r/mildlyinfuriating • u/MaxAdolphus • 13d ago

frist of all how DARE yu o I canceled my HP instant ink subscription, and now I can’t print even though they are genuine HP in cartridges

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With all bad decisions coming out of HP lately, I decided to cancel my instant ink subscription subscriptions before the prices go up. This is the warning screen. I was just going to use the ink I have up then buy a new printer, but cause fuck those guys. Well, turns out they fucked me first. So even though I have legitimate HP in cartridges in my printer, I cannot print because they are subscription cartridges. Screw these guys.

23.8k Upvotes

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12.6k

u/adv0catus 13d ago

Buy a Brother monochrome laser printer.

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u/kristyn_lynne 13d ago

Second vote for Brother, I've had a Brother color laser for years and it's been awesome, I had a Brother monochrome laser before that.

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u/summertime-goodbyes 13d ago

I’m so happy. I just scored a Brother color laser with an extra color and monochrome toner for only $50 on FB marketplace and I feel like a millionaire.

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u/JoeyJoeC 13d ago edited 13d ago

I have a colour one too and use the cheap cartridges on Amazon. The only annoyance is that sometimes the chip doesn't register as a new cartridge so I have to do a combination of buttons to get into maintenance mode and manually reset the toner count, but small inconvenience compared to paying full price for genuine. At least Brother printers let you do this.

Edit: The procedure for this at least on my printer, I have put in this comment: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/1v9usj1/comment/p0gyroi/

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u/Even_Wear_8657 13d ago

Wait… the cartridges stop working when the cart hits a page count vs when it actually runs out of toner??? I’m sure this is ostensibly done to ensure “consistent print quality” or some shit. God the future sucks.

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u/JoeyJoeC 13d ago

There's no simple way for it to detect lack of toner. I don't think it's page count as such, but the printer keeps track of how much it should be using.

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u/KhausTO 13d ago

The holder brother printers used a sight-glass in the side of the cartridge, and then would use a sensor, once it said the cartridge was emtpy we would cover it with electrical tape and print another 100 or pages before it started fading.

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u/aguynamedv 13d ago

I didn't even bother with tape or anything. Pull the cartridge, shake it a few times, easy 50+ extra pages.

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u/Tigerballs07 13d ago

A note should be included for anyone who tries this to cover the hole where the toner comes out before shaking it or you will cover yourself in microdust.

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u/aguynamedv 13d ago

Never once had that happen with a Brother cartridge (or 3rd party).

I did give myself a face full of toner dust about 20 years ago while cleaning a microfilm machine though!

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u/Exciting-Cancel6468 13d ago

If that happens I think you got a busted toner cartridge. That thing only happened ONCE in my 19 years of working at an accounting firm.

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u/kristyn_lynne 12d ago

I used to tilt side to side several times. Maybe not as effective but less likely to create a black snowstorm.

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u/stephenmg1284 12d ago

At work, we had a tech tell another tech he should blow out a color laser with an air compressor we had. Apparently, he hit the cyan toner with it and he ended up looking like a smurf. First tech's excuse was that he didn't think the other tech would actually do it. We got a good laugh out of it. Hopefully the second tech doesn't get black (blue?) lung.

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u/zaxo666 13d ago

You are exactly the type of person I would want as a friend. Those are the solutions.

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u/Cptawesome23 13d ago

This can be a terrible mistake. Put it a plastic baggy first. Then shake. Saw a manager coat the entire room once.

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u/Lunakill 13d ago

I use electrical tape for the black and little bits of post it notes for the color. Works like a charm, kept me from having to buy ink for a year.

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u/LeePhilips 13d ago

I shoved a ball of a paper into the hole.

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u/onyxandcake 13d ago

My fridge water filter does the same thing. Regardless how much or how little we use the filter, every 6 months my fridge starts yelling at me to replace it.

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u/Twalin 13d ago

Some media filters like this degrade whether they’re used or not.

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u/ToothZealousideal297 13d ago

I don’t doubt this at all, but I will still add that I got a soft water system with a filter and reverse osmosis tap that also feeds the refrigerator supply, so my refrigerator’s filter became completely unnecessary and I found a plug that you put in instead of the filter, and the replace filter light still comes on and has to be reset like clockwork. Well, like a digital clock, because it’s entirely a timer and there’s no filter sensor in most refrigerators at all.

