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CaptainSarcastic
Jul 6, 2013



Rocko Bonaparte posted:

We finally settled on a Brother MFC-L3770CDW and I might as well be trying to buy the horn off of a unicorn right now. Office Depot wants to act like they sell them for $499 but they just don't have them at all anywhere.

Have you checked Best Buy?

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doctorfrog
Mar 14, 2007

Great.

Earlier this year, my (small) office bought a Brother B+W MFC direct from Brother and we had to wait a month or so for it to get in stock and ship to us.

Paul MaudDib
May 3, 2006

TEAM NVIDIA:
FORUM POLICE

CaptainSarcastic posted:

Have you checked Best Buy?

yeah Best Buy has the best prices and they get shipments of printers every couple weeks

Rocko Bonaparte
Mar 12, 2002

Every day is Friday!
Yeah there literally was a Best Buy next door. They had one on display but none available. Online, it is just grayed out; no option to wait. Now, I did not go over to customer service and try to finagle or anything. I was gunning for Office Depot because my rewards card would net me 10% there this month.

Edit: I don't know if I'd have any more luck trying various off numbers from that L3770 code. There's a 3710, a 3750 and stuff like that. My take from the effort post before are those would be older versions and probably be even more out of stock. Also, my wife really liked a Brother bluetooth-capable label printer that . . . also was out of stock.

Rocko Bonaparte fucked around with this message at 08:25 on Sep 10, 2022

Three Olives
Apr 10, 2005

What if Hitler invented the BMW i3 Subcompact Electric car?

Rocko Bonaparte posted:

Yeah there literally was a Best Buy next door. They had one on display but none available. Online, it is just grayed out; no option to wait. Now, I did not go over to customer service and try to finagle or anything. I was gunning for Office Depot because my rewards card would net me 10% there this month.

Edit: I don't know if I'd have any more luck trying various off numbers from that L3770 code. There's a 3710, a 3750 and stuff like that. My take from the effort post before are those would be older versions and probably be even more out of stock.

I have the 3750, is basically identical to the 3770 except it lacks duplex scanning. I actually thought about upgrading to the 3770 but realized I was just incredibly lucky to have a 3750 on order, at a significant discount nonetheless because they apparently were ordered in droves by new WFH people at the start of the pandemic with heavy printing/scanning needs (me).

As far as I can tell supplies have never recovered.

If you can find one though, I could not make a higher recommendation, it is a solid small office level multifunction for the home, like, complete office level, with things like direct to email scanning, PDF creation and USB drive support without any computer attached.

Rocko Bonaparte
Mar 12, 2002

Every day is Friday!
I was able to back order it on Office Depot today for some reason. It actually gave me the "add to cart" option and I jumped on that.

Rocko Bonaparte
Mar 12, 2002

Every day is Friday!
The printer ended up showing up this week. It's been working real well so far but I have not pushed it. Printing from a cell phone makes me feel like I have finally caught up to the previous decade. I haven't seen how well it prints to B5.

Rocko Bonaparte
Mar 12, 2002

Every day is Friday!
Well I've tried to get it to print on some B5 and it's not working out very well. FoxIt keeps doing something that has it print the page 90 degrees. It also just won't do a double-sided print from it.

The print job was a map generated from a web site so I'm going to regenerate it from a normal page size, but I won't get a result from that until tomorrow.

slidebite
Nov 6, 2005

Good egg
:colbert:

Has anyone run into anything weird with windows 10 and networking? I have a Brother HLL-3290CDW which my wifes PC seems to have trouble seeing with regularity. They are both connected to my home network via WAP 2.4ghz.

For some reason, her PC, even though it's on the same WAP 50/50 chance if it can print. Generally an error like it cannot see the printer or unresponsive or something. My PC which is connected to the network via a totally different method sees it without fail, as does my work PC downstairs.

