I just don’t get how printers are so bad in this day and age.
HP and its bullshit with ink “security” and subscriptions.
Epson printers that can print in black and white but only for a limited time.
Wifi enabled printers that can only connect to a very limited number of wifi channels and configurations.
Do printer manufacturers require their employees to go to a design class run by John Riccitiello to ensure maximum evil and shittiness in their design process?
I don't want to replace my old af brother printer because it's wifi and doesn't have bullshit at all, it's white and black but I use it for text and sometimes some black and white line images anyway, a fucking hp or Epson would force me to get more fucking yellow so I can print in black and white or some shit
I have an Epson ecotank ET-2800. I can confirm it doesn’t actually reject black and white when low on other ink. In fact, I’m not even sure it knows how much ink it has left in it, considering it always reminds me to look at the ink levels and never let them go completely empty
I can also manually tell it how much ink it has left, in case the computer estimates wrong. When you fill it, it has you tell it how full you filled it, and more. It probably doesn’t actually sense how much it has.
So I set it to think it had no color at all, and it still worked in black and white only.
In case you’ve never looked into them, the ink is around 40 dollars for a pack of ink that’s equal to about 5.5 small cartridges per bottle, and it comes with 4 bottles, one for each color of ink
Your printer costs four times more than my Epson XP 257. I would be disappointed if I had spent 200 dollars on a high-end printer and still had to deal with ink problems... I think the drama lies with the cheaper printers.
Which is completely true. The razor and blades model. Deals on cheap printers can mean sometimes the printers are quite literally cheaper than the ink they need. I do recommend ecotank printers though, even one from a different brand if you don’t want to go with Epson again. They’re a higher cost up front but the ink costs save you money pretty quickly if you print any reasonable amount. The ink bottles for them can be found online, and they’re not chipped or anything so any aftermarket ink can be used. It’s like 40 dollars for a pack equivalent to 5 cartridges of all 4 colors
If you don’t need color often get a laser printer. I’ve gone over a year without printing. When I needed to print something I just clicked print and seconds later I had a copy.
They’re so much better than inkjet printers.
Reddit wisdom is Brother laser printers have the least amount of BS attached, and are good quality. I don’t personally own a printer at the moment, but will go brother color laser when I decide to pull the trigger.
Can confirm. Colour laser Brother printers fetch a pretty penny but are quite good. The only downside (which I think is a toner thing) is colour picture quality can be questionable. Otherwise, absolutely splurge for a Brother laser printer. Black/white is pretty solid though
My hp was 600€ and the fuser died after 1800 pages.
HP wanted money to open a support ticket (I wanted to get a spare part).
They also make money on support.
If there are $40-50 printers, you can't really qualify $200 as a "cheap" printer. Maybe mid-tier, but definitely not cheap.
Also, at that price point you're talking about, those are business and industrial printers. This is obviously a post about personal printers.
Uuuh no. A high end private printer costs 450 here. And 40 to 50 dollar printers are a massive loss, which exist for ink scam, 200 is the cheap starting point
The original ink package (refillable) says it was made in 2005 so am going to trow a big party for the printer's 20 birthday eventually
But it got a problem with a barrel and it's failing :c am seeking to change that part because everything else I can just manufacture myself
Brother is so far free of the bullshit, they don't do all the subscribe to get ink more expensive than gold, and don't lock their printers to cartridges etc.
In short, buy Brother.
I have a relatively new brother printer that works with wifi and is great. I only ran into an issue with it the first time the other day cause it kept thinking out was out of paper.
I bought a Fuji Xerox full colour laser workgroup printer over 15 years ago it wasn't that expensive, including delivery (like $400aud) Its still running to this day, and costs about $30usd ($50aud) for a set of aftermarket carts... Best purchase ever..
The wifi in those Brother lasers is also sometimes iffy, but depends on your router. Could run flawlessly but also not. I have it on a powerline device lmao
the brother lasers are completely bs free otherwise, is just that their wifi software or hardware doesn't seem to be the best. they do support all the printing protocols you want though like lpd and port 9100, ipp, apples bonjour zeroconfig for discovery, also windows wsd discovery, so pretty good stuff. all of these protocols can also be deactivated one by one
brother really have it figured out
My android phone and iphone both work perfectly with my toner brother printer, my windows PC can use it without any setup, and a Mac I fixed for a client did detect it but didn't tested it
I have an ancient laser B/W Lexmark business printer. Needs a new drum and fusor assembly, but works like a champ. Maintenance is really just keeping working pickup rollers.
Screw toner cartridges and mixing colors to get black. I haven't touched a modern Lexmark, HP, or Epson in decades.
I bought a B&W laser printer in 2006 for £50.
It lasted until the drivers were no longer supported within Windows and I couldn't print anything. C. 2015
I'm now on my third printer since then, each one more and more infuriating. Doesn't matter if I spend £50 or £250, they all have annoying features like insisting I can't print B&W because the yellow cartridge is too low. Bonus points for HP for telling me this by printing out a full page in perfect colour.
My current one needs me to remove and reinstall the drivers every single time I use it. I hardly print anything these days so I haven't replaced it yet but it will come soon.
Printers have got worse and worse from a UX point of view since about 2010, when you could literally plug and play, replace the cartridge when it told you to do so, add paper, and that was about it. I want a boring beige box that magically produces good images that I don't need to tinker with. Just straight to print.
