best printer brand for apple mac

Staynavytom wrote:

Are you a Brother brother, too? I've had a Brother MFC and it worked good. HP has a reputation for quality but a couple responses seem to question that reputation.

I've experienced difficulties in re-connecting to my HP if I lose my wifi. I have to go through the whole configuration process on their tiny set up screen. It becomes even more frustrating because my wife likes a pc and apples updates seem to out distance the printer capabilities. Sounds like Brother keeps up with apple updates.

Only buy a printer with AirPrint.

You want AirPrint support for use with Apple gesr, or AirPrint and maybe also IPP/IPPS support for use with macOS.

AirPrint (and IPP/IPPS) means not needing to chase vendor printer drivers.

Local printer preference is Brother MFC-class laser.

Recommendations from The Verge (same as 2024):

• https://www.theverge.com/tech/641940/best-printer-2025-just-buy-a-brother-laser-printer-middle-finger-in-the-air

As for HP? Among other practices described in the following Ars report, HP apparently managed to brick their own printers with their own cartridges and their own lock-in scheme.

• https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/firmware-update-bricks-hp-printers-makes-them-unable-to-use-hp-cartridges/

There is no particular printer brand that plays better than others on Mac, IMHO.

I've used Brother, Canon, Samsung, Xerox and HP myself. And in my experience the HPs have done well and are my fav. The Samsung printers have been acceptable, too.

Determine your budget, define the features that you need, research the costs, especially of replacement inks or toners and then choose a printer and buy.

I will add that if you want to avoid the hassles and headaches of finding, installing and updating printer drivers, buy a printer that supports AirPrint. Print wirelessly from your Mac to your printer - Apple Support

Yes. Brother printers are consumer products with enterprise-level features most people don't know about, or should have to. They did things "the Apple way" from the start.

Not to dump on HP any more than they deserve, but their Apple support has always been abysmal. They are Apple tolerant at best, but consumer-hostile overall. Avoid avoid avoid.

Always, ALWAYS get a printer with AirPrint support. Accept no substitutes. It will eliminate the need to install vendor drivers, and if the vendor abandons your printer, the AirPrint support in the printer will continue to work for years after.

Setting up an AirPrint printer is easy.

AirPrint also means your iPhone and iPad can send print jobs to your AirPrint enabled printer.

I used to use HP, but ONLY because through company acquisitions, I became an HP employee, and got an employee discount (I worked on file systems, and did not have anything to do with the printer division).

I have switched to a Brother MFC-L2750DW multi-function printer, because between my last HP printer, where I could use anyone's toner cartridges, and last year when my HP printer died because of lightning, HP changed their tune, and forced HP only toner. While I could still get a retiree discount, it was not worth it to me, so I switched to Brother, where I am still allowed to get 3rd party toner cartridges, and there is no lock-in.

Re: WiFi

When we purchased our current home, we had some work done, including an electrician wire Ethernet to all the rooms, including 2 Ethernet ports in several closets. We also had them put electrical outlets in those closets.

This allowed me to connect my networked printers to my network via Ethernet, and not depend on WiFi. And the 2nd Ethernet port in the printer closet doubles as a FAX line, where in the basement, instead of plugging that end into the Ethernet switch, I created a RJ45 to RJ11 cable and plugged it into the telephone line, so I could FAX (not a big issues these days, but it was a think way-back-when).

So I avoid any WiFi issues with my printer. And the devices using WiFi are just connecting to the eero Mesh network, which routes them to the printer via Ethernet.

Other closets with dual Ethernet ports and power have things like my primary eero base unit, with one Ethernet line coming directory from the cable modem, and the other Ethernet line going back to the basement Ethernet switch for redistribution. Another dual Ethernet closet has a Synology NAS with 2 bonded Ethernet lines connected for greater throughput on the NAS.

Anyway, back to the Brother printer. Over the years (more than a decade) while I had the HP printer, I kept hearing good things about Brother laser printers. Xerox always seemed to be a corporate kind of printer, and in fact, Xerox is what is used in the company I work for. Cannon, in my mind, I always associated with color printers, and I am firmly in the Black & White & Gray Scale printer camp. Since I decided HP was just being an 🫏 about printer supplies, I went with the good feeling I had about Brother printers, when I needed to replace the lightning damaged HP multi-function laser printer I had been using for 12+ years.

MrHoffman wrote:

As for HP? Among other practices described in the following Ars report, HP apparently managed to brick their own printers with their own cartridges and their own lock-in scheme.

• https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/firmware-update-bricks-hp-printers-makes-them-unable-to-use-hp-cartridges/

That's so disappointing. They used to make affordable printers with reasonable features that worked well enough for me with AirPrint.

If I were inclined to ever buy a printer again, I'd go with a laser printer. The whole ink cartridge situation is crazy.

IdrisSeabright wrote:

If I were inclined to ever buy a printer again, I'd go with a laser printer. The whole ink cartridge situation is crazy.

It is the inevitable result of the race to the bottom the printer business has become. HP realized that years ago to the point it made it into a 10K filing. They said the quiet part out loud. Next, cartridge obsolescence. Next, subscription plans.

There is no bottom, in the race to the bottom.

I strongly recommend reviewing MrHoffman's User Tip Which Printer Should I Buy? - Apple Community.

I just as strongly recommend avoiding HP. Never, ever again. Never.

BobHarris wrote:

So I avoid any WiFi issues with my printer. And the devices using WiFi are just connecting to the eero Mesh network, which routes them to the printer via Ethernet.

For future planning, may I ask, does the Eero mesh network support fixed IPv4 addresses? Wi-Fi or Ethernet notwithstanding, it's a personal requirement that printers and other things that don't move are assigned static IP addresses and (when practicable) Ethernet.

John Galt wrote:

For future planning, may I ask, does the Eero mesh network support fixed IPv4 addresses? Wi-Fi or Ethernet notwithstanding, it's a personal requirement that printers and other things that don't move are assigned static IP addresses and (when practicable) Ethernet.

Yes

Via the eero iPhone app -> Settings-> Advanced Networking-> Reservations & Port Forwarding.

The device’s nn.nn.nn.nn.nn.nn MAC address is used to identify the device that you are associating with the IP address.

Here is a rather old example, because I’m bad at house cleaning (that was 2 iPhones ago 😀)

And if you desire, you can also do port forwarding of a high nnnnn port number to a standard port number on the device, such as ssh, and accessing the device from the Internet. HOWEVER, these days I am more likely to use Tailscale to allow my traveling devices access to my home network.

John Galt wrote:

For future planning, may I ask, does the Eero mesh network support fixed IPv4 addresses? Wi-Fi or Ethernet notwithstanding, it's a personal requirement that printers and other things that don't move are assigned static IP addresses and (when practicable) Ethernet.

There are two ways to achieve that goal: one is to assign IP addresses that are both in the same subnet and outside the configured DHCP address pool, and the other is to map the media access control (MAC) address to an IP address.

Most any DHCP server supports one, if not both.

As for alternatives to eero, Ubiquiti supports both allocation methods. And way more.

A description of using DHCP to set a fixed address: https://www.unihosted.com/blog/how-to-reserve-an-ip-address-on-a-unifi-controller

If the device doesn’t use DHCP, it can be manually set to use the same address as the DHCP server would vend.

I usually prefer the MAC-to-IP mapping, as it keeps a registry of assignments in one place.

I haven’t seen any recent DHCP server that doesn’t support both allocations, but if I assume all offer it somebody will then the reference the Rinkydink ISP service in East Overshoe New England that offer such limited on-premises equipment, and with available RFC1149.

👍

Thank you both. Hopefully the future planning is for the distant future.