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Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?

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Re: Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?

#41

Post by computator »

rosnd wrote: post #17
jqpabc123 wrote: post #12

Avoid ink jet and use laser jet instead. This solved most of the frustration for me. The upfront cost is slightly higher, the print quality is slightly decreased but the long term satisfaction is greatly enhanced. Ink jet in any form is dead in my mind.

> the print quality is slightly decreased That's heavily understating it.

For black & white (grayscale) text, my experience has been that laser printers are just as good, or superior (esp. if your laser printer does 600dpi or higher), and they don't smudge as easily as ink jet prints.

Re: Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?

#42

Post by hugh-avherald »

snickerbockers wrote: post #36
Ekaros wrote: post #23

Printers are the most mechanically complex computer related product. Just think, fans are basically single bearing and motor. Pumps are pretty much same. Traditional spinning disk, nearly closed system with two motors. Printers have multiple times this complexity. And the products bought are bought for lowest price. Or at least reasonable price. You get what you pay for. And what is paid is often very little. Thus po…

i understand that but 90% of the time that i try to print something it just sits in the queue all alone with no error code and no attempt at printing, i don't think that's a mechanical problem.

Could be a sensor problem, or a part of the startup mechanism has failed.

Re: Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?

#43

Post by WithinReason »

popotamonga wrote: post #37
Ekaros wrote: post #23

Printers are the most mechanically complex computer related product. Just think, fans are basically single bearing and motor. Pumps are pretty much same. Traditional spinning disk, nearly closed system with two motors. Printers have multiple times this complexity. And the products bought are bought for lowest price. Or at least reasonable price. You get what you pay for. And what is paid is often very little. Thus po…

It's still magic for me how they can get just 1 sheet of paper at a time.

Sometimes it takes me 10 seconds to separate 2 sheets

Re: Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?

#45

Post by ValentineC »

theandrewbailey wrote: post #4

You should probably clarify if you're asking about inkjet printers. I bought a laser printer almost 2 years ago. No complaints so far, but we'll see how long that lasts.

I had a Samsung CLP-315W that didn't work with original replacement toners that I kept in a cupboard for a couple of years, since I bought them during a sale.

I'm guessing that either one of their firmware updates broke their chip DRM recognition, or the chips that were in my original toners somehow corroded due to age.

Even for laser printers, it looks like it will be compatibles and refills for me moving forward.

Re: Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?

#46

Post by usrusr »

theandrewbailey wrote: post #4

You should probably clarify if you're asking about inkjet printers. I bought a laser printer almost 2 years ago. No complaints so far, but we'll see how long that lasts.

Bought mine twenty years ago, that's when the price drop happened, when consumer-priced laser printers started to become a thing. Never looked back. Some years ago the paper drive started having trouble getting traction on the next page (probably some plastic springs losing their springyness?), but that's perfectly acceptable for a dozen pages a year.

Re: Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?

#47

Post by fjfbsufhdvfy »

Bit off topic, but what printer would people recommend for someone who needs one every now and then, that is capable of color prints and scanning, that won't stop working when unused for several months?

I'm getting the impression ink jet is not the way to go due to the long pauses, but the color lasers are all seem very expensive for such occasional use.

Re: Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?

#48

Post by zonethundery »

folkrav wrote: post #26
ekianjo wrote: post #6

Laser printers are the way to go. They are typically for offices and follow a different business level: large volume printing and low-cost ink.

Anything color that's reasonably priced?

I have been happy with the OKI 332 w/ a duplexer. Plugs into ethernet, if all else fails you can drop a file to the printer with your browser.

Re: Ask HN: Why is the printer industry so scammy?

#50

Post by lloeki »

baq wrote: post #10
theandrewbailey wrote: post #4

You should probably clarify if you're asking about inkjet printers. I bought a laser printer almost 2 years ago. No complaints so far, but we'll see how long that lasts.

I have a Brother laser printer/scanner combo that I bought 8 years ago, I actually wish it broke down so I could replace it with something that supports AirPrint without feeling bad about throwing out perfectly good hardware

Then don't! Plug it to a Pi or something like that and turn it into an AirPrint server, which is (an extension of) IPP plus Bonjour for discovery.
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