been reliable and easy to use whenever I need it. I’ve never had to replace the toner. It just works.
Is it good for someone who constantly needs to print documents
This is just anecdotal, but I work in IT and I can’t recall a brother printer ever giving me a headache. HP is obviously the worst.
HP is special kind of printers shitcompany. They probably spent years on doing market research to understand what people NOT want, so they can do exactly that. 😂
HP used to make rock solid laser printers back in the late 90s and 00s. Shame what they turned into.
I recently had an HP printer to set up for a client (IT as well), and it only had USB 2.0 and Ethernet interfaces. The printer needed an internet connection and activation online before it would even let you print over USB, and of course the Ethernet port was dead and wouldn’t connect, so now it’s just a shitty white brick with HP stamped on it. At least they were able to return but how does that make sense in practice?
makes me wonder, how are they still in business doing that?
A laser printer is best no matter if you print a lot or a little.
Brother will generally be an excellent choice. While HP will generally be probably the worst choice you can make.
Edit:
Just to be clear, laser is better if you print a little, because the laser cartridge doesn’t dry, and can last a decade. While even if you don’t print a lot, you will need to replace ink cartridges regularly, because they dry out.
If you print a lot, the laser printer is both more reliable, faster and cheaper to use.
As long as you don’t need color a laser printer is way better for printing documents.
I love my color laser. (Again, props to Brother). It takes off-brand toner with no fuss and hasn’t failed to print yet.
I don’t know that I would print photos with it, but it’s more than sufficient for everyday documents and even game manuals.
I printed a ton of documents in university with a black and white brother laser printer. All my notes were always printed, for example.
Still have it over a decade later.
The best. Color laser is pricey but not many people would need that.
Needed something to print the occasional document for bureaucracy stuff, and I also got a Brother printer a while ago. Used, laser (very important for good value imo), 100 bucks. An older model, black-and-white but with wifi support. Didn’t need to register my license, create a cloud account or whatever other shit companies come up with these days, I could just turn it on and it worked.
They’re incredibly reliable. I’ve had the same Brother laser printer for a good 15 years now. Possibly longer. Old enough that there’s no wifi or bluetooth options, but it’s a network printer because it has ethernet.
I made my old brother a wifi printer with the help of a raspberry pi.
Second the recommendation for a Brother. I’ve rarely had problems with them. Above all do NOT buy an HP printer because they come with every form of nickel-and-dime known to mankind.
Alternatively, for the once in a blue moon that the average person needs to actually print things in the modern day, bring your local library a fiver and use their printer. This is the way I do things, because I rarely ever need to print a document. When I do, it’s a ten minute drive and a five dollar or less cost and then I don’t have to bother with owning a printer.
But in general, Brother is a good brand, and a laser printer will be less hassle and easier to manage than an inkjet, but will have a bit higher purchase cost.
A lot of my printing happens when parents visit. They love to print everything. I’m much more likely to use the scanner on my Brother printer than actually print.
Yes on the Libraries! Libraries are often incredibly cheap for printing, and most of them have an online uploading tool so you can print things from your home computer or phone without any hassle. Plus, at least at the library I work at, we have incredibly high quality printers and your docs / photos will come out a lot better than how they would if you were at home, as well as a scanner that can give you a 600dpi TIFF file
Just please try not to hand us a twenty for something that costs 1/100th of that - we often don’t have enough small bills to make change. (Or do and put it on your account for later, if that’s an offered option, or better yet donate the remainder 😉)
In Germany there are a lot of stores that let you use their printer for 10ct per page. Is this not the case in the US (or wherever you live)?
FedEx and Staples have document printers for less than 10 cents a page. This is what I’ve been doing for years now, when someone won’t just take a PDF straight up.
Go to the library next time and see if they’ll let you do it for free. They may very well.
Most businesses in the US have a hard rule against connecting any outside hardware to the network, for security purposes. If you bring them a USB drive you will be asked to leave. If you can get whatever you need printed into a company email, you might stand a chance, but it would frequently require you having a personal connection to someone in the company willing to print your document for you, and depending on the document it will often not be appropriate for business email. American businesses are not really set up to be print shops and most of them would likely not help you unless you go somewhere like a Fedex-Kinkos that IS explicitly a print shop.
Libraries, however, will always have a printer you can use. It just costs, usually a negligible amount per page (10-50 cents depending on the particular library), but they’ve got no issues with you showing up with a USB drive and printing off of it, or logging into your own document storage (email, onedrive, etc) to print from there, because the computers are intended for public use.
Brother ist the way to go. Also OK for Linux in my experience
From my experience, printer support on Linux is often better than on Windows because all the drivers are included in the kernel and you don’t have to go driver hunting on obscure websites.
The new brothers also work fine with chrome os.
I just got around to setting up my Brother MFC-2750DW in OpenSUSE Tumbleweed. I was prepared for a long process, but Brother publish Linux drivers for it and the whole setup took about 5 minutes. Works perfectly over wifi. Easiest Linux printer setup I’ve ever done. And it’s happy with third-party cartridges too.
Most hp models are fine, I have a laser jet I swear by.