My Epson inkjet has been on the brink of death for years now and I really just need it to get it over with so I can buy a laser printer instead.

One quick Google later -- A Printer That *Won’t* Dry Up Between Jobs — & 4 Others Printers For Infrequent Use: [link]

I have an old InkJet but can't be arsed to deal with dried-out cartridges, so haven't used it for a couple of years. This convo reminded me that I need an affordable printer/copier/scanner, preferably Laser, that I occasionally have to use for those weeks when I have to WFH. Too lazy for further research, so I just went ahead and bought the first recommended printer on that article off Amazon, which is not bad price-wise ($138), with an after-market non-HP B/W cartridge that's $20 cheaper than the HP version. Hopefully it works fine! There are a bunch of one star reviews about connectivity issues, but I just plan on parking it on the desk with a USB connector to my desktop, so it should be straightforward? We shall see.

Crosspost from Streaming:

The Expanse season 5 episode 2

Fred Johnson: "What'd you do?"
James Holden: "There was a button. I pushed it."
Fred Johnson: "...that's really how you go through life, isn't it?"

Why button if not for push?

Tech recs?

Having spent 2 1/2 hours online with Roku tech support on Monday over a sudden setup-loop-of-death on our device, being told repeatedly that it was clearly a problem with the remote (which I strongly suspected, because of the specific nature of the loop, it wasn't, but none of the four tech support people I talked to would listen, though it's quite possible that I'm just a very bad explainer), I get the brand-new remote today and am now stuck in a grimly similar loop-of-death (though it's about 2-3 minutes between loops now instead of 30 seconds). So, clearly we need another device.

Is there any compelling reason we should stick with Roku rather than abandon it for another device? If so, Apple TV, Google Chromestick, something else? Or is it just that the Roku Ultra sucks and there's some better and more reliable model we should get instead? Though the last couple of rounds of tech support have been so irritating I kind of want to flounce anyway.

Or is it just that the Roku Ultra sucks and there's some better and more reliable model we should get instead? Though the last couple of rounds of tech support have been so irritating I kind of want to flounce anyway.

JZ, have you seen this thread? [link]

I have the cheapest Roku you can get (because I didn't want a Roku that could listen to me) and have never had an issue (beyond leaving my first remote in a hotel at Moonstone Beach--which FYI led me to discover you can use your smartphone as a remote if you are at home on your own internet to set it up the first time).

megan, h'm. No, I hadn't. We'd had a simple Roku but upgraded to the Ultra because our original wasn't compatible with the TV my dad had gifted us at Christmas 2018. Maybe we could downgrade to a stick? I'm definitely not feeling inclined to *up*grade any further at this point.

The loop mine is stuck in is not recognizing the remote (including the smartphone as remote)--as happens with a smallish remote, we'd misplaced the Ultra remote about a month ago and had been using the previous version's remote with no problems until about 6 on Monday evening, when it abruptly refused to recognize it. Because the two hadn't had any issue communicating for almost a month, and because the remote had been completely rebooted and rebatteried multiple times, the device had been restarted and factory-settings-rebooted twice each AND the same error duplicated with the smartphone remote, I suspected the problem was with the device itself, but all the tech support people insisted it had to be the mote.

If i were buying a device right now it would be the new Chromecast with Google TV thingy. There are enough things that have Chromecast support and nothing else (things like my yoga app) that i like having Chromecast as an option and the new Google TV also had normal apps and a remote, so it's a best of both worlds thing. As always, though, make sure you so research to make sure the services YOU stream are available for it before switching device providers.

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We have the roku stick and the only problem we have had is it occasionally overheats and needs to be unplugged for a few minutes and then it reboots.