Laser printer, good ones still exist

[Vil_Riker]

For some reason I have used HP printers in the past. Their inkjets were a scam but lasers used to be OK. Now the lasers are a scam, too. So I browsed BITOG for recommendations and Brother was the highly recommended brand. But when I was shopping, it seemed that Canon is equally as good.

So ended up buying a Canon imageCLASS MF272dw wireless all-in-one. I don't think I will need the scan part but you never know.

So far it has been a good printer, all the drivers were on their website (they include a CD but I don't have a CD drive on my computers), the setup was easy, keeps the WIFI connection up and prints fast.

Highly recommended in case you are looking for an all-in-one laser printer.

 

[Rand]

Canon drivers can be flaky. I had to fiddle with them alot when I had canons..
Brother lasers just work.

 

[dishdude]

Brother is always the way to go.

 

[drtyler]

Ricoh

 

[wwillson]

I switched from HP to Brother about 15 years ago. I've owned several Brother inkjets and now two Brother laser all-in-one, one B&W one Color. I can't say enough good about Brother printers and I will never buy an inkjet again after owning laser.

 

[Pew]

Brother is definitely the recommended home brand.

Enterprise level I have yet to see any 'desktop' printer more robust than HP Enterprise Laserjets but they also cost an arm and a leg (4000 > 3015 > 602 > onwards.)

I'm not a fan of Canon desktop printers. Their ImageRunner copiers are pretty good and their plotters/wide-formats have gotten better after the OCE acquisition. I hate dealing with them on a business account level though.

I can't stand the Kyoceras that we have in the office. I want to throw them out the windows.

 

[redhat]

In the enterprise I always like Konica Minolta. Feature rich... plus we had excellent vendor support.

I have liked my Canon ImageCLASS laser for the past 3 years at home...

 

[SC Maintenance]

Canon drivers can be flaky. I had to fiddle with them alot when I had canons..
Brother lasers just work.

^^ this.

I have a quite old Imageclass 4880 - likely 10 years old new. The wireless drivers NEVER worked. Ever. I would get them working and they would stop a couple days later. uninstall and reload, works again. Different PC, doesn't matter, same thing.

The printer still works, but I only use USB now. Even its USB drivers are a bit flaky.

I will say the hardware and print quality are excellent for what I paid.

Wife had a cheap Canon inkjet - same driver issues.

 

[I<3oil]

Brother ftw

 

[BHopkins]

For those of you that have color Brother laser printers, what model(s) do you have, that you have been happy with? How are they at reproducing photos? And how is the cost vs life of toner cartridges?

The Epson ecotank inkjet printer I'm currently using has done pretty good so far, but I am fed up with inkjet, particularly HP and Canon. So I've considered a personal laserjet for my next printer.

 

[proveitwithdata]

Brother is aftermarket friendly. Everyone else is jumping on the software locks and hardware chips, that the aftermarket takes to circumvent

 

[tmorris1]

I have a Brother 2270 that has been running for 10 years. Still running great and I never have to reboot connected via ethernet.

 

[SShooterZ]

You're not lying when you say HP printers are a scam. More problems with their inkjets than I care to mention.

Had a Lexmark for awhile that I got for like $30 on a closeout and used that for close to 20 years before it wouldn't pickup paper anymore.

Running an Epson inkjet now. Not the best, not trash. Nice having ink reservoirs vs. cartridges though.

 

[Jetronic]

The current HP laser (the cheapest blaxk and white) is doing perfectly well for the last 4 years. cheapest way to print I have ever experienced

 

[AandPDan]

My HP1022N is still going strong after 17+ years. It's on the network and is supported by Linux.

 

[Carmudgeon]

I'm quite happy with my 12-year old Brother, but they, too, have started with DRM shenanigans trying to restrict the use of third-party consumables.

If your printer is working fine, be wary of any firmware updates that won't mention such things in their terse changelogs, and make sure it won't auto update itself.

Hewlett and Packard would probably be aghast at what carries their names today. No respect for its employees, and none for users either.

Lexmark was the first to try to undermine the aftermarket, but HP has long embraced it as well, with firmware updates that brick printers, not to mention the data mining bloatware that accompanies their consumer printers.

One of the newer tactics is to cripple multi-function machines, which will prevent the scanner from functioning if the printer has run out of ink, something Canon is also doing. Enroll your brand new printer in the HP+ ink subscription program, and it will be sentenced to use nothing but OE ink for the rest of its lifetime.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Brother Lasers for the Win.

 

[14Accent]

My girlfriend bought a Brother laser printer for her small business and it's been working flawlessly for over a year. Even the "starter toner" that came with it lasted for over a year, and the aftermarket cartridge she purchased worked fine without any DRM nonsense.

 

[alarmguy]

@Vil_Riker
Years back we purchased a Canon Laser MF445DW. It was the best decision of our lives after having many, many inkjet printers over decades of time. Gone are the clogged ink jets and associated problems, more so if you dont use it often.

The laser printers have no ink to dry up, simple powder that last forever it seems. If we replace the laser cartridge every two years that would be a lot.
You say you dont know if you will use the scanner, but man I have to tell you, as we do everything from our home, its been a godsend, from buying homes and scanning documents to the same with lawsuits to everything in-between. Being able to scan documents into PDFs is so freaking convenient. I have used scanners since almost the day they existed for home use but the Canon software for this really is terrific and trouble free. More trouble free than printing, read on.

Someone mentioned Canon drivers. I did have issues with our Apple Mac Desktops. It was frustrating as heck, On the phone with Apple and Canon in the beginning years back (who was extremely responsive)
To this day I am not sure what the problem was or is, they never really fixed anything but with that said, I dont know if its related or not, but seems after a few Apple updates as time went on, its been fine now. Yet, I still hold my breathe at times. I used to wonder what was going on, it would keep loosing the printer wirelessly. But yeah, not sure about their software that was back a few years ago and can only assume they have addressed it by now. I found it inexcusable.

Anyway, that was then, I REALLY like the reliability with the Canon unit itself (and the scanner is flawless) I would/will buy another when the time comes but cant discount the comment on the software because I did have an issue that no one seemed to understand, yet I always managed to print and in the last year or so cant remember a time of any more issues. I suspect it's been worked out.

I also have a lot of respect for Brother because back in the inkjet age they did better than the HPs and Epsons that I used.

 

[97prizm]

I switched from HP to Brother about 15 years ago. I've owned several Brother inkjets and now two Brother laser all-in-one, one B&W one Color. I can't say enough good about Brother printers and I will never buy an inkjet again after owning laser.

What about Linux compatibility? My Epson inkjet is still chugging along but Epsons use of "Chip counters" is infuriating. They supposedly pulled out of the laserjet printer market a couple of years back. Not sure why.