You're going to have to pick only one of these I'm afraid
Sad... but true.
Sooth
I have an Epson Ecotank (ET-2810) and am pretty happy with it. No DRM on the ink, though I haven't even needed to fill it up since I bought in in december 2021. Wifi printing works.
That’s the one, same experience.
My WiFi printing doesn't work on mine, but everything else does and has for several years now. Longest lasting printer since I was a kid.
What colour would you like your dragon?
Underrated comment
Get a laser printer.
Brother laser printers are pretty ok. If you never update their firmware.
Honestly, Dell laser printers are best I've ever used. Very good value, replacing toner couldn't be easier, setting it up for network printing was way easier than Brother, they're far more reliable than Samsung printers (constantly had paper jams) and I can print from my Android phone natively.
Without going into something really high-end, like a Phaser, the Dell printers are very much worth a look.
How's the third party toner market for them?
For my model (H825cdw) there are third party options that are quite a bit cheaper. I get reimbursed for my toner, so I just get it from Dell.
Sadly color laser printers with a good color reproduction and a full color wheel are still selling for 5 figures. And companies are starting to shut down home laser printer lines because shipping around containers full of microplasics is becoming a PR issue.
Why ink and not laser/toner?
Can only speak for myself but basically they're cheaper. For someone like me who doesn't print a lot and doesn't care too much about printing speed, tank printers are a good option. "Everyone should get a laser printer" was a valid argument when the only other option was ink cartridge printers with shitty DRM, but nowadays there are other good options.
You can buy a quality Lexmark laser printer/scanner/fax for around $120 brand new, the included toner will last you a decade if you don’t print a lot. I’ve had mine for about 8 years and it’s still reading as 100% toner
I guess maybe you can where you live, but no, I can't. Cheapest Lexmark I can find at a glance with built-in scanner (MB2236i) is about 250€ and only prints monochrome. I could buy a lot of ink bottles for that price difference (and I didn't need to replace the ink so far in 1.5 years either).
For me I switched to laser precisely because I don’t print often. My ink jet was constantly getting clogged/dried out from under use.
Get a tank printer, you can't DRM liquid (afaik). I have an hp one with tiny tanks, I refill once a year and the branded bottles aren't too expensive, but you can use generic inks, though I've read about people with the same printer having problems with the viscosity of generic inks, so you still need quality ink.
A downside is I have to print something every now and then to keep it from clogging (a month or two).
I don't necessarily recommend my specific model, but at least that type of printer, I've found it's been great. Software is kinda shit like any printer but I have Linux on my desktop so it doesn't really matter, shitty proprietary software is only needed for Windows (I have zero experience with Mac)
you can’t DRM liquid
you can’t DRM liquid yet
Brother. Not sure about the Apple capabilities though.
You're going to have to pick only one of these I'm afraid
Sad... but true.
Sooth
I have an Epson Ecotank (ET-2810) and am pretty happy with it. No DRM on the ink, though I haven't even needed to fill it up since I bought in in december 2021. Wifi printing works.
That’s the one, same experience.
My WiFi printing doesn't work on mine, but everything else does and has for several years now. Longest lasting printer since I was a kid.
What colour would you like your dragon?
Underrated comment
Get a laser printer.
Brother laser printers are pretty ok. If you never update their firmware.
Honestly, Dell laser printers are best I've ever used. Very good value, replacing toner couldn't be easier, setting it up for network printing was way easier than Brother, they're far more reliable than Samsung printers (constantly had paper jams) and I can print from my Android phone natively.
Without going into something really high-end, like a Phaser, the Dell printers are very much worth a look.
How's the third party toner market for them?
For my model (H825cdw) there are third party options that are quite a bit cheaper. I get reimbursed for my toner, so I just get it from Dell.
Sadly color laser printers with a good color reproduction and a full color wheel are still selling for 5 figures. And companies are starting to shut down home laser printer lines because shipping around containers full of microplasics is becoming a PR issue.
Why ink and not laser/toner?
Can only speak for myself but basically they're cheaper. For someone like me who doesn't print a lot and doesn't care too much about printing speed, tank printers are a good option. "Everyone should get a laser printer" was a valid argument when the only other option was ink cartridge printers with shitty DRM, but nowadays there are other good options.
You can buy a quality Lexmark laser printer/scanner/fax for around $120 brand new, the included toner will last you a decade if you don’t print a lot. I’ve had mine for about 8 years and it’s still reading as 100% toner
I guess maybe you can where you live, but no, I can't. Cheapest Lexmark I can find at a glance with built-in scanner (MB2236i) is about 250€ and only prints monochrome. I could buy a lot of ink bottles for that price difference (and I didn't need to replace the ink so far in 1.5 years either).
For me I switched to laser precisely because I don’t print often. My ink jet was constantly getting clogged/dried out from under use.
Get a tank printer, you can't DRM liquid (afaik). I have an hp one with tiny tanks, I refill once a year and the branded bottles aren't too expensive, but you can use generic inks, though I've read about people with the same printer having problems with the viscosity of generic inks, so you still need quality ink.
A downside is I have to print something every now and then to keep it from clogging (a month or two).
I don't necessarily recommend my specific model, but at least that type of printer, I've found it's been great. Software is kinda shit like any printer but I have Linux on my desktop so it doesn't really matter, shitty proprietary software is only needed for Windows (I have zero experience with Mac)
you can’t DRM liquid yet
Brother. Not sure about the Apple capabilities though.