I typically have to uninstall it on her PC, and the re-install it, which typically seems to work but it's quite annoying.

slidebite fucked around with this message at 17:26 on Oct 9, 2022

Pablo Bluth
Sep 7, 2007

I've made a huge mistake.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/11/epson-quitting-laser-printers-doesnt-address-its-bigger-sustainability-issue/
"Sustainability" of our shareholders profit via those fat juicy ink margins and printers that die

CaptainSarcastic
Jul 6, 2013



Pablo Bluth posted:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/11/epson-quitting-laser-printers-doesnt-address-its-bigger-sustainability-issue/
"Sustainability" of our shareholders profit via those fat juicy ink margins and printers that die

Wow, that is some utter bullshit. Having been using a laser all-in-one since starting work-from-home there is no way I would go back to an inkjet for normal purposes (photo printing being the one exception).

CaptainSarcastic fucked around with this message at 10:14 on Nov 30, 2022

Thanks Ants
May 21, 2004

#essereFerrari


A great outcome of the forced rush to work from home over the past few years has been companies trying to reduce paperwork wherever possible

nielsm
Jun 1, 2009



On the other hand, Epson is actually heavily pushing their EcoTank line where you don't buy cartridges with integrated nozzles and electronics, and instead only buy ink refills for an internal tank. They also don't really have any super budget inkjets like the HP subsidized-by-cart-subscriptions models you see pushed everywhere.

SlowBloke
Aug 14, 2017
Epson making laser printers is a new one for me, no shop or distributor here held anything but ecotank units from them.

Geemer
Nov 4, 2010



My experience with Epson is that their all in ones refuse to scan or even copy in black and white unless a full ink cartridge is installed for every color. I don't know if that's still the case, but it was the last thing I learned about that printer before throwing it out.

other people
Jun 27, 2004
Associate Christ
All printers suck poo poo but at least the current epson ink tank models don't have cartridges so that whole stupid dance is done with.

If one of the ink tanks is empty does the scanner still work? I actually have no idea because after ~2 years of ownership all the tanks on ours are still pretty much full. I can't imagine how many tens of thousands of pages you would have to print to drain it.

It is sort of annoying because if you don't print for a few months then you have to print a few head cleaning pages to get it back up to speed but that uses so little ink it hasn't been a big deal for us.

nielsm
Jun 1, 2009



One (other) advantage of inkjet printers should be that the paper path is (can be) much simpler than in laser printers. The paper just needs to be pulled in, run past the print head, and out, unlike laser printers that need it going through 2-3 different integrated units (imaging, toner, fuser) each with their own paper feed mechanisms, in addition to the ones in the printer itself. Much fewer places a paper jam can occur, and much easier to resolve when it does happen.

ShaneMacGowansTeeth
May 22, 2007



I think this is it... I think this is how it ends
Today, when replaced a transport assembly because the clutch was slipping and telling the printer the paper it wanted wasn't loaded, I managed to do the following: nearly kill the machine by fraying some wire harnesses when moving it about; thought I had *actually* killed it when I booted it up but it turned out I'd not reseated the memory DIMM; got a clunking jam in the back which was caused by a broken bit of plastic getting caught in the duplex path and not because of a wire harness not being plugged in correctly - yes, I took the thing apart and checked. This whole "not being a field engineer" thing is making me sloppy

PitViper
May 25, 2003

Welcome and thank you for shopping at Wal-Mart!
I love you!
I had the opportunity to print using an Epson Ecotank printer at my in-laws over Thanksgiving (my kid wanted coloring pages). It printed from my phone.... sorta.... but dear god was it slow as gently caress. Maybe I'm just spoiled having only had laser printers at home for going on 20 years now.

CaptainSarcastic
Jul 6, 2013



I replaced an inkjet all-in-one with a laser all-in-one near the start of the pandemic, and holy hell it was a quality of life improvement. I don't have to print all that often, so the percentage of times I needed to print but the inkjet had clogged nozzles, or wouldn't print text without a color ink cartridge installed, or had misaligned cartridges, or various other stupid reasons it wouldn't print or wouldn't print well worked out pretty high. The laser has been wonderfully uneventful, and I have yet to need to replace consumables (although I think it is getting close to needing it). The worst I have to do with the laser is occasionally power cycle it because it loses the network/the router forgets about it.

