HP apparently trying to lock down its printers again...

[K Frame]

Last year HP pushed a "security update" whose only apparent function was to make it impossible for owners to use non-HP ink. They got called out on it, but apparently they're trying to do it again.

https://boingboing.net/2017/09/14/repeat-offenders.html

[Hawkmoon]

I've bought (and scrapped) my last HP inkjet printer. I won't miss them.

We had an OfficeJet something-or-other multifunction machine for my wife, because she occasionally liked to print in color. My primary printer is an older HP LaserJet multi-function ... that doesn't do color. The OfficeJet went through ink cartridges at a prodigious rate, and replacing a full set of four cost close to a hundred bucks after sales tax. That was bad enough -- but it seems that model doesn't replace the jets when the ink cartridges get replaced -- the print heads are separate. And THEY went belly up last year. I had just bought and installed new ink cartridges when the machine refused to print. It wanted new print heads, and those cost a lot more than the cartridge set. Oh -- and the scan and fax functions (which is what I mostly used the OfficeJet for after my wife died) wouldn't work unless I replaced the print heads.

So I went to Staples and found a Canon color laser multifunction machine on sale for $188. Bye bye OfficeJet.

[bedlamite]

I've had a Brother color laser for a few years now, no problems.

[K Frame]

I had several Epson color inkjet printers over the years. They were fine, but I never have printed all that much, and the tanks kept drying out. HUGE waste of money. So, when my last printer went belly up, I found a Slickdeals deal on a Canon B&W laser printer/scanner/fax.

I never have used the fax, I print maybe 10 pages a month in a very heavy month, but I use the living hell out of the scanner, and it's a very good scanner.

I had a bunch of problems getting it to synch up with Windows 7. The drivers just didn't want to seem to drive it, but I have an XP virtual machine instance on this computer, and it works just fine with that.

I finally did manage to get the printer to work with Windows 7, but when I try to scan I get a "TWAIN NOT FOUND" error or some such. I've not really put the effort into trying to fix it, but it seems to be a relatively common error.

[Hawkmoon]

I have a home office for a side profession, and for that I have a separate phone number dedicated to the fax. The OfficeJet was the dedicated fax machine. But in recent years I must have received a hundred unsolicited advertising faxes for every page of fax that was actually business related. Since I got the Canon, I have it connected in case I ever want to send a fax, but I leave it shut off ... and nobody has complained that they can't send me a fax. These days everyone scans to e-mail, and fax is pretty much obsolete. I should look into giving up the second landline number. But, the way the phone company plays games, it seems every time I try to unbundle something to save money, it ends up costing more. So I just leave it in place.

[HankB]

. . . The OfficeJet went through ink cartridges at a prodigious rate,  . . .

Modern printers are deliberately and maliciously DESIGNED to waste ink. If you get 1/4 of the alleged number of prints per cartridge, you're doing well.

And some (like my Canon) are deliberately and maliciously designed to fail when the wasted ink gums things up.

 

[RoadKingLarry]

I've  not had any issues with my Canon photo printer(Pro-100). I tend to use it in binge cycles, print like hell then let it sit for a couple of months.
I also have an HP laser printer that is still only halfway through the starter toner cartridge. I've done quite a bit with it.
Neither are baseline consumer grade. The low end inkjet crap are just that.

[Hawkmoon]

Modern printers are deliberately and maliciously DESIGNED to waste ink. If you get 1/4 of the alleged number of prints per cartridge, you're doing well.

And some (like my Canon) are deliberately and maliciously designed to fail when the wasted ink gums things up.
 

The HP OfficeJet did that, too. That's what killed the printheads. The printer didn't see enough use after my wife died, so the ink solidified in the printheads to a point where the built-in cleaning cycle wouldn't touch it.

I have a brand new Epson wide format inkjet printer still in the box. I bought it for doing half-size prints of 24x36 engineering drawings. I'm afraid to set it up because, once I initialize it, I'll HAVE to use it regularly or kiss the printhead(s) goodbye. So it sits in the box.

[Firethorn]

I know this is a HP thread, but in general I recommend against inkjets for almost all uses.

If you're not printing out photos on photopaper all the time, buy a laser.

Yes, it'll cost a couple hundred bucks more.  But consider.  If you don't print much, toner doesn't expire.  Your starter cartridges will last you for years.

Literally.  I bought a HP laserjet Pro 200 before I entered college.  I'm entering my 4th year there, and I'm still using the original cartridges.