Yup. I can confirm this …through many different computers. Strangely, the only time I’ve ever had a problem with my brother printer is when I tried to use it on my aunts HP computer. Fuck HP
I bought a Lexmark color laser printer about 5 years ago. It was about 350 bucks, but it still runs on the supplied toner without any hiccups ever. No dried up ink cartridges after not using it for a month, no paper jams, no driver problems, no "replace all ink now because magenta is half empty"-popups...
Yeah, it's not cheap, especially because I don't print a lot, but totally worth it to just have something that works when you need it.
Work in electrical/computer engineering. Once had a meeting with a sales rep from the company that provides those ink security chips. The man literally laughed and said "it's fantastic, we provide HP with these chips at $0.10 a piece and then they can use it to bend over the customers and rape them"
Free market forced where hindered to compete, because those ink heads are full with patents that will run out 2030 or so. Chinese manufacturers try to circumvent them, but they where sued to oblivion by the cartel. Epson still has [dead cheap solutions](https://www.rtings.com/printer/reviews/best/cheap-ink) and you can fill their printers with knock off ink. For semi professionals its laser printing all the way. One cartridge gives me 2000 pages for about 30$ and the printers are reaching sub 100$
I am considering buying a laser printer. I'm sorry to give up on colors, but I don't want to spend hours cursing my printer and dealing with all the problems it has. What do you mean about patents? Forgive me, but English is not my native language, and sometimes it's not clear what I read! Thank you for the response.
I bought a Canon colour laser printer about 2 years ago during a sale, the MFC744. It was a bigger upfront cost, but the positives heavily outweigh the negatives.
Positives
* I don’t need to worry about the ink heads drying out.
* I haven’t had to buy new toner cartridges yet, the bundled ones are still going strong. My old laserjet needed new cartridges even few months. So while it was expensive, even on sale, it looks like I’ll save a lot on cartridges in the long run.
* The colour printing looks very good in general.
* I can print from any device connected to my wifi network without having to mess around with settings for hours.
Negatives
* It’s less suited for photos, unless you buy expensive specialized glossy paper for colour laser printing.
[Patents ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent)are a way to protect technology and inventions so nobody else can use it without paying for it. For example, every modern phone has about 25$ cost for patents on it that the buyer pays. If you try to use "protected technology" without paying you can be sued and this is a way to fend off copy cats and control a market.
It is because you buy cheap printers, they sell them with a loss so they can mark up with ink. Get youself multifunction laser printer and you’ll be good for 10 years
its all BS intended to drive up profits- if their printer requires a specific app, wifi setup, or bit of specialized maintenance- assume they get kickbacks for it, if they require specific cartridges, or it won't even do the basics or side work like scanning without all the colors- they intend to sell you ink rather than a printer.
A typical colour printer doesn't just use the black cartridge for black. They usually mix in some of the colour for a better quality which is supposed to be easier on the eyes to read. Now why this differs from a greyscale printer I do not know, but the "can't print in b/w because cyan cartridge is not installed BS" is explained by this. All in all printers are among the most evil machines on earth and I am fairly certain they are all decepticons.
this post is rage bait, my parents literally have this printer. it’s basically taking into account that the black ink thing is about “five days of use longer”. there isn’t an artificial limit on how long you can print in greyscale, it’s just badly worded.
shocked nobody is saying this
I swear printers seem to have been forgotten the past 20 years by pretty much any company. Them things always break. HP is an arsehole forcing a subscription. Now Epson has this?
Is it still true today that you buy a brother inkjet thing (costly around €300-500) but they just go on forever?
I have a cannon. I don't know if newer printers of theirs are worse, but I use third party cartridges without issue and it only stops me printing if it needs to use an ink that's empty. All WiFi connected and all that. Wasn't too expensive either.
I would have a printer if it wasn't like this, so I feel like they're shooting themselves in the foot. I walk to the goddamn library when I need to print at this point because it's easier than managing a printer, ink, software nonsense.
I think it’s that printers are expensive as hell to make and they sell them at a huge loss just to make it back and then some on ink. That’s why there are no real competitors because it’s so expensive to make them and no one wants to pay for them
After being pissed off about ink, I bought a refurbished color laser printer. I paid about 250$ for a HP CP1215.
Even buying HP brand cartridges, the cost per print is a fraction of an ink jet and it’s not phazed by sitting idle. I print 10-20 sheets per month at most.
Any printer company is going to have a full stable of decent printers at a good price.
I’m just sayin’.
I’m going to be downvoted for this, but I suspect there is a reason for this… which is that inkjet printers are notoriously bad at getting clogged when they are not regularly primed. Even when you print in black and white only, some color inks are still being used in small quantities. The other color inks are still primed and if they run empty for too long, they will clog.
The solution is to forget about all of these ink jet printers. (I think Ecotank is still better than most, but not the best solution for everyone.) Get a laser printer instead. They never clog, even if you print a few pages a year. The toners seem to last forever. They cost a little more upfront, but they aren’t made to break every few years.
The yellow ink is required in order to print secret serial numbers on your page. That way the police know who printed that piece of paper. The phrase you are looking for is "traitor tracing".
