Which brother do you have / recommend?
I have been quiet happy with my OKI but the phone connection is the only letdown so far and I might change for a brother in the future.
I have a brother HL-2270dw that I've been using for more than 10 years that I'm happy with. I don't think they make that exact model anymore, but Wirecutter recommends the HL-2350dw (I don't know what you get for the extra $10 to get a HL-2370dw):
https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-home-printer...
I've got it hooked up to my wired network, and have never had an issue with it. I really like the duplex printing.
I prefer my devices to do one thing, so I've avoided combo devices.
Considering the price difference between these units, I opted for the MFC-L3770CDW because I do not print that often and I've spent far more over years on wasted ink from dried out cartridges and destroyed print heads; but it's still an important factor to keep in mind.
I got accused of being a shill last time I posted about it, so I'm preempting this by calling it out. :-)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37006705#37007593
However it just sits there asleep at an extremely low wattage most of the time, then pops instantly to life the moment a page is sent to it - as bgirard pointed out, without even needing to install a driver - and then back to sleep. And this is on wifi.
Loved it enough to buy another one when the first one went to my ex.
I'll use the full duplex occasionally, it's worth having years down the track from purchase time for the tiny price bump over the base.
I own an Epson eco-tank inkjet and happy with it, but I'm not invested in convincing others about it. I wouldn't put a laser printer in my house. Regardless of whether it's actually a proven health risk, I don't want my printer emitting tiny particles. And I want the option of good quality colour prints using different paper types and thickness.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31860131
There are ways around their particular DRM - for now - but who knows how long it'll be until they're as bad as HP and friends:
I gave up doing photo printing at home. These days I'll just order prints online. If I want it quick or save on postage I'll just pick it up at a convenience store close by. The break even on a new high end photo printer is after thousands of photos by comparison, and even then its only marginally cheaper per print. Once my last photo printer had some assembly fall apart inside from brittle plastic cracking I moved on to this Brother.
Canon in general have been good printers in my experience. I recently bought one of their low end inkjets because I needed to print some photos. That printer also works great & has a highly customizable web interface built in - I didn't expect it to be that feature complete for $45.
I've had 2 brother printers over the years & they were fine - for whatever reason though one of them would refuse to print from a Chromebook. Every other printer I've used in the last 10 years has essentially 'just worked' with any device capable of speaking to it except this Brother. Known issue & they never released a firmware update to fix it.
I bought one a few months ago. Best computer-related thing I've purchased in ages. It JUST WORKS.
As the review says,
Here’s the best printer in 2023: the Brother laser
printer that everyone has. Stop thinking about it
and just buy one. It will be fine! [...]
The Brother whatever-it-is will print return labels
for online shopping, never run out of toner, and
generally be a printer instead of the physical
instantiation of a business model.
From your link.
""" ... And here’s 275 words about printers I asked ChatGPT to write so this post ranks in search because Google thinks you have to pad out articles in order to demonstrate “authority,” but I am telling you to just buy whatever Brother laser printer is on sale and never think about printers again. ChatGPT ideas about printers (I didn’t even proofread this. Don’t read it unless you are a lonely Google search robot, in which case look at this incredible demonstration of experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness and rank this post first in searches for “best printer.”)
Laser printers are popular choices for home and office use because they offer fast printing speeds, h... """
I also have a Canon MF6160dw black and white laser printer, scanner, copier, fax that is a bit older and it's had even more use. It's great, and I use it to scan to my Synology NAS all the time as well.
I'm very, very happy with these two printers.
I can vouch for the HL-2170DW (B&W only version) as well. Costco has been selling it for years.
The only downside is that it takes some trial and error to figure out which instructions actually reset the cartridge EEPROMs
I paid $350 for a multifunction multicolor device like others are mentioning and it lasted 13-15 months before failing to power on and Brother refusing to help make it right. There was a rash of these models having this issue where it just bricks and wont turn back on so maybe they learned but they lost all goodwill with me.
Happily printing on a Canon now.
If you need color printing, it tends to be expensive.