5 ms·

Any base model brother laser printer, preferably any that support wifi printing. i’ve had one for 7 years, and replaced the toner exactly once.

52-6F-62 7y ago
I'll second this. I had a Brother for years. I ran out of toner once (I did a lot of printing) and I think the second time I donated it or gave it to a friend. I think the only pain point was the toner was almost as expensive as the original printer + toner. Go figure. But they're good, reliable machines for sure. And affordable.
- tamalpais 7y ago
  https://www.consumerreports.org/printers/why-is-printer-ink-so-expensive/ https://www.consumerreports.org/printers/why-is-printer-ink-...
  - 52-6F-62 7y ago
    No doubt. It's just a bit of a mental tumble when you see the cartridge as more expensive than the original purchase. Toner never really changed in price. The printing unit itself has come way down. I think I originally paid around $65 CAD for my Brother laser printer, new.
beatgammit 7y ago
Same, but I'm on my first toner cartridge after 3 years or so. My biggest complaint is that it only supports Wireless-G, so I have to keep a separate network for it so it doesn't slow everything else down. I'm running cable to solve that problem instead of buying another printer just to fix a stupid WiFi issue.
grawprog 7y ago
I'm just going to throw another recommendation for a brother printer. We've got a few at my work, we do a lot of printing and copying. In the 5 years i've been there, i've changed the toner in the one in our office once.
MrMember 7y ago
Yep, I think mine was maybe $70 when I bought it six years ago. It works without fail when I boot it up once or twice a month, well worth the money for the lack of hassle.
koolba 7y ago
Yes they’re great for low volume printing and the Linux support is great too. Newer models track the number of printed pages and nag to replace the toner. You can instead reset the page counter and continue printing. Exact steps vary by model but easily found online.
- einpoklum 7y ago
  I'm sorry, but that's just not true, at least not in general. For many models, the Linux support is mediocre-to-none.
  - koolba 7y ago
    My luck must be better than. I’ve had no issues with the L2700 series.
  - RandomBacon 7y ago
    I've had three different models of Brother laser printers, Linux support has been good with each one. If some reads this and is worried about it, just search reviews for the model number and Linux.
nknealk 7y ago
I’ve had the same brother printer since my first day in undergrad which was in 2008. Only changed the toner twice. It’s been super reliable.
js2 7y ago
I followed "any Brother" advice years ago and had the bad luck of picking a Brother model (HL-3170CDW) plagued with a roller failure problem. Brother refused to fix it under warranty which turned me off the brand. This is not my review, but I had an identical experience, except this reviewer eventually got his replaced, whereas Brother refused to do so for me. https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RKX2S5U90HT01?ref=va_cr_lb https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RKX2S5U90HT01?ref... edit: then again, it was only a $200 color laser printer.
- MisterOctober 7y ago
  Yep! I have similar personal experience with that particular beastie and can confirm that it is to-be-avoided. I think "base model _monochrome_ Brother printer" is a safer guideline
  - dsr_ 7y ago
    Brother mono laser printer which explicitly has an ethernet port, duplex, and PostScript (BRScript). Right now, Newegg is selling a new HL-L5100DN for $180 with free shipping. It should last for five to ten years of low-volume printing.
    - MisterOctober 7y ago
      Good call, I forgot they don't all have ethernet -- the L5xxx is in fact the most recent one I've purchased [L5200DW to be exact] -- stone reliable so far with low volume
- colanderman 7y ago
  Interesting to know. To be fair, I have had one of these for the better part of a decade and it's still going strong. Perhaps they fixed the issue at one point?
tyleo 7y ago
My roommate and I have had a Brother printer for years. It was damaged while moving and a bunch of parts fell out and it still worked great. After that, we damaged it again when moving it around the house and even more parts fell out. Quality fell after that but its still kicking. I bought another Brother this week to finally replace it. Like others in this thread, we never ran out of toner.
- cr0sh 7y ago
  Sounds like an old '79 Ford Bronco I used to own. Or the Jeep TJ I own today... /something fell off? Welp, still moving forward, so we're all good!
jeena 7y ago
Exactly the same here, I had my for many years and I forced my dad to buy one instead of a inkjet and some other friends, everyone is after many years still extremely happy with their choices. Some got one with a scanner, others color, I only have a plain black and white one and it always works from phone from Linux, etc. No problems at all. I connected it by network cable.
gtirloni 7y ago
+1 I have a DCP-L2540DW that is awesome (and has a flatbed scanner with feeder).
asveikau 7y ago
Re: wifi: Maybe network accessible printers are super cheap and good these days, but I have always gone the lpd + samba route to get the same functionality from cheap/old/crappy printers.
abathur 7y ago
Another general vote for a Brother laser printer, though I differ on some details here. In 2014 (if I'm remembering right...) I bought a DCP-7065DN (B/W all-in-one with wired Ethernet). I don't print much (sometimes go months without). By volume, the lion's share of my printing is documents I need to copyedit/proof, followed by random receipts, tickets, shipping labels, etc--so I was hoping to optimize for cost and reliability. I make the same tradeoff wrt to using a local or online print service for anything that needs to be high-quality or color. I didn't have to replace the undersized starter toner cartridge included until earlier this year. I haven't had any trouble with it so far (aside from having to occasionally prod it to keep printing until quality actually fell off a cliff at the end of the first toner cartridge.)
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
einpoklum 7y ago
Many Brother printers are poorly-supported or simply not supported on Linux. For example, I have an MFC-L2710DW (not what you would get for rare printing I suppose), and the official driver is always acting up: Delays of minutes (!) before starting to print, or simply not printing at all for some odd reason, but then obliging me if I power-cycle the printer. Maybe. So, these printers may be fine, but check driver availability and user feedback about it first, if you're not on Windows.
- RandomBacon 7y ago
  Maybe it's your printer and/or computer? I've used three different Brother laser printers with two different computers, over a couple of years on Ubuntu, and haven't had any delays like that.
jjjbokma 7y ago
I own a Brother HL-L2350DW and can highly recommend it. It has wireless and does AirPrint. Works great from iOS and macOS.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
bananapear 7y ago
I’ve had a Brother HL-1030 since I believe around ~2000, still works great.