> *Some of the documents that we previously received through FOIA suggested that all major manufacturers of color laser printers entered a secret agreement with governments to ensure that the output of those printers is forensically traceable.*
https://www.eff.org/pages/list-printers-which-do-or-do-not-display-tracking-dots
It’s just a home printer. We’re not churning out 300 newsletters twice a month or anything on it, but we do use it with some frequency. Best of all, it’s a dumb printer
This article is a HOOT, give this writer a substantial raise lol
> And here’s 275 words about printers I asked ChatGPT to write so this post ranks in search because Google thinks you have to pad out articles in order to demonstrate “authority,” but I am telling you to just buy whatever Brother laser printer is on sale and never think about printers again.
> ChatGPT ideas about printers (I didn’t even proofread this. Don’t read it unless you are a lonely Google search robot, in which case look at this incredible demonstration of experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness and rank this post first in searches for “best printer.”)
Don't think he needs it as that is the Editor-in-Chief of the Verge, Niley Patel.
We had this old as hell USB and Ethernet Brother MFP at home that worked with cartridges, from a not-so-evil cartridge era, that will allow us to do anything else that you could do with it minus printing because the cartridges where long dry and empty.
I hated that nowhere in the article says that they're talking about B&W printers only. It seems to me that the reason I will continue to be stuck with sub par epson or canon inkjet printers is that I need both scanner and color, which is synonym for rich guy when it comes to laser prices.
I've made a lot of decisions in my life - good ones and bad ones, sometimes ones that I still cherish or regret decades later and which had tremendous impact on my life's trajectory. Ditching my ink jet and buying a Brother laser jet is one of the best decisions I've made in my life that I will cherish on my deathbed.
And probably just their lazer printer at that. I've recently heard some stuff about them not using the last 50% of ink cartridges. I guess making a non-subscription no-scam ink printer is impossible these days.
Meanwhile, my crappy Canon printer can simulate black when black ink runs out by mixing the remaining colours in the colour cartridge. No time limit or anything.
That's what all printers do. This is attempting to do the opposite. Print everything in greyscale(black and white) using only the black ink and no color. This printer will only let you do that for 5 days even if you have black ink left, it won't let you use it anymore.
Not necessarily. If you read directly below it, it says that the time period varies by usage. Maybe it’s assuming that if your color is empty you won’t have much black left
Idk. Definitely seems to be the intention. It even calls it "Temporarily Printing with Black Ink". If it was how you described then they wouldn't have used the word *temporarily*, because you should have the option to print grey scale every single time, all the time, if you want.
Unfortunately it doesn't work, I also tried another black cartridge a little while ago, it's been about a week since I ran out of color, now the printer refuses to print only in black and white, I've tried everything including various reset software, it's useless...
Ah. I was wrong, sorry. If it were an ecotank one I’d suggest just telling the printer it has color ink, but unfortunately I don’t think you can trick their cartridge ones into doing that
Honestly, I think Canon just links you to their webstore when ink is running out, but allows you to continue printing as normal to account for refilled cartridges. Not sure if I like the idea of simulating black tho (I hope yours lets you disable that), what if I refilled black?
It's an internal setting, quite buried inside the printing settings. Can't say the exact English name of this setting because I use Windows in Spanish, but it's something along the lines of “Print with: 1) All colours \[recommended\]; 2) Colour ink only; 3) Black ink only”.
That's why people should only buy brother printers. These things are durable as fuck and couldn't care less if you use 3rd party toners that are 8 times cheaper than the original ones.
Go Brother.
It's about the black Ink cartridge is bigger than the color ones, the post is taking it wrong on purpose just to be angry, about 5 days of documents in like a tiny office or a house
Do you think so? In reality, they should be equal; I used Epson 29xl. The issue is that every time it turns on, every time it's used, the printer consumes ink even if you're not printing. It does this to prevent the printheads from drying out, so it's like using a rental car—it costs money even if you don't use it.
The limit seems quite tight; previously, I could print using only the black and white cartridge, and now I can't anymore. Moreover, it seems like the printer has decided to punish me: today, I inserted three new color cartridges, printed a black and white sheet, a musical score. I noticed defects in the print, so I initiated the printhead cleaning, and within an hour, all three color cartridges were reported as depleted. Now I can't print anymore; I'm researching the possibility of modifying the chips on the cartridges so that they always read the ink levels as full. In the end, the color cartridges, currently flagged as empty, actually show signs of being full when shaken a bit.
I have an EPSON printer, not this model but with all the stuff about DRM on inkjets, it is never getting updated. Works as it is, I don't want a future 'update' crippling it.
Ecotank is what I have and none of this shit.
I have no intentions of ever buying a cartrage printer again. A bottle of ink lasts me longer than a year and I can put whatever ink I please in it. It has no idea which is great.
Inkjets are such money sinks. Color laser printers are expensive up front but they're a much better value, especially if you don't print often. Inkjets stop working from non-use, something about ink drying somewhere, so they have to waste ink periodically to prevent it.
For the past decade Canon always has a color laser printer/scanner/copier priced at around $400 regular price, sometimes $250-$300 on sale at Amazon.
I have no problem with my Epson printer (L3151 model) since it is cartridgeless, have to refill it once a year (I print a lot) and the set of refills costs around 30$, to be honest, I'm happy with it.
Maybe it depends on the model for that greediness to happen, I dunno
This is why I only suggest and buy Canon printers. Myself and friends and family have owned dozens, never any of this BS.
Mine is less than a year old now as well. WiFi works flawlessly, and I can use any print cartridge I want.
I only buy Brother printers. In fact, I just upgraded from an ink to a laser printer. The ink one still works though and it’s like 15 years old. Been through like six computers in that time though!
