Bambu Lab recently announced a firmware security update for its printers that would introduce an official “authorization control” system for critical printer operations. The update is presented as a way to mitigate the “risk of remote hacks or printer exposure issues that have happened in the past, and also lower the risk of abnormal traffic or attacks.”
The new firmware will not allow Bambu Lab printers to interface with popular 3rd party software or hardware upgrades such as Orca Slicer or BigTreeTech’s Panda Touch screen. Now, users will need to download “Bambu Connect” to act as a one-way go-between.
Hope you decided to buy neither of the two in the end, since Flashforge is also known for being anti-consumer and their shady business practices. Out of the two I’d actually go with Bambu Lab if I didn’t care about openness and modding, since their printers at least seem to have fairly good quality.