Any brother
Ask HN: What printer do you recommend for rare printing?
101–110 of 131 posts
Re: Ask HN: What printer do you recommend for rare printing?
#102Inkjet is fine, I paid for mine 70 or so and about 40 for a 5 year warranty extension. I think the biggest problem is dust though, so when not using it, consider removing the paper and closing all the lids. My Canon with built-in scanner now survived 2 years without any problems. And the drivers work well, at least on macOS. Also I can print labels with it.
Re: Ask HN: What printer do you recommend for rare printing?
#103Inkjet is fine, I paid for mine 70 or so and about 40 for a 5 year warranty extension. I think the biggest problem is dust though, so when not using it, consider removing the paper and closing all the lids. My Canon with built-in scanner now survived 2 years without any problems. And the drivers work well, at least on macOS. Also I can print labels with it.
One caution: I don’t know if it is still a thing, but inkjets used to dry out pretty badly if you left them idle for too long. Sometimes a thorough cleaning would work, but sometimes not. I push non-technical family members to get cheap laser printers.
Re: Ask HN: What printer do you recommend for rare printing?
#104I would make sure to use Google Cloud Print, and restrict all local access to your printer (e.g. can only print via Chrome via Google Cloud Print).
Typically printers will expose more security settings via SNMPv3 and you should take advantage of these (absolutely amazing learning opportunity for up and coming sysadmins/cloud engineers too).
I think HP is highly underrated for their printer security currently. Yes, it’s probably hackable in 5 mins like everything else in that space, but it has signed firmware! And they are the first printer company to be participating in a big bounty saas platform! Good things all around.
Also go with a monochrome black and white printer laser toner to really get costs down. You don’t need color as much as is thought...
Re: Ask HN: What printer do you recommend for rare printing?
#105Any base model brother laser printer, preferably any that support wifi printing. i’ve had one for 7 years, and replaced the toner exactly once.
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?…
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?
Re: Ask HN: What printer do you recommend for rare printing?
#106Any base model brother laser printer, preferably any that support wifi printing. i’ve had one for 7 years, and replaced the toner exactly once.
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.
Re: Ask HN: What printer do you recommend for rare printing?
#107Any base model brother laser printer, preferably any that support wifi printing. i’ve had one for 7 years, and replaced the toner exactly once.
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.
I'm sorry, but that's just not true, at least not in general. For many models, the Linux support is mediocre-to-none.
Re: Ask HN: What printer do you recommend for rare printing?
#108I bought a Dell multifunction colour laser printer / scanner / fax (C1765NF) around 8 years ago. It is perfect for occasional usage, and a full set of toners is only £25. Unfortunately they sold their printer branch and no longer make them. I believe there's only two companies making laser printers now (HP and Brother?), so there isn't really much choice. As others say you might be better off getting something on eBa…
> I believe there's only two companies making laser printers now
Oh no, not at all: Samsung, OKI, Epson, Canon, Xerox, Kyocera and maybe others all have multiple models of B&W laser printers.
Re: Ask HN: What printer do you recommend for rare printing?
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wirecutter makes their money from affiliate links, so the potential for conflict is high. They also mostly just meta-analysis rather than doing their own. Their biggest source is Consumer Reports, who don't make their money from advertisers. Much better to go straight to the source: https://www.consumerreports.org/printers/best-laser-printers... Subscription required, but that's the point -- no conflict of interest.…
You’re not wrong that there’s the potential for conflict of interest. Many commenters on Wirecutter articles note that the options they choose are more expensive. But the articles are well-written and have saved me considerable time. They’ve done much of the work of comprising shopping for the reader. I have no qualms buying through their links when the linked product is the right balance of reliable and economical.
The best Wirecutter recommendations come from the comments, not the articles.
Re: Ask HN: What printer do you recommend for rare printing?
#110Any base model brother laser printer, preferably any that support wifi printing. i’ve had one for 7 years, and replaced the toner exactly once.
I own a Brother HL-L2350DW and can highly recommend it. It has wireless and does AirPrint. Works great from iOS and macOS.