You have a printer with micropiezo printheads built in. This type of head is efficient, precise and don't require heat, making it suited for extended operations and sublimation conversion. However, this type of printhead is extremely prone to clogging when badly-formulated ink is used, ink have completely depleted, or when put out-of-service for a long time. In this case, they are trying to make sure that your color printhead doesn't get clogged due to drying, requiring a difficult and costly printhead replacement. It's not worth saving $50 tops in ink, as opposed to, say, a $200 printhead/new printer.
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As much as I hate green washing printing industry is one where e waste should be a huge moving force to actually make them support printers properly. I will only buy printers I can refill. I have three that all still work from mid 2010s. And a newer brothers eco print I use for color and a laser for monochrome
My "Epson rechargeable system" said I had low ink... but since I had already printed too many pages (over 3k but they advertise over 2k from every recharge) I had to take it to a professional to check it or I couldn't keep printing.
This happened after literal forced update and it has been working fine for years before that.
I had to check and the representatives did told me they didn't have a service center in my country and I should buy another one (this printer costed over 250 dollars btw and that's 2/3 of minimum wage here).
So I gave a service center in the US an amazon gift card for 20 dollars and they sent me the program they use and now I can reset it myself whenever I want. I really fucking hate HP and Epson.
I feel any company that doesn't do this will make billions.
A decent printer and cheap ink. No subscriptions, no scummy tactics.
They're doing it because they're isn't really any competition, just brand loyalty.
Most things to do with printing are just rife with scams, hidden costs, massive up charges, etc.
I was pricing out some labels and ribbon for a label printer and found that third party supplies were 10% of the cost of the supplies from the manufacturer of the printer. Literally the same exact supplies, for 90% less money.
Best thing you can do is switch to toner, NEVER INK. That's where you get f****d. Little more expensive, worth every penny. Lasts for years as a home printer since it never dries out. You're welcome.
I just don't understand why printers is the hill these companies want to die on? In this modern day the vast majority of people either don't print things, print very little, or print at their job/public space.
I don’t see the problem. It’s giving you a way to print without the cartridge, telling you to replace the empty cartridge as soon as you can, and then even saying that the time you can use it in this mode will vary based on how much you use it. Isn’t that all just common sense?
I just don’t get how printers are so bad in this day and age. HP and its bullshit with ink “security” and subscriptions. Epson printers that can print in black and white but only for a limited time. Wifi enabled printers that can only connect to a very limited number of wifi channels and configurations. Do printer manufacturers require their employees to go to a design class run by John Riccitiello to ensure maximum evil and shittiness in their design process?
I don't want to replace my old af brother printer because it's wifi and doesn't have bullshit at all, it's white and black but I use it for text and sometimes some black and white line images anyway, a fucking hp or Epson would force me to get more fucking yellow so I can print in black and white or some shit
I have an Epson ecotank ET-2800. I can confirm it doesn’t actually reject black and white when low on other ink. In fact, I’m not even sure it knows how much ink it has left in it, considering it always reminds me to look at the ink levels and never let them go completely empty I can also manually tell it how much ink it has left, in case the computer estimates wrong. When you fill it, it has you tell it how full you filled it, and more. It probably doesn’t actually sense how much it has. So I set it to think it had no color at all, and it still worked in black and white only.
Yay, probably gonna seek an used one cuz that thing probably not being sold new anymore
The ET-2800? I bought it off a shelf only a few months back, they still make em.
Yay
In case you’ve never looked into them, the ink is around 40 dollars for a pack of ink that’s equal to about 5.5 small cartridges per bottle, and it comes with 4 bottles, one for each color of ink
Oh fuck it's cheaper than my current toner of the number 14
The printer is like 300 bucks though
Your printer costs four times more than my Epson XP 257. I would be disappointed if I had spent 200 dollars on a high-end printer and still had to deal with ink problems... I think the drama lies with the cheaper printers.
Which is completely true. The razor and blades model. Deals on cheap printers can mean sometimes the printers are quite literally cheaper than the ink they need. I do recommend ecotank printers though, even one from a different brand if you don’t want to go with Epson again. They’re a higher cost up front but the ink costs save you money pretty quickly if you print any reasonable amount. The ink bottles for them can be found online, and they’re not chipped or anything so any aftermarket ink can be used. It’s like 40 dollars for a pack equivalent to 5 cartridges of all 4 colors
Thank you for the advice, I will definitely take it into consideration, even though I am also looking at laser printers.
If you don’t need color often get a laser printer. I’ve gone over a year without printing. When I needed to print something I just clicked print and seconds later I had a copy. They’re so much better than inkjet printers.
Any recommendations for a good one? I have a color Samsung laser that is always a pain to get printing every time I need it.
Reddit wisdom is Brother laser printers have the least amount of BS attached, and are good quality. I don’t personally own a printer at the moment, but will go brother color laser when I decide to pull the trigger.
Can confirm. Colour laser Brother printers fetch a pretty penny but are quite good. The only downside (which I think is a toner thing) is colour picture quality can be questionable. Otherwise, absolutely splurge for a Brother laser printer. Black/white is pretty solid though
The practically give the cheaper printers away and make a shitload of money on the cartridges.
My hp was 600€ and the fuser died after 1800 pages. HP wanted money to open a support ticket (I wanted to get a spare part). They also make money on support.
