Canon-HP-Brother-?? Which one?? SOLVED with HP

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frostymusic
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Canon-HP-Brother-?? Which one?? SOLVED with HP

Post by frostymusic »

Printer decision: Canon-Brothert-HP?

Hi, I have been a Epson printer user for years, always using compatible inks. My Epson XP-850 finally died, and now I am faced with what to buy for a printer, which brand, with Linux support, and compatible inks. There are ssoooooo many to choose from it hurts my head to look at them all and compare features.
I turned away from Epson this time because they have "fixed" their printers to recognize only Epson inks. I am hoping other brands will accept compatibles!! :roll:

Any suggestions to my delema?
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Re: Canon-HP-Brother-?? Which one??

Post by Neil Edmond »

Personally don't think brand matters much. I usually recommend folks choose a printer based on features and price. I use both Brother and HP, and they all work fine with Linux, but feel like the HP printers are a little more to my liking. YMMV...
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Re: Canon-HP-Brother-?? Which one??

Post by frostymusic »

Hi Neil,

I found some HP available to me, and looking more into them, thanks!
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Re: Canon-HP-Brother-?? Which one??

Post by JeremyB »

I have an HP Officejet 6962 multifunction printer that works great. Connects to my wifi network, print, scan, and even double sided printing
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Re: Canon-HP-Brother-?? Which one??

Post by frostymusic »

Hi JeremyB,

That happens to be one of the models I was looking at, also looked at the HP 6968 and the 6978 Pro, they all seem to be be in the same price range (on sale).

Thank you for your input.
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Re: Canon-HP-Brother-?? Which one??

Post by coffee412 »

I have a Brother MFC-9125CN printer. Its a color toner printer. I always buy printers with wired network connections in them. I never buy inkjet printers. I know the initial outlay of money is high but it depends on your needs and situation.

1. I get 10 times the page prints an inkjet does per cartridge.
2. I buy refilled toner cartridges and they are cheap. Should one be bad I just replace with a spare I have on hand.
3. I have no ink that dries in the heads and makes these things paper weights.
4. They outlast inkjets in usable life.
5. Parts are replaceable. I have never had to replace anything but toner cartridges so far and I bought this printer years ago. Both my GF and I use it quite a bit.

IMHO, The longer you own a inkjet the more your costs escalate because of the cost of the ink. In the long run a toner printer is cheaper to run.
If you cannot afford a color toner printer then get just a B/W toner printer. Lot less expensive.
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Re: Canon-HP-Brother-?? Which one??

Post by frostymusic »

Hi coffee412,

They are nice printers no doubt, my wife does photos once in awhile, do the laser print on photo paper?
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Re: Canon-HP-Brother-?? Which one??

Post by coffee412 »

frostymusic wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 2:46 pm Hi coffee412,

They are nice printers no doubt, my wife does photos once in awhile, do the laser print on photo paper?
I have never used photo paper. I have to say, I remember a client that I sold her one of these printers and it would consistently jam on photo paper. So, I would have to say no.
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Re: Canon-HP-Brother-?? Which one??

Post by Neil Edmond »

Part of my brother-in-law's business involves photo printing, and you just cannot get as good a print with laser as a good ink jet photo printer will produce.
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Re: Canon-HP-Brother-?? Which one??

Post by coffee412 »

Needing high quality photo printing is a different ball game. The Brother printers are actually a LED printer and not a Laser printer. However, They make great business type printers depending on your needs.

If you need HIGH quality photo printing then you will pay the big bucks.
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Re: Canon-HP-Brother-?? Which one??

Post by carum carvi »

HP HP HP
Why? Because I read on this very forum that HP printers have got the best support in Linux. There was something really wrong with support for NEW Brother printers, so I have read. Canon will do I guess, as well. But since you are asking and since you are in the ideal situation to choose a printer SUITED BEST for Linux, I would really recommend HP.
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Re: Canon-HP-Brother-?? Which one??