52-6F-62 7y ago

I'll second this. I had a Brother for years. I ran out of toner once (I did a lot of printing) and I think the second time I donated it or gave it to a friend. I think the only pain point was the toner was almost as expensive as the original printer + toner. Go figure. But they're good, reliable machines for sure. And affordable.

tamalpais 7y ago
https://www.consumerreports.org/printers/why-is-printer-ink-so-expensive/ https://www.consumerreports.org/printers/why-is-printer-ink-...
- 52-6F-62 7y ago
  No doubt. It's just a bit of a mental tumble when you see the cartridge as more expensive than the original purchase. Toner never really changed in price. The printing unit itself has come way down. I think I originally paid around $65 CAD for my Brother laser printer, new.

beatgammit 7y ago

Same, but I'm on my first toner cartridge after 3 years or so. My biggest complaint is that it only supports Wireless-G, so I have to keep a separate network for it so it doesn't slow everything else down. I'm running cable to solve that problem instead of buying another printer just to fix a stupid WiFi issue.

grawprog 7y ago

I'm just going to throw another recommendation for a brother printer. We've got a few at my work, we do a lot of printing and copying. In the 5 years i've been there, i've changed the toner in the one in our office once.

MrMember 7y ago

Yep, I think mine was maybe $70 when I bought it six years ago. It works without fail when I boot it up once or twice a month, well worth the money for the lack of hassle.

koolba 7y ago

Yes they’re great for low volume printing and the Linux support is great too. Newer models track the number of printed pages and nag to replace the toner. You can instead reset the page counter and continue printing. Exact steps vary by model but easily found online.

einpoklum 7y ago
I'm sorry, but that's just not true, at least not in general. For many models, the Linux support is mediocre-to-none.
- koolba 7y ago
  My luck must be better than. I’ve had no issues with the L2700 series.
- RandomBacon 7y ago
  I've had three different models of Brother laser printers, Linux support has been good with each one. If some reads this and is worried about it, just search reviews for the model number and Linux.