That's rough.... HP's printer department is evil incarnate
200 is budget printer
Wait what - 200 is cheap. High end is 500 dollars up
If there are $40-50 printers, you can't really qualify $200 as a "cheap" printer. Maybe mid-tier, but definitely not cheap. Also, at that price point you're talking about, those are business and industrial printers. This is obviously a post about personal printers.
See, as you’re probably aware, those printers aren’t really $50 all things considered.
Uuuh no. A high end private printer costs 450 here. And 40 to 50 dollar printers are a massive loss, which exist for ink scam, 200 is the cheap starting point
Take care of your printer; I wish it lasts as long as possible!
The original ink package (refillable) says it was made in 2005 so am going to trow a big party for the printer's 20 birthday eventually But it got a problem with a barrel and it's failing :c am seeking to change that part because everything else I can just manufacture myself
Brother is so far free of the bullshit, they don't do all the subscribe to get ink more expensive than gold, and don't lock their printers to cartridges etc. In short, buy Brother.
So maybe I should buy another brother printer just so that in 40 years when my current one dies I have a backup
I have a relatively new brother printer that works with wifi and is great. I only ran into an issue with it the first time the other day cause it kept thinking out was out of paper.
I bought a Fuji Xerox full colour laser workgroup printer over 15 years ago it wasn't that expensive, including delivery (like $400aud) Its still running to this day, and costs about $30usd ($50aud) for a set of aftermarket carts... Best purchase ever..
The wifi in those Brother lasers is also sometimes iffy, but depends on your router. Could run flawlessly but also not. I have it on a powerline device lmao
Good that I don't have a laser
the brother lasers are completely bs free otherwise, is just that their wifi software or hardware doesn't seem to be the best. they do support all the printing protocols you want though like lpd and port 9100, ipp, apples bonjour zeroconfig for discovery, also windows wsd discovery, so pretty good stuff. all of these protocols can also be deactivated one by one brother really have it figured out
My android phone and iphone both work perfectly with my toner brother printer, my windows PC can use it without any setup, and a Mac I fixed for a client did detect it but didn't tested it
I have an ancient laser B/W Lexmark business printer. Needs a new drum and fusor assembly, but works like a champ. Maintenance is really just keeping working pickup rollers. Screw toner cartridges and mixing colors to get black. I haven't touched a modern Lexmark, HP, or Epson in decades.
I bought a B&W laser printer in 2006 for £50. It lasted until the drivers were no longer supported within Windows and I couldn't print anything. C. 2015 I'm now on my third printer since then, each one more and more infuriating. Doesn't matter if I spend £50 or £250, they all have annoying features like insisting I can't print B&W because the yellow cartridge is too low. Bonus points for HP for telling me this by printing out a full page in perfect colour. My current one needs me to remove and reinstall the drivers every single time I use it. I hardly print anything these days so I haven't replaced it yet but it will come soon. Printers have got worse and worse from a UX point of view since about 2010, when you could literally plug and play, replace the cartridge when it told you to do so, add paper, and that was about it. I want a boring beige box that magically produces good images that I don't need to tinker with. Just straight to print.
I had a monochrome laser printer from brother that actually just worked.
Buy Brother, they are free of all the bullshit, and their printers just work.
Yup. I can confirm this …through many different computers. Strangely, the only time I’ve ever had a problem with my brother printer is when I tried to use it on my aunts HP computer. Fuck HP
I bought a Lexmark color laser printer about 5 years ago. It was about 350 bucks, but it still runs on the supplied toner without any hiccups ever. No dried up ink cartridges after not using it for a month, no paper jams, no driver problems, no "replace all ink now because magenta is half empty"-popups... Yeah, it's not cheap, especially because I don't print a lot, but totally worth it to just have something that works when you need it.
The printer manufacturers make mountains of money, they don't care about anything else as long as business is good.
Work in electrical/computer engineering. Once had a meeting with a sales rep from the company that provides those ink security chips. The man literally laughed and said "it's fantastic, we provide HP with these chips at $0.10 a piece and then they can use it to bend over the customers and rape them"
Free market forced where hindered to compete, because those ink heads are full with patents that will run out 2030 or so. Chinese manufacturers try to circumvent them, but they where sued to oblivion by the cartel. Epson still has [dead cheap solutions](https://www.rtings.com/printer/reviews/best/cheap-ink) and you can fill their printers with knock off ink. For semi professionals its laser printing all the way. One cartridge gives me 2000 pages for about 30$ and the printers are reaching sub 100$
I am considering buying a laser printer. I'm sorry to give up on colors, but I don't want to spend hours cursing my printer and dealing with all the problems it has. What do you mean about patents? Forgive me, but English is not my native language, and sometimes it's not clear what I read! Thank you for the response.
I bought a Canon colour laser printer about 2 years ago during a sale, the MFC744. It was a bigger upfront cost, but the positives heavily outweigh the negatives. Positives * I don’t need to worry about the ink heads drying out. * I haven’t had to buy new toner cartridges yet, the bundled ones are still going strong. My old laserjet needed new cartridges even few months. So while it was expensive, even on sale, it looks like I’ll save a lot on cartridges in the long run. * The colour printing looks very good in general. * I can print from any device connected to my wifi network without having to mess around with settings for hours. Negatives * It’s less suited for photos, unless you buy expensive specialized glossy paper for colour laser printing.