Post by majpooper »

carum carvi wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 3:30 pm HP HP HP
Why? Because I read on this very forum that HP printers have got the best support in Linux. There was something really wrong with support for NEW Brother printers, so I have read. Canon will do I guess, as well. But since you are asking and since you are in the ideal situation to choose a printer SUITED BEST for Linux, I would really recommend HP.
+1 Definitely agree with carum on this - it has been my experience with HP - I don't even install a printer on Mint it just happens.
I use an HP Officejet Pro 8610 - every time I have done a fresh install of Mint (just did Cinnamon 19.2 a week or so ago) it is just there. And the printer works fine but I always look for cost cutter ink cartridges because cartridges can be expensive so there is that consideration. There is an HP linux app as well I have seen discussed but have never used it so I am not sure what exactly it's purpose is but it seems HP supports linux with drivers and so forth.

Yeah . . . . HP HP HP is good advice.

EDIT: I did make it the default printer . . . because it seemed like a good idea . . . even though I only have one printer :oops:
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Re: Canon-HP-Brother-?? Which one??

Post by Spearmint2 »

carum carvi wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 3:30 pm HP HP HP
Why? Because I read on this very forum that HP printers have got the best support in Linux. There was something really wrong with support for NEW Brother printers, so I have read. Canon will do I guess, as well. But since you are asking and since you are in the ideal situation to choose a printer SUITED BEST for Linux, I would really recommend HP.
Ditto. HP is well backed in Linux. If a problem, just install all the HPLIP packages you can find in the Package Manager, and almost any problem goes away. I had an Epson at one time, the damn plastic "pinch rollers" broke and finding new ones was more cost than worth fixing it. I may one day fish it out and see if I can make some "rub pinch" pieces from plastic that might allow it to work on it. I doubt I'll ever get around to it, so long as my HP printers keep working OK. I have one older D100 HP that is before any firmware days that want to force only HP cartridges used, so do just find with carrot ink cartridges.
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Re: Canon-HP-Brother-?? Which one??

Post by coffee412 »

I will agree the HP printers are good. I just got tired of paying for the ink :) . I have had terrible luck with Epsons. I also have a lot of clients calling me to fix them. I tell them they are throw away printers like the rest.

I see that Kim Comando really pushes those Epsons. I listen to her when Im in the car because I need something to make me laugh (sarcastic comment). She pushes those Epsons especially with the larger ink cartridges. lol...
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Re: Canon-HP-Brother-?? Which one??

Post by phd21 »

Hi frostymusic,

I just read your post and the good replies to it. Here are my thoughts on this as well.

I think it is important for everyone to have a good working computer printer because everyone every now and then will need to print something from document, or picture, etc... I also think that it is important to try and conserve paper as much as you can.

As for deciding on what printer to buy, that is really subjective and very much depends upon how much you can afford to spend and your needs, like do you need to print a lot of documents, or pictures, etc... because then you have to check their monthly "duty cycle" specifications to see how many pages they can safely print in a month. Do you want to print on CD/DVD or Blu-Ray discs. Obviously, the printer would have to work with Linux and a lot of them do, but check the printer's make and model to make sure it has Linux drivers before purchasing it. I personally recommend getting an "All In One" multi-function printer (MFP) that can print, scan, and or fax since their pricing is about the same as most printers that can only print.

HP printers and their multi-function printers (MFP) work great and have superb Linux drivers for their printers, scanners, and fax functions. The only thing I don't like about HP printers is the cost of their ink which is in my humble opinion very pricey although you sometimes can find discounts. It is also hard to find 3rd party compatible HP printer cartridges that work well. Also, you can save money if the printer has separate color cartridges.

Some of the newer printers from Epson and some other printer manufacturers have large economy ink options like the Epson EcoTank printers some come with 2 years of ink. I would recommend an Epson EcoTank MFP printer, make sure there are Linux drivers for the particular model before purchasing one.

