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I print so little these days that any inkjet printer is not cost effective due to the amount of ink it goes through to keep the heads unclogged, and I still hav

I print so little these days that any inkjet printer is not cost effective due to the amount of ink it goes through to keep the heads unclogged, and I still have had to manually clean the clogged heads sometimes. Now I have a cheap Brother laser printer for those few times I need to print something. It's over 5 years old, prints around a dozen or two pages a year and works fine every time I turn it on. (Hopefully some day I won't need a printer at all, but sometimes it comes in handy, like when I needed to update my property tax records, my choices were either to go in to the office or mail them a signed paper form -- scanned or faxed forms were not permitted)

busymom0 1y ago
Same here. I bought a brother laser printer probably 10 years ago and it's been working perfectly since then. Was able to buy a pack of 3 third party toners (is that what it's called?) from Amazon few years ago and it's still going.
- jamiek88 1y ago
  Same! I had to print something at home for the first time in 4 years before recent travel and I had mine in the shed. Plugged it in, printed no problem. Those old brother lasers were the pinnacle of printer tech. Sadly even brother has been enshittified now.
- IshKebab 1y ago
  I mean I bought an Inkjet printer 10 years ago and it worked all that time. I replaced the ink cartridges once. I have had to replace it finally because it got an issue where it kept thinking the paper was jammed or empty (it wouldn't tell me which) even when it wasn't. But that isn't anything to do with inkjet Vs laser. I did replace it with a Brother laser printer simply because it was very cheap (and I don't need colour). Annoyingly the Brother app uses the old temporary AP WiFi pairing method which doesn't at all work on modern Android because it constantly detects no internet access and disconnects no matter what you do. So instead I had to tediously enter my WiFi password using up and down arrows and a 30 character display. Like 01234567890abcd next 01234567890abcdefghij next 0123... Seriously tedious but it's lucky they had the option otherwise I'd have had to return it.
- myself248 1y ago
  I bought a Samsung color laser in 2010, and just had to replace the transfer belt and paper separation pad/roller for the first time. That's a problem, actually, because lasting so long, the parts got scarce in the meantime. Scarce and expensive. It probably would've been more cost-effective to consider the belt a critical failure and replace it with new, but I just hate the notion of throwing this monstrous machine (it weighs like 70 lbs) in the trash for want of a 5-lb part. That said, it should now be all set for another 10-15 years of service. It's still running the 2009-copyright firmware that was on it from the factory, and I will never let it "upgrade".
Brajeshwar 1y ago
I’m on the other side. My daughters print like crazy; stickers, custom doll costumes, new experiments, artworks, and then their school related stuffs. I go through the 500-pack A4 sheets in about a month or two, besides the sticker papers, photo papers. I bought a Inkjet Brother Printer about 8+ years ago and I have refilled the ink-tank just once after the first installation. I think a full-tank last about 5 years. I’m about to add a Brother Laser Printer too. Oh! I also print for the neighbors pretty regularly (I live in a large gated neighborhood). Their kids needs some good colorful print for school, I do it for them. I’m the guy who keeps unexpected things that comes in handy. I’m happy with that.
- donw 1y ago
  I’m the same way. That’s a good guy to be.
- otherme123 1y ago
  > I’m about to add a Brother Laser Printer too. Be careful. Brother is doing shaddy things this days, like lowering printing quality, or not printing, if a non-Brother toner is detected. E.g. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NzaRVEzYuz8 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NzaRVEzYuz8 for a toner hack that shouln't be needed.
  - Brajeshwar 1y ago
    What! They were supposed to be the good ones and not join the others.
    - finaard 1y ago
      I can recommend Kyocera - my current one has been going strong for 15 years now. I had problems with paper transport about two years ago - but that's expected after that many prints, and was solved with a reasonably priced field maintenance kit. As far as I know they're still not doing any nonsense to force you to use their toner - but even if they did I probably wouldn't care as the original toner is cheap enough that I just can't be arsed to figure out good compatible ones.
culi 1y ago
> I print so little these days that any inkjet printer is not cost effective due to the amount of ink it goes through to keep the heads unclogged Few people seem to realize that ink is incredibly cheap. You just need to buy it third party. The most expensive part of an ink cartridge is the chips used to DRM them to lock you in
raybb 1y ago
I feel lucky to live in SF where the library let's you print up to 20 pages per day for free. I really wonder how many people don't buy printers because of it. Then again many people can use work printers for free anyway.
- hiroantag 1y ago
  wait since when is that free? I've popped into the main branch to run off documents and definitely paid per page (although it's only something like 5 or 10 cents).
  - raybb 1y ago
    I don't know when it started but you do need a library card https://sfpl.libanswers.com/faq/341987 https://sfpl.libanswers.com/faq/341987

busymom0 1y ago

Same here. I bought a brother laser printer probably 10 years ago and it's been working perfectly since then. Was able to buy a pack of 3 third party toners (is that what it's called?) from Amazon few years ago and it's still going.

