this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2023
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So my mother recently bought an ET-2800, By HP we had an HP printer before and we got a new one because the old one would not work with my sister's Windows 11 Laptop. So I had to set it up for my mother, the manual said you can use it without the app. But there was no way to physically do that. Anyway, I downloaded the app on my phone (android) and the app would not connect to the printer. So I used my mother's iPhone and it would connect. The setup process was stupid proof. And after I got it all full of ink, it was very painless. However, this is where the H in HP should stand for HELL. Because a few months go by and my sister and my mother need some papers printed. No problem. I thought to myself, so my sister tried to print it wirelessly. Couldn't find the printer, I said ok maybe it's a dumb driver, USB didn't work either. I asked my sister to send it to me, so I can print it on my w540 running rocky 9. Rocky picked up that I needed drivers and installed them. Wireless didn't work but wired showed up, I thought sweet I can just print the paper and get back to what I was doing. However, when I clicked print, the printer would grab the paper and run it though but not put ink on the paper. My mother asks me to forward the email to her to try to print it on her phone. I send it, and it prints, and the paper come out how it should with ink and the paper is finally printed.

After this experience with this printer, it makes me rather aggravated at this purchase, and no longer want to buy from HP. I have looked at Brother printers and there are no Proprietary ink cartage, and or laser printers. I purely wanted to talk about my experience with HP printers and would like to know what others have for a printer for recommendations, for when eventually HP kills support and makes it a paper weight, I've read many negative experiences with HP printer, specially from Lois Ross man and their anti consumer products.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Anyone have printer brand recommendations?

I have a Brother and like it but, is that he only decent option?

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Brother Laser here. Never fucking going back.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Also in brother laser club. It won't quit

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I just love how my printer has become an appliance. Like, shit, I need to print something. I just press print. No print head cleaning, no alignment, no driver download and crapware games, no color cartridge wack-a-mole to print black and white. It just... Prints. Every time.

It's become as exciting as using my toaster, and I love it for that.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Same with mine. I only use it a few times a year, but when I need it I can just use it. If it ever actually runs out of toner I can just fill the cartridge.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have an Epson ecotank.. you pay upfront for the printer and on the flipside the ink is about $15AUD per bottle..but that will get you 5000 sheets.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I have also one of those... But since it's standing for couple weeks or a month between each printing session, I always got to start with cleaning nozzle and flushing the ink or the print quality goes shit. Kinda annoying since wife has a habit of "just gonna print this important paper 5min before leaving house"

Also I haven't managed to get it working on Linux

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have an Epson EcoTank printer. It's a colour inkjet printer but it came with these ginormous bottles of ink that you pour into a tank. I've printed thousands of pages for three years and I still have around a quarter of the included ink left.

I didn't need to install any drivers on Linux or Windows, just adding the printer was enough. It connects to your WiFi network and works as expected. My only complaint is that after not using it for a few weeks, you'll need to run the "clean print head" utility on the printer and might need to realign the print heads. But other than that, it's great. Photo quality is pretty meh though.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

I have two EcoTank printers, one is set up with normal ink and the other one gets used by my partner for sublimation printing for her crafting projects, they're absolutely the next best thing to a laser printer.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Just got my second Brother, the only way I'd switch to a different brand is if they also turn to shit.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I only bought a second Brother printer because after a decade+ I decided I wanted color printing and a scanner. Zero problems since 2009.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah, our second one was to get color printing as well.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Samsung's line of laser printers are great. They just work and don't impose any bizarre restrictions. I've had mine for at least 5 years now, but it obviously doesn't do colored pages if those are important to you.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

HP bouth Samsung's printer division some years ago.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh. I wasn't aware... Buy an older model then I guess.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

It happened in 2017, so the timeline tracks.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

That makes sense. My Samsung laser gets less supported every os update and it’s fucking ridiculous. I thought less of Samsung until I read that and then it was like, “Ooooohhhhhhh . . . !”

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Samsungs printer biz got bought by HP IIRC. I have a 3405w and drivers are only from HP now

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Same, have 3 Samsung b/w printers between me and family and they have all been extremely reliable for years whether they are used regularly or not. Plus the ink isn't expensive.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I have an rosin that's not the worst, but I can't recommend it. Ink isn't as locked down, you can buy generic I think.

I hear good things about Brother from these other people