Better Laser Printer for Mac, than HP?

There are many brands that work well with Apple devices. Brother, Canon, Xerox just to name a few.

examples:

click here ➜ Brother HL-L2480DW Wireless Compact Monochrome Multi-Function Laser Printer - Amazon.com

click here ➜ Canon imageCLASS LBP122dw - Monochrome Duplex Wireless Laser Printer - Amazon.com

click here ➜ Xerox B230/DNI Printer - 36 ppm Black and White Laser, Wireless - Amazon.com

That Brother printer is definitely an excellent choice, but if you only need it to print (i.e. no scanning, no duplex etc) Brother makes equally excellent AirPrint printers for half as much that occasionally go on sale for about $100.

Whatever you decide upon please read MrHoffman's User Tip Which Printer Should I Buy? - Apple Community.

Now that hp has gone "anti customer" with Apple, ...

😄

It's not just Apple. HP has gone customer-hostile all around. One of my corporate clients (thousands of printers, tens of thousands iPads) recently decided upon Ricoh after using HP exclusively for decades.

Be sure that whatever printer you get supports AirPrint.

About AirPrint - Apple Support

AirPrint gives you a way to print without installing separate drivers – which can be especially useful once a printer manufacturer stops releasing updated drivers to work with new versions of macOS.

if I were to purchase a new printer (I close to never print and or scan) so I can do it at work

then I would look for a brother colour laser printer / scanner which supported airprint

Old Toad wrote:

What do you mean by "hp has gone "anti customer" with Apple,"

It may be a reference to HP not just putting chips into their cartridges – to try to lock you into their ink – but of apparently being proud about it.

One HP printer box that I saw in a store had a notice on it saying that it had "Dynamic Security" or some such, which meant that even if you got third-party cartridges to work now, HP might put out future firmware updates that would intentionally keep you from using them.

Sounds like HP has actually used this "feature", too:

The Register (March 19, 2025) – HP Inc settles printer toner lockout lawsuit with a promise to make firmware updates optional

ArsTechnica (March 19, 2025) – HP avoids monetary damages over bricked printers in class-action settlement

HP also seems to be eager to sign people up for ink "subscriptions".

ArsTechnica (January 22, 2024) – HP CEO evokes James Bond-style hack via ink cartridges ("Our long-term objective is to make printing a subscription.”)

"If I were buying a new printer today I'd get a tank printer so you never get caught out by manufacturers deciding to lock out 3rd party (i.e. cheap) cartridges with a sneaky update. I also prefer an ethernet connection."

-------

Eco-Tank Printer:

If you get an eco-tank printer --you'd better use it; if you don't the printhead will dry out. Those are intended to print thousand of pages (6,500 - 8,500)/ cartridge. So, I would not recommend it, if you are just living alone, and going about your own business, will little or no need to print. Small families, those in college, and those at work these may be more ideal individuals to use these.

As for third-party cartridges, note that cartridges have chips in them. HP, for one, has firmware that looks at these chips, and -- if third-party -- by recognition techniques --those cartridges just will not work. As for eco-tanks, I, myself use one, and third-party may work, but they are so-expensive of printers, that I would never put third-party liquid in it.

What you are experiencing is not new. Printer manufacturers have moved in that direction for years. Epson and Cannon have already taken that approach with inkjet and likely laser printers as well. They want to sell you a cheap printer and then gouge you on the price of consumables.

The other thing is that printer manufacturers are closing the window on support of older OSes. That 7 year old printer that works just fine can suddenly be unusable because of a new OS update or even worse, they simply phase out consumables for a product and because of the design 3rd party products are not available.

As far as sustainability, printer manufacturers are probably one of least eco-friendly entities.

Servant of Cats wrote:

Old Toad wrote:

What do you mean by "hp has gone "anti customer" with Apple,"

It may be a reference to HP not just putting chips into their cartridges – to try to lock you into their ink – but of apparently being proud about it.

Currently there are a slew of 3rd party providers with cartridges with chips. I'll use 3rd party laser cartridges but not ink. I've used them for years and lately they are beginning to offer cartridges with chips.

“Currently there are a slew of 3rd party providers with cartridges with chips. I'll use 3rd party laser cartridges but not ink. I've used them for years and lately they are beginning to offer cartridges with chips.”

———-

Cartridges with Chips:

Those chips are how the cartridges are detected as being third-party. Arrogant though it seems, HP’s looking out for you, not wanting you to become a no-longer user of their products due to damages and failures. All manufacturers I would expect will be doing the same. As WiFi 6 is brought about out on newly-released printers, they’ll likely all do the same.

HP's not looking out for users, they're looking out for themselves. 3rd party ink cartridges don't damage printers. I've never bought Epson ink for my Epson printer in the 10+ years that I've used it and it's still going strong. I firewalled it from the internet on the day I bought it and I only install firmware updates months after they come out and there have been no reports of them blocking 3P cartridges.

GaryReginald wrote:

Now that hp has gone "anti customer" with Apple, what brand of laser printer is recommended for Mac users?

For what it's worth, I have always considered HP Laser printers among the best on the market. I have used many different LaserJet models over the years.

At present, at home, I have a small, 8-year-old model (LaserJet Pro M15w) that has never failed me and continues to produce crisp, well printed output.

I wouldn't hesitate to consider an HP Laser printer.

“Better Laser Printer for Mac, than HP?: Now that hp has gone ‘anti customer’ with Apple, what brand of laser printer is recommended for Mac users”

———-

What you do mean “anti customer”?

If Human Resources is giving you issues, then ask to speak to the next tier up, likely management.

AirPrint:

Which to get definitely depends on connectivity: Use AirPrint. But, moreover, note that incompatibility can be of big concern here, too, when it comes to Operating Systems. IMPORTANT: Get the drivers from the manufacturer’s site, and none other, as a way to avoid scams and such.

If I were buying a new printer today I'd get a tank printer so you never get caught out by manufacturers deciding to lock out 3rd party (i.e. cheap) cartridges with a sneaky update. I also prefer an ethernet connection.

"If you get an eco-tank printer --you'd better use it; if you don't the printhead will dry out."

I guess it must depend on the make/model. My brother's had one for a couple of years and he only prints a few pages a month when he does his accounts. I'm his telephone tech support and he's never phoned me about it so it's problem free. I don't know the model but it was the cheapest one in the shop with a tank and a scanner (no feed, just a flat bed). I think it was about £200.

I firewalled my current printer from the web as soon as I got just in case it did a sneaky firmware download to block cheap cartridges.