[Alex3917]

> The upfront cost is slightly higher, the print quality is slightly decreased but the long term satisfaction is greatly enhanced.

OK but they still stop updating the drivers after 3 years, which is the main problem. Otherwise they would last forever.

[magicalhippo]

I've had my HP LaserJet Pro P1102w, one of the cheapest laser printers I could find at the time, for about a decade without any driver issues. Same as with the previous HP lasers I've had.

[Saris]

That doesn't really matter in my experience, they're just attached as a mostly generic network printer and the driver is very basic.

[linsomniac]

Largely true. I've always spent a few more dollars on Postscript printers, because that tended to solve some headaches with printing under Linux in the past, and I think that makes it less of an issue with driver longevity. But the problem is security updates, lots of attacks use printers to gain a foothold.

[Tepix]

I received updates for my Samsung printer for more than 10 years. Now that they finally stopped supporting the latest MacOS i can still use it by printing via a Raspberry Pi.

[oneplane]

What do you expect such a driver to do? The printer is essentially just a random network device. Packets go in, paper comes out. No drivers needed.

[scarface74]

My AirPrint capable printer that I bought almost a decade ago works perfectly with the newest iPhone/Macs…

[raverbashing]

"updating the drivers" no

Good printers use PS/PCL, nobody cares about drivers, a generic one usually works

[JohnFen]

Why do driver updates matter?

[dagw]

My father in law had an old laser printer that he could not get to work under windows 10 since the drivers only support windows 7 and refuse to install.

[JohnFen]

Does it need proprietary drivers at all? I don't think I've seen a printer that does for decades, but I certainly haven't used all printers.

[dagw]

Windows 10 found no supported drivers and refused to print to it, while it worked fine with Windows 7