Brother laser printer
Hacker ApprovedThe most recommended of 5 printers
Recommended for low running costs, long life with little maintenance, and good Linux support. Some users struggle with Wi-Fi setup and with drivers on newer systems.
Recommended for low running costs, long life with little maintenance, and good Linux support. Some users struggle with Wi-Fi setup and with drivers on newer systems.
77 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 56
- criticize it
- 21
- approval share
- 73%
Recommended in 12 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 10 years
Median of the 17 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it carries the badge
- 56 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 12 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Low running costs, accessible toner
“cheap indestructible monochrome Brother laser printer. I only print a few pages per month these days”
Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “Ask HN: What home printer do you use/recommend?” “It didn't cost much, has never needed maintenance, and the toner lasts a long time.”
Comment from 7 Oct 2026 in “Ask HN: Do you still own a printer?” “Brother is awesome because of how accessible the hardware and toner ecosystem is”
Comment from 29 Oct 2026 in “Getting debug access on a Brother printer over Telnet” - Comment from 29 Oct 2026 in “Getting debug access on a Brother printer over Telnet”
- Comment from 23 Jun 2026 in “Ask HN: What home printer do you use/recommend?”
- Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “Reparaible and open source paper printer”
Lasts years with little maintenance
“I've had my Brother laser printer for 10 years, and I've only changed the toner once”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “Reparaible and open source paper printer” “It didn't cost much, has never needed maintenance, and the toner lasts a long time.”
Comment from 7 Oct 2026 in “Ask HN: Do you still own a printer?” “has run for about 10 years without any hitches or even basic maintenance”
Comment from 29 Oct 2026 in “A Printer Printing onto Paper” - Comment from 28 Aug 2026 in “Ask HN: What's a Good Physical Printer?”
- Comment from 7 Oct 2026 in “Ask HN: Do you still own a printer?”
Works well with Linux and CUPS
“I have had good experiences with Brother laserjet printers and CUPS over wifi with my Linux laptops.”
Comment from 25 May 2026 in “Ask HN: Laptops with good Linux support and good build quality?” “connecting a new Brother printer was the most painless thing I've ever done on Linux”
Comment from 20 Nov 2025 in “Gaming on Linux has never been more approachable” “it's Linux / CUPS compatible and without a broken proprietary rasterizer”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “New information extracted from Snowden PDFs through metadata version analysis” - Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “I replaced Windows with Linux and everything's going great”
Dependable, no-nonsense hardware
“they seem to be the only brand that's not actively trying to screw their customers”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “Reparaible and open source paper printer” “Prints fast like a champ. It's one of the most no-BS devices I've ever owned.”
Comment from 8 Oct 2026 in “Ask HN: Do you still own a printer?” “Brother was the least broken despite still not being perfect.”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “New information extracted from Snowden PDFs through metadata version analysis” - Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “Ask HN: What home printer do you use/recommend?”
- Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “Reparaible and open source paper printer”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Wi-Fi and network setup problems
“I could never get AirPrint to reliably work until I switched over to using Ethernet instead of Wi-Fi.”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “I replaced Windows with Linux and everything's going great” “Try entering a long wifi-password via the 1-line lcd and 2 buttons on the printer, what a nightmare.”
Comment from 27 Mar 2026 in “Installing a Let's Encrypt TLS Certificate on a Brother Printer with Certbot” “it seemed like it wanted me to enter the wifi password with a d-pad”
Comment from 14 Feb 2026 in “I let AI fix my printer and it bricked my Wi-Fi three times” Vendor restrictions on cartridges and access
“Didn't Brother start pulling this same stuff? I recall hearing something along those lines and blocking mine from talking to the Internet.”
Comment from 14 Mar 2026 in “HP has new incentive to stop blocking third-party ink in its printers” “I just block its LAN access to prevent the manufacturer from acting like HP”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “What keeps IoT devices running for a decade” “often ships their printers with the USB port hidden behind a sticker”
Comment from 7 Jun 2026 in “The gamers taking on the industry to stop it switching off games” - Comment from 12 Feb 2026 in “Microwave Oven Failure: Spontaneously turned on by its LED display (2024)”
Driver problems on newer systems
“I upgraded the printer driver some months ago (on macOS) and Hey, Presto! No more functioning printer.”
