Title, basically. My old torture device needs to be replaced, and while it’s been mostly working OK, printers have no excuse for being as shitty as they are. So therefore I am looking for suggestions.
Specs:
- Must include a flatbed scanner
- prints in color
- Wifi connection preferred
- No PaaS or IaaS bullshit
- No driver weirdness. I’m going to use it on linux.
- Available “anywhere”.
- Ability to sit powered and connected in my HarryPotteresque “server room” under the stairs for ages, unattended, and work without hazzle when I send it the bimonthly print job.
I know the geek community likes Brother. Any particular model?
For reference, this new printer will replace my aging Canon Pixma 4250.
Buy a cheap used printer and get cheep off brand ink off Amazon.
The brother printer thing is mostly for laser printers.
I personally have one, and an old color hp that I put cheap in from Amazon.
I have a Brother MFC-J1205W and I’m super happy with it. Idk about the Linux support side, but it fits all the other requirements, it was pretty cheap, + so far for me it’s been super reliable, cheap ink, and very high quality prints.
Has to be a Brother
Outdated advice (unless buying older stuff) Brother has enshittified like the rest.
They’ve chipped their toner but the off brand stuff that has chips works perfectly fine.
Source: bought 2 different Brother B&W laser models last year and 1 Brother color laser this year for the office. The cloners have already fixed this problem. Still works better than all of the other brands by a wide margin. Those 3 print every damn time from any device we have, mobile and desktop flavor of choice.
What type of chips are in these? Can you “hack” them with a flipper by chance? Like take the old RFID and write it to a new toner cart?
Used brother MFC-L3770CDW with a firmware T or older. If you can’t get one with an old firmware you have to use brother replacement toner. It’s sometimes possible to downgrade firmware but having had to do it once I never want to again.
But other than the toner issue it works fantastic on Linux and my whole house uses it.
Would not recommend for photo printing.
I have an Epson ET-2851 and I’m pretty happy with it. The Eco-tank ink seems to last pretty long and is easy to top up. It runs without any trouble under Linux. For my modest requirements it’s fine.
