There are a lot of rivalries within the PC area. You’ve received AMD versus Nvidia, air versus liquid cooling, even PC versus Mac. But if there’s one factor everybody can agree on? Printers suck. That iconic Office Space scene nonetheless hits exhausting all these many years later as a result of it’s so true.
We all hate printers and for good motive. They don’t work as well as they should, the software program feels historical and missing, the ink runs dry too rapidly, the cartridges are too costly, the papers jam, the business models are predatory and anti-competitive…
But maintain up! I’ve some genuinely excellent news. I truly discovered a printer that isn’t so unhealthy: the HP LaserJet M110w Wireless Black & White Printer, which stunned me given HP’s status in printers.
My greatest printer gripes
I believe all of us have a narrative a few printer turning into our nemesis. Maybe you wanted to get one thing printed off for varsity or work and the printer determined that now is the time to jam up, or run dry on ink, or fail to hook up with the Wi-Fi community.
Just organising a printer is usually a actual ache, to not point out the Windows XP-style interfaces, the drivers that should be put in, the clunky on-device controls, or the opposite variety of hoops that should be jumped. Setting up printers has traditionally left me clawing at my eyes in frustration a minimum of as soon as throughout every course of.
Mark Pickavance
Speaking 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 all the things appears to be working OK, I am 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 expertise I personal that forces a complete PC reboot simply to get it doing what it’s purported to do. I’m getting so riled up simply from reliving all this as I kind this up!
Mark Pickavance
Maybe it wouldn’t be so unhealthy if it weren’t for a way occasionally I really need to make use of a printer. As e-signing and PDF enhancing have gotten simpler, printing has type of drifted off to the facet… which makes it that rather more annoying once I do have to 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 start out up, and up to now I’m fairly detached about its presence in my residence and workplace.
Jon Martindale / Foundry
The printer in query is the HP LaserJet M110w Wireless 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.
Keep it easy, silly
In the previous, the printers I purchased wanted to be all-in-one jacks. I needed a scanner for work contracts, coloration printing and gloss paper assist for household images, and quick black-and-white printing for work and college paperwork. Although previous printer designs had been undoubtedly terrible, one motive this new HP design is so nice is that it retains it easy.
The M110w is a monochrome printer—no coloration 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 exploit 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, which means it makes use of toner as a substitute of ink. Unlike 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 unhealthy. I had it arrange in lower than 15 minutes and printing in below 20.
Ultimately, that is all I really want from a printer: work once I want you to, in any other case get out of my means. Don’t frustrate me or trigger pointless delays that make me late handy in a report. Please.
I can’t imagine I don’t hate this printer
One motive 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 have to print coloration shiny images of my household as a result of there are one million picture printing companies which might be 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 enhancing software program is so a lot better in 2025 that I can e-sign absolutely anything, too. A printer that solely prints is ideal now that all the things else is dealt with elsewhere.
Jon Martindale / Foundry
It’s been a number of months now and the HP LaserJet M110w Wireless Black & White Printer been error-free for probably the most half, plus I’ve printed over 50 pages with out working out of toner. When I ultimately want to interchange 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’d even prefer it.
Dear printer, please keep the best way you’re. If you may present hassle-free printing for a number of extra years, possibly I’ll offer you a swish retirement as a substitute of going medieval on you with a baseball bat.