Comment from 10 Dec 2025 in “It's cheaper to buy a new printer every month” “my current Brother laser doesn't have drivers that Windows will allow to be installed anymore”
Comment from 3 Nov 2025 in “Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark” “Their Linux driver is a mess of perl+binary blobs with a completely bizarre architecture”
Comment from 23 Aug 2026 in “I spent $266 and four AI models to own my tablet. GLM-5.3 finished it in a day” Picture printing quality lags
“lacks the photo printing quality that the Canon had”
Comment from 29 Oct 2026 in “Getting debug access on a Brother printer over Telnet” “the Brother I bought has inferior picture printing quality”
Comment from 13 May 2026 in “Restore full BambuNetwork support for Bambu Lab printers”
Other printers people recommend
The four most recommended other printers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brother laser printerThis page | 56 | 21 | 73% | 12 | 10 yrs17 owners | Approved |
| OpenPrinter | 14 | 14 | 50% | 4 | — | — |
| HP LaserJet | 10 | 6 | 63% | 7 | 25 yrs8 owners | — |
| Epson EcoTank printer | 10 | 7 | 59% | 7 | 4.5 yrs4 owners | — |
| Brother inkjet printer | 6 | 3 | 67% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 80 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“lacks the photo printing quality that the Canon had”
“Brother is awesome because of how accessible the hardware and toner ecosystem is”
“has run for about 10 years without any hitches or even basic maintenance”
“I have never had issues with 3rd party cartridges in my Brother printer.”
“The web interface is like 90s website but it does have a million suboptions.”
“Prints fast like a champ. It's one of the most no-BS devices I've ever owned.”
“It didn't cost much, has never needed maintenance, and the toner lasts a long time.”
“has worked great for a lot of years at a very reasonable cost”
“I bought a brother laser printer to use as part of my D&D hobby.”
“Tex, Mac and Brother understand with zero further brain investment from me”
“has been working perfectly for over 10 years. No software installation.”
“Their Linux driver is a mess of perl+binary blobs with a completely bizarre architecture”
“I've had my Brother laser printer for 10 years, and I've only changed the toner once”
“they seem to be the only brand that's not actively trying to screw their customers”
“Brother is the answer here; they tend to be low-bullshit.”
“Laser printers are so much more economical.”
“cheap indestructible monochrome Brother laser printer. I only print a few pages per month these days”
“Yeah I've got a Brother laser printer, never had an issue.”
“Works great with Linux and ink is available at the office supply store.”
“I have one personally and installed it in many a home and business”
“often ships their printers with the USB port hidden behind a sticker”
“I have had good experiences with Brother laserjet printers and CUPS over wifi with my Linux laptops.”
“the Brother I bought has inferior picture printing quality”
“I have an old tank of a Brother laser printer whose only issue is feeding paper.”
“I used the WPS button method [0] to set up my Brother printers and it worked perfectly for me.”
“Try entering a long wifi-password via the 1-line lcd and 2 buttons on the printer, what a nightmare.”
“They release drivers for new operating systems compatible with the oldest machines”
“Didn't Brother start pulling this same stuff? I recall hearing something along those lines and blocking mine from talking to the Internet.”
“I just block its LAN access to prevent the manufacturer from acting like HP”
“it seemed like it wanted me to enter the wifi password with a d-pad”
“toner cartridges had a hard limit on how many pages they would print”
“They usually work well with printers, but I've run into some situations where I was just plain unable to get it to work with my Brother laser printer”
“I could never get AirPrint to reliably work until I switched over to using Ethernet instead of Wi-Fi.”
“they follow CUPS standards requiring no fidgeting”
“Brother was the least broken despite still not being perfect.”
“it's Linux / CUPS compatible and without a broken proprietary rasterizer”
“I upgraded the printer driver some months ago (on macOS) and Hey, Presto! No more functioning printer.”
“connecting a new Brother printer was the most painless thing I've ever done on Linux”
“I have a Brother printer that doesn't work when it connects to a U7 Pro.”
“my current Brother laser doesn't have drivers that Windows will allow to be installed anymore”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.