[MrSkelter]

America requires tons of paper. The uS banking system is appallingly primitive and any reasonably non mundane or international transaction requires in person visits and paperwork.

Canon make very good printers with massive tanks and no online bullshit.

Lasers are really only needed for super high volumes at this point. With megatank printers there is no real cost saving with a laser and they are much more limited. They don’t do good photos and the paper choices are restricted. Worse than that the prints themselves are less robust.

Invest in a large tank printer from a solid non HO brand and it will last decades.

[sgarland]

Laser printers are great for the opposite problem as well – super low volume. Since there are no nozzles to clog, you don’t have to waste ink every time you print doing a cleaning cycle.

As the sibling comment says, Brother B&W lasers are god-tier for their purpose. They’re cheap, they last forever, and they just work. I had one for well over a decade, until my wife finally convinced me we needed a color printer, because she needed to print hundreds of pages in color for a project. I got a Brother color laser, and so far, I love it. Toner replacement is going to suck, but at least it’s a rare occurrence.

As to photos, it does a shockingly good job at the type you’d see in a brochure, report, etc. It’s not going to replace an actual photo printer, no, but I’ve never found a compelling reason to print photos at home anyway.

[cubefox]

For people who print very rarely and don't use them for photos, I would instead recommend a laser printer (black and white is enough for any official documents) because inkjet printers dry up after a while, which ruins their quality. Brother is quite good in the laser department.

[AdamN]

I'm a big fan of my b&w Brother laser printer even though I don't do big jobs. It always works, is fast, and cheap.

[joemaller1]

The issue with inkjets isn’t running out of ink, it’s long stretches between prints resulting in clogged heads and terrible print quality. Usually followed by dozens a of minutes of cleaning, or a clogged not-empty cartridge that needs replacing anyway.

After yet another clogged inkjet which might print again if I buy a full set of inks for more than the replacement cost of the printer, I’m shopping for a small laser printer.