Dull Men's Club
An unofficial chapter of the popular Dull Men's Club.
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Is it a brand new Brother printer? Or a second hand one?
I swore by Brother printers for years. They were far and away above other brands. But I heard somewhere that their new models over the last few years have been going down the same enshitification route of other brands. Locking down features, forcing users to change cartridges prematurely, etc.
Depends on whether it’s a consumer-level product or one marketed to big business. This goes for other brands, as well. For example, I have a color HP laser printer that I love. It’s a whole different type of product than their absolute crap consumer inkjet products.
There's still fuckery afoot in HP's lineup. You really need to find the sweet spot of a unit that's old enough to predate their BS with non-HP toner, but new enough that consumables and parts are still readily available.
I rescued from e-waste a CP5225dn (2012 model, though mine was manufactured in 2017); an A3 colour printer with network (10/100, baby) and automatic duplex. It's not blazingly fast, but it has enough features, consumables are still readily available, and the print quality is honestly quite respectable.
As for firmware updates? Well there hasn't been one of those since 2015. Pretty sure they're not about to start releasing new versions now :)
I had an old CP2025dn I rescued from work. Barely replaced one of the used toner cartridges in it before it broke. That was after four or five years though. Good while it worked.
I come into contact with a lot of residential printers. By no means an expert.
Brother ones like this are fucking tanks. They still try and push the subscription ink on you but it's no where near as forced as HP. Good on mobile and PC.
love the consistency of brother. Those old hps are incredible though.
I need to try cannon. Know a lady who has one with no issues no frills but unsure of their current monetization practices
I haven’t purchased a new canon in years because my current TS5020 has been a workhorse for years… and I can buy a box with 5 complete sets of 3rd party ink carts (C,M,Y,K & BK) for $15 on Amazon… and they just work.
I’ve heard rumblings that they’re no longer as good, but as long as this continues to work well I’ll keep it. The current printer landscape is a mine field.
Nice to hear.
Absolutely true. I've been burnt by 3rd party hp ink. Printers are nightmare recommendations. Always something.
For what it's worth, I bought 2 brother printers the past 2 years, and they're still working fine without any of those issues. Not trying to shill for them, just my experience so far 🤷
Well that's good to hear! The prospect of them following HP and Epsom down that road made me sad.