So my mother recently bought an ET-2800, By HP we had an HP printer before and we got a new one because the old one would not work with my sister’s Windows 11 Laptop. So I had to set it up for my mother, the manual said you can use it without the app. But there was no way to physically do that. Anyway, I downloaded the app on my phone (android) and the app would not connect to the printer. So I used my mother’s iPhone and it would connect. The setup process was stupid proof. And after I got it all full of ink, it was very painless. However, this is where the H in HP should stand for HELL. Because a few months go by and my sister and my mother need some papers printed. No problem. I thought to myself, so my sister tried to print it wirelessly. Couldn’t find the printer, I said ok maybe it’s a dumb driver, USB didn’t work either. I asked my sister to send it to me, so I can print it on my w540 running rocky 9. Rocky picked up that I needed drivers and installed them. Wireless didn’t work but wired showed up, I thought sweet I can just print the paper and get back to what I was doing. However, when I clicked print, the printer would grab the paper and run it though but not put ink on the paper. My mother asks me to forward the email to her to try to print it on her phone. I send it, and it prints, and the paper come out how it should with ink and the paper is finally printed.
After this experience with this printer, it makes me rather aggravated at this purchase, and no longer want to buy from HP. I have looked at Brother printers and there are no Proprietary ink cartage, and or laser printers. I purely wanted to talk about my experience with HP printers and would like to know what others have for a printer for recommendations, for when eventually HP kills support and makes it a paper weight, I’ve read many negative experiences with HP printer, specially from Lois Ross man and their anti consumer products.
Inkjet has been garbage since day one. Get a brother laser, use Noname toner from your local ink shop, be happy and never tinker with a paper printer again.
Eventually 2d printing with a 3d printer will be better than inkjets. Except not really. I’m kinda surprised I haven’t heard of any open source paper printers.
Brother is my current second favorite major brand. They are breaking a lot more than they used to and the parts that break aren’t worth replacing. Canon is putting out alright printers that seem a bit more robust to me. But honestly if you just put in the money up front even hp isn’t total trash. To get a not trash hp will cost $400, and there’s no guarantee that it won’t get a firmware update that makes it impossible to use third party ink, but it won’t require hpsmart and make you want to kill yourself. So yeah, spend more on your printer, don’t get an hp, and if you’re not gonna spend more on your printer get a black and white laser Canon imo.
I’m still with Brother. Dropped my last 6 year old Brother (printer not sibling) down the stairs, and replaced it with the updated model. No fuss, no jams, respectable use of toner. Easy WiFi setup (even easier if you know how to allocate it a static IP in router DHCP settings).
Would still recommend, still a Brand Loyal customer.
Who is your first favorite printer brand?