If you print a lot - toner is cheaper per page than ink.  It is also water resistant(the paper will fail first), etc...

In the sweet middle, where you print enough that the inkjet cartridges don't dry out?  It might make sense, but that is such a hard usage pattern to match up to, you're still better off with the laser.

If you need color, color laser printers aren't that much more expensive. 

If you only occasionally need photo quality prints, just hire a company to print them.  That way it's them that are worrying about the ink, paper, and everything else.  If they screw up a print, the cost doesn't come out of you.  At nearly $100 for a set of ink cartridges, another $20-100 for a package of fancy paper, you can get higher quality prints from people who print enough to have the practice to print right the first time, and the volume to justify better equipment and benefit from volume of scale in supply prices.

[lee n. field]

I know this is a HP thread, but in general I recommend against inkjets for almost all uses.

If you're not printing out photos on photopaper all the time, buy a laser.

Yes, it'll cost a couple hundred bucks more.  But consider.  If you don't print much, toner doesn't expire. 

Sometimes it does.

20-ish years ago the company I was with sold a kind-of expensive high resolution laser to a local printing shop, and I got certified on it.   They didn't even try to use it for a couple years.  And, the output from the fresh cartridge they installed was crap.  Come to find out, those would go bad, just sitting there sealed in their bag.

Your starter cartridges will last you for years.

If you only occasionally need photo quality prints, just hire a company to print them.  That way it's them that are worrying about the ink, paper, and everything else.  If they screw up a print, the cost doesn't come out of you.  At nearly $100 for a set of ink cartridges, another $20-100 for a package of fancy paper, you can get higher quality prints from people who print enough to have the practice to print right the first time, and the volume to justify better equipment and benefit from volume of scale in supply prices.

I take that kind of stuff to the photo machine at Walmart.

[Ben]

I remember not just the inkjets, but even HP laser printers getting finicky my last few years at work. Third party cartridges always had problems in the newer models at the time. Both my boss and our office manager would gripe about me buying HP toner for all those machines so I wouldn't have to go around troubleshooting, and usually when I went on leave, the office manager would buy a bunch of cheap recycled cartridges from some outfit she did business with. It never failed that they would fail and we would have to buy HP again anyway.

I will say the old - can't remember for sure - but either 2100 or 2300 I think HP lasers were freakin' bulletproof. You could put any crappy cartridge in them and they would keep on truckin'. We had one that we bought around 2000, and it was still going strong when I left in 2014.

I'm using a Brother laser at home now that I love. I really, really, liked my old Canon inkjet MFC, but made the decision to let it go earlier this year after I figured out  I bought it like ten  times over in ink. I still have a Canon large format photo printer (not home so can't remember the model, but I think 9000). It uses eight inkjet cartridges, but I have to say, they must do something different with the pro photo printer cartridges, because I only fire it up a few times a year nowadays, and the cartridges are still working fine.

I ended up printing a TON on the Brother this year (bought it around JAN I think) and replaced the starter black a few months ago. The starter cyan just went a couple of weeks ago, so I ordered a three pack color set for $220 from Amazon. I'll be set for a long while now. On the toner monitor, the replacement black barely even shows any depletion. I wouldn't be surprised if I get a good year out of that and a couple of years out of the color toner.

[lee n. field]

I remember not just the inkjets, but even HP laser printers getting finicky my last few years at work. Third party cartridges always had problems in the newer models at the time. Both my boss and our office manager would gripe about me buying HP toner for all those machines so I wouldn't have to go around troubleshooting, and usually when I went on leave, the office manager would buy a bunch of cheap recycled cartridges from some outfit she did business with. It never failed that they would fail and we would have to buy HP again anyway.

We have a "printer guy" at work, so I haven't had to do much with them for a long time, but that matches my experience, back when I did.  Crappy output, replace the refurb cartridge with genuine HP, and good to go.

I will say the old - can't remember for sure - but either 2100 or 2300 I think HP lasers were freakin' bulletproof. You could put any crappy cartridge in them and they would keep on truckin'. We had one that we bought around 2000, and it was still going strong when I left in 2014.

Laserjet 4250 next to me, old enough to not have a USB interface.  Grinds right along.  Have another one at work I can replace it with when it dies.

[sumpnz]

Makes me glad I turned down the job at HP in Vancouver, WA a couple years back.  That location was dedicated to their inkjet printers.

[K Frame]

"Come to find out, those would go bad, just sitting there sealed in their bag."

I've heard that what happens with powdered toner for lasers is that if it sits around too long it will clump, and then fuse.