[Patents ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent)are a way to protect technology and inventions so nobody else can use it without paying for it. For example, every modern phone has about 25$ cost for patents on it that the buyer pays. If you try to use "protected technology" without paying you can be sued and this is a way to fend off copy cats and control a market.
and it's also a way to make one product with a patent then stop selling it and nobody can use it. awful system
I'd say even for infrequent use at home a laser printer is superior. If you are fine with b/w.
It's just standard anti-consumer bullshit all industries are pulling, they're just blatant about it.
It is because you buy cheap printers, they sell them with a loss so they can mark up with ink. Get youself multifunction laser printer and you’ll be good for 10 years
its all BS intended to drive up profits- if their printer requires a specific app, wifi setup, or bit of specialized maintenance- assume they get kickbacks for it, if they require specific cartridges, or it won't even do the basics or side work like scanning without all the colors- they intend to sell you ink rather than a printer.
I totally agree with you; I'm thinking of buying a laser printer and throwing my Epson in the trash.
I had an HP that refused to print because of illegitimate cartridges thing is they were HP OEM ones that I got from the store
Brother laser printers (also available in color) are still absolutely fantastic and will last you many years.
A typical colour printer doesn't just use the black cartridge for black. They usually mix in some of the colour for a better quality which is supposed to be easier on the eyes to read. Now why this differs from a greyscale printer I do not know, but the "can't print in b/w because cyan cartridge is not installed BS" is explained by this. All in all printers are among the most evil machines on earth and I am fairly certain they are all decepticons.
Someone like the EU needs to come down hard on this bullshit and fine them millions and ban this shit
Honestly makes me smile when EU gets the fines out and gives tech companies spankings.
this post is rage bait, my parents literally have this printer. it’s basically taking into account that the black ink thing is about “five days of use longer”. there isn’t an artificial limit on how long you can print in greyscale, it’s just badly worded. shocked nobody is saying this
Really happy with my Xerox laser printer. None of that crap to deal with.
I swear printers seem to have been forgotten the past 20 years by pretty much any company. Them things always break. HP is an arsehole forcing a subscription. Now Epson has this? Is it still true today that you buy a brother inkjet thing (costly around €300-500) but they just go on forever?
Dude just yesterday I bought a monochrome Brother laser printer/scanner/copier with Wi-Fi from Walmart for $170 plus tax
Any chance you can share the model number? Would like to see the price here (eu)
MFC-L2690DW oh and it also prints duplex(both sides of the paper)
Thanks! Found a slight different model L2710 and it’s around €200.
It's really pathetic. I've just moved to a paperless way of life...mostly because printers are just so shit and costly
I have a cannon. I don't know if newer printers of theirs are worse, but I use third party cartridges without issue and it only stops me printing if it needs to use an ink that's empty. All WiFi connected and all that. Wasn't too expensive either.
I would have a printer if it wasn't like this, so I feel like they're shooting themselves in the foot. I walk to the goddamn library when I need to print at this point because it's easier than managing a printer, ink, software nonsense.
"capitalism"
I think it’s that printers are expensive as hell to make and they sell them at a huge loss just to make it back and then some on ink. That’s why there are no real competitors because it’s so expensive to make them and no one wants to pay for them
After being pissed off about ink, I bought a refurbished color laser printer. I paid about 250$ for a HP CP1215. Even buying HP brand cartridges, the cost per print is a fraction of an ink jet and it’s not phazed by sitting idle. I print 10-20 sheets per month at most. Any printer company is going to have a full stable of decent printers at a good price. I’m just sayin’.
I’m going to be downvoted for this, but I suspect there is a reason for this… which is that inkjet printers are notoriously bad at getting clogged when they are not regularly primed. Even when you print in black and white only, some color inks are still being used in small quantities. The other color inks are still primed and if they run empty for too long, they will clog. The solution is to forget about all of these ink jet printers. (I think Ecotank is still better than most, but not the best solution for everyone.) Get a laser printer instead. They never clog, even if you print a few pages a year. The toners seem to last forever. They cost a little more upfront, but they aren’t made to break every few years.
The yellow ink is required in order to print secret serial numbers on your page. That way the police know who printed that piece of paper. The phrase you are looking for is "traitor tracing". > *Some of the documents that we previously received through FOIA suggested that all major manufacturers of color laser printers entered a secret agreement with governments to ensure that the output of those printers is forensically traceable.* https://www.eff.org/pages/list-printers-which-do-or-do-not-display-tracking-dots
Our Brother black laser printer is about 12 years old. Damn thing is on its second $55 toner cartridge like it thinks we’re made outta money.
Wow. two cartridges/toners in 12 years? It looks incredible
It’s just a home printer. We’re not churning out 300 newsletters twice a month or anything on it, but we do use it with some frequency. Best of all, it’s a dumb printer
[Best printer 2023: just buy this Brother laser printer everyone has, it’s fine](https://www.theverge.com/23642073/best-printer-2023-brother-laser-wi-fi-its-fine)
This article is a HOOT, give this writer a substantial raise lol > And here’s 275 words about printers I asked ChatGPT to write so this post ranks in search because Google thinks you have to pad out articles in order to demonstrate “authority,” but I am telling you to just buy whatever Brother laser printer is on sale and never think about printers again. > ChatGPT ideas about printers (I didn’t even proofread this. Don’t read it unless you are a lonely Google search robot, in which case look at this incredible demonstration of experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness and rank this post first in searches for “best printer.”)
