I bought a printer at the beginning of COVID just to print Amazon return shipping labels, etc. that I used to take advantage of the office printer for.
All I really wanted was a wireless printer so I could stick it somewhere out of sight (small apartment) and be able to print easily. I settled on an HP because it was a good combination of cheap/decent reviews.
Setting it up was such a pain in the ass, including instructions telling me to install what I later found to be the wrong setup program. Now I have two separate programs (one that I can change printer settings including changing wifi networks, and another to use the scanner). It doesn't seem right and I feel like I should only need one, but whatever it works right now and I don't plan on changing anything until the printer or I die.
That feeling of dread and uncertainty is all too real for me.
The first tip I got from an older fellow computer nerd at the first company I worked at was: When customer asks for printer, suggest brother for laser and canon or epson for inkjet. So far I'm very happy I listened. The Brothers just work so never got so far as to try the canons. And I got no support calls about the printers either.
To a first order approximation, nobody actually needs an inkjet printer. The vast majority of consumers don't print enough photos to make inkjets worth it, once you include purchase price and wastage due to dried out ink, most people should get a laser printer for documents and send their photos to Costco or similar.
All I really wanted was a wireless printer so I could stick it somewhere out of sight (small apartment) and be able to print easily. I settled on an HP because it was a good combination of cheap/decent reviews.
Setting it up was such a pain in the ass, including instructions telling me to install what I later found to be the wrong setup program. Now I have two separate programs (one that I can change printer settings including changing wifi networks, and another to use the scanner). It doesn't seem right and I feel like I should only need one, but whatever it works right now and I don't plan on changing anything until the printer or I die.
That feeling of dread and uncertainty is all too real for me.