this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2024
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[–] Draconic_NEO 86 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Glad to see that there's finally some effort to hack the shitty anti-consumer printer ink DRM.

[–] Lost_My_Mind 52 points 2 months ago (4 children)

Quite honestly, back in the 90s I thought it was essential to have a printer. Back then I used to buy a binder, and a bunch of those plastic paper holding sleeves. And I'd print out entire gamefaqs which were sometimes 300 pages.

Then ink started to get expensive. So I stopped. Then now these new printers have DRM. So I just never bought a printer since the 90s.

And I feel I'm not alone. I bet there are millions of people who would be printer customers if printer ink weren't the most artificially expensive substance on the planet.

If I could go out and buy a printer replacement ink pack for $5.00 and have it last a few months, I'd just buy them regularly. Instead I haven't paid one dime in close to 25 years. Gee, guess that financial decision paid off for them....

[–] [email protected] 33 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The solution is to just buy a cheap Brother mono laser printer.

[–] Landless2029 9 points 2 months ago (2 children)

for bonus points get a used one!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

If you're extra lucky, it'll still be running on the original included demo toner cartridge.

[–] Landless2029 2 points 2 months ago

I have a brother multifuction laser. From a thrift store. 6 years so far on a 3rd party XL toner...

I've spent more on paper than the printer+toner

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Bonus bonus points: get a free new one!

[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 months ago (2 children)

You might want to look at laser printers. If you're just doing black and white documents, whatever the latest Brother printer is will do a good job, do it fast, and not screech at you about your cyan running out.

It's a few hundred bucks up front, but the toner cartridges print a ton of pages and don't dry out if you don't use them. I can't recommend it enough if you have even a passing desire to make hard copies of documents.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

This. I have a brother color laser printer I bought years ago. Literally before COVID happened, so I've had it about 6 years. I replaced the black stock toner, haven't replaced any others yet. Thing still prints like a champ even though it'll randomly forget Wi-Fi settings.... Lol

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I bought an HP* color laser before Covid too. It's starting to bitch about cyan, but holy hell I abused the shit out of it during my studies and it's still good as new.

*I know, but their enterprise grade stuff is actually decent.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

The only downside is up replaces the entire toner and drum cartridge. I prefer brother since they're separate. Drum is now expensive, but I doubt I'll ever use it enough to need a new drum lol.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Agreed, I have a (pre-HP) Samsung laser printer and it works whenever I need it to. Sure, it only works via USB and only has one button and an on/off switch, but it works when needed.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

it only works via USB and only has one button and an on/off switch, but it works when needed

That's ideal; the less connected it is, the less chance I'll have to shoot it

[–] dandu3 7 points 2 months ago

Nowadays you have tank printers. They're more expensive upfront but the ink is much cheaper. It's even cheaper if you go for aftermarket ink. I have an Epson and it's great. Don't think I'll go with the cheap ink however, I just don't use it that much to justify the savings

[–] noughtnaut 7 points 2 months ago

I went directly from a dot matrix (ImageWriter II ftw!) to a laser. Except for photo prints, I find it immensely practical to be able to print stuff at home.