Because people are dumb. Most people look at the purchase cost and do not care about operating cost, cost per printed page and OS support.<p>Over the years I realized that for non-professional use (that is, unless you can write off all the expenses) the way to go is to ALWAYS buy HP printers (everything else is worthless) and get laser printers, black and white, networked (WIFI/cabled, i prefer ethernet-cabled), ideally for the low-end professional segment.<p>I had a 2nd hand HP LaserJet 1200, worked tirelessly for years. It died a couple of years ago, but I really can't complain: that printer has been working for at least 15-18 years.<p>During the lockdown I got myself a LaserJet Pro M118dw, because reading RFCs on the laptop display is just awful living.<p>It's remarkable and worked out of the box with Xubuntu.<p>I can't stress the whole "HP-only" thing: their drivers are open source and often bundled, their advanced software (HPLip toolbox) reports pretty much everthing, never had a problem with them. Even with the all-in-one scanner enabled at my parents, I used the wireless scanner functionality in GNU/Linux and was extatic when it worked out of the box (i really wasn't expecting that).<p>Toners are a bit more expensive but they last waaay longer. You can just buy one and forget, if you print some documents from time to time it'll last years. And unlike inkjet cartridges, it won't dry off.<p>Just buy HP laser printers. They just work.<p>The 20-50€ more in the price difference are for all the hassles you're not dealing with.