Ask HN: What home printer do you use/recommend?

I am in the market for a new printer, and thought I'd check with the HN crowd for some recommendations.

I hate my HP inkjet printer with a passion. Feels like the ink lasts less than 100 pages of light printing. And the ink is expensive.

I was under the impression that Brother was a good brand, but it seems they are also following the HP playbook.

What printer do you actually use? Would you recommend it for regular home printing (mostly b/w, occasional color printing. Scanning, copying, etc. would be ideal)?

16 points | by niyazpk 22 hours ago

16 comments

  • kevinherron 4 hours ago
    Brother MFC-L3750CDW

    No issues. I'm not sure the brand/model is super important - what's important is that you cough up for a laser printer and get the hell away from inkjet.

  • khurs 5 hours ago
    I have a Canon laser printer. The shop wanted to sell me another brand as was cheaper to run, but I explained I wanted that one as it had a fast 'time to first print'. As like you I only print occasionally so want to turn on the printer and get it out asap.

    A lot of printing in the e-commerce days are postage labels. So if you print a lot of them, also get a cheap label printer.

  • elevation 6 hours ago
    I have exclusively printed from Ubuntu, I currently use a Dell C1765 color laser.

    I also use a Brother HL-2170W, but I was unable to enable network printing on this device without first attaching it to a windows machine via USB and running the brother utility.

    I print infrequently enough that inkjets would essentially be one-time-use, as the nozzles would completely dry up before I could use it again. So Laser is the best option.

  • helterskelter 22 hours ago
    Can't say I've had an issue with my Brother. Works great with Linux and ink is available at the office supply store.
    [-]
    • vpfaiz 22 hours ago
      I used to have one Brother mode, sold it for $50 after long battle with ink drains. It will sneakily drain the ink cleaning the print head at midnight. I had to keep it off. Then they have chips inside the cartridge to prove authenticity of cartridge!! When the printer itself is cheaper than the cartridge, its almost always is a scam in my personal experience.

      Get an EPSON tank printer, or a laser..

      [-]
      • helterskelter 19 hours ago
        Yeah I've got a Brother laser printer, never had an issue. Maybe it's just the inkjets?
  • theandrewbailey 22 hours ago
    Color laser printer. I've had a Canon image class model since the pandemic, and its worked great every time I've had to use it (about 10 pages per year). The ink can't dry out because it's already dried out: it's supposed to be dry.

    Most people are in for a bad time with inkjet printers. Can't say I've ever had a positive experience with one long term.

    Now that my day job is e-waste recycling, I sometimes list color laser printers on Facebook Marketplace. Maybe check there. Decent ones with a few hundred estimated pages worth of toner left should go for about $100, maybe more with a scanner.

  • fdgwhite 7 hours ago
    The cheap indestructible monochrome Brother laser printer. I only print a few pages per month these days
  • dhruvkar 22 hours ago
    Brother black and white laser printer

    brother-usa.com/products/hll2460dw

    I have one personally and installed it in many a home and business

  • al_borland 19 hours ago
    I have a small HP laser printer (the M15w).

    I don’t do much printing, so I wanted a laser to avoid the issues I’d have from infrequent inkjet use.

    I mainly chose it for the small size, I don’t think I’d actually recommend it. The setup process was not good. I tried to set it up using my computer and after several hours I didn’t get anywhere. I was about to return it, but as a last ditch effort I installed HP’s app on my phone, and was setup in 5 minutes. Needing a phone to setup a printer, because their desktop methods didn’t work, was very frustrating. I get that a lot of things are “mobile first” now, but for a printer that feels extremely wrong.

    For occasional scanning, I just use my phone these days.

  • memcg 7 hours ago
    I have an HP LaserJet 6P that I purchased new in 1996 and it has a page count of 53740. For color, I have FedX Kinkos and Staples nearby.
  • aprdm 21 hours ago
    Staples. I have a broken Canon now and before had a broken HP. Both were dirty cheap. I imagine how much the environment suffers from broken printers alone.

    I am not buying a new one. Only going to stores to print.

  • karakoram 22 hours ago
    Not exactly sure of brand/model but can't go wrong with any decent Ink Tank Printer.
    [-]
    • leros 4 hours ago
      They dry up in unrepairable ways if you don't use them often enough.
  • farseer 11 hours ago
    An old HP P2055dn with Chinese toner
  • atmanactive 19 hours ago
    Brother.
  • qsera 16 hours ago
    EPSON L3211 Multifunction Ink Tank, works well in Linux
  • panny 22 hours ago
    Like any good linux user, I have the "brother whatever-it-is"

    https://www.theverge.com/23642073/best-printer-2023-brother-...

  • sergiotapia 21 hours ago
    brother laser printer. never "dries" and prints many many pages. last time we bought a refill was about 2 years ago with 3 school age kids.