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Best printer 2024: a humorous critique of the Google search engine, LLMs and printer enshittification (www.theverge.com)
submitted 2 years ago* by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 81 points 2 years ago* (34 children)

Hey, I own that printer! It's a good printer.

Remember kids, always buy laser, never inkjet.

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  • [–] 18 points 2 years ago* (5 children)

    Yup, I've had a previous model (HL-2170W) since like 2006. The nic is dying now, but the printer works fine.

    Brother printers are the only brand anyone should buy.

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  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    Same, and the only maintenance I've ever needed for mine is putting paper in it

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  • [–] 13 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I'd agree with the exception of artists who sell their printed work (ex: photographers, graphic designers). They're not only making money from their prints but also printing in color frequently enough that the cartridge doesn't dry out.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago

    All the photographers I know have a deal with a local professional printing service. It's not just the higher printing quality, the service can also do bound albums, hard covers and other stuff that's impossible on a home printer.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago

    We have three of them at my office. I am certain we exceed the duty cycle they were designed for by several times. The one at the front desk has been bitching about needing an imaging drum replacement for I think three years at this point, and it still prints just fine. I'll put a new drum in it when the existing one stops working.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (9 children)

    Anyone have a recommendation for a small color laser printer? Like shoebox size.

    My place is pretty small, and I don’t have much desk or shelf space. It doesn’t make sense for me to waste desk space on something that I use 1-3 times a year.

    I’ve been using one of these tiny HPs. The ink is a fucking racket, and I’d love a laser alternative. This size is great. I can fold the trays and throw it in a drawer. It’s only 16 x 5.5 x 7in.

    Edit: Found one. It the HP LaserJet Pro M15w

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago* (2 children)

    I don't think you'll find a color laser printer that size. They use pretty large drums to hold the toner. It'd be hard to even find a mono laser printer in that size.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago

    They use comparatively tiny drums these days, but they inherently need four of them all in a row, one each for cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. That usually makes even the smaller ones quite deep, front to back, in my experience.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    If you only need it 1-3 times/year, why not just go to your local library? In my area, it's $0.10 for B&W, $0.25 for color, and I can get some books to read at the same time (I go almost weekly).

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    Convenience. I can’t print when the library is closed, I need to travel over there, if need to print another revision, I need to travel back.

    Ideally like the convenience, but I don’t want to deal with HPs shitty ink sponges that instantly dry out. I’d like something that lasts.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (3 children)

    Well, I guess you need to decide what the convenience is worth. An ink cartridge dries out in 2-3 years and toner can last a decade or more (I honestly don't know, ours finally ran out after 8-ish).

    Laser printers aren't that big, mine (B&W with scanner) is about a piece of paper and a half in all directions. I got it for $150 or so on a sale from Costco (currently listed for $250), and it like like the color version is a little taller but similar footprint (but also more expensive at just $390). Official dimensions of the Brother color laser printer (MFC-L3765CDW): 16.1 in. x 17.5 in. x 15.8 in.

    I personally know need B&W, and if I needed color, I'd just go to the library since I go almost every week anyway.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (2 children)

    Yup. I’m just wondering if something like the tiny ink jets exists for laser printing. I could get a slightly bigger printer, but if I can get a similar size or smaller, I would prefer that.

    Looks like I just found one. The HP LaserJet Pro M15w is about the same form factor as my inkjet. Problem is that is BW only, and an HP.

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  • [+] -9 points 2 years ago (13 children)

    I don't own a printer because it's 2024 and the only good reason to own a printer is photo/art prints at a scale where outsourcing it isn't economical.

    I'm aware other reasons exist, but they're bad reasons that mostly boil down to someone being bad at computers.

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  • [–] 13 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    Nah, there are definitely cases where you need to print stuff on paper, and need said paper fast enough to warrant a printer. If I use my company credit card for expenses I need to account for that, and for legal reasons I need to send that to our accountant in printed form. I can't legally mail it to him.

    Now I could obviously take 30 minutes and print it at the library, but those 30 minutes would add up fairly fast, making a printer the more accessible and economical option.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Now I could obviously take 30 minutes and print it at the library, but those 30 minutes would add up fairly fast, making a printer the more accessible and economical option.

    Privacy is also an issue. There might be reasons why you don't want to have something printed out at the library/local print shop, like if it's tax documents, and someone hitting "repeat job" could just have it spit out personal info.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago

    Oh yeah that's a fantastic point I'd failed to even consider. I don't really care if my credit card bills end up cached somewhere at the library, like, what are they going to do with it? Pay it?

    If I on the other hand dealt with personal identifiable data, that could be hugely problematic. I can see the need for e.g. a lawyer having to print case files and assemble documents physically. In such a scenario, printing it at a library, or at a third party company might not be a great idea.

    If you for some reaosn also want your nudes (or I suppose, erotic artwork) in print, I can see how you might not want to have that done by a company. I don't think I'd personally care, but maybe the person dealing with it at the company shouldn't have to see that sort of thing.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    I need to send that to our accountant in printed form. I can't legally mail it to him.

    This is exactly the sort of thing I meant by "someone being bad at computers". That someone might be a government regulator in this case.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Are you going to pay for all the systems and processes that need to change to get away from the paper trail?

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    If the people responsible for whatever paper trail requirement there is in Dojan's company or legal jurisdiction haven't figured out some time in the past quarter century that this internet thing isn't a passing fad, and started using digital communications and recordkeeping in a way that offsets its own cost in a relatively short period of time, the person or organization responsible for that decision is bad at computers.

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  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    I use it a lot for construction. Printed job specs are much easier / faster to deal with than a computer on a job site. You can staple them to a wall, quickly draw on them, use them when your hands are filthy, have multiple large copies floating around, etc. Paper is usually just a better solution for that environment.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    Take a look at a Canon PIXMA TR150.

    There are plenty of other brands that make this same style, this was just the first I found.

    Now if only they had a small portable printer like that that did 11x17

    Reading blueprints off 8x11 is damn near impossible unless you blow them up

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