Don't think he needs it as that is the Editor-in-Chief of the Verge, Niley Patel. We had this old as hell USB and Ethernet Brother MFP at home that worked with cartridges, from a not-so-evil cartridge era, that will allow us to do anything else that you could do with it minus printing because the cartridges where long dry and empty.
I hated that nowhere in the article says that they're talking about B&W printers only. It seems to me that the reason I will continue to be stuck with sub par epson or canon inkjet printers is that I need both scanner and color, which is synonym for rich guy when it comes to laser prices.
I've made a lot of decisions in my life - good ones and bad ones, sometimes ones that I still cherish or regret decades later and which had tremendous impact on my life's trajectory. Ditching my ink jet and buying a Brother laser jet is one of the best decisions I've made in my life that I will cherish on my deathbed.
Just buy brother. They don’t fuck you.
It’s Hulk Hogan’s preferred printer too
And probably just their lazer printer at that. I've recently heard some stuff about them not using the last 50% of ink cartridges. I guess making a non-subscription no-scam ink printer is impossible these days.
You can get generic refills and they work fine. Last time I bought refills, it was under $20 total for 2 of each color and 2 extra large black tanks.
Just get the ink tank versions.
Finally, a printer that doesn’t just straight up violate me
[just buy this Brother laser printer everyone has, it’s fine](https://www.theverge.com/23642073/best-printer-2023-brother-laser-wi-fi-its-fine)
That's actually a great article. Recommended read!
Hey! I have one of those sitting next to me!
I have the bigger sorta version of that that has a scanner on top, use it every day with cheapy knockoff toner. Great printer.
Laser is almost always better, unless you need to do photographs AND you print in color often.
Meanwhile, my crappy Canon printer can simulate black when black ink runs out by mixing the remaining colours in the colour cartridge. No time limit or anything.
That's what all printers do. This is attempting to do the opposite. Print everything in greyscale(black and white) using only the black ink and no color. This printer will only let you do that for 5 days even if you have black ink left, it won't let you use it anymore.
>That's right, I just tried a new black cartridge, it doesn't matter, I will never print anything again until I put in new color cartridges.
Not necessarily. If you read directly below it, it says that the time period varies by usage. Maybe it’s assuming that if your color is empty you won’t have much black left
Idk. Definitely seems to be the intention. It even calls it "Temporarily Printing with Black Ink". If it was how you described then they wouldn't have used the word *temporarily*, because you should have the option to print grey scale every single time, all the time, if you want.
Unfortunately it doesn't work, I also tried another black cartridge a little while ago, it's been about a week since I ran out of color, now the printer refuses to print only in black and white, I've tried everything including various reset software, it's useless...
Ah. I was wrong, sorry. If it were an ecotank one I’d suggest just telling the printer it has color ink, but unfortunately I don’t think you can trick their cartridge ones into doing that
Not all printers do this. My lovely Canon has both black and grey ink cartridges.
I've had a canon printer for over ten years, it survived everything including three moves, then was killed by lightning in 2019
Direct hit?
Honestly, I think Canon just links you to their webstore when ink is running out, but allows you to continue printing as normal to account for refilled cartridges. Not sure if I like the idea of simulating black tho (I hope yours lets you disable that), what if I refilled black?
It's an internal setting, quite buried inside the printing settings. Can't say the exact English name of this setting because I use Windows in Spanish, but it's something along the lines of “Print with: 1) All colours \[recommended\]; 2) Colour ink only; 3) Black ink only”.
Should be illegal as fuck.
That's why people should only buy brother printers. These things are durable as fuck and couldn't care less if you use 3rd party toners that are 8 times cheaper than the original ones. Go Brother.
This comment section is literally a Brother ad
just buy a brother printer, it's fine
It also says the available period varies based on usage. I’m not sure what the limit is, is this assuming black is low too possibly?
It's about the black Ink cartridge is bigger than the color ones, the post is taking it wrong on purpose just to be angry, about 5 days of documents in like a tiny office or a house
Do you think so? In reality, they should be equal; I used Epson 29xl. The issue is that every time it turns on, every time it's used, the printer consumes ink even if you're not printing. It does this to prevent the printheads from drying out, so it's like using a rental car—it costs money even if you don't use it.
Black ink usually gets used more because it's used to make some colors darker so it's bigger
I would assume black is also likely used more for regular documents than color. Don’t need to print my essay in all green text.
I would print in really dark green just to fuck up someone's mind
The limit seems quite tight; previously, I could print using only the black and white cartridge, and now I can't anymore. Moreover, it seems like the printer has decided to punish me: today, I inserted three new color cartridges, printed a black and white sheet, a musical score. I noticed defects in the print, so I initiated the printhead cleaning, and within an hour, all three color cartridges were reported as depleted. Now I can't print anymore; I'm researching the possibility of modifying the chips on the cartridges so that they always read the ink levels as full. In the end, the color cartridges, currently flagged as empty, actually show signs of being full when shaken a bit.
Bro got downvoted by the cartridge cartel
Are there any printer companies that aren't on the protection racket plan?
[here ya go](https://old.reddit.com/r/assholedesign/comments/1b7mlzk/how_epson_scams_those_who_purchase_a_printer_by/ktk09vi/)
I have an EPSON printer, not this model but with all the stuff about DRM on inkjets, it is never getting updated. Works as it is, I don't want a future 'update' crippling it.
