@polakkenak @SorteKanin While you *can* “upgrade” the MK4S to a Core One, it’s more like a complete rebuild with very little parts carryover. It takes a lot of time and doesn’t really make any financial sense.
The MK4S is competent at being what it is, which is an un-enclosed bed slinger. It inherently isn’t going to be as fast as the Core One, it will struggle more with materials that want a stable printing environment, and it’s less suited for printing tall things.
For the time being it uses the same technology the Core One does, though it almost certainly will not support INDX ever. If you really want to do multi-material/color stuff, the MK4S probably isn’t the right choice.
As far as the open source stuff, IMO it’s only a step backwards if one wants to be an absolutist about such things. I’m not here to say whether that is right or wrong, but in practical terms I don’t think there’s much of a difference with the new licensing, if one is not trying to sell knock-off printers.
@Maerman Typically “brand name” filament is going to be more consistent over time and is more likely to have reasonably good filament profiles in the slicer.
Will the cheap stuff also work with some effort, usually. But you might find that a new batch of filament is a noticeably different color. You might find that it absorbs moisture more quickly or is strangely brittle. Or they somehow got a bunch of cardboard dust onto the spools.
IMO if you’re not truly using a ton of filament or trying to make money from this, it’s worth buying the more expensive stuff.