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I bought my Brother color laser printer 12 years ago in a fit of HP inkjet induced rage. It just runs and runs and runs. I've bought a couple more for around

I bought my Brother color laser printer 12 years ago in a fit of HP inkjet induced rage. It just runs and runs and runs. I've bought a couple more for around the office and recommend them every time the subject of printers comes up. If you don't want GBs of bullshit malware pretending at being drivers, you're sick of the color ink shenanigans, and you want a printer that wakes up and prints every single time, get a Brother Laser printer. They're amazing. No affiliation, just a super grateful customer.

cbozeman 3y ago
And the sad part now is that HP Color LaserJets are hampered by such godawful software and design that I wish I had bought a Brother color laser printer. I will never make that mistake again. I have a beautiful HP Color LaserJet MFP 4301dfw that constantly loses connection to the WiFi access point and requires a reboot and/or logging into the incredibly shitty HP Smart software. I really wish HP had enterprise-grade or at least prosumer software instead of this fucking awful consumer shit. A $599 printer should have a solid software stack, and HP even markets it to small office consumers. The machine has a beautifully designed exterior and solid internals that are plagued with an absolute shit software stack. Bill Hewlett and David Packard are probably rolling over in their grave at how fucking far their laser printer division has fallen.
- anymouse123456 3y ago
  Indeed about the founders. I'm sorry to hear you were fleeced. I highly recommend taking that monster out back and recreating our favorite scene from Office Space. HP was once a great company that innovated and made incredible technology. It was taken over by financial types in the late nineties. They sold off the test equipment core business and leaned into cost cutting. They excised any vestiges of integrity or quality wherever it could be found.
- chrisfinazzo 3y ago
  Ethernet. Do that thing. With regard to software, I've long since accepted that HP, Brother, Canon et al can't write drivers to save their lives - and shouldn't have to - in a world where AirPrint, Chrome OS Printing, Windows IPP, or Direct IP printing exist. It's long past time for printing to be treated as an OS service, where 3rd parties write the smallest possible shim to plug into available devices.
  - anymouse123456 3y ago
    Yeah - that's the other reason I love this Brother printer. Unlike HP and many others, I've never been forced to install crapware to get it to work from Android, iOS, Mac, Windows or Linux. It just works and it works every time, whether I have it wired or on WiFi.

cbozeman 3y ago

And the sad part now is that HP Color LaserJets are hampered by such godawful software and design that I wish I had bought a Brother color laser printer. I will never make that mistake again. I have a beautiful HP Color LaserJet MFP 4301dfw that constantly loses connection to the WiFi access point and requires a reboot and/or logging into the incredibly shitty HP Smart software. I really wish HP had enterprise-grade or at least prosumer software instead of this fucking awful consumer shit. A $599 printer should have a solid software stack, and HP even markets it to small office consumers. The machine has a beautifully designed exterior and solid internals that are plagued with an absolute shit software stack. Bill Hewlett and David Packard are probably rolling over in their grave at how fucking far their laser printer division has fallen.

anymouse123456 3y ago
Indeed about the founders. I'm sorry to hear you were fleeced. I highly recommend taking that monster out back and recreating our favorite scene from Office Space. HP was once a great company that innovated and made incredible technology. It was taken over by financial types in the late nineties. They sold off the test equipment core business and leaned into cost cutting. They excised any vestiges of integrity or quality wherever it could be found.
chrisfinazzo 3y ago
Ethernet. Do that thing. With regard to software, I've long since accepted that HP, Brother, Canon et al can't write drivers to save their lives - and shouldn't have to - in a world where AirPrint, Chrome OS Printing, Windows IPP, or Direct IP printing exist. It's long past time for printing to be treated as an OS service, where 3rd parties write the smallest possible shim to plug into available devices.
- anymouse123456 3y ago
  Yeah - that's the other reason I love this Brother printer. Unlike HP and many others, I've never been forced to install crapware to get it to work from Android, iOS, Mac, Windows or Linux. It just works and it works every time, whether I have it wired or on WiFi.