I am writing (somewhat) tongue in cheek.
It’s the right time of year for THAT printer article to make the rounds again. You know the one, that The Verge updates periodically. Search Engines require churn, now, so even if there’s one correct answer and it doesn’t change, it’s punished for not, well, changing.
The best printer for 2024 is the same printer it’s been for years. No, seriously.
Brother Laser. Whatever the current model is. That’s it. That’s the whole post.
I have had two of them. I bought one back in, oh, 2004? Somewhere around then. It worked great, I printed thousands of pages of stuff, and only replaced the toner cartridge ONCE in the more than decade I owned it. And I printed out All The PDFs for gaming stuff in the mid-00s that I was using (and a bunch that I wasn’t). (SORRY, TREES!)
Literally the only reason I replaced it is because it wasn’t WiFi and didn’t support AirPrint. I literally had a PC whose sole job was to be the AirPrint driver for it, and the toner cartridge finally ran out. So, toner cartridge, or updated printer? Oh, look, the mid-10s models had WiFi printing support! Dead simple! Got to buy the new one (I don’t even know the model, it was literally “the Brother B&W Laser” of the year!), and retire the old PC. It’s been a champion ever since!
I splurged on the second one, and got the scanning attachment, which means it has a document feeder, and can act as a scanner, and a copier, and it even sends faxes — but I don’t have a landline, so that’s never been (and never will be) used. Being able to scan stuff on my iPad via an app has been awesome. Spouse uses it to copy her receipts for business travel, and to scan stuff sometimes to submit for reimbursement. And prints to it regularly from her phone.
Absolute workhorse. For something like eight years now. Or seven, or nine. Honestly, who cares? It’s still working! Again, a single toner cartridge replacement, and it’s still gonna be a while before the next one.
Seriously. I 100% endorse this article. It’s the only printer guide you will ever need. For real.
The link does have affiliate codes, but NOT mine. I don’t care. I get nothing out of this. It’s just… oh, man. I hate the current search engine world, because it’s so full of “AI” slurry and word slime, and it’s getting difficult to find meaningful stuff when doing product research. This is my little bit of personal pushback.
Also, twenty years of Brother Laser printers, and they have been AWESOME.
I’ve been eyeing a color laser, because it’d be useful at times. Not for photos, it never looks right, but for other uses. (Photos are really the only reason to use an inkjet, and holy hell NEVER buy HP. Canon was OK when I bought my printer, but I have no idea how they are now.)
One guess which color laser I’ll buy this year. Yup, the Brother color laser equivalent of that wonderful black & white laser printer.
OK. That’s it. I’m done with this product endorsement. Need a handy printer? Get that Brother laser printer.
Cheers!