Yep, brother are good. I specifically bought mine based on being able to refill the toner cartridge. It turns out I don't use it much so haven't filled the cartridge, but when that day comes you just watch me!
Not saying that happens usually but after I have seen a toner explosion, I am not getting near it even if the probability it's as rare as winning the lottery.
It took me three times of reading your title to see that you were saying con-job and not cron-job. I was scratching my head trying to understand how a printer could be a cron-job.
But for the love of God don't buy anything Samsung.
I bought a $300 Samsung multi-function laser printer, printed 45 pages on it over the course of a year, and after the year was up and it's warranty was out, the laser fusor died and would cost the cost of a brand new Samsung printer to replace.
Their TVs are too blue, their appliances seem to magically break down immediately after the warranties end, and now even their memory, which used to be really good and reliable is having major fucking issues.
They have consistently been a great company with terrible products, products that are really good while they work but then when they break, break expensively.
However, the $7.99 thrift store brother printer that I got to replace it that was made in 2007 has tons of inexpensive toner available and the parts are super cheap and it still works flawlessly, with network printing working and Linux compatibility.
I had a black and white Brother laser printer and would just go to a print shop on the rare occasion I needed something color. Now, I haven't had a printer at all for a few years.
As every other comment here says, I recommend Brother. I've had a toner printer for several years, never have any issue connecting to it, works fine with third party toner cartridges, no screaming that things are empty when they aren't...works great.
If you do have a HP printer, using it with Linux is an order of magnitude less fucky than their Windows/Apple/Android counterparts.
On Linux, their printer drivers are far more standardised, properly integrated into the system and isn't trying to sell you shit or force you to make accounts. The printer itself can still be another issue entirely however.
I don't have much else to offer in addition to the suggestions already here, but I will say I feel your pain. I also got the desire for home printing somewhat recently, and quickly got stuck wondering... "Is there such a think as a non-evil printer anymore?"
Brother is mentioned a lot, as is laser. But I also value color printing, and I had an impossible time finding a Brother color laser printer in my price range. I settled on one of their ink tank models instead.
Yeah, ink isn't supposed to last as long, but I haven't had to replace it yet, so I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Mostly I just ended up not printing as much as I thought I would.
a lot of people like Brother laser printers. I had one and it always went into "deep sleep" mode and I'd have to restart it whenever I wanted to print. it lasted about 2 years.
I have a monochrome Canon laser printer/scanner now, it was about $230. it works very well.