A discussion in the IITM entrepreneurs’ Arbit group about buying a home printer quickly split into two camps.

Several people argued that if printing is only occasional — even if it’s 50 pages at a time — it’s easier to use Blinkit, Ambika Stationeries in Koramangala, or a reliable neighbourhood stationery shop and get the printouts delivered, sometimes via Porter. Another recommendation was a printer shop in Mylapore that opens at 6 AM and even works Sunday nights.

The counterpoint was privacy and urgency: sending passport, Aadhaar or visa documents outside can feel risky — one real example involved someone receiving a random person’s Aadhaar along with their own printouts — and home printers tend to fail precisely when you suddenly need something at 2 AM.

For those who still felt a printer was worth owning, the recommendations were fairly consistent: avoid old-school cartridge inkjets and look at either a Brother ink-tank printer or Epson tank printer for regular household use, or a simple HP black-and-white LaserJet for occasional documents.

A member added an important caveat to the Brother recommendation: a colour printer + scanner bought in the UAE worked very well for last-minute visa prep and kids’ colouring sheets, but after relocating to India, it refused locally bought cartridges because of region-locked cartridge chips. That meant having to source more expensive cartridges from the UAE, with no easy workaround despite the possibility of a support-assisted region unlock.

The broader consensus was that a printer only makes sense if you print often enough, need privacy, or regularly face last-minute printing emergencies; otherwise, it risks becoming the office equivalent of an unused exercise bike. And if you do buy one, it may be worth checking not just ink costs, but whether the printer or cartridges are region-locked.

Jokes

A home printer gives you dangerous confidence: “Why print this at 11 PM? I can do it at 2 AM.” Which is usually when the printer decides it has other plans.

—

Buying a printer is like buying an exercise bike — something you acquire with conviction, use enthusiastically for a while, and then watch occupy a corner.

—

After the story about someone receiving another person’s Aadhaar with their printouts, the inevitable question appeared: “What, Blinkit also hallucinating now?”

—

Discovered that my perfectly functional printer has essentially developed immigration controls for ink cartridges…