Fortunately, I have a nephew who is really good at setting these things up, so I'll just give him my debit card and ask him to pick me up a new printer.

The price was right, but I never did figure out how to go wireless with it. It doesn't have the internal wifi guts, I would need an adapter to run off the router.

I've been planning to move to cable internet for years, but setup? yikes. So even though it's cheaper than Verizon, and 20 times faster, I still hesitate.

Technology gives us so much freedom!

and if not you can run your wi-fi router off the cable modem.

I picked up a cheaper HP a few years ago. Im' 63 now and a but of a tech geek and I found getting it online and synching it with my devices was a oain in the @$$.

My niece's husband said I should quit stressing, hit the easy button and just go the "Best" store and pay them to manhandle it. They'll know how to get around the "give me your first born" questions.

I can't imagine what it will be like when today's geeks are 80. Maybe by then we'll have a chip in our ears and just think it... poof.

but this was ridiculous. I jumped through all the hoops and thought I almost had it, then their web site would not load the account I had just set up and verified. It had to do that for me to install the software. I tried two more times and even left it loading while I took a shower. Nope. Never worked.

Then I went looking for their customer service or tech support phone number. I find you can usually just Google that easier than finding where they hide it on their website, but it didn't turn up. I couldn't find it on their web site either. That was their last chance. If I can't even get to someone that can tell me if the problem is on their end or not, we're done.

and especially if you dont need color.

it will just work when you need it.

inkjet printers are just failures waiting to happen.
ink drying, clogged printheads.

my wife found an older laser printer on next door for like 25 bucks. HP1006. Just works.

experience in tech finally leashed the printer to the laptop after repeated failure in bluetooth re-connecting said printer to wifi. Forget faxing. I can sometimes get docs emailed, but faxing is now a capital offense, per HP.

without a fax service. There are several on-line services that will fax for you, if you really must fax. Of course it is easier to send a document as an e-mail attachment.

I print at the local library.

EXCELLENT machines, expertly maintained.

Yeah, I pay a little fee for each page, but it is nothing compared with the cost of replacing printers, and the cost of ink.

You could take what you want to print on a thumb drive or SD card. Or you can take your own laptop and print from there. Or you can log in to your email on the library's computer and print from there.

What a beautiful idea. THANK YOU.

Although the room temperature in the library is always Frigidaire. I have to remember that when I go.

get a new one and if it is too much angst for you, pay a teenager or the geek squad to help you set it up

I have an HP laser printer MFP M29 (black & white, you pay extra for color) and it works like a charm for my minimal printing needs, so subscription required.

As someone said in an earlier post, inkjet printers are awful. The cartridges cost a lot, and they can dry up the ink pad if you don't use it much.

I have a Brother B&W laser printer for 7 years, and it works just fine. I have NEVER had a problem with it.

You can direct connect it to your laptop, but I do it wirelessly.

Get it from BestBuy and get them to install it for you, but you can do this yourself.

that when it runs out of ink, and I come in to get some ink if he tells me it would be cheaper to buy a new printer, I'm going to throw it through his front window.

He looked frightened.

I wonder how many HP printers are in landfills. I know that I have contributed half a dozen, probably. Stupid things.

I bought my first printer around 1992 and I remember having to configure DMA and IRQ settings and being totally frustrated.
The hatred for printers has existed for as long as they have been around.

After years of connecting printers at home... I could NOT figure out the setup and called in our neighborhood geek for help who ended up signing me up for the subscription and when I quit the subscription, HP hijacked my printer, disabling it until the subscription time ran out. So I was faced with two weeks of no printing... with a perfectly good printer sitting next to me.

Bottom line, I don't print very often and frequently had to clean the heads... wasting tons of ink... and then I discovered this Epson printer with ink wells. I've had it since June, print maybe once a week and I've barely put a dent in the ink reservoirs. I'm really happy with this one. https://www.amazon.com/Epson-EcoTank-Wireless-Cartridge-Free-Supertank/dp/B096N8CNBZ?th=1

and knows how to wrangle this behemoth printer. Bought a printer advertised by Shaquile O'Neal. Love it so far. Half the size and does everything I need. Ginormous bottles of ink which are comparatively cheap.

The HP printers us a proprietary ink cartridges which can not be refilled. They (HP) were sued over this and there is a patch you can download and install so you can. As I understand this patch in not the easiest thing to find. That said my journey with this brand is now over.

So far I highly recommend the unsaid printer. Still probably want the geek though.

The "simple" setup programs invariably demand your personal information and the manual setup programs are deliberately obfuscated if you can find them at all.

If you have an android phone it's sometimes easier to do the printer setup on that. That's how I got my dad's new wireless printer working, saying "NO" to all the automatic ink refill schemes, advertising offers, etc.. Once the printer was working on the wifi network I simply deleted the printer's phone app. The generic printer drivers on his laptop and cell phone worked just fine.

Here's two highly rated monochrome laser printers:

https://www.newegg.com/brother-hl-series-hl-l2300d/p/N82E16828113934?Item=9SIB679K313869 $128 free shipping


https://www.newegg.com/xerox-b230-dni/p/N82E16828128002?Item=9SIAE1AH5Y4851 $130 + free shipping.


I take it you already own a USB cord?

P:S. I'd buy the Brother, good company

(I own a 21 year old Samsung monochrome it's beat to shit, but ALWAYS works.
I buy a $20 aftermarket toner pack once every 2 years)