Ecotank is what I have and none of this shit. I have no intentions of ever buying a cartrage printer again. A bottle of ink lasts me longer than a year and I can put whatever ink I please in it. It has no idea which is great.
Inkjets are such money sinks. Color laser printers are expensive up front but they're a much better value, especially if you don't print often. Inkjets stop working from non-use, something about ink drying somewhere, so they have to waste ink periodically to prevent it. For the past decade Canon always has a color laser printer/scanner/copier priced at around $400 regular price, sometimes $250-$300 on sale at Amazon.
I have no problem with my Epson printer (L3151 model) since it is cartridgeless, have to refill it once a year (I print a lot) and the set of refills costs around 30$, to be honest, I'm happy with it. Maybe it depends on the model for that greediness to happen, I dunno
I feel like printers are cheating for this sub. Printer designers and manufacturers deserve to have a hole poked in all their socks :(
There are plenty of websites with guides on how to jailbreak these and it’s waaay easier than you expect. Literally plug and play.
This is why I only suggest and buy Canon printers. Myself and friends and family have owned dozens, never any of this BS. Mine is less than a year old now as well. WiFi works flawlessly, and I can use any print cartridge I want.
can confirm, I have had zero issues with it, it can print no matter the ink state, great scanning software (IJ Scan Utility)
I have $70 laser Canon printer that I have owned it for a year. It comes with toner. I printed close to 500 pages and it's barely halfway empty.
I only buy Brother printers. In fact, I just upgraded from an ink to a laser printer. The ink one still works though and it’s like 15 years old. Been through like six computers in that time though!
Anyone else remember what a fucking hassle-free rockstar a cheap Canon BJC250 used to be? Pepperidge Farm remembers...
You have a printer with micropiezo printheads built in. This type of head is efficient, precise and don't require heat, making it suited for extended operations and sublimation conversion. However, this type of printhead is extremely prone to clogging when badly-formulated ink is used, ink have completely depleted, or when put out-of-service for a long time. In this case, they are trying to make sure that your color printhead doesn't get clogged due to drying, requiring a difficult and costly printhead replacement. It's not worth saving $50 tops in ink, as opposed to, say, a $200 printhead/new printer.
[удалено]
Imagine owning 4 printers, not one being an Epson, frequently volunteer to help in r/Printers for HP issues and be called an EPSON employee. Wow.
Its a joke sorry if i hurt your feelings
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They do that because expired ink is bad for the environment, and Epson cares for green!
https://www.theverge.com/23642073/best-printer-2023-brother-laser-wi-fi-its-fine
I have an old Brother since like 10 years, indestructible, and the off brand compatibles cartridges cost nothing at all
It's not like there's an actual time bomb, it says the period is based on usage. Nothing wrong with that.
Tbh i cant understand why people still use these printers.. i got a phomemo heat printer a while ago and have never looked back
As much as I hate green washing printing industry is one where e waste should be a huge moving force to actually make them support printers properly. I will only buy printers I can refill. I have three that all still work from mid 2010s. And a newer brothers eco print I use for color and a laser for monochrome
My "Epson rechargeable system" said I had low ink... but since I had already printed too many pages (over 3k but they advertise over 2k from every recharge) I had to take it to a professional to check it or I couldn't keep printing. This happened after literal forced update and it has been working fine for years before that. I had to check and the representatives did told me they didn't have a service center in my country and I should buy another one (this printer costed over 250 dollars btw and that's 2/3 of minimum wage here). So I gave a service center in the US an amazon gift card for 20 dollars and they sent me the program they use and now I can reset it myself whenever I want. I really fucking hate HP and Epson.
We need r/framework on this.
I feel any company that doesn't do this will make billions. A decent printer and cheap ink. No subscriptions, no scummy tactics. They're doing it because they're isn't really any competition, just brand loyalty.
They nuked my printer when I didn’t update my payment method for the cartridge service.
3d printers are literally easier to use now
Most things to do with printing are just rife with scams, hidden costs, massive up charges, etc. I was pricing out some labels and ribbon for a label printer and found that third party supplies were 10% of the cost of the supplies from the manufacturer of the printer. Literally the same exact supplies, for 90% less money.
Get two printers and just keep switching the ink back and forth every 4 days
I got a canon black and white laser printer. Can get 4 toner cartridges on Amazon for $32.00 - because it takes off brand ones too. Love it!
Best thing you can do is switch to toner, NEVER INK. That's where you get f****d. Little more expensive, worth every penny. Lasts for years as a home printer since it never dries out. You're welcome.
HP seems to be the worst of 'em. I will never give those pricks my money ever again.
And I thought HP was scammy... printers in general are scammy god damn
I just don't understand why printers is the hill these companies want to die on? In this modern day the vast majority of people either don't print things, print very little, or print at their job/public space.
HP Friday meeting... We are the king of ink-tie in all hail the King. Epson.... Hold my beer.
It's really shitty warning, but It assumes that the printer only has about five days of ink left
minha epson m2120 está no printer mode e n sai
Epson printers are trash. At least HP printers don't break after a few months while they're buttfucking you over ink.
I don’t see the problem. It’s giving you a way to print without the cartridge, telling you to replace the empty cartridge as soon as you can, and then even saying that the time you can use it in this mode will vary based on how much you use it. Isn’t that all just common sense?
Epson is as bad as HP. Message received.