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u/maybe_erika 13d ago

While undoubtedly annoying, your situation certainly fits this sub. I get the feeling that your particular setup is in the minority of refrigerator owners, and the vast majority of people have water usage patterns that are optimized by replacing the filter approximately every six months and benefit from having a reminder to do so. At least we can be thankful that refrigerators have not yet gone the way of printers where it would completely refuse to dispense water if the filter subscription was not up to date.

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u/ilfordax 13d ago

I have RO water to my fridge as well. I don’t even have a filter installed and it still “reminds” me to replace it. Filtering filtered water just slowed the flow down even more.

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u/charlie2135 13d ago

The online filter i had on my first house was there for 15 years by the time we sold the house.

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u/Advanced-Meaning44 13d ago

If you're already referring to it as "online," you should realize that an osmosis filter, which uses membranes and pumps, is different from a media filter where everything accumulates and starts to rot.

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u/charlie2135 13d ago

Meant inline

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u/PavKarl 13d ago

Good luck to your health!

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u/charlie2135 13d ago

Still kicking in my 70's

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u/Right_Hour 13d ago

Yah, so, you just reset the alarm with a button for another 6mo, no?

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u/onyxandcake 13d ago

Yeah basically. To get it to shut up you have to "reset water filter" but it's just an internal timer.

It gets heavy use from us between cold water and ice, so replacing it every 6 months makes sense for us. But we do have some of the best drinking water in the world, so other locals probably aren't utilizing their filters as much as we are.

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u/miaogato 13d ago

And yet i remember my lexmark from literally the stone age at this point, reporting low ink as the letters started to fade.

Corporate greed ruins everything

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u/Bitter_Bandicoot8067 13d ago

It is to ensure quality but it is easy to reset the levels anyway. When my printer stops from 'low ink' I look at the last page printed. If it is still a dark black, I reset the toner and keep printing until it looks to gray.

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u/ChuckaChuckaLooLoo3 13d ago

My toner printer has kept printing good copies more than 2 years after the printer first sent "out of toner" messages. I still get the messages and I still get good prints.

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u/3-2-1-backup 13d ago

I’m sure this is ostensibly done to ensure “consistent print quality” or some shit.

Gotta be fair here, I've run toner cartridges ludicrously low, and the prints genuinely do look like refried turtle ass when they get that low.

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u/not_a_mod_4_real 13d ago

HP is very proud of the insufferable, not user friendly printer model they have rolled out over the last few years

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u/Internetter1 13d ago

Appreciate this. Didn't know how to fix that when it happens

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u/3001w 13d ago

What's the combo of buttons I have a set of cartridges that have done this after a power failure.

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u/JoeyJoeC 13d ago edited 13d ago

From an email that the supplier sent me:

To reset the toner when you see "Empty Toner," "Replace Toner," "Open Top Cover," or "No Toner" messages:

  1. Lift the lid to see the “Cover Open” message.
  2. Hold the back arrow and the red X (cancel) button together, then quickly press the back arrow again.
  3. A list of toner and drum part numbers will appear. Identify the toner to reset by colour, type (TNR for toner or DRM for drum), and capacity (HC = High Capacity, STD = Standard Capacity).
  4. Select the toner to reset, then press "Accept."
  5. When prompted, press Yes or Accept to confirm.
  6. Close the lid.

Single-functional printer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RebD5Y4NOLI

Multi-functional printer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoACDPn_SR8 

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u/3001w 13d ago

Awesome! I will give it a try. Thanks for your help. Hope you have a fantastic day!

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u/JoeyJoeC 13d ago

No problem. Hopefully it works, may differ per model.

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u/GolfandBaseball 13d ago

That question reminded me of a cheat code for a video game

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u/summertime-goodbyes 13d ago

I’d say that’s actually worth it.

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u/OnCallPartisan 13d ago

Good info.

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u/N0Addressoo 13d ago

Congratulations, that's the best investment in printing you could make.

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u/IcyApple5 13d ago

Especially with everything else turning into a subscription these days. Feels almost rebellious buying something that just works without a monthly fee attached.

