Its just the lasers though. I had a brother inkjet and it was a short lived disaster. I don't print much and the heads dried up a bit and then in 'cleaning mode' it blasts out most of the ink of the cartridges, but doesn't fix the problem. Other inkjets have the print heads on the catridges so you get new ones when they are replaced. Brother inkjet heads are part of the printer which means they can be a better quality head, but if there is a problem then its much harder to fix. In the end the printer didn't last a year because it heads got fouled and couldn't easily be cleaned/replaced.

Maybe they know, and it's a better business model for them. I don't know how the costs break down. Anti-consumer shenanigans cost money -- first they have to be engineered, then it probably generates a certain amount of after market support issues even when it works perfectly. A shenanigan-free product could be cheaper to design and quicker to market in the first place.

they pissed it all away recently. they joined the league of evil printer makers.