nknealk 7y ago

I’ve had the same brother printer since my first day in undergrad which was in 2008. Only changed the toner twice. It’s been super reliable.

js2 7y ago

I followed "any Brother" advice years ago and had the bad luck of picking a Brother model (HL-3170CDW) plagued with a roller failure problem. Brother refused to fix it under warranty which turned me off the brand. This is not my review, but I had an identical experience, except this reviewer eventually got his replaced, whereas Brother refused to do so for me. https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RKX2S5U90HT01?ref=va_cr_lb https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RKX2S5U90HT01?ref... edit: then again, it was only a $200 color laser printer.

MisterOctober 7y ago
Yep! I have similar personal experience with that particular beastie and can confirm that it is to-be-avoided. I think "base model _monochrome_ Brother printer" is a safer guideline
- dsr_ 7y ago
  Brother mono laser printer which explicitly has an ethernet port, duplex, and PostScript (BRScript). Right now, Newegg is selling a new HL-L5100DN for $180 with free shipping. It should last for five to ten years of low-volume printing.
  - MisterOctober 7y ago
    Good call, I forgot they don't all have ethernet -- the L5xxx is in fact the most recent one I've purchased [L5200DW to be exact] -- stone reliable so far with low volume
colanderman 7y ago
Interesting to know. To be fair, I have had one of these for the better part of a decade and it's still going strong. Perhaps they fixed the issue at one point?

tyleo 7y ago

My roommate and I have had a Brother printer for years. It was damaged while moving and a bunch of parts fell out and it still worked great. After that, we damaged it again when moving it around the house and even more parts fell out. Quality fell after that but its still kicking. I bought another Brother this week to finally replace it. Like others in this thread, we never ran out of toner.

cr0sh 7y ago
Sounds like an old '79 Ford Bronco I used to own. Or the Jeep TJ I own today... /something fell off? Welp, still moving forward, so we're all good!

jeena 7y ago

Exactly the same here, I had my for many years and I forced my dad to buy one instead of a inkjet and some other friends, everyone is after many years still extremely happy with their choices. Some got one with a scanner, others color, I only have a plain black and white one and it always works from phone from Linux, etc. No problems at all. I connected it by network cable.

gtirloni 7y ago

+1 I have a DCP-L2540DW that is awesome (and has a flatbed scanner with feeder).

asveikau 7y ago

Re: wifi: Maybe network accessible printers are super cheap and good these days, but I have always gone the lpd + samba route to get the same functionality from cheap/old/crappy printers.

abathur 7y ago

Another general vote for a Brother laser printer, though I differ on some details here. In 2014 (if I'm remembering right...) I bought a DCP-7065DN (B/W all-in-one with wired Ethernet). I don't print much (sometimes go months without). By volume, the lion's share of my printing is documents I need to copyedit/proof, followed by random receipts, tickets, shipping labels, etc--so I was hoping to optimize for cost and reliability. I make the same tradeoff wrt to using a local or online print service for anything that needs to be high-quality or color. I didn't have to replace the undersized starter toner cartridge included until earlier this year. I haven't had any trouble with it so far (aside from having to occasionally prod it to keep printing until quality actually fell off a cliff at the end of the first toner cartridge.)

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

einpoklum 7y ago

Many Brother printers are poorly-supported or simply not supported on Linux. For example, I have an MFC-L2710DW (not what you would get for rare printing I suppose), and the official driver is always acting up: Delays of minutes (!) before starting to print, or simply not printing at all for some odd reason, but then obliging me if I power-cycle the printer. Maybe. So, these printers may be fine, but check driver availability and user feedback about it first, if you're not on Windows.

RandomBacon 7y ago
Maybe it's your printer and/or computer? I've used three different Brother laser printers with two different computers, over a couple of years on Ubuntu, and haven't had any delays like that.

jjjbokma 7y ago

I own a Brother HL-L2350DW and can highly recommend it. It has wireless and does AirPrint. Works great from iOS and macOS.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

bananapear 7y ago

I’ve had a Brother HL-1030 since I believe around ~2000, still works great.