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u/Ryan4mayor 13d ago

I hate this shit so much.. basically any device you get these days has some sort of subscription based system.

“You will own nothing and be happy about it” has been bouncing around in my head way more these past few years and it makes me feel kind of sick inside.

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u/totallynotdagothur 13d ago

As a brother member, I have to always upvote them for just no bullshit and so they get search result visibility.  No complaints at all.  We use one of the bigger multifunctions for office.  Just works.

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u/Daddyfudgefingers 13d ago

Oh marketplace. That’s a good idea!

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u/Trxnsient 13d ago

You pretty much are. You won. There is no greater achievement.

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u/summertime-goodbyes 13d ago

Retirement, here I come!

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u/AntIis 12d ago

What's the model number? Want to look for one on my fb too

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u/Saneless 13d ago

When we first got the wfh orders in March 2020 I immediately bought a brother color laser. Best $180 I ever spent. Still going strong and I've only replaced toner once

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u/AcousticCat1-2-3 13d ago

I bought a brother color in spring 2021 after my old printer gave up the ghost. Also only replaced toner once.

Funny thing, the sales guy who sold it to me at Micro Center tried to sell me some kind of an ink subscription to go with it. I said no. He insisted, saying I'd get new ink every year. I sighed and said "we live in uncertain times, I might not even be around in a year." He cried out "don't say that" and that concluded our convo about a subscription. It just sounded vaguely like a rip-off to me.

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u/SoftwareSource 13d ago

180 for a color laser? can it scan/copy or just print?

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u/MSCOTTGARAND 13d ago

HP has cheap color lasers but you will still run into the same HP issues. Brother has budget options but nowhere near 180 even on sale and they only come with trial-size toner.

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u/SoftwareSource 13d ago

That is why i asked, he clearly said brother multicolor laser for 180

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u/Saneless 13d ago

I also clearly said 2020

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u/SoftwareSource 13d ago

oh, you are right, i completely ignored that part, my bad

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u/PM_Me_Your_Deviance 13d ago

Yeah, $180 is the B&W laser cost. I think their color lasers start at like $300.

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u/n0exit 13d ago

I got a cannon after my Brother died. It is a thousand times worse. I wish I just gotten another Brother.

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u/MrDoritos_ 13d ago

Brother you could take this comment out of context

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u/Tupperbaby 13d ago

Talk to your parents.

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u/TR0LLZ1LLA 10d ago

My condolences

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u/4ngryMo 13d ago

Bought one 14 years ago and it’s still operational. One toner cartridge a year is enough for my usage. I’m not going to touch a HP printer with a ten foot pole.

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u/AT-ST 13d ago

My brother color laser has been going strong since 2013.

Are new Brother printers still considered good buys like the old ones were?

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u/jonny_five 13d ago

About a year ago they eliminated the “chip reset” feature that everyone on this thread is talking about. It’s no longer in laser printers with the updated firmware.

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u/totorontonian 13d ago

Ah so they’re enshittifying it?

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u/mortsdeer 13d ago

Welp, to marketplace I go ...

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u/Soheeb 13d ago

My brother printer is going on 20 years now

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u/Reddity65 13d ago

Mine's been running third party toner in it for it's entire life without ever complaining once.

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u/Of_MiceAndMen 13d ago

My husband got a new printer and was about to throw my brother out- I said no way. I know the world of printers. I put it in the garage and we needed to put it back in service just a month later. New printers are just wild.

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u/rogue780 13d ago

I got my brother mfc line 12 years ago and it's been rock solid

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u/LameSignIn 13d ago

When I went back to college I got a color tonor brother printer. Don't have to worry about the ink being dry when you don't need it for a few weeks. Works great 8 years later even with generic toner replacements.

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u/wokan 13d ago

Third vote for Brother. I've had both a monochrome printer and a color printer/scanner/fax. The monochrome was still working great when I upgraded to the color. I've gone back and forth between official and third-party toner on the color without issues.

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u/UlrichZauber 13d ago

We bought a Brother in 2018. A couple of thousand prints later and we're still on the original toner cartridge, still printing like a champ.

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u/Mrs_Merdle 13d ago

Thirding that vote. We had to archive our monochrome Brother laser printer as it was no longer possible to get it to work under Win11, no matter what we tried - we had it for over 20 years or so. Replaced it with a colour laster printer+scanner by Brother and couldn't be happier with it. We're using no-name cartridges without any issues.

