zlacker

I bought a brother printer once largely because of the praise I see in HN, but it was a color inkjet printer. It did not work out well. At first it was great, but I don't print much and ink dried on the print head and the 'cleaning' mode used up all the ink and and basically it never worked properly again after that. I ended up tossing it for a POS canon inkjet. I don't print often, but when I do I want color so a BW laserjet isn't a good fit.

>>Eddy_V+(OP)
The praise is for Brother LASER printers.

It's universally coupled with a lot discussion about how much of a scam inkjet printers are from any company.

> I don't print often, but when I do I want color so a BW laserjet isn't a good fit.

.....then....buy....a Brother COLOR laser?

The levels of arrogance in "well I can just throw out more than half the advice" is breathtaking...

...and then you have the nerve to blame the community?

>>Eddy_V+(OP)
Does the Canon not dry up?

>>KennyB+K6
TBH my Brother multifunction colour inkjet/scanner is also better than any I've used from any other printer manufacturer. No activation junk or "genuine cartridge" nonsense, it just prints.

>>Eddy_V+(OP)
Definitely consider the outlay for a colour laser printer. I've had one for around 5 years and it has been no trouble and is always ready to print, scan and copy.

>>KennyB+K6
The mastodon post to which this discussion refers to doesn't mention the word laser, nor do most of the recommendations in the rest of this discussion.

>>Doctor+x9
Really? I thought Brother started started blocking third-party ink a couple years ago, even pushing firmware updates for older Wi-Fi printers that previously allowed it.

>>g-b-r+Ve
Every person learns about printers the same way.

1) Buy a cheap inkjet printer

2) Discover it runs out of quick within ~50-100 pages

3) Learn about the distinction between laser and inkjet printing

4) Buy only Brother laser printers for the rest of your life

It's a rite of passage at this point.

>>Mashim+E8
It can, but on the cheap canons the printhead is part of the ink canister, so if you just have to get new ink and problem solved. On the brother they use a higher quality printhead that is part of the printer. Good, unless something happens to that head and you can't fix it.

>>KennyB+K6
A color laser is worth several cheap inkjets. I don't print much so its actually cheaper to use a crappy inkjet and throw it out and get a new crappy inkjet multiple times then get a single color laserjet.

>>guredd+B9
I love my color laser, but depending on what you're printing they're either not ideal (photos) or not always possible (sublimation, transfers, some adhesives, most things involving heat; laser-specialized materials might be available but won't work as well).

Inkjet is also typically more viable for non-commercial borderless and supertabloid printing, like large prints and posters.

>>starkp+N32
That sounds like fairly specific usage. My color laser has served me well for document printing, both color and black and white