The brother printer my spouse has had for ages is finally running out of ink and a quick chedk shows that they don’t make cartridges for it anymore, you cant reset them, and you can only buy dubious 3rd party options on amazon for $150 each. For that kind of money id rathet find a printer that let’s me put of the scam, but im not finding a lot of options there. Does anyone have advice?

  • Korval@lemmy.today
    3·
    2 months ago

    I looked at these when replacing my HP, but they’re still inkjets, right? We don’t print often enough to keep inkjets operational–the ink dries and permanently clogs the head. I tried manually clearing that on my last one and was completely unsuccessful. It’s been lasers ever since then.

    • Smuuthbrane@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      This one seems to work even with weeks of no printing.

      Laser printers are far better all around, if you can stomach the up front cost.

      • freedomPusher@sopuli.xyz
        2·
        29 days ago

        I just pulled a totally functional Brother laser printer out of a dumpster, half full of toner and a good drum. It /just worked/. I cannot imagine who would just toss a working laser printer into a dumpster like that. For me, this was of course the best possible option.

        But I must say inkjets have an advantage no one ever acknowledges:

        Inkjets use much less energy. They are the green choice. Of course, only if you’re not going through disposable cartridges that only hold 4ml and waste 2ml in cleaning. Hence why the Epson Ecotanks are a sweetspot of sorts.

        /cc @Korval@lemmy.today (not sure if notifications go to parent of parent comments)

        • Smuuthbrane@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          2·
          29 days ago

          Companies toss old working items because they have no process to be able to sell them, even if it’s worthwhile. And even if they did, lawyers would kill the idea because of liability (somehow). Ditto with any kind of donation arrangement.

          TL/DR: lawyers are the leading source of corporate e-waste.

          • freedomPusher@sopuli.xyz
            1·
            29 days ago

            I suspect the dumping was illegal in my area. It was a legit dumpster, but e-waste has a specific disposal procedure. So the incentive for corps is to avoid fines.

            But in the case at hand, it was a dumpster in front of an apartment building. It was full of furniture and other household waste.

            • Smuuthbrane@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              2·
              29 days ago

              Around here students dump a lot of stuff. They can’t be bothered to move it, so they toss it, not even trying to use proper process or recover any funds. Depressing.