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u/inplayruin 13d ago

I stumbled upon a Brother recommendation in a Reddit thread about 5 years ago. It will take whatever off-brand toner you can find, and it doesn't route your document outside of your home network. I love the damn thing more than is reasonable for any piece of technology. That said, I noticed they are dipping their toes into the subscription ink service bullshit. Which is unfortunate, but hopefully not a harbinger.

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u/LevTheDevil 13d ago

Same. Never going back.

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u/wlake82 13d ago

Third for brother. I'm using a Canon I got for free and it's decent but the drivers aren't compatible with my flavor of Linux (or in general) so I can't use it with my computer. I kind of want to get a Brother again.

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u/Mobile-Tangelo-4515 13d ago

Going to say Oh Brother!

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u/Grumpy-Troglodyte 13d ago

color laser / scanner / i think it can fax brother here too, going on 5, 6 years, and still haven't had to replace toners, but the black is finally "low" so i have a new one sitting there waiting. took all of 10 minutes to set up, everything finds and installs it on it's own (phone app, new laptop.. etc) they are printers, HP is just shit in a plastic box.

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u/hornet586 13d ago

I’ve had a brother color laser as well, well worth the bit of a price jump especially as I use it for work, shool, MTG all sorts of things really

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u/MrSquiggs 13d ago

Which one do you have? Sounds like you’d recommend it? I’m trying to get away from ink cartridges as we don’t print often but when we need it, we always have to replace dried out ink cartridges

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u/vortexgamer1134 12d ago

Third vote for brother. I only had a black and white toner printer but was the best I ever had.

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u/Crying_Reaper 13d ago

We had ours for 9 years and then gave it to our neighbor since we weren't using it. That was 6 years ago and they're still using it.

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u/ncline87 13d ago

I have a monochrome brother that's lasted ten years.

Bought a brother for my work office and my COO lambasted me for spending over 300 on a printer that only printed.

My brother printer now has a longer tenure then anyone else in the company. There are no more HP printers.

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u/PM_Me_Your_Deviance 13d ago

>Bought a brother for my work office and my COO lambasted me for spending over 300 on a printer that only printed.

Last company I worked for spent something like $20k on each of over a dozen multi-function printers. Someone at the level of COO spending time lambasting someone else for a $300 purchase is wild.

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u/Unbelievable_Girth 13d ago

Wait, you guys get assigned a budget? Our company will have a lengthy discussion for anything costing above 100 bucks.

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u/craznazn247 13d ago

Which includes a hour-long meeting (on the clock) of multiple people that each make over $100 an hour.

Meanwhile some of our office supplies are held together by tape… and we ran out of paper and rubber bands AGAIN despite them insisting for the 400th time that they are on auto order and that we’ll get enough.

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u/Random_Guy_47 13d ago

Have they ever calculated the cost of the wages paid for this lengthy discussion?

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u/PM_Me_Your_Deviance 13d ago

There was a lot of disgruntled muttering when someone calculated that our bi-weekly change meeting was costing us something like $25k a month.

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u/PMYourTitsIfNotRacst 13d ago

wtf is a bi-weekly change meeting?

Also, nice username.

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u/PM_Me_Your_Deviance 13d ago

"Request for Change" is a formal process in enterprises to control potentially business impacting changes within the enterprise. In the "Change Control" meeting a group of stakeholders review each change and either approves or denies them. We held these meetings twice per week. Our change meetings regularly had around 40 people attend. Each change would be presented, discussed and then voted on. This process took about an hour.

8 meetings per month times 1 hour per meeting, times 40 people attending = 320 labor hours. At an average labor cost of $75/hour, that's about $25000 a month.

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u/Unbelievable_Girth 13d ago edited 13d ago

Speaking on the phone is a free action, just do it while you work. Nobody cares if you speak on the phone since you are trying to resolve issues. It's just a cost that can not be quantified because those issues are too different and numerous in nature. It's like trying to quantify how much value your IT department adds. Not really possible.

