Need a new home printer

[harllee]

I have a MacBook Pro and an iPad and I want to install the new Catalina operating system. It appears that my old Cannon MG 6800 printer will not be compatible with the Catalina OS. I need advice on buying a new home printer. The features I need:
Wireless Printing
Don't necessarily need color printing, I think I can get by with B&W
Need to be able to scan
Need to be able to copy from books, other documents
Compact size for travel
Budget friendly--would rather have a laser printer if possible
Compatible with Catalina
I don't make a ton of copies at a time but I make some copies almost everyday


I don't do much photo printing. I am the Secretary for a Nonprofit Board and do a lot of word processing, copying minutes, etc. Don't need a fax machine.

What suggestions?

[camfused]

Sounds like a Brother laser would do fine for you. I recommend getting one that will do duplex printing/scanning, to save paper. See https://support.brother.com/g/s/id/os/macintosh.html

Interesting, I just checked the Epson website, https://epson.com/Support/wa00897, for my old WorkForce 845 printer, and it apparently is not supported either. It never occurred to me to check that. Mojave was. Epson does say they will roll out support on an on-going basis, whatever that means. I doubt they will for my old printer though.

[harllee]

Camfused, there are so many Brother products my head is spinning. Do you have a particular model you could recommend for my needs? Thanks!

[Bamaman]

Kim Komando, digital goddess, swears by Epson's new WorkForce WF-2860, Expression Home XP-5100 and Expression Premium XP-6000. All are between $120 and $150. You can read about them on her website.

[calmloki]

We have been very pleased with our Brother printers, but I'd hate to carry them around. We just picked up a refurbished laser with duplex and scanner and wireless for my niece. $90:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[harllee]

calmloki, thanks but in reading the reviews it does not appear this printer will be compatible with the Macs new operating sytem which is the same problem I am having with my exisiting printer.

[ExFlyBoy5]

I have a Brother HL-L2300 and love it. Very cheap and reliable. It doesn't appear to be compatible with the OS you mentioned, but I would guess an updated version would be as good.

[mpeirce]

Quote:

Originally Posted by harllee calmloki, thanks but in reading the reviews it does not appear this printer will be compatible with the Macs new operating sytem which is the same problem I am having with my exisiting printer.

The HL-L2390DW is listed as supported here:

Quote:

"Most Brother models offer support for macOS Catalina (macOS v10.15.x). The charts below indicate that models offer support for macOS v10.15.x including drivers and utilities available for download."

https://support.brother.com/g/s/id/os/macintosh.html

[davebarnes]

Brother laser multifunction.

[Qs Laptop]

I will add my voice to the choir recommending Brother printers. I replaced a Canon inkjet with a Brother laser several years ago and about a year ago I got Brother inkjet. Generic replacement toner cartridges for Brother's are dirt cheap on Amazon.

[harllee]

OP here, thanks for the suggestions of Brother printers, I will look into them. In the meantime I will hold off on the Catalina OS update. My existing Cannon printer is a perfectly good printer, does all that I need and is fairly lightweight and portable. Hopefully Cannon will update their software to work with Catalina. I will contact Cannon to suggest they update.

[Bongleur]

My brother laser has always made crappy color copies -- even with the original OEM cartridges. Colors are flat, too much contrast.

[Ronstar]

I'm happy with my HP Laserjet MFP M28w (black and white). I print wirelessly from iPads, iPhones, iMac w/ Catalina and MacBook w/ Mojave.

[LakeRat1]

Simple,Affordable, Wifi, Black and White Toner Laser ---- Toner lasts a long long time --- Print from any wireless device..... I have purchased two of them for each of my homes ..... Brother HL-L2380DW Series

[Fermion]

Is it a sign of the times that when I first saw the title of this thread, just for a second it crossed my mind that maybe the OP was talking about 3D printing a home? Just for a nano second but...

[target2019]

If a printer is not supported it does not necessarily mean it won't work.

[mountainsoft]

Highly recommend Brother printers. I've had an older Brother HL-5250DN with an extra paper tray for years. It works great, never had a problem with it. It's fast, print quality is good, can print to both sides of a page, and connects to my home network so anybody can print to it.

I also have a Xerox Phaser 6022 color laser for printing color. I don't use it as often, but it's much nicer than my old Samsung color laser. Print quality is good, it connects to my home network, and it's small enough to fit on my desk.

I'm not a big fan of combo printer/scanners. If one part breaks you have to replace everything. I have a ScanSnap IX500 for fast document scanning, and an Epson V500 flatbed scanner for photos, negatives, or delicate items I don't want to feed through the ScanSnap.

[Cobra9777]

Everyone on this forum seems to recommend Brother B&W lasers. They get great reviews elsewhere as well. So I bought one about a year ago (DCPL2550DW).

Frankly, the print quality has been very disappointing. I'm still on the original toner cartridge and I haven't changed any settings. The edges of letters and numbers are not clear and sharp. They are blurry and pixelated. Any kind of image or gradient is extremely pixelated. This happens on any type of document from any software.

Before retiring, I had a cheap HP B&W laserjet on my desk at work. The print quality was MUCH better than the Brother. Letters were very crisp and sharp. Same for my now-retired HP inkjet... very crisp resolution for text.

Don't get me wrong. The Brother is certainly legible for everyday use and extremely reliable. But I was expecting better print quality based on all the good things I hear about Brother, as well as my prior experience with an HP laserjet in the same basic price range.

[target2019]

Laser print drivers have additional settings to enhance the quality by smoothing out the jaggies and pixelation.

[davebarnes]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cobra9777 Everyone on this forum seems to recommend Brother B&W lasers. So I bought one about a year ago (DCPL2550DW).

I don't. I say get a Brother printer with a model # that ends in CDW (color, duplex, wireless).
If you want photo quality, then print at your local camera store.

And, don't buy a multi-function machine.
When was the last time you needed to fax?

P.S. I put $200/month into a sinking fund for computer hardware and software. It means that I am relatively impervious (well, no Mac Pro for me) to the price of an individual item.