Change mobile phone every two years and computer every three. On the one hand, because as a person who works in technology, I like to try the latest that comes out. On the other, it is a matter of renewing equipment periodically, investing what I get from selling the old on the second-hand market. But there are other devices that stay with me until they die or become obsolete. They may be non-core gadgets, such as peripherals or accessories, that are more affordable or that I simply don’t use as much. About a month ago I switched computers: from my Mac Mini with the latest Intel processor to the new Mac Mini with M2. The experience could not have been better except for one thing: I can no longer use my printer.
Although in my house there are phones, tablets and televisions with Android and a computer with Windows, my work ecosystem is Apple. I started with an iPhone and a couple of years later I made the leap to a MacBook Pro. I was convinced by its finishes and its screen, it reaffirmed that it came with the operating system and a complete work suite and that it works well, but if there was something that I fell in love, it was how well it was understood with my phone to switch information and workflows between them. Later came the Apple Watch, the iPad and the Mac Mini. Except for the Apple Watch, which fell from my wrist and its screen cracked, and the first iPad that my mother inherited, I have renewed all of them over time before their cycle ended. Because there is a reality behind that ecosystem that is so well understood: when an Apple device can no longer be updated, it falls behind.
go ahead than I speak of Apple because it is the ecosystem that I use, but the thing is that Cupertino devices start with an advantage: Firstly, because the brand manufactures hardware and software, something that Microsoft and Google also do, but not as complete for the professional field: today neither Microsoft nor Google sell phones, tablets, watches, complete computers (not Chromebooks with their limitations). . They are also ahead of the game when it comes to updates: Android manufacturers are getting their act together but there is still a long way to go.
Having said that, You can not live only from a brand. Literally. To begin with, serve as an example that there are no Apple printers and then because well, yours truly is not married to anyone and I buy what is best for me. Without going any further, I quickly left Apple’s Magic Mouse behind in favor of the Logitech Master MX mouse. Only with the way to charge one and the other was already convinced.
And now I present to you the oldest device in the house and one of the most beloved: my Samsung ML-1660 bought a little over a decade ago, in my university days. The peripheral of the three “bes”: good, pretty and cheap. It had everything I needed then and now: it was compact for my small desk, it worked fast, and it did it well, considering that I print text documents from time to time. In over 10 years it has never given me any serious problems and I think I have changed my toner 3-4 times.
In these more than 10 years it has been the squire of my university Samsung laptop, my first MacBook Pro and my first Mac Mini. But it no longer supports my second generation Apple computers. Samsung no longer makes printers and drivers are now handled by HP, now responsible for this division. A Google search brought me back the sad news: there are no drivers available for MacOS as of 10.14. When the trend is to update to improve the experience, not updating was what had saved my printer.
I have also tried with universal drivers and other models without success: my printer works perfectly and does its job but cannot be used. Full-fledged planned obsolescence. There will be someone who says “But hey, with more than 10 years behind her, it’s still time to retire her now“. Well no: at this point in life I will print less than 200 pages a year and the ballot would save me.
The B side of this fluid and refined connected experience is that when you change something central like a computer, it is most likely that you will have to change everything else associated with it. Given that there are devices whose useful life is per se longer: there are not so many novelties nor do the manufacturers renew their models annually, as happens in telephony. Just take a look at today’s printers: Other than having Wi-Fi, I don’t see a huge difference. Of course, they are bigger and more expensive.
And now that? While I do not lose sight of what the market offers me with some sadness (the Samsung ML-1660 was one of the most compact printers), I have resorted to a desperate but effective resource: pass what I want to print via Telegram to my old 2015 MacBook, which has stayed with me and is now the one who deals with the printer.
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