Hey, sorry if this isn’t the right place to ask this (feel free to show me the way). I want to get myself a printer that can also scan. Main purpose is to not have endless sheets of paper laying around, but to scan Documents I recieve and then throwing them away so that I only have them digitally and can print stuff out only when I need them. Now I know that printers are the worst piece of hardware known to man and my needs not office-level.It doesn’t have to have any more buttons or features than are needed to scan a doublesided document and print them, without clogging/eating paper, and print black and white text without complaining about being low on yellow ink.
So my question generally is: what is the most minimalist, non-bullshit printer/scanner that I could get? But since all my devices run Linux I figured I’d just ask this here. Are there any big issues I have to look out for? Brands to avoid? (i.e nvidia being a no go for a lot of linux users) Preferably
I just have a simple Brother laser printer: It has never failed me. Not even sure what model it is but I imagine their scanners/MFPs are pretty similar.
The Brother printer I bought recently was easier to install on Linux than on Mac. I think that says something. Always works too
I’ve also never had any issues with my laser Brother printer.
I’ve had fantastic luck with a Brother MFC b&w laser. Aftermarket toner cartridges are $20 and last a ridiculously long time. The wifi is jank so I’d recommend keeping it connected to your computer via USB, but I was able to get it running on a CUPS server via a Pi easily enough, and brother does make Linux drivers available.
I have a Brother MFC Color Laser and everything here is true for the color version as well. I haven’t had too many issues with wifi jank after I set a static ip both on the router side and the printer side, and then map the printer by ip port on the computer. However, it still acts up every now and then. I plan on fishing some ethernet to that corner of the office, but haven’t gotten around to it yet.
My wifi jank was less related to routing as much as it would just… forget how to send data. Especially when scanning. I think it was a controller issue so YMMV depending on which model. USB is still vastly more reliable.
Get a Brother laser aio.
As others have said, Brother laser printers are great. I’ve had mine for ~10 years, it works better on Linux than it does on Windows, and the toner cartridges last an absurdly long time. I don’t print heavily but I think I’m only on my third toner cartridge since I bought the thing.
Another voice for the Brother laser printer, a truly dependable workhorse.
All-time classic Verge article on this subject:
https://www.theverge.com/23642073/best-printer-2023-brother-laser-wi-fi-its-fine
I have a slightly different version of this printer (HL-L2350DW) and can confirm that it just does what it is supposed to do without any issues. It pretty much worked out of the box with all devices in my household and after about two years I am still on the toner cartridge it came with.
Brother laser AIO, Just works, and if you don’t really print that much, the starter toner feels like it’ll last forever.
Personally I’d keep them separate unless space is an issue.
For a scanner I like my Cannon LiDE 110 It just works with simplescan. For printers, any laser that supports PCL or Postscript should be fine. I’d recommend Lexmark or Brother. For black-only, I like my Lexmark B3340. I have a couple of older HP color lasers but honestly don’t really use them except for printing trail maps every now and then. For color pictures (and the maps) I now use a Canon Selphy CP1300.
Fortunately for me, both my printer and scanner have worked flawlessly with Linux from day one (notwithstanding some CUPS shenanigans where it had problems finding USB printers, but that has nothing to do with the printer). Unfortunately for you, that means they are both fairly old already and probably not available as those specific models anymore.
My scanner is a Canon Canoscan LiDE 220. It’s a fairly small model with a scan area just barely bigger than an A4 page. That suits me fine as someone who rarely actually scans stuff, as I can just stash it somewhere when I don’t need it and pull it out when I do.
My printer is a Brother HL5340DL. It’s about as big as you would expect for a personal laser printer (so not exactly handy anymore, but most people should be able to make it fit). It’s ten years old now, cost somewhere around a hundred Euros when new, survived two moves and still works flawlessly, including the duplex function. When setting it up in CUPS, I found the generic PCL drivers to work much better than the Brother-specific ones. Just as a hint for others.
When looking for a scanner, check the SANE database: http://www.sane-project.org/sane-mfgs.html
Edit: I forgot something, my scanner does not work “flawlessly” after all: If I scan at low or medium resolutions, the scan results get messed up. It looks like the scanner software gets confused about how long exactly each scan line is supposed to be and puts the line breaks in the wrong places. That’s probably a bug in sane-backends, but I have never followed up on that one, because my workaround is simple and works fine for me: Just scan at 1200 dpi and then downscale stuff. Still a bug though, and saying the scanner works flawlessly would be wrong.
I’ve had my MX490 for 2 years and i think it works pretty well. Generally speaking, the CUPS setup is far easier with Airprint printers so if you’re interested in that I’d pick up a printer that supports AirPrint. Arch wiki has more info on set up it needed
If you want a simple colour printer and scanner, go for a Canon Megatank or Epson Ecotank. If you’re only printing black and white, a Brother laser printer is good, just a touch more expensive than other equivalents. The OEM toner isn’t cheap, in theory tho, they can last much longer without needing to print. The ink tank printers have far cheaper ink. Only downside is that it requires printing once a week to ensure that nothing clogs up. That said, these tank printers are smaller and lighter than Brother Colour AIO’s.
I will also add, the new Brother laser toners, can be a bit iffy with their chip. They’re not as easy to refill (or use aftermarket toners) as the used to be, not impossible, but it’s not as easy. Nothing wrong with Brother tho, when it works, it works well, and reliably. It’s not like HP, where the cheaper printers require a ink subscription service (and in my experience, tend to break more easily).
preferably not too expensive (just a minimalist small printer/scanner that just works)
HP Laserjet is the best and simplest printer I’ve owned.
Brother is pretty analogous and you can refill the toner cartridges!