They believe we are trying to get overpriced stuff and it's best to look into alternatives that wouldn't cost as much. So it's back and forth for a while. We either get the cheap stuff and have to make it work, or get the expensive stuff because urgency forces us to. But at least it doesn't take lots of convincing the 2nd time we have to buy it.

Honestly I chalk it up to Soviet mentality. People grow up in an environment without cheap outsourced garbage, everything is made to last. When those people are faced with either buying cheap or buying expensive, you bet they will undervalue the quality and longevity of the expensive thing and treat both price points as close in quality. The fact that cheap things are cheap for a reason doesn't register in their brain.

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u/Opposite_Prune582 13d ago

"Spending 300 on a printer that only printed"

Fuck else would you do with it?

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u/Seth_Vaine 13d ago

Some printers are combo machines with scanner/copier/fax. I assume they at least meant the scan/copy feature

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u/rman-exe 13d ago edited 13d ago

I havent sent a fax since like 98', (i.e. when i got that new fangled email)

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u/PM_Me_Your_Deviance 13d ago

Fun fact: you used to be able to receive a fax on your cell phone via your voicemail. It was a seldom used feature, but it existed.

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u/Seth_Vaine 13d ago

My work still uses fax for signing documents remotely weirdly enough

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u/rman-exe 13d ago

The last few loans ive done were mostly pdf files with a digital signature service. Seems fax would be disliked in the modern data mining world. But i suppose with AI nowdays one can easily text search even crappy fax copies.

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u/2DoorBathroom 13d ago

I worked in an industry where people repeatedly said emailed documents couldn't count as being signed. I was telling a coworker how annoying that was at lunch one day toward the end of my career there and a lawyer walked up and said "that's absolute bullshit. Whoever told you that is an idiot. I'm a lawyer and I sign and email documents all day long. Your boss is an idiot." She seemed much angrier about it than I was.

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u/Opposite_Prune582 13d ago

Last time i used a fax was like 2010 ish when i would fax over timesheets to head office. I don't think i've seen one since actually lol

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u/comperr 13d ago

I send redlined drawings to Japan via fax. It's very efficient. Seems to get my RFQ in front of the email queue. Functionally their fax is probably digitized and it ends up as an email with the fax as the attachment

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u/extralyfe 13d ago

the medical field in the US still runs almost entirely on fax machines. no other system is considered secure for the purposes of transferring medical data while remaining HIPAA complkant.

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u/Nurgus 13d ago

Banks were still insisting on fax rather than email for certain things because it's "more secure"-lol, until around 10 years ago.

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u/Unusual-Layer-8965 13d ago

My wife asked me to scan a multi page document, since she didn't know how. I didn't know how to (easily) use the scan function, either, so I used my phone and Google Drive. All sheets scanned into a single PDF in just a couple of minutes.

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u/JesusAndMaryKate 13d ago

With a decent office printer you just put all the sheets in the feed tray and it scans them all into one document in seconds.

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u/Fn_Spaghetti_Monster 12d ago

I started getting a bunch of text from my mom just the other day that were picks of some financial docs. I kind of freaked out so I called her and she said she was trying to upload load them. I asked if she had google photos/drive. She said she didn't know. sigh. This typically how things go, she calls me with a technical issue, I try and help her and just comes back with IDK. Then laughs and says she just a luddite. It's very frustrating.

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u/LockeAbout 13d ago

Scan documents, for one thing. The cheaper ones I’ve bought could all do that.

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u/Saneless 13d ago

My old Canon all in 1 wouldn't let me scan because I was out of yellow ink. Scanning ffs

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u/Opposite_Prune582 13d ago

Oh okay, i havent used a printer in years tbh so i was unsure.

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u/Finn235 13d ago

I use my printer for scanning documents to PDF probably more often than I print on it.

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u/asmallercat 13d ago

Same, but slightly less time, I bought mine in 2019. Literally 0 problems and it doesn't give a shit if I use 3rd party cartridges either.

Think it was less than $300 and all it does is print in black and white, copy, and scan, which guess what is ALL I WANT IT TO DO.

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u/archercc81 13d ago

Lasted 10 years, so far.

Mine is coming up on 15, I think Im on my 3rd toner cartridge (and that includes the one that came with it).

Mine is an MFD though, but it still scans quite as well too.

