The market for people who NEED printers is shrinking. Last concert I went to I had the QR code ticket in my phone, I havent printed map directions in at least 15 years and I literally cannot remember the last item I needed to print at home.
But they also cant say “Oh well, we had a good 30 year run with home printers” they have to keep making more than last year, so they have to get increasingly predatory.
I just don’t understand why people fall for it. Who is subscribing to this nonsense? I would never purchase or use something like that when there are still other options available. It should have been a dead idea from day 1.
Because most people aren’t technical enough to understand there are alternatives, particularly if those alternatives involve removing a scary label telling you not to.
My parents who are in their 80s only use their printer for printing out the daily crossword puzzle. I made the mistake of getting them to give up their newspaper delivery and just read the paper online, not realizing it would force me to maintain a printer for them. But at least I was able to get them a cheap Brother inkjet where I can refill the cartridges with a syringe.
I got a color brother laser and am loving it. No regrets and it was affordable. When the drum, etc. reaches end of life i will have to decide if it’s worth repairing or just getting another printer. Also changing 4 toners is expensive but probably less than the ink carts since you don’t do it very often. Also never have to worry about the ink drying out, cleaning printer heads, etc.
If they print every day it’s fine. Inkjets really suck if you don’t print for a while. Then the nozzles dry out and clog and then you have a mess on your hand. As long as it’s not HP you are good.
I haven’t had a printer since early 2020 when I was last in the office. Sometimes I definitely miss it. But not enough to buy one.
Since then, the only thing I’ve needed to print was a visa which said I must carry a printed copy, but at the border it was digitally attached to my passport, so turns out I didn’t need it at all.
I work at a retirement place doing tech. Have had 3 hp printers shit the bed exclusively because of software in the 6 months I’ve been there. Hp smart is so bad.
Such a shitty company. As most of these people are former professionals they get an hp because they used it at work then get talked into the subscription ink because they aren’t 21st century tech savvy.
One printer stopped printing because they did not have the subscription ink. They placed a normal ink cartridge in with a subscription one and the software would not allow printing because it recognized non subscription ink. Disgusting.
So many companies want to enter this subscription hellscape.
After being in IT and software development for over 25 years, the only printer brand I bother with any more is Brother. It’s unbelievable how much better they are than everyone else. No nonsense drivers and they’re not constantly trying to force you to buy expensive ink.
People complain about them supposedly having DRM now or whatever but, to be frank, the fact that I can just click “print” and it actually prints makes it miles ahead by default. My printer actually functions now so I can’t say I have any regrets.
From a repair standpoint, Brother are definitely the best option (that I know of). I do authorised repair work for them, and their support guides, technical support team and range of spare parts is absolutely amazing. The biggest problem I see is aftermarket toner wrinkling up the fuser of laser models, but that’s not like it’s something Brother’s introduced to be anti-competitive slime bags.
I’ve got a second-hand HL-5370DW (from 2009~) that’s been through the wringer of a medical practice - I still use it to print without any issue, despite the Web UI insisting that all the non-toner consumables need to be replaced immediately.
My brother hl-2070n from like, 2006-2007 is still going strong. Drivers aren’t in macOS anymore, but the generic one works fine. I think I’ve only replaced the toner once, maybe twice since i got it. They are excellent printers, fuck hp.
HP small business printers are almost as bad as their home printers.
Around 2006, I started at a company it had a couple of small business MFPs. I spent more time fixing the printers then they spent printing on them. I ended up talking them into a couple of Enterprise class MFPs They were fantastic but we spent several grand on printers. It’s kind of a shame we don’t print so much, but we scan to email and fax a lot and it was worth it to have something that just works all the time.
I kind of regret not going with brother at this point though we probably could have gotten away much cheaper.
You would never know it from the brand name, but Brother is a Japanese company, and the Japanese are known for making elegant, well made, and easy to use stuff. Konica Minolta is also Japanese and makes pretty good stuff, but for a basic printer I prefer Brother. And don’t bother with inkjet, get a Brother all in one laser printer, and you’ll have a very reliable machine that isn’t expensive to operate. The ink won’t dry up if you don’t use it, and the drivers aren’t constantly trying to sell you anything.
A gentle reminder to those coming in to complain about their prior printers: In some areas, libraries have a computer area where you can print out a reasonable number of pages. It’s not totally convenient, but generally a far better option than maintaining your own cartridge-muncher.
I don’t have a printer at home, and I’ve been just fine. Nowadays you don’t even need to print tickets, so who cares about a printer any more. You get them in your email, and all you need to do is show the QR code off your phone when you show up at the event, enter the theater, board the plane or whatever.
