@ross I can feel the dejection oozing out of just the title, never mind the rest

@ross Not only an indictment of the printer industry but of LLMs too. You can tell the author has just had enough.

@ross wow, I can't believe they used AI to write this. So much outrage

@ross They're on point. I bought one of those brother cheapies for less than 100€ recently, and it's working great. Apparently they have been churning out my exact model for at least ten years now. It doesn't have wifi, has no cloud integration, doesn't even have a display, but just works without a fuss, and does an adequate job.

@ross "ink related hostage situation" <3

@ross Printers are the emblem of enshittification

@ross I like the part about content farms because holy crap is it crazy how may are owned by the same parent company!

The Verge is part of Vox Media which is one of the 16 companies cramming their content into search results

https://detailed.com/google-control/

@ross yes indeed, it describes everything that's wrong with the difference economy

@ross I had one of the earlier models of this printer in my woodwork shop to print out orders. Even when absolutely caked in sawdust it still worked perfectly (with a slight burning smell).

I use a HP Laserjet at home, but if this one ever dies my next will be a Brother HL.

I love that this is a yearly thing now: https://www.theverge.com/23642073/best-printer-2023-brother-laser-wi-fi-its-fine

@ross I own one and I confirm very reliable and #Linux compatible.

@ross you are a printer we are all printers

@ross I switched from a BW Brother laser printer 2700DW to a color Brother inkjet printer T720DW two years ago and I don't regret it.

@ross I can confirm: I also have a 15-year-old Brother HL2140 that Just Works

@ross
I have a Brother HL-L3230CDW, and I commend this article.
My printer just prints. Every time. No fuss, no questions, no alerts. It just prints and with excellent quality

@ross I buy and recommend the basic models everywhere and to everyone. Such good printers.

@ross (and it's still an ad)

@ross

OMG that's literally the printer I bought last week. Small. Reliable. Dull. Everything a printer should be.

@ross Two requirements for me, color prints and duplex printing. This printer does neither. Single side printing requires more paper or printing alternate pages on two runs. That's not efficient, especially if you don't get page alignment right to keep page order. My HP 450 DN has been a workhorse for 10+ years no. My previous HP color, duplex printer still work but HP dropped driver to use it.

@ross I have a brother laser printer, it is everything the article says.

@ross
Can confirm. Have had the same Briother laser printer for 12 years. Literally zero issues and toner lasts forever.

@ross
Hard to decide what’s more infuriating here, the sad state of printers or the obnoxious obsession with engagement, SEO, and “AI”.

@ross I advise looking up online for how's the Linux support before buying a random old Brother like I did

@ross where is your fauxtrage though?!

@ross "Neither has fallen off the WiFi or insisted I sign up for an ink-related hostage situation" 😂😂

@ross I think our Brother HL-2140 might be turning 18 this year. It's seen our household through four degrees and a couple years' WFH. Raspberry Pi as its print server. If it ever dies I guess I'll find a duplex model.

@ross Nilay Patel is a national treasure

@ross I have a larger model with the scanner and feeder tray, DPC L2550DW, because it was the only #Brother #Printer I could find during the 'Rona times. It's a beast. There is a reason that nearly every car mechanic shop has a Brother printer still printing invoices while caked in dust, oil, grease, stacks car parts, and the occasional shop #Cat .
As others have pointed out, great #Linux support!
#GoTeamBrother #ThisIsTheWay #tech

@ross And it's true too. Our elderly mono laser Brother is USBd to our main PC (pre-wifi model). It's been a student's accommodation essay printer, my late sister's printer in a tiny bedsit/flat and has come back to us. And it just works.

@ross I’ve had a Brother laser printer for several years, and I can confirm that it’s an absolute workhorse.

When I finally used up the original toner cartridge, I bought 3rd party replacements and they were great (still on the first one actually, they last forever). There’s no need to buy Brother cartridges.

@ross

O Brother where art thou..

@ross Love my brother printer. Recently started looking at what it would cost if I wanted to start doing my own photo prints at home instead of at Walmart and holy shit.

@ross Got a Brother at home, been using Brother for years. Best printers. They still rip you off on toner though.

@ross Nilay is so real for that

@ross my experience differs. I’ve had to buy toner for my brother laser printer from time to time. That’s because I bought it 9 years ago and it still works, even though I feed it the cheapest toner I can find on eBay or Amazon.

