I’ve never had the patience for printers. Over the years I’ve fixed various printers and never felt like it was as simple as it could have been, as a result for a long time I did not own a printer myself.
However in recent years I’ve had more of a need for a printer - printing postage labels, boarding passes and my children have needed to print materials for school. Like it or not, I was going to need to buy a printer, but wanted to get something as reliable as possible.
My friend Steven recommended I look at a laser printer, he had been using an HP LaserJet Pro 400 for a number of years and it had proven to be very reliable and claimed it was a fairly inexpensive purchase used, and economical to run. The only negatives for me was that it was a mono (black and white) printer and that it wasn’t wireless. I did like that it had an internal paper tray and looked professional.
I researched the same printer, colour printing is something I could live without for my needs. I then realised there were different variants - if I were to buy the HP LaserJet Pro 401dne it would print on both sides of the paper and has a wired network interface. I checked Amazon for an Ethernet to WiFi bridge and they too were inexpensive so I thought I’d give it a go.
In May 2020 I found an eBay auction for the model I had my eyes on, the HP LaserJet Pro 401dne with a full toner cartridge for £80 delivered. I purchased this and then also bought the “Vonets” WiFi Ethernet Bridge for £16 on Amazon.
A couple of days later I had a wireless laser printer operational in my house with a full toner for a total cost of under £100. My plan was to run the printer until it dies and see how it goes.
Fast forward almost four years it’s now March 2024 and the printer has not failed us once. We’ve printed over 2,000 pages and I’ve just had to replace the toner cartridge. The one that was fitted at the time I purchased was aftermarket, I bought another two aftermaket toners for £30 and it’s working great. Absolutely no complaints regarding the hardware, these printers are outstanding.
One key point to call out is that even if the printer did fail, they are very servicable. Replacement parts are available and are inexpensive - should the need arise.
That’s the hardware side, what about the software? I’m quite a balanced individual and don’t favour one brand over another - Windows is the common issue with printing. I’ve had no issue printing from Linux, iOS, Android or macOS but Windows is tempremental. Most of the time it works great, but randomly it’ll tell me the printer is offline. I have to often remove the printer and add it again - I’ve no idea why. 🤷
In conclusion, if you are looking for an inexpensive printer that’ll not let you down - I’d highly recommend considering a similar approach.