I’m the same way, which then puts me in a tizzy when I actually do need a printer: For instance, needing to print a notice to other apartment residents near me (eg, “Do not move this item, it is a trap for rodents!”), or needing to print shipping labels to send in an item for return/repair.
I have less experience with shows (never had an issue but also don’t go to a lot) but in terms of flights: it is still very worth having a printed ticket. Because maybe one in ten times the scanners will have an issue due to shitty outdated scanners coupled with gunk on phone screens.
But also? Don’t print your plane tickets at home. Just spend 2 minutes with the kiosk while you take off your belt and whatever else you have to do and print out the slip of paper before you go to screening.
Not to defend HP^[1]^, but if you look closely at the picture, the sticker has an arrow suggesting you to peel off the sticker. I would still say that the intentions of even putting this sticker there is malicious though.
[1]: I’ve also been “scammed” by HP. I have a DeskJet 2130 bought more than 5 years ago. (I guess you could say it was from before HP went greedy.) It was under only very light use (occasional school stuff that needed to be printed out). Every time I came back to the printer after not using the printer for several months, the ink cartridges would have dried out. I would swap them out because they wouldn’t work even after shaking, none the wiser that half of the “empty” cartridges probably could have been revived by wiping it with a tissue. (I discovered this only 1 year ago when I tried it.)
Inkjet printers need to be used regularly, or go through several cleaning prints (which are features of HP printers). That’s not HP scamming you, that’s just how inkjet printers are…
That said, IMO, most people are infrequent printers and would be better served by a laser printer. Toner doesn’t dry out. I have had a brother laser printer for 3-4 years now and haven’t had to change the toner once. Every time I need to print something, it fires right up, and prints it without a fuss.
I have been contemplating abandoning my HP (with instant ink subscription) for an Epson Ecotank. Stuff like this isn’t convincing me to stay. My subscription has already risen to $80 a year, so the value is gone.
I had a brother printer and ditched it for an epson ecotank. Bought new cartridges for the brother and he cleaned it for first use, after that the half of it was empty. I just got about 30 prints from them. He immediatly flew out after this.
How many photos do you print to make it worth it? I can send the files to my local photo lab and they generally print them within a couple hours. I’d have to print like 160 4x6 photos to spend the same as you spend each year in ink, and they are quality prints. If I went to Staples it would be even more.
Be sure to research the ink sponge situation on the ecotank. When it is full, epson has drm to force you to get licensed service to replace it. No expensive cartridges, but expensive sponge instead.
I’ve had an EcoTank for two years and have been VERY happy with it. My only complaint is that I should have gone for a model that allows double sided printing.
The price on the ink is great, that you can fill individual colors as needed is nice, and the print quality is very good.
I’m sure they’ll get to it. Trouble is there’s so many bullshit moves that companies engage in and it takes time to ban all of them.
I think the EU should ban apple devices. They claim to be pro privacy but what they really are is pro not giving everyone else your data but keeping it themselves, that’s not privacy, that’s false advertising.
People love to love apple but they’re just a company they don’t care about you.
I don’t understand why they get special privileges, I don’t understand why people vehemently argue in their favor of them when they’re clearly just as bad as Google. They’re just better at making you think otherwise.
I use a Samsung because I dont give a fuck about my data personally. Its better because I expect companies that have me as a paying customer to use my data internally, its the onselling to literally anyone with enough money that bothers me.
Because Apple’s core business is selling their stuff to you. Google’s core business is selling you to other companies.
Google’s consumer software and products literally serve no other business purpose than surveillance to figure out how to turn you into a more lucrative advertising target.
Apple has realized they can capitalize on this by making privacy a core selling feature for their stuff — one that Google cannot challenge them on as privacy is directly at odds with the core premise of their entire business.
HP has decent enterprise models. So office drones will have a positive image of HP. Also old people who have been out of touch with the market for 20 years or so.
People will still buy it when they suffer economically or techonological ignorance. If there was another system where people could vote on a business death penalty… HP and other printer IP holders have already earned my vote.
Nothing like having to pull out the official ink to clear a paper jam and be told afterwards that the ink you just took out is not the same official ink or gasp reused so the printer punishes you by using more ink so you buy the official ink next time that you already bought.
Yet another reason I’m glad I got my Canon Pixima 5000 series a while back. Individual cheap replacement ink carts with no electronics in them. I can (and have) buy 5 sets of carts for $20 that last me years.
If it wasn’t for photos, I’d have picked up a cheap laser printer.
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