I lastly discovered a printer I do not hate!

My greatest printer gripes

I feel all of us have a narrative a few printer turning into our nemesis. Perhaps you wanted to get one thing printed off for college or work and the printer determined that now is the time to jam up, or run dry on ink, or fail to connect with the Wi-Fi community.

Simply establishing a printer could be a actual ache, to not point out the Home windows XP-style interfaces, the drivers that must be put in, the clunky on-device controls, or the opposite variety of hoops that must be jumped. Organising printers has traditionally left me clawing at my eyes in frustration no less than as soon as throughout every course of.

Talking of clunky on-device controls, don’t get me began on the anything-but-intuitive screens and shows. Their crushingly poor refresh charges make each animated menu transition take an eternity, and sub-menu after sub-menu makes navigation as a lot a chore as no matter work I used to be attempting so desperately to finish.

And even when every little thing appears to be working OK, I’m going to print and the printer says it’s printing… however it doesn’t. So I cancel the print job…. and it simply sits there, caught within the output queue. What a nightmare. There isn’t a single different piece of know-how I personal that forces a complete PC reboot simply to get it doing what it’s speculated to do. I’m getting so riled up simply from reliving all this as I kind this up!

Mark Pickavance

Perhaps it wouldn’t be so dangerous if it weren’t for the way occasionally I really want to make use of a printer. As e-signing and PDF modifying have gotten simpler, printing has kind of drifted off to the facet… which makes it that rather more annoying once I do must print and the ink is dry, the printing head wants cleansing, the tray jams, or no matter.

Enter my new favourite HP printer

After many years of lackluster efficiency, obfuscating errors, excruciating setup processes, and spiraling ink prices, I’ve lastly discovered a printer I don’t hate. It hasn’t bothered me as soon as within the months I’ve had it. It connects rapidly, doesn’t take lengthy to begin up, and to this point I’m fairly detached about its presence in my dwelling and workplace.

Jon Martindale / Foundry

The printer in query is the HP LaserJet M110w Wi-fi Black & White Printer. It’s easy, it’s easy, and it simply works. In 2025, that shouldn’t be a lot of an achievement… however it’s! And for that I blame myself simply as a lot as each printer that got here earlier than it.

Preserve it easy, silly

Prior to now, the printers I purchased wanted to be all-in-one jacks. I needed a scanner for work contracts, colour printing and gloss paper assist for household pictures, and quick black-and-white printing for work and faculty paperwork. Though previous printer designs had been undoubtedly terrible, one cause this new HP design is so nice is that it retains it easy.

The M110w is a monochrome printer—no colour printing, no fancy paper assist. It solely has one paper feed, it doesn’t scan, it doesn’t fax (lol), it doesn’t copy. I take advantage of it for D&D character sheets and the odd skilled doc that also requires a hand signature.

Jon Martindale / Foundry

And the M110w is a LaserJet, that means it makes use of toner as an alternative of ink. Not like ink, toner doesn’t dry out or clog up printing heads, and toner isn’t tremendous costly. Plus, it prints quick with larger precision and doesn’t smudge.

It’s additionally the primary printer I’ve ever owned that lastly feels prefer it has embraced some trendy design philosophies round consumer interplay and expertise. That alone is ungodly refreshing.

For instance, HP’s app-based setup wasn’t terrible. It was already a step up over inputting my Wi-Fi pasword into my earlier printer, which solely had three buttons to work together with an on-screen keyboard. (That was one of many worst digital experiences I’ve ever had with something!) So, credit score the place it’s due: HP’s printing app isn’t dangerous. I had it arrange in lower than quarter-hour and printing in below 20.

Finally, that is all I really want from a printer: work once I want you to, in any other case get out of my method. Don’t frustrate me or trigger pointless delays that make me late at hand in a report. Please.

I can’t consider I don’t hate this printer

One cause why I can get pleasure from a printer like this in 2025 is due to how out of date so many different printer features are actually.

I now not must print colour shiny pictures of my household as a result of there are one million picture printing companies which are high quality, quick, and reasonably priced. I don’t want a scanner anymore as a result of my telephone can double as a scanner simply sufficient. PDF modifying software program is so significantly better in 2025 that I can e-sign absolutely anything, too. A printer that solely prints is ideal now that every little thing else is dealt with elsewhere.

Jon Martindale / Foundry

It’s been a number of months now and the HP LaserJet M110w Wi-fi Black & White Printer been error-free for probably the most half, plus I’ve printed over 50 pages with out working out of toner. After I ultimately want to switch it, the cartridge will solely be $50. (I’ve spent greater than that on a single set of ink cartridges that had been already dry by the following time I used them.) Yeah, I don’t hate it. I would even prefer it.

Pricey printer, please keep the best way you’re. In the event you can present hassle-free printing for a number of extra years, perhaps I’ll provide you with a swish retirement as an alternative of going medieval on you with a baseball bat.