4 ms·

Get an old brother laser printer, they are rock solid. Better yet, setup Airprint as well. The novelty of printing from my phone never wears off. (coming from

Get an old brother laser printer, they are rock solid. Better yet, setup Airprint as well. The novelty of printing from my phone never wears off. (coming from an old head).

code_biologist 3y ago
I just crossed the decade mark with my Brother HL-2240, purchased in June 2013. I put a Raspberry Pi + CUPS on it for network printing. The resolution is a little low and I wish I had color, but I did buy the printer for literally $60 new.
dylan604 3y ago
I really feel like the brother laser printer recommendations should all come with model numbers as not all brother laser printers are created equal. i have a DCP-L2550DW, and i'm not sure i'd recommend it.
- poofsoda 3y ago
  Interesting—out of curiosity, what is your primary complaint with the DCP-L2550DW? I have one too and use it seamlessly for printing and scanning on Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android. My third party toner refills have worked great and the machine itself was rather inexpensive. Not invalidating your experience, as I may have just gotten lucky, but would be interested to know what issues it’s created for you.
  - dylan604 3y ago
    the main complaint is that the feeder never pulls paper in the same orientation twice. i've tried printing on labels with various levels of not success. while the print quality is fine (no complaints there), if you are printing with pre-cut media, getting it to align is tough. i've used Avery media and then used their templates as well as measuring and making my own templates. the top rows will be with in the pre-cut, but they start to "drift" off so that by the end of the page they are off a full 1/16" meaning each row is not off by the same distance. if i select all items and then "squeeze" by pushing the bottom up 1/16" in illustrator, this seems to work. if i use that modified file on other printers, they won't print the same way. i've also tried making cards by printing on both sides. creating a 2-page file with the mirrored offset like normal print would use, they don't line up. if i remove the mirrored offset (not a professional DTP, so whatever this called), it still doesn't line up. so i had to fiddle with it to get double sided prints to line up. on a different printer, the normal mirrored offset works as expected. i can then put the print on the guillotine and cut on the crop marks, and it all works. not with the 2550.
- jaclaz 3y ago
  Only as anecdata, I am using Brother (B&W) laser printers since many years in the office and almost all worked and work just fine, but I had some bad experience with DCP-8110DN and MFC-8520DN models: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22083421 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22083421 It seems like all the models sharing the same printing engine suffer from the same defect (fuser heats a bit too much and the sleeve and roller fail much earlier than expected).

Get an old brother laser printer, they are rock solid. Better yet, setup Airprint as well. The novelty of printing from my phone never wears off. (coming from an old head).

code_biologist 3y ago

I just crossed the decade mark with my Brother HL-2240, purchased in June 2013. I put a Raspberry Pi + CUPS on it for network printing. The resolution is a little low and I wish I had color, but I did buy the printer for literally $60 new.

dylan604 3y ago

I really feel like the brother laser printer recommendations should all come with model numbers as not all brother laser printers are created equal. i have a DCP-L2550DW, and i'm not sure i'd recommend it.

poofsoda 3y ago
Interesting—out of curiosity, what is your primary complaint with the DCP-L2550DW? I have one too and use it seamlessly for printing and scanning on Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android. My third party toner refills have worked great and the machine itself was rather inexpensive. Not invalidating your experience, as I may have just gotten lucky, but would be interested to know what issues it’s created for you.
- dylan604 3y ago
  the main complaint is that the feeder never pulls paper in the same orientation twice. i've tried printing on labels with various levels of not success. while the print quality is fine (no complaints there), if you are printing with pre-cut media, getting it to align is tough. i've used Avery media and then used their templates as well as measuring and making my own templates. the top rows will be with in the pre-cut, but they start to "drift" off so that by the end of the page they are off a full 1/16" meaning each row is not off by the same distance. if i select all items and then "squeeze" by pushing the bottom up 1/16" in illustrator, this seems to work. if i use that modified file on other printers, they won't print the same way. i've also tried making cards by printing on both sides. creating a 2-page file with the mirrored offset like normal print would use, they don't line up. if i remove the mirrored offset (not a professional DTP, so whatever this called), it still doesn't line up. so i had to fiddle with it to get double sided prints to line up. on a different printer, the normal mirrored offset works as expected. i can then put the print on the guillotine and cut on the crop marks, and it all works. not with the 2550.
jaclaz 3y ago
Only as anecdata, I am using Brother (B&W) laser printers since many years in the office and almost all worked and work just fine, but I had some bad experience with DCP-8110DN and MFC-8520DN models: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22083421 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22083421 It seems like all the models sharing the same printing engine suffer from the same defect (fuser heats a bit too much and the sleeve and roller fail much earlier than expected).