Arivia
Mar 17, 2011

CaptainSarcastic posted:

I replaced an inkjet all-in-one with a laser all-in-one near the start of the pandemic, and holy hell it was a quality of life improvement. I don't have to print all that often, so the percentage of times I needed to print but the inkjet had clogged nozzles, or wouldn't print text without a color ink cartridge installed, or had misaligned cartridges, or various other stupid reasons it wouldn't print or wouldn't print well worked out pretty high. The laser has been wonderfully uneventful, and I have yet to need to replace consumables (although I think it is getting close to needing it). The worst I have to do with the laser is occasionally power cycle it because it loses the network/the router forgets about it.

the time you think you need to replace a consumable on a laser printer and the time you actually need to replace the consumable has a surprisingly large gap, fyi

like my brother printer goes "hey i need more toner" hundreds of pages before it actually does

PitViper
May 25, 2003

Welcome and thank you for shopping at Wal-Mart!
I love you!
Yeah, I went about 400 pages past the "I'm empty" warning on all my toners. Just had to look up the reset process for the printer to make it think the toner had been replaced, then I just check it every few weeks with a color test page (or wait for my wife to complain that the colors aren't right).

Just checked. 3800 pages, still on the original cyan cartridge, one actual replacement on the black/yellow/magenta toners.

Geemer
Nov 4, 2010



If the printer has the option, just set it to keep on printing when toner runs low. Occasionally shaking up the cartridge can help squeeze some extra life out of it as well.

Peachfart
Jan 21, 2017

The reason that the 'out of toner' message is off is due to a combination of how a machine realizes it is out of toner and a bit of corporate greed. Initial toner end is determined by guessing how much toner is left in the bottle, when the machine hits the target coverage level/number of copies you get a toner near end. But actual toner end only happens when the toner is attempted to be added multiple times, but the piezoelectric charge doesn't change.(this is basically the toner to developer ratio)
So since the manufacturer doesn't want you to literally run out without any warning, you get a early toner 'end'. But on consumer devices, there is extra incentive to make that toner end hit early($$$), so you get situations where toner end hits with 1/3rd of the bottle remaining.

PitViper
May 25, 2003

Welcome and thank you for shopping at Wal-Mart!
I love you!
I don't know that there's any way to disable the toner page-count alert on the Brother, but my system seems to work well enough. I'll usually order a cartridge when the printer claims it's empty, and replace it when the color starts looking a little off on test prints.

Carthag Tuek
Oct 15, 2005

Tider skal komme,
tider skal henrulle,
slægt skal følge slægters gang



loving piece of poo poo epson xp-830!!!!

I haven't printed in a while. Ink status looked fine, but I decided to run the nozzle check first. Okay it prints out the dots, but some are missing so I do it again. Then it complains that the BK black cartridge is empty (which it totally wasn't before, and I can hear it has ink in there). Anyway I replace it cause I had a spare.

Now it's saying the PBK photo black cartridge is not recognized, and I don't have any of those around. I don't give a poo poo about photo printing, I just want to print some text in monochrome. Oh and I guess I can't use the scanner anymore because the printer is now holding me hostage?

gently caress this poo poo.

Is there any way to bypass the stupid?

Carthag Tuek
Oct 15, 2005

Tider skal komme,
tider skal henrulle,
slægt skal følge slægters gang



Are these factory reset instructions genuine or just made up SEO bullshit?

https://www.yoyoink.com/articles/how-to-reset-downgrade-printer-firmware/

i dont get anything when i "Long press the Top Right Corner of the Touch Screen and Power buttons together." it just shuts down as if i held down power without touching the screen

Molten Llama
Sep 20, 2006

Carthag Tuek posted:

Oh and I guess I can't use the scanner anymore because the printer is now holding me hostage?