Unlike all of the inkjets I bought before it, the printer works fine even if I go months without printing. Toner doesn’t dry out and plug the non-existent toner nozzles if you ignore it for too long.

@ross
> Need a budget friendly option for occasional printing
*The irony that the cost of inkjet printers is so low, because it's subsidised by the markup on ink, and it makes onboarding people easier...* 😹

@ross This is the best article I've read in a while, just for the sheer level of done that bleeds through the copy

@ross Nilay Patel is the boss, he can even make a boring printer interesting.

@ross best article of the year so far! 😂

@ross I have no brother printer and I can confirm that I have no idea what’s the best printer either, waiting for brother printer to go on sale

@ross I've been very happy with the Brother laser printer I bought in 2006 when I started graduate school. It's still kicking.

Based on that experience, though, I recommended a different Brother printer to someone a few years ago. They had issues with it forcing early toner refills that it definitely didn't need yet.

Old models used an optical sensor of some sort to check toner levels, and new ones just count pages and throw tantrums when you refuse to replace toner when it says so.

@ross agreed, rocking ours for several years and not one single problem with it!

@ross This is 100% true. I bought ours in 2017. The initial free toner pack printed 566 pages, high capacity replacement 1899 pages, still on the next one.Total 3407 pages printed, 963 on the current toner pack.

I do regularly consider getting a fancy inkjet for photography purposes, but eh.

#brother #printer

@ross especially sad is the absolutely correct observation that the once great reputation of Hewlitt Packard has been traduced by its current corporate owners!

@ross
Buying anything but a Brother laser printer is insane.

@ross Just to let you know that even Brother is going to the dark side. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31860131

My view: don't buy a printer unless you're a business or enterprise.

@ross have a brother 7820N that's at least 10-12 yrs old. After a house move, it sat unused for literally 8 years.

Finally put it back in rotation... Fired up and printed straight away even with the same toner cartridge

@ross It’s sad in one way, but I kinda like it. I remember when Wirecutter was that simple!

Holy crap! I need to write me some angst and irony filled articles about printers. This is crazy!!

@ross I have a brother laser printer. It's great, and we use it 'a lot'. I bought replacement toner and everything.

I bought it 10 years ago, in 2014 for $350 You can still buy it now for $850 but I would get a newer model. I had to repair it in 2018. The 'toner fuser' broke and I bought the replacement part on Amazon for $140 in 2018 and its worked great.

I hate HP so much. I'd rather print at fedex office stores then buy an HP printer.

Get whatever brother laser printer is on sale. +1

@ross All printers are so bad that when a mainstream tech news outlet tells people one printer is best, it sets off a glimmer of hope in them, that they've long been searching for but nobody has ever found, that may be, just may be, there really is a printer out there that isn't going to regularly sap hours off their day whilst trying to fix a "trivial" tech support issue... Alas, such a printer does not exist.

@ross I have one like this (slightly different model with an ADF scanner, but basically the same thing) that I got for university a decade plus ago… had to buy new toner maybe once since then? It’s still printing along like a champ.

@ross in 2024, I wouldn't give a printer wifi access even if it's not an HP one (unless it has open source code with no phoning home to corporate.) I know the article is actually about a different enshittification department but.

@ross I've found that the best printer is the one at the local library.

@ross Sysadmin here that does some printer support. I have a Brother at home and I trust it to work like no other brand or type of printer I've worked on. That is a remarkable achievement and resounding endorsement from this jaded burnt out tech professional.

Do yourself a kindness if you print at home and get a brother laser printer 🖨

@ross I like the 🖕that it raises to PISS and SEO.

@ross love this thread thank you

@ross the words "printer" and "2024" in one sentence is quite disturbing.

@ross I agree completely with the sentiment, but in my case I bought a Dell multi-function color laser printer 10 years ago and I have only changed toner a couple of times (colors can be changed individually and I buy the cheapest off-brand I can find).

I find it sad that people buy HP printers. My SO unfortunately needs to print on very thick paper for which lasers don't work and she's always dealing with printer problems.

@ross

I've had my Brother laser printer for like 22 years now, and it's still going strong. My only concern is that they'll stop making cartridges for it.

@ross i have one of these i found on the sidewalk 6 or 7 years ago outside a doctors office, (my guess is when the starter toner ran out they thought it was broken) and its been all id ever need and has worked perfectly on several computers and through many OS generations. Kudos to good decent design!

@ross
I agree with the conclusion: been a happy Brother user for many years now. I have a b/w laser printer, and a color inkjet/scanner/fax. They continue to work great, and the cartridges are still cheap!