[Mannlicher]

when an HP model goes out,  the cartridges that it used are NOT used in the new model.   You are really screwed if you bought several sets of ink cartridges, and your printer goes tits up.

[RocketMan]

HP is also famous for whitelisting wireless interface cards on their laptops.  It's a real pain, keeping you from upgrading wireless cards unless you buy from them.  And HP's available selection of decent cards is very slim.  There are lots of better cards out there that cannot be used in their laptops.

[zahc]

HP is trying to get you to enroll in their e-ink program. At the risk of appearing to defend HP, it's not a bad deal. Something like $5/mo. When the cartridges get low new ones show up in the mail. If a cartridge doesn't work just send it back in the postpaid envelope. It's basically $5/mo to never have to screw with it. There is a page limit per month and when it gets closer to the end of the month my wife will print out tons of pictures for "free". Their Linux  always drivers havebeen good at least for the past 10 years or so.

[Brad Johnson]

"Come to find out, those would go bad, just sitting there sealed in their bag."

I've heard that what happens with powdered toner for lasers is that if it sits around too long it will clump, and then fuse.

Stick them in some unconditioned space where the temps hover somewhere around mid-Well Done and, yeah, it'll do that. I see a lot of business using shipping containers as extra storage without considering how hot the interiors can become. Sitting in full sun on a 100+ deg F day the interior temp could easily exceed 150 degrees. I also understand that some of the new bio-friendly toner materials have a nasty habit of degrading over time, especially if they get a bit warm. Kept at interior temps in its original sealed container an old school eco-destroyer cartridge will store almost indefinitely.

Back to the OP ... I've spent far too much time messing with fam/friend printer issues directly related to third-party ink cartridges or toner refills so third-party tonor or ink cartridge lockouts are a meh issue for me. Being limited to OEM carts would save me time and headaches but, hey, your printer, your money, your call. Still, I despise inkjets on principle for their hideous per-page print costs (versus laser). There's also the inherent deficiency with regard to cartridges. Use one enough to keep the heads clear? You use up a lot of expensive cartridges. Don't use it enough to keep the heads clear? You replace expensive cartridges without being able to use them. They are waaaayyyyyy better than they used to be in that respect, but still an expensive pain.

Brad

[K Frame]

I'm still on my original "bonus" cartridge that came with my printer.

As I said, I don't print much, but every month or two I pull the toner cartridge and gently shake and tap it to keep the toner freed up.

[mtnbkr]

I must have been very lucky in my life to not have had all the troubles you guys have with inkjet printers.  Before kids, I never had a tank dry out even though we wouldn't print for weeks at a time.  With two kids printing stuff from time to time and me printing range targets, I use 2-3 black cartridges a year and half that in color.

I've used the same Canon multi-function unit for a few years now because it scans well and prints a decent photo as long as you use good paper and adjust the settings appropriately.  I've resisted the urge to replace it with another unit for less than the replacement inks cost because the newer ones in that price range aren't nearly as capable.

Chris

[K Frame]

"I never had a tank dry out even though we wouldn't print for weeks at a time."

It's not at all uncommon for me to go literally several months between printing pages.

[lee n. field]

HP is also famous for whitelisting wireless interface cards on their laptops.  It's a real pain, keeping you from upgrading wireless cards unless you buy from them.  And HP's available selection of decent cards is very slim.  There are lots of better cards out there that cannot be used in their laptops.

As in, you put in a different one, and it refuses to boot past the message telling you there's a foreign card?  Yes, I've seen that.

[Ben]

I must have been very lucky in my life to not have had all the troubles you guys have with inkjet printers.  Before kids, I never had a tank dry out even though we wouldn't print for weeks at a time.  With two kids printing stuff from time to time and me printing range targets, I use 2-3 black cartridges a year and half that in color.

I never had ink dry in my old Canon MFC either (I did in a couple of older HPs though). However, ink drying was not my issue. I print a lot (Take that Earth!), and ink simply was not cost effective anymore given how cheap laser printers have become. Back when even a lower tier color laser MFC cost $1000+, it would take a lot of ink before the laser became more cost effective. Not so anymore.

[MechAg94]

I finally gave up trying to keep a printer at home.  I only use it once in a blue moon and the ink always dries out.  My boss doesn't mind me printing at work the little I do print.  I would rather buy a ream of paper for work occasionally than keep investing in printers I don't use.  I can always print at Office Depot or other outfits also.

[K Frame]

Exactly. If I have something I need to print in color, I print it at the office.