Yep, that's Epson's absolutely loving fabulous firmware in action.

"Cartridge not recognized" is a blocking condition, which is a real laugh riot when pandemic-era Epson cartridges aren't recognized by many Epson printers. My mom had to dig empty cartridges out of the trash last month to file her FSA claims. Praise our DRM overlords!

Carthag Tuek
Oct 15, 2005

Tider skal komme,
tider skal henrulle,
slægt skal følge slægters gang



Thanks for confirming

*yeet*

Peachfart
Jan 21, 2017

Carthag Tuek posted:



gently caress this poo poo.

Is there any way to bypass the stupid?

Buy a laser printer.

ShaneMacGowansTeeth
May 22, 2007



I think this is it... I think this is how it ends
I am now officially not a technical services representative but instead a Delivery Account Operations Associate Level 2. Only took them four months to make the change, along with me repeatedly saying "no, I will never go back out on the road, stop asking me"

Carthag Tuek
Oct 15, 2005

Tider skal komme,
tider skal henrulle,
slægt skal følge slægters gang



Peachfart posted:

Buy a laser printer.

lol at paying money for a printer

Gynovore
Jun 17, 2009

Forget your RoboCoX or your StickyCoX or your EvilCoX, MY CoX has Blinking Bewbs!

WHY IS THIS GAME DEAD?!
Any recommendations for a quickie printer for someone who prints poo poo once a month? I just want something cheap and easy to set up without an assbleed ink contract. Also please no mandatory phone app.

Twerk from Home
Jan 17, 2009

This avatar brought to you by the 'save our dead gay forums' foundation.

Gynovore posted:

Any recommendations for a quickie printer for someone who prints poo poo once a month? I just want something cheap and easy to set up without an assbleed ink contract. Also please no mandatory phone app.

Monochrome brother laser. It'll last you 15 years of light use with no fuss and work every time.

If you want to print color, God help you.

Gynovore
Jun 17, 2009

Forget your RoboCoX or your StickyCoX or your EvilCoX, MY CoX has Blinking Bewbs!

WHY IS THIS GAME DEAD?!

Twerk from Home posted:

Monochrome brother laser. It'll last you 15 years of light use with no fuss and work every time.

If you want to print color, God help you.

I bought a Brother printer 35 years ago for my Commodore 64. (I'm very old). It was very solid and dependable.

I was kinda hoping for color, but every single color printer under $200 has tales of nightmarish setup.

CaptainSarcastic
Jul 6, 2013



Gynovore posted:

I bought a Brother printer 35 years ago for my Commodore 64. (I'm very old). It was very solid and dependable.

I was kinda hoping for color, but every single color printer under $200 has tales of nightmarish setup.

You're going to a premium for a color laser printer, but they still aren't that much anymore. If you want to keep cost and hassle low then a cheap B&W laser printer is probably your best option. The lack of hassle I've had since switching to laser instead of inkjet is really remarkable. If I need to print I print, as opposed to needing to clean print heads, hope the ink cartridge is still working, go buy another ink cartridge if it isn't, and all that crap.

nielsm
Jun 1, 2009



If you only need to print once in a blue moon, do check if there's a print shop nearby you can use instead of owning another machine.

Thanks Ants
May 21, 2004

#essereFerrari


The killer with colour laser is the toner costs, even if you buy non-genuine stuff

SlowBloke
Aug 14, 2017
My color laser printer (hp m476dn) is still running on the original color toners. Spent about 400€ and hasn’t skipped a beat.

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Toshimo
Aug 23, 2012

He's outta line...

But he's right!
My father is asking me, the person with no printer, for suggestions for heavier photo-quality printer paper for his color laser. Apparently, he's happy with how the prints come out, visually, but all the photo paper he's tried is about the thickness of standard paper, and he'd like something a little thicker, if people are going to be handling the photos at all. Any suggestions?

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