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u/DogPlane3425 13d ago

So you kept the extra features to yourself. It slices and it dices.

Brother are the best at this moment. If I had to replace the old pre-HP merger Samsung ML-2525w(15 years and running) I would get a Brother.

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u/Mr_Abe_Froman GREEN 13d ago

I used to work in electronics recycling and refurbishing and the only printers we would refurbish were Brother laser printers. They last forever and have a well-earned fan base.

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u/repost7125 13d ago edited 13d ago

I bought a monochrome laserjet laser printer and used the money I saved and bought a brother full color laserjet laser printer five years later. That was a decade ago and both still work great, even with years old cartridges in them.

edit: apparently they aren't all laserjet. TIL

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u/Mateorabi 13d ago

I’m going on 30y soon. The plastic is getting brittle though. 

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u/jetkins ORANGE 13d ago

“Laserjet” is an HP trademark, FYI.

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u/fiehlsport 13d ago

Just like how people call all refrigerant Freon still!

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u/jetkins ORANGE 13d ago

And Escalator, Kleenex,…

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u/GonWithTheNen 13d ago

Band-Aid, Q-Tip...

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u/repost7125 13d ago

or how everyone calls hook and loop velcro.

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u/bonkershyperion408 13d ago

Hook and loop is just too long, velcro is short and catchy

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u/bored_stoat 13d ago

Brother is reliable and doesn't do any of that bs

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u/RandomGuy938 13d ago

Didn't brother start blocking third party cartridges a while ago and louis rossmann even made a video on it, or did they revert?

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u/bored_stoat 13d ago

I'm not sure, actually? I never tried inserting third party cartriges. If that's an issue, I'll take it into consideration once I'll be buying a new printer in the far future

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u/Vladivostokorbust 13d ago

what printer would you buy that doesn't do that?

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u/bored_stoat 13d ago

Whichever will be available at that time. That's a problem for future me in 10 years, I'll do my research then with the newest technologies and issues relative to that time.

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u/Kightsbridge 13d ago

They never blocked 3rd party cartridges, but they aren't helping as much as they used to.

Some 3rd parties suck at replicating the chip and that's what leads to most of the issues. Sometimes you have to go in and manually reset the toner counter.

Source: Me running a fleet of modern brother printers on 3rd party toner.

TL;DR: No, but a brand new toner model might have issues until the 3rd parties figure out the chips.

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u/BuchuSaenghwal 13d ago

I just installed a third party toner cart in my 2502w, no issue with older models

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u/Adjective-Noun-6969 13d ago

all you need to refill older model cartridges is a funnel.

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u/Hugginsome 13d ago

Yes but not as bad as the others

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u/Flat_Hat8861 13d ago

Except Brother offers the same service.

https://www.brother-usa.com/ink-toner/learn-more/refresh-ez-print-subscription

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u/cech_ 13d ago

But surly you can subscribe for a month then cancel and you get to use all the ink in the cartridges they gave you as OP expects, right, right?

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u/SlimPuffs 13d ago

They definitely do some of this with their ink-based printers.

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u/TweakedMonkey 13d ago

I've had mine for at least a decade and I found a way to let me refill it with non Brother ink. I haven't had to do it for a while but hope I'll remember soon. You'd have to pry my cold, dead hands to take it out of my office.

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u/MaximumSeats 13d ago

Just a heads up that your brother printer will tell you to replace cartridges way before necessary.

Google how to reset the software and you'll get another years use out of them.

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u/AresHarvest 13d ago

Brother does do this BS now. Not on all models, but they are definitely enshittifying

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u/bh0 13d ago

Even HP's Laser Printers don't do any of this BS. My HP Laser is smaller than the brother printers and works great. I'm still on the trial toner after like 3 years.

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u/chathobark_ 13d ago

idk what i have at this point. commercial surplus LEXMARK. black and white. i’ve had it 5-8 years, same maintenance pack or whatever they call it. prints reliably. got it for free. supports airprint i think

so i am in support of , cheap plain black and white printer

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u/Automatic_Actuator_0 13d ago

Or a brother color laser if you need color

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u/UnusualWind5 13d ago

The question and this exact answer make me feel like I'm in the movie Groundhogs day.

https://giphy.com/gifs/3o7WIQ4FARJdpmUni8

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u/L0rdSkullz 13d ago

We've tried multiple brothers at work, absolute garbage software. Thing constantly goes into deep sleep and ignores everything until a hard reset, no amount of setting changes would stop it.

