• somethingp@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Not OP but I only use a brother MFC black&white laser printer for printing documents at home. It addresses the HP issue in 2 ways. 1 - The genuine brother toner costs much less per page to the point that it’s not terrible to have to buy it if necessary. And 2 - brother does not put DRM on their printer and there are tons of 3rd party toners available at about 1/3rd the price. Generally brother printers cost more up front, but basically last a lifetime, and the toner is pretty cheap. I’ve had the same printer for around 12 years now, and it still prints fine. I don’t print a lot at home so I’ve only had to buy 4 3rd-party replacement toners, which have cost around $80 altogether. I think the printer was $200 when I originally bought it.

        Also I want to add that if you need color inkjet printing, the Canon Megatank and Epson Ecotank printers are an awesome option for most home printing. I use a Canon g6020 at home for photo printing and I love the photos that come out of it.

        • BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works
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          9 months ago

          Epson seems like a great choice, until you learn about the ecotank sponge issue.

          You can buy a new waste ink sponge for next to nothing, but the firmware counter needs to be reset. That requires either a sketchy piece of software from some Russian hacker, or shipping the printer to epson and then paying epson for 5min of work and return shipping. The latter is rumored to be about the same price as a new ecotank.

          But you’re happy with your megatank? I might look into that… I stopped looking at inkjets after hearing about the ecotank.

          • stephen01king@lemmy.zip
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            9 months ago

            Wait, I thought the counter can be reset with some specific button presses only. I’ve seen the video guides on YouTube.

            • BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works
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              9 months ago

              w00t? I will really have to look into that. There’s a reasonably priced 2nd hand A3 ecotank in my vicinity, and I’ve been avoiding it because of this.

              Do you have sources?

        • fidodo@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Brother printers aren’t even that much more expensive than HP. I think you break even by the time you have to buy like 2 HP ink cartridges. Even the toner cartridges that the brother printers come with last what feels like forever and they’re not even filled up all the way.

      • fidodo@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        For home usage, a later printer toner cartridge will last you years and won’t go bad. Ink jet printer cartridges are way more expensive and dry out which is why they constantly need replacing. Brother is a much better brand than HP.

      • stephen01king@lemmy.zip
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        9 months ago

        It’s funny how much worse Lemmy is at downvoting simple questions than Reddit. People on here treat every question as if it was asked with bad intentions.