@ross Funny : the one on the pic is basically the one I have since years, and yes I highly think it’s an excellent pick. The article says it’s The Brother HL-L2305W, I think mine is L2310W, so probably a very similar one.

@ross great journalism

@ross

A RPi 1 B+ plus an old Brother is my in-home network print server.

Simple, effective, cheap, and reliable.

@ross here's hoping brother never changes

@ross That doesn't have a scanner does it?

Totally agreed that people love to bash HP.

I'm using HP instant ink and it's a fine subscription. You set how many prints you want and pay for it. The ink shows up and the printer seems to work. If I didn't need color or a scanner/copier and wanted to spend more I could move to a laser printer.

Some people seem to be really riled by the fact that ink cartridges from the subscription don't work after you stop paying. That's how it works.

@ross @CStamp I have a Brother laser printer that I bought several years ago, along with a replacement toner cartridge that I planned to pop in when the “demo” cartridge ran out. The demo cartridge warned me the other day that the toner was low, but then I said “haha, April Fool, right?” and we both had a chuckle.

@ross l have a Brother laser printer and other than the power draw (make sure its not on the same circuit as your other devices) its been a very reliable printer.

@ross

"It’s weird because the correct answer to the query “what is the best printer” has not changed, but an entire ecosystem of content farms seems motivated to constantly update articles about printers in response to the incentive structure created by that robot’s obvious preferences. Pointing out that incentive structure and the culture that’s developed around it seems to make a lot of people mad, which is also interesting!"

@ross

Just to amplify that small and honest article: we have a Brother laser printer. It just prints. I love that thing. Not relevant to most, but you can even telnet to it in a pinch.

@ross

Can confirm!
I own this same printer. A flawless piece of engineering.

@ross I have a multifunction Canon I got for ~$60 9 years ago now and it's still great. Ink is expensive-ish, but we don't use it very often and the ink seems to last a decent amount of time even with sporadic printing. Not even thinking of replacing it until it breaks - then I might switch to a Brother printer haha.

@ross It’s true, I have one and it’s a fantastic printer.

@ross The second half is some of the best trolling any outlet has ever done.

@ross guess I must have lucked out as my HP doesn't have any of the ludicrous bullshit people complain about. But ultimately, it's a frustrating thing to have. I need this printer like, twice a year, but those are times when I absolutely frikkin need it.

However, the inkjet cartridges will absolutely dry up and clog if I don't, say, print a test page every week, which wastes both paper and ink

@ross I don't know what is sad about the amazing abundance of everyday luxuries that capitalism gives us. I think it's pretty wonderful actually.

@ross It's hopeful tbh! Some companies still just build hardware.

@ross I still have an HP V40 #printer that does everything. However, it won't work with Windows 10 or 11 because HP decided it wasn't in their interest for consumers to continue using older, perfectly good machines. I had to keep my Windows 7 laptop so I could print (using a manual memory stick from my Win11 laptop). It's ridiculous. This is how HP lost its way.

#printers

@ross Inkjet printers are already one of the greatest ripoffs of all time, but now HP decides "hey let's make ink a subscription, that won't piss anyone off!" Will be getting a Brother Laser soon.

@ross I totally agree, from years mi home printer is a Monocrome Laser Brother, hundreds of pages printed for a laugh prize with compatible supplies... I would be mad for paying again for unicorn blood (colour ink)

@ross 6 or 7 year ago, I purchased a used Brother laser printer (some model from 2004) from my old employer for 5€.

It still prints and the cartridge I got it with still works. It also doesn't need any driver installation on Linux or Windows. Shit just works.

Sometimes I have to kick the paper feeder for it to catch a sheet.

@ross I’ve been using a Dell 1350cnw which I got for free in a promotion when I bought a set of Toner in 2010. It’s a rebranded Brother machine and it’s still going strong! (Aside from the fact that Dell never released drivers for 32 bit operating systems so I have to keep an old Mac running as a printer server!)

@ross "Neither has fallen off the WiFi or insisted I sign up for an ink-related hostage situation or" 😂

@ross Printers are such a scam that im tempted to become a caveman and use a pencil

@ross nice, it's not even an April 1st article. I have a Brother printer, it comes from a long line of Brothers my wife has owned. It annoys me that it won't scan to a USB stick and the document scanner isn't two sided, but otherwise it's good enough and cheap.