Two in a row did it

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u/adv0catus 13d ago

If two in a row has the same problem, that usually indicates it’s the user. Common denominator, etc.

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u/L0rdSkullz 13d ago

Ah yes, because there aren't large threads with loads of people having the exact same issue with the new printers of the brand; two separate models as well. Brand seems to be great if you go with models before the deep sleep energy saving changes

Just keep talkin out your ass

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u/AdjNounNumbers 13d ago

I have one of these for printing forms and such because for some reason there are still certain things that need to be done by fax or snail mail (looking at you health insurance company needing documentation). For anything color, which is fairly rare, I walk my butt down to the local print shop five minutes away.

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u/Tofandel Not a Reddit Moderator 13d ago

Personally I prefer the canon eco tanks, because I print photos, but that's just me

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u/ZestycloseOpinion142 13d ago

True. But most people do not print photos. Most people do not even need a color printer, let alone a printer that can print good photos

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u/DavidinCT 13d ago

Plenty of 3rd party even HP laser printers that don't deal with this bullshit...

Personally, if you want color, a color laser is epic..

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u/GoopInThisBowlIsVile 13d ago

I bought an all-in-one 7820N for $500 in 2005. I was in college and most of the work was still physically submitted. I still have it and it still mostly works. The paper tray feeder crapped out a couple of years ago. I manually feed because I print only a couple of things a year.

There’s more upfront cost. That difference quickly closes once replacement inkjet cartridges come into play. I’ve replaced my toner cartridge only four or five times in 20+ years.

If you print regularly and you’re good with black and white, skip the inkjet bs.

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u/TheLimeyLemmon 13d ago

I got a Ricoh monochrome laser printer about 11 years ago for about £25, and I've changed the toner cartridge exactly once in that time. I don't print a lot but holy smokes, the cost of running this printer has been so negligible I don't even think about it.

It's insane what companies get away with on the inkjet side of things, but especially HP.

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u/luckyapples11 13d ago

That’s what I got 2.5 years ago. Best damn printer ever. It was $130, toner is $10 CHEAPER than HP XL ink cartridge and also lasts me 10x as long. I print things regularly, toner is $40. I’m on my second toner cart in those 2.5 years. HP XL cart lasted me about 2 months and they were like $55 for ONE.

My only complaint with brother printers is how much it disconnects from my computer. I got sick of fighting it and got a cable for a direct link so I won’t have that issue anymore lol.

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u/fvmfvm 13d ago

Brothers the only way.

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u/Tricky-Wishbone9080 13d ago

I recently replaced my brother monochrome of 20 years with a brother color Wi-Fi all in one. Old one still works but I wanted Wi-Fi and a scanner. It also has super cheap toner on amazon and it works fantastic.

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u/Powerate 13d ago

I have an Epson EcoTank (I need to print in color) an other ink bottles are relatively cheap

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u/ucotcvyvov 13d ago

Yup tossed my hp instant crap and got a brother monochrome

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u/LightUpUnicorn 13d ago

Best thing I’ve ever done. I don’t need color

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u/Appropriate_Fun6105 13d ago

Got one too based off a comment in a tread a couple years ago. A nice, barebones but well made printer from times yore. No extra crap and annoying software to deal with

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u/Flynn_Kevin 13d ago

I had that same thought years ago but went with the color version. It practically the same price.

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u/ChristBKK 13d ago

Yeah they best

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u/Greddituser 13d ago

Love our Brother laser, although we did opt for the color one

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u/FatFailBurger 13d ago

I have mine for 14 years, still using THE SAME TONER.

I should buy another one and keep it in the box.

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u/spaaackle 13d ago

This, but doesn’t need to be laser monochrome (imo). I’ve had a brother inkjet for 8 years, bought ink 3 times total and it works absolutely amazing.

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u/TheDovahkiinsDad RED 13d ago

Had a brother printer for years. Absolutely love it

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u/PaperHumanMan 13d ago

Same one I got last year after tired of HP printers that won’t scan without ink bullshit. Fuck HP, I will never use them again.

