48 points

If you need color, then I highly recommend the Epson EcoTank line of printers. No printer cartridges AT ALL - just raw 4 color ink. They cost more than most inkjet printers up front . . but more than save in the long run. And NO DRM in site . . rather difficult to put DRM into liquid ink . . .

https://epson.com/ecotank-ink-tank-printers

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3 points

Just a heads up, ECO tanks do have a sponge inside to collect inks. This sponge needs to be replaced periodically. Once replaced a counter needs to be reset, and that’s only achievable through their service (it costs about 50€ where I live). In my experience it seems to be required about every 6000 prints

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3 points

Thank you I will look into this

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-3 points

HP Smart Tank Plus 555 Wireless now sells for 179,90€ and has the same concept. A great product anyone looking for a new printer.

Alternatively you can get a second hand HP 3070A (Wifi, Scanner, Airprint) for around 20€ and use refillable cartridges. Or just unbranded ones that sell for cheap. The thing I like about this particular model is that the cartridges just hold ink there’s not much hardware like other models, no print-head in the cartridge itself, just a simple chip that china has cloned perfectly.

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17 points

HP is utter garbage though.

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0 points

That isn’t a lie, but second hand, at that price point and as it prints well… can’t argue with it.

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16 points

I will never buy an HP again after their printers (the ones that didn’t die) start giving “missing printhead” errors after an update if it thinks you are using non-HP ink (even when you are using HP ink) and is unrepairable. Replacing the printhead is a 50/50 shot for 75% of the cost of a new printer

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0 points

For 20€ the 3070A is a very good deal, doesn’t die, doesn’t complain about anything. I’ve had mine for more than 10 years. A friend bought about more recently also good.

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37 points

Seconding Brother laser printers. They’re workhorses and I’ve had good luck with cheap third party cartridges

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36 points

Ender 3.

… woops, wrong community.

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11 points

Tbh, it would probably be one of the opensource diy printers like voron, jubilee or annex.

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3 points

Aren’t those like 4 times the cost though? If we are going in that range, then a Prusa or Bambu p1p if you want something reliable!

Otherwise yeah a voron 2.4 to tinker and push the speed limite

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5 points

Bambus isnt opensource/no drm, thats what i was going for.

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1 point

If you didn’t need colour, this could be an option, albeit a slow one.

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1 point

There are color lithophanes now. Check them out, they look amazing.

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1 point

But the normal ender 3 got released literally 5 years ago

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3 points

That’s why you get an Ender 3 v2 Neo, which wasn’t released 5 years ago.

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2 points
*

Sorry but I bought a sidewinder x2

Edit: did apple made this two 3d printer too?

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28 points

My Brother B&W laser printer is a beast. I’ve had it probably eight years now and am only, two months ago, on my 3rd toner cartridge despite my relatively low use. That counts the starter cartridge which I am told isn’t full.

My Brother color printer on the other hand is a pain. The yellow toner always runs out first and it won’t print without it. Well, it can, if you finagle things, but then it only does for like 3-4 weeks. Annoying as shit.

But, overall, better than any HP or Canon I’ve ever used.

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26 points

Both of my Brother laser printers are over 10 years old now and they have been working great. My mono laser printer has an open source driver. Unfortunately, there is no open source driver for my color laser printer, but there is no DRM either. The toner cartridges have a mechanical toner level reset if you want to refill them.

The newer Brother laser printers support driverless printing, so you don’t have to worry about closed source drivers.

You are going to be stuck with closed source firmware unless you connect a teletype to your computer though.

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2 points

Thanks for the info

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1 point

Driverless printing? How does that work? Specially, how does your computer communicate with the printer?

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2 points

Driverless printing uses IPP Everywhere or AirPrint. As long as the printer supports one of those protocols, the computer can use it without needing a driver for the printer.

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1 point

Even teletypes have firmware.

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2 points

The older teletypes are all electromechanical. There is no firmware, just lots of gears and cams.

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1 point

Gears and cams, the firmest of ware.

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