There are lots of rivalries in the PC space. You’ve got AMD versus Nvidia, air versus liquid cooling, even PC versus Mac. But if there’s one thing everyone can agree on? Printers suck. That iconic Office Space scene still hits hard all these decades later because it’s so true.
We all hate printers and for good reason. They don’t work as well as they should, the software feels ancient and lacking, the ink runs dry too quickly, the cartridges are too expensive, the papers jam, the business models are predatory and anti-competitive…
But hold up! I have some genuinely good news. I actually found a printer that isn’t so bad: the HP LaserJet M110w Wireless Black & White Printer, which surprised me given HP’s reputation in printers.
My biggest printer gripes
I think we all have a story about a printer becoming our nemesis. Maybe you needed to get something printed off for school or work and the printer decided that now is the time to jam up, or run dry on ink, or fail to connect to the Wi-Fi network.
Just setting up a printer can be a real pain, not to mention the Windows XP-style interfaces, the drivers that need to be installed, the clunky on-device controls, or the other number of hoops that need to be jumped. Setting up printers has historically left me clawing at my eyes in frustration at least once during each process.
Mark Pickavance
Speaking of clunky on-device controls, don’t get me started on the anything-but-intuitive screens and displays. Their crushingly poor refresh rates make every animated menu transition take an eternity, and sub-menu after sub-menu makes navigation as much a chore as whatever work I was trying so desperately to complete.
And even when everything seems to be working OK, I go to print and the printer says it’s printing… but it doesn’t. So I cancel the print job…. and it just sits there, stuck in the output queue. What a nightmare. There isn’t a single other piece of technology I own that forces an entire PC reboot just to get it doing what it’s supposed to do. I’m getting so riled up just from reliving all this as I type this up!
Mark Pickavance
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for how infrequently I actually need to use a printer. As e-signing and PDF editing have gotten easier, printing has sort of drifted off to the side… which makes it that much more annoying when I do need to print and the ink is dry, the printing head needs cleaning, the tray jams, or whatever.
Enter my new favorite HP printer
After decades of lackluster performance, obfuscating errors, excruciating setup processes, and spiraling ink costs, I’ve finally found a printer I don’t hate. It hasn’t bothered me once in the months I’ve had it. It connects quickly, doesn’t take long to start up, and so far I’m quite indifferent about its presence in my home and office.
Jon Martindale / Foundry
The printer in question is the HP LaserJet M110w Wireless Black & White Printer. It’s simple, it’s straightforward, and it just works. In 2025, that shouldn’t be much of an achievement… but it is! And for that I blame myself just as much as every printer that came before it.
Keep it simple, stupid
In the past, the printers I bought needed to be all-in-one jacks. I wanted a scanner for work contracts, color printing and gloss paper support for family photos, and fast black-and-white printing for work and school documents. Although past printer designs were undoubtedly awful, one reason this new HP design is so great is that it keeps it simple.
The M110w is a monochrome printer—no color printing, no fancy paper support. It only has one paper feed, it doesn’t scan, it doesn’t fax (lol), it doesn’t copy. I use it for D&D character sheets and the odd professional document that still requires a hand signature.
Jon Martindale / Foundry
And the M110w is a LaserJet, meaning it uses toner instead of ink. Unlike ink, toner doesn’t dry out or clog up printing heads, and toner isn’t super expensive. Plus, it prints fast with higher precision and doesn’t smudge.
It’s also the first printer I’ve ever owned that finally feels like it has embraced some modern design philosophies around user interaction and experience. That alone is ungodly refreshing.
For example, HP’s app-based setup wasn’t awful. It was already a step up over inputting my Wi-Fi pasword into my previous printer, which only had three buttons to interact with an on-screen keyboard. (That was one of the worst digital experiences I’ve ever had with anything!) So, credit where it’s due: HP’s printing app isn’t bad. I had it set up in less than 15 minutes and printing in under 20.
Ultimately, this is all I really need from a printer: work when I need you to, otherwise get out of my way. Don’t frustrate me or cause unnecessary delays that make me late to hand in a report. Please.
I can’t believe I don’t hate this printer
One reason why I can enjoy a printer like this in 2025 is because of how obsolete so many other printer functions are now.
I no longer need to print color glossy photos of my family because there are a million photo printing services that are quality, fast, and affordable. I don’t need a scanner anymore because my phone can double as a scanner easily enough. PDF editing software is so much better in 2025 that I can e-sign just about anything, too. A printer that only prints is perfect now that everything else is handled elsewhere.
Jon Martindale / Foundry
It’s been a few months now and the HP LaserJet M110w Wireless Black & White Printer been error-free for the most part, plus I’ve printed over 50 pages without running out of toner. When I eventually need to replace it, the cartridge will only be $50. (I’ve spent more than that on a single set of ink cartridges that were already dry by the next time I used them.) Yeah, I don’t hate it. I might even like it.
Dear printer, please stay the way you are. If you can provide hassle-free printing for a few more years, maybe I’ll give you a graceful retirement instead of going medieval on you with a baseball bat.