Epson EcoTank printers - Kiss expensive cartridges goodbye. EcoTank comes with a RIDICULOUS amount of ink.
https://epson.com/ecotank-ink-tank-printers

I have an HP Officejet 4110 that's over 10 years old and although the fax and scanner still worked, it did not print well any more. I thought about getting new ink cartridges, but they cost almost as much as buying a new low-end printer that comes with ink? At the moment, I did not have much to spend, and the Brother MFC-J491DW was only $49.99us with printer, scanner, and fax and has various options the older printers did not have like WiFi and smartphone applications (apps). The Brother ink is around half of the cost of HP ink. Brother also have Linux drivers that I installed although I think it would have worked without downloading and installing those. The only thing I have not figured out yet is how to fax a document from the computer through the Brother printer's fax although you can fax directly from the printer like a stand-alone fax machine.

Amazon.com: Brother Wireless All-in-One Inkjet Printer, MFC-J491DW, Multi-Function Color Printer, Duplex Printing, Mobile Printing,Amazon Dash Replenishment Enabled: Office Products
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C4 ... UTF8&psc=1

Hope this helps ...
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Re: Canon-HP-Brother-?? Which one??

Post by carum carvi »

phd21 wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 6:28 pm HP printers and their multi-function printers (MFP) work great and have superb Linux drivers for their printers, scanners, and fax functions. The only thing I don't like about HP printers is the cost of their ink which is in my humble opinion very pricey although you sometimes can find discounts. It is also hard to find 3rd party compatible HP printer cartridges that work well. Also, you can save money if the printer has separate color cartridges.
Ink cartridges are indeed THE reason why printer manufacturers make a profit. NOT the printer itself BUT the ink inside is the most profitable for printer manufacturers. It surely does benefit looking for an alternative ink cartridge. The most annoying thing I experienced with my HP printer was the simple fact that it gave an error warning that my ink cartridge was low, while I could still use it for several weeks.

I have looked online for alternative ink cartridges and I have found alternative ink cartridges to work perfectly with twice as much ink for the same price.
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Re: Canon-HP-Brother-?? Which one??

Post by absque fenestris »

I vacated my studio this spring.
Have been disposed of:

3 HP "professional" A3 DesignJet's (very expensive)
1 HP PhotoSmart A4 (expensive)
1 Canon A4 (medium)
1 Brother Printer/Scanner A3 (medium)
1 Brother Printer/Scanner A4 (cheap/medium)
1 Epson Printer/Scanner A4 (very cheap)

These devices came to me via customers, partly I got them running again, partly not.
The ones that worked again got out after the first refill, that means I have a lot of ink to play around with.

The HP DesignJet's annoyed me the most - I was really interested in them and invested a lot of money: Well yes! I don't think I should publish my honest opinion about HP here... :mrgreen:

My recommendation: even the cheapest inkjet is still too expensive

A small Xerox Phaser laser printer does its job for years, doesn't dry out and has affordable original toners. But it costs something.
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Re: Canon-HP-Brother-?? Which one??

Post by frostymusic »

Thanks everyone for your thoughts on the printer and what to choose. Staples.ca had a HP6978 which I decided on. Overall the printer appears to be well made, no sharp edges. Setup was fairly simple, using wireless. The printer has its own email address that HP uses to send updates, and to record number of sheets printed so they can send you ink. The ink setup is $2.99 USD, and $3.99 CAD, will see how that works out. So far pleased, Mint found the printer on the network, easy peasy.

Terry
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Re: Canon-HP-Brother-?? Which one??

Post by lsemmens »

What do you want it to do for you? I purchased a Second Hand (ex-govt) colour Laser printer at auction for less than I could purchase an inkjet brand new. I use third party toners and, so far it has not let me down. I've printed a few photos on plain paper and, for my needs they are more than adequate. If you are printing for personal use, a colour laser might just suit your needs, and save you money in the long run!
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Re: Canon-HP-Brother-?? Which one?? SOLVED

Post by frostymusic »

So true, I think in the future laser printer is what I will go with. For now quite content with the HP, I can print from my Android Phone also which I like.

Thanks to those who replied, this is a great forum with folks from around the world helping each other! :D :D :D :D
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