Every home printer I’ve owned, regardless of the brand, has been difficult to set up in the first place and then will stop working from time to time without an obvious reason until it eventually craps out. Even when consistently using the maintenance functions.
In: Technology
I dunno, I’ve had two HPs, and then a Canon now for over 15 years and is technically “not supported” but the Win8 driver still works fine on Win11. The 2nd HP I only had to replace because cat jumped on the tray and flipped the thing on the floor… parts everywhere lol. So the Canon has a self opening tray and is also very solid and the tray barely attached so if the cat did jump on it it would just break the tray. That’s the whole reason I got the printer (gotta love cats).
I’ve never used the maintenance functions so don’t know anything about that.
All inkjets, so the obvious the ink dries out after a year or so even if you don’t use it. other than that no issues.
Maybe if you want a good inkjet get a mid range home one and not the cheap ones (my mom goes through them like candy too, then there was the shit show if her trying to refill the ink, which I’d told her not to do).
The fundamental issue is that the printers themselves are sold at a loss, and the ink is sold for huge profits. This gives companies zero incentive to make the printer actually good, instead trying to make them as cheap as possible while still having a competitive price point, while also making ink the most inconvenient thing ever so that you have to buy a lot of it.
I’ve found that if you’re willing to go for the higher end more expensive printers, at a price point where they actually might make some profit, then they aren’t nearly as bad.
I feel like things really went south for printers when they forced you to use WiFi and you could no longer connect them to USB.
Home printers are like the toys you got as a kid. They seem fun at first, but they’re made with cheaper parts to keep the price low. This means they break easily and are hard to fix. Also, companies make more money from selling you ink than the printer itself. So, they don’t have a big reason to make the printer super fancy and long-lasting. They want you to keep buying new ones and more ink.
Printer companies make their money by making printers that don’t last very long. We call this “planned obsolescence” in business. They do this by making the ink cartridges run out quickly, by designing the printers to break after a certain amount of time, and by releasing software updates that make older printers stop working. They also use marketing to make people want to buy new printers, even if they don’t need them. And they make it so that you have to buy their expensive ink cartridges and other supplies. It’s a big scam, and it’s really annoying..
My suggestion to beat the printer industry, is to ditch traditional inkjet printers. Consider an EcoTank printer with refillable ink tanks, dramatically reducing ink costs. If you print a lot, a laser printer, though pricey upfront, might be cheaper in the long run due to toner lasting longer. If you don’t need color, a black and white laser printer is a great option. Finally, if possible, switch to digital documents and e-signatures to reduce the need for printing altogether.
TLDR: Home printers are made to be cheap and break easily. Companies make more money selling ink than printers, so they don’t want them to last. To avoid the trap, try EcoTank or laser printers, or go digital when you can.
I hope someone in Brother corporate reads this sub and appreciates all this deserved praise
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