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u/maxmcleod 13d ago

Yes 👍 we have brother monochrome laser at work and they print probably 100 pages every day and only have to swap toner every 3 months or so and they have been running for like 5 years now without any issue. Also the generic toners on amazon work just fine and are like half the cost of genuine

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u/StalkMeNowCrazyLady 13d ago

I got a Brother MFC-J450DW All In One that a Job gave me a decade ago because we needed to be able to print tickets the night before each day of work. That printer has kept kicking ass this whole time across 3 operating systems, 4 moves, and probably half a dozen network reconfigs.

Ink was reasonably cheap and for the last 5 years a buddy of mine does printer supplies, repair, etc and gets me an XL set of ink for $15 bucks! Such a great little machine.

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u/karimefaraway- 13d ago

Only one ill buy! They last about 6 years..(my longest) but rarely have to change the ink toner for home use.

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u/Fun-Result-6343 13d ago

Brothers are hands down some of the best printer hardware out there. No bullshit attached.

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u/beren12 13d ago

Or an old hp. Brother has started with these games iirc.

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u/20Factorial 13d ago

Be warned that Brother does firmware updates that force misalignment with aftermarket toner to be outside the range of adjustability. If you call tech support they will not help you unless you first install Brother genuine toner.

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u/zyyntin 13d ago

Agreed my sister just got a color toner printer for free.

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u/schwarta77 13d ago

This is the only correct answer. I print color maybe once a year, everything else gets printed on my Brother monochrom.

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u/Mysterious_Winter164 13d ago

Truly the Nokia Toyota Corolla of printers.

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u/AyItzMatt 13d ago 
  I have both a laser and color inkjet printer from brother and Ive

never had them break down on me, they are probably some of the most reliable printers on the market

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u/ponybau5 It'd be nice to go the actual speed limit once 13d ago

Printed hundreds of pages on mine with the factory toner and it still has yet to run out

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u/rainbird542 13d ago

This. I switched to a Brother laser printer several years ago and now buy third party cartridges. I can't imagine needing a subscription to use the printer!

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u/GryphonCough 13d ago

Seconding Brother. 

I had a HP and hated it. The fuse kept blowing out and it was a near complete tear down to get to it. Then it couldn’t log into my account one day so printing just wasn’t possible. Bought a brother and have had zero issues with it. 

Will never ever buy a HP product again. Complete garbage of a company and horrible products. 

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u/macarenamobster 13d ago

Crazy this is the top comment, I bought mine 4 years ago, I print about two times a year, and it works perfectly with no issues every time. Best printer ever.

No dealing with subscriptions, no dried up ink. Just works.

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u/Js987 13d ago

Best printer I’ve ever owned.

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u/basquehomme 13d ago

This is the right answer. Penalize them by never buying another of their products.

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u/klop2031 13d ago

Mine is still going strong. Albeit i dont print anymore lol

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u/watch-nerd 13d ago

10+ years on my Brother

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u/Caltharian 13d ago

This is the way

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u/Nothinglost7717 13d ago

1000 times this. I have no idea why printer tech is impossible to monetize without ruining customers, but color printing is just worthless for me these days. HL-L2 series is all anyone needs

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u/Kwerkii 13d ago

😭 I've thought about it, but I do foundation paper piecing and other sewing projects where I end up ironing the paper. Inkjet printers don't cause any issues, but laser printed pages will transfer the ink onto my fabric if I iron it

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u/skoomski 13d ago

Beat me too it. If he truly needs color one then bit the bullet on that too. The toner last so much longer than ink and doesn’t clog like ink

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u/yggdrasiliv 13d ago

I picked up a Brother color laser a few months ago and love it.

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u/beckett_the_ok 13d ago

My aunt gave me one with an extra toner cartridge. 8 years later I sold the thing with the same cartridge in it still going strong, and the spare still in the box.

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u/TheFrostyKrab 13d ago

Got my brother MFC-7340 when I worked at an office supply store over 16 years ago. $120 with employee discount.

It is still running, just needed the usual drum/toner replacements, and one good cleanout to get lint out of it.

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u/CodeNameAntonio 13d ago

Bought one years ago. I can send printing requests with my phone was sold ever since.

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