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Obviously, HP Thinks We Are Stupid

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Re: Obviously, HP Thinks We Are Stupid

#51

Post by pmjordan »

theBobMcCormick wrote: post #44
pmjordan wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Laser printers are great for many things, but when you do need good colour prints of photos, etc., you can apply the same advice to inkjets and get good results. We got an HP Photosmart 8250 or so 3-4 years back. IIRC it was pretty much the most expensive A4 inkjet from HP at the time, but even that was only 2-3x as much as a mid-grade consumer printer. In any case, unlike most printers, it uses separate tanks for ea…

Unless you print a lot of color photos and have a really good photo printer, it seems like it's hard to beat the cost-per-photo of just uploading your photo's to Walgreens, Walmart, or whatever other inexpensive photo printing place is near you.

Actually, it's more the opposite - if you just want to print a few at a time to send to relatives, it's a lot cheaper to print your own, as the delivery charges dwarf the price of the prints themselves.

Re: Obviously, HP Thinks We Are Stupid

#52

Post by pmjordan »

krschultz wrote: post #48
pmjordan wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Laser printers are great for many things, but when you do need good colour prints of photos, etc., you can apply the same advice to inkjets and get good results. We got an HP Photosmart 8250 or so 3-4 years back. IIRC it was pretty much the most expensive A4 inkjet from HP at the time, but even that was only 2-3x as much as a mid-grade consumer printer. In any case, unlike most printers, it uses separate tanks for ea…

Costco does photos for about 9 cents each at a higher quality than I can print at home, and I don't have to do it. And you can get up to 30x20" things for $3. I'm replacing my inkjet with a laser the next time my ink cartridge is out. Not to mention I prefer the quality of laser for B&W and that's all I do anymore.

OK, with prices like that there really is no point. I'm used to around €1 per 15x10cm photo in small quantities, much more for larger prints + €3-5 for delivery.

Re: Obviously, HP Thinks We Are Stupid

#53

Post by retube »

pmjordan wrote: post #42
GrandMasterBirt wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When working in a cellphone store, we used to make more money on the shitty Nokia 8830 phones because they cost us 70 bucks to buy, sell em for free with a $250 spiff. Thats more money than selling a phone for 100 bucks where usually the phone price is $300 - $250 spiff + $50 profit. Don't forget, when signing up for a contract they also charge you for line activation ($35) so they recoup their price rather quickly.…

The situation here is extremely different. All phones work on all networks in principle. (except for 3G-only networks like Hutchison/3 which don't allow 2nd gen GSM handsets, and of course SIM locked phones, which are the norm if you buy the phone or modem via a major network operator) You can get phoneless contracts which are much cheaper - either with no monthly charge (I literally pay nothing if I don't use the ph…

the best deal I've come across in the UK is O2's simplicity, which I've just signed up to (FUCK 24 month contracts). No phone, just a 1 month rolling contract at 15 / month with 300 mins and unlimited texts. Or if you sign up for 12 month contract, same minutes/texts but at 10 / month.

I bought a basic nokia for 30 quid. done.

Re: Obviously, HP Thinks We Are Stupid

#54

Post by retube »

po wrote: post #41
revital9 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People are stupid - but not all of them. Look at the comments around you :)

How many cognitive biases can you list? Because there are a lot of them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases They might not get you on this one, but at some point you will be part of the stupid crowd. I don't think about all of these every time I make a decision. When I said people are stupid, I was including myself. :-)

I have to say, that's my list of the week, if not the year! awesome.

Re: Obviously, HP Thinks We Are Stupid

#55

Post by mbreese »

pmjordan wrote: post #51
theBobMcCormick wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you print a lot of color photos and have a really good photo printer, it seems like it's hard to beat the cost-per-photo of just uploading your photo's to Walgreens, Walmart, or whatever other inexpensive photo printing place is near you.

Actually, it's more the opposite - if you just want to print a few at a time to send to relatives, it's a lot cheaper to print your own, as the delivery charges dwarf the price of the prints themselves.

Unless you live close to a Walgreens / Walmart / Target. Then you can upload the photos and just pick them up directly from the store when you're ready.

Re: Obviously, HP Thinks We Are Stupid

#56

Post by jacquesm »

blhack wrote: post #35

Sigh, printers. At my office, we have about 40 dell printers...all complete with little smart card readers on the inside that make sure the toner that we're using is "genuine". The problem? Even if we are using toners directly from dell, they will get errors that say "Invalid Cartridge", meaning we have to take it out, shake it around, sacrifice something to michael dell, and hope it works when we put it back in. Pri…

You forgot about scanners.

Re: Obviously, HP Thinks We Are Stupid

#57

Post by pmjordan »

retube wrote: post #53
pmjordan wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The situation here is extremely different. All phones work on all networks in principle. (except for 3G-only networks like Hutchison/3 which don't allow 2nd gen GSM handsets, and of course SIM locked phones, which are the norm if you buy the phone or modem via a major network operator) You can get phoneless contracts which are much cheaper - either with no monthly charge (I literally pay nothing if I don't use the ph…

the best deal I've come across in the UK is O2's simplicity, which I've just signed up to (FUCK 24 month contracts). No phone, just a 1 month rolling contract at 15 / month with 300 mins and unlimited texts. Or if you sign up for 12 month contract, same minutes/texts but at 10 / month. I bought a basic nokia for 30 quid. done.

I have a Nokia 2630 for phone use (basic & light, but has bluetooth for syncing contacts) - this frees up the iPhone for pure data & abroad usage. People can still get hold of me on my normal number, but I can take advantage of local SIMs.

Re: Obviously, HP Thinks We Are Stupid

#58

Post by pmjordan »

mbreese wrote: post #55
pmjordan wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, it's more the opposite - if you just want to print a few at a time to send to relatives, it's a lot cheaper to print your own, as the delivery charges dwarf the price of the prints themselves.

Unless you live close to a Walgreens / Walmart / Target. Then you can upload the photos and just pick them up directly from the store when you're ready.

We have one such service here, but they have a per-order charge that's only 50 € cents below their per-postage-order charge. Their pictures aren't that great quality either, unfortunately.

Re: Obviously, HP Thinks We Are Stupid

#59

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

I see not a whole lot has changed!

About 14 years ago I wrote the control software for a machine that used high performance inkjet heads and fast-drying ink. Inkjets were fairly new then and we went to a LOT of trouble (working directly with Canon) to get good print quality, and to keep the heads from clogging up with ink & paper dust while still making it easy for the user to replace ink cartridges. We even had to design a mechanism to periodically wipe the orifices clean or they would clog within minutes.

Anyway, the reason I mention that is that after that experience, I never trusted the reliability of inkjets and have always bought laser printers. I've owned two and the only reason I had to buy the second one is that after about 10 years of service it made more sense to replace my Canon LBP (Laser Beam Printer -- love that name!) than to buy a new toner cartridge.

I really can't believe that after all these years and millions of inkjet printers shipped, the consumables are still so expensive and replacing your printer's heads with cheaper ones is still a problem for some brands. Clearly it's in the best interests of some companies to not bother making it easier/cheaper for the user.

Yeah, I'll stick with lasers!

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