jamiek88 1y ago
Same! I had to print something at home for the first time in 4 years before recent travel and I had mine in the shed. Plugged it in, printed no problem. Those old brother lasers were the pinnacle of printer tech. Sadly even brother has been enshittified now.
IshKebab 1y ago
I mean I bought an Inkjet printer 10 years ago and it worked all that time. I replaced the ink cartridges once. I have had to replace it finally because it got an issue where it kept thinking the paper was jammed or empty (it wouldn't tell me which) even when it wasn't. But that isn't anything to do with inkjet Vs laser. I did replace it with a Brother laser printer simply because it was very cheap (and I don't need colour). Annoyingly the Brother app uses the old temporary AP WiFi pairing method which doesn't at all work on modern Android because it constantly detects no internet access and disconnects no matter what you do. So instead I had to tediously enter my WiFi password using up and down arrows and a 30 character display. Like 01234567890abcd next 01234567890abcdefghij next 0123... Seriously tedious but it's lucky they had the option otherwise I'd have had to return it.
myself248 1y ago
I bought a Samsung color laser in 2010, and just had to replace the transfer belt and paper separation pad/roller for the first time. That's a problem, actually, because lasting so long, the parts got scarce in the meantime. Scarce and expensive. It probably would've been more cost-effective to consider the belt a critical failure and replace it with new, but I just hate the notion of throwing this monstrous machine (it weighs like 70 lbs) in the trash for want of a 5-lb part. That said, it should now be all set for another 10-15 years of service. It's still running the 2009-copyright firmware that was on it from the factory, and I will never let it "upgrade".

Brajeshwar 1y ago

I’m on the other side. My daughters print like crazy; stickers, custom doll costumes, new experiments, artworks, and then their school related stuffs. I go through the 500-pack A4 sheets in about a month or two, besides the sticker papers, photo papers. I bought a Inkjet Brother Printer about 8+ years ago and I have refilled the ink-tank just once after the first installation. I think a full-tank last about 5 years. I’m about to add a Brother Laser Printer too. Oh! I also print for the neighbors pretty regularly (I live in a large gated neighborhood). Their kids needs some good colorful print for school, I do it for them. I’m the guy who keeps unexpected things that comes in handy. I’m happy with that.

donw 1y ago
I’m the same way. That’s a good guy to be.
otherme123 1y ago
> I’m about to add a Brother Laser Printer too. Be careful. Brother is doing shaddy things this days, like lowering printing quality, or not printing, if a non-Brother toner is detected. E.g. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NzaRVEzYuz8 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NzaRVEzYuz8 for a toner hack that shouln't be needed.
- Brajeshwar 1y ago
  What! They were supposed to be the good ones and not join the others.
  - finaard 1y ago
    I can recommend Kyocera - my current one has been going strong for 15 years now. I had problems with paper transport about two years ago - but that's expected after that many prints, and was solved with a reasonably priced field maintenance kit. As far as I know they're still not doing any nonsense to force you to use their toner - but even if they did I probably wouldn't care as the original toner is cheap enough that I just can't be arsed to figure out good compatible ones.

culi 1y ago

> I print so little these days that any inkjet printer is not cost effective due to the amount of ink it goes through to keep the heads unclogged Few people seem to realize that ink is incredibly cheap. You just need to buy it third party. The most expensive part of an ink cartridge is the chips used to DRM them to lock you in

raybb 1y ago

I feel lucky to live in SF where the library let's you print up to 20 pages per day for free. I really wonder how many people don't buy printers because of it. Then again many people can use work printers for free anyway.

hiroantag 1y ago
wait since when is that free? I've popped into the main branch to run off documents and definitely paid per page (although it's only something like 5 or 10 cents).
- raybb 1y ago
  I don't know when it started but you do need a library card https://sfpl.libanswers.com/faq/341987 https://sfpl.libanswers.com/faq/341987