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How to change the region on an HP OfficeJet printer in 57 easy steps

theverge.com

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Re: How to change the region on an HP OfficeJet printer in 57 easy steps

#151

Post by topper-123 »

madeofpalk wrote: post #129
benjamoon wrote: post #70

I bought a Brother monochrome laser printer (with built in scanner) for £250 and it was bundled with 6 spare toner cartridges. That was two years ago, we’re still on the first cartridge. The printer before that was also a monochrome laser printer and that lasted nearly a decade (only got rid of it because it didn’t support wireless and I couldn’t be bothered running cables anymore). Basically, I think monochrome lase…

See linked, also from The Verge > Best printer 2023: just buy this Brother laser printer everyone has, it’s fine > The Brother whatever-it-is will print return labels for online shopping, never run out of toner, and generally be a printer instead of the physical instantiation of a business model. https://www.theverge.com/23642073/best-printer-2023-brother-...

I read that article. After a few paragraphs it goes:

“ And here’s 275 words about printers I asked ChatGPT to write so this post ranks in search because Google thinks you have to pad out articles in order to demonstrate “authority,” but I am telling you to just buy whatever Brother laser printer is on sale and never think about printers again…”

Cheeky, I like it (here, nor generally).

Re: How to change the region on an HP OfficeJet printer in 57 easy steps

#152

Post by jbm »

oefrha wrote: post #7
bombcar wrote: post #2

It has always annoyed me that "region settings" don't just take into account the realities of the situation; they're OBVIOUSLY designed to prevent people in "rich" countries from buying media designated for "poor" countries in a form of market segmentation; but that should mean the "rich media" should just work in all devices. Of course now things like the players are so cheap you can just buy multiple if you want to…

Tangential: after moving to a “cheaper” region I can no longer gift American friends Steam titles. I’d pay the full American price but there’s simply no such option. Sad. (Of course I can send cash instead, but cash gifts IMO are kinda gross.)

On a side note, I've come around on cash gifts. I used to think they were gross, as they seemed to put a number on a relationship.

However, life is short and I would much rather give my kids 20-40 bucks to gift to a friend than go shopping for a toy. Moreover, I'd rather get something I wanted instead of 10 things I didn't really want; cash presents make that possible.

Re: How to change the region on an HP OfficeJet printer in 57 easy steps

#153

Post by YuriNiyazov »

Spooky23 wrote: post #78
usr1106 wrote: post #19

This story tells me I made the right decision: Never ever buy a printer. I can print in the library. Since Covid started I needed to do that twice: The first time they had stopped accepting cash because of the infection risk(!). And I loaded 2 Euros on my library card for 10 pages but obviously did not use all of them. The second time they were surprised that I had money on my library card. To be fair I have printed…

I never get why people get so angry about this. I’m a stupid consumer with printers. I have a HP office jet and pay like $5/month for their ink subscription. I print 30-80 pages a month. The economics work. I have a cheap capable inkjet MFP in the same cost envelope of a bigger, lower toner cost laser. The printer talks PCL and works with anything I’ve tried including Linux.

Same here, except I print way less, so I’m on a dollar per month sub, and just pay for overages sometimes.

I think instant ink is a better product in terms of money saved, especially when you account for the risk of cartridges drying out.

Now, to be clear, when it first came out, I thought “evil capitalists” just like everyone else in this thread. But I think it’s wrong, there’s just a yuckiness factor associated with paying monthly for something you theoretically own.

I think we should just move on as a society from the idea that you somehow “own” cheap personal property like phones and printers and fridges, etc.

Everything is perpetually leased

Re: How to change the region on an HP OfficeJet printer in 57 easy steps

#154

Post by skunkworker »

MisterSandman wrote: post #146
madeofpalk wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See linked, also from The Verge > Best printer 2023: just buy this Brother laser printer everyone has, it’s fine > The Brother whatever-it-is will print return labels for online shopping, never run out of toner, and generally be a printer instead of the physical instantiation of a business model. https://www.theverge.com/23642073/best-printer-2023-brother-...

The Verge is honestly pretty great. Usually. It's the only mainstream tech news publication that feels like it's not bought out by every company (re: CNET)

Even though Arstechnica is owned by Conde Nast, it's still my go-to for most tech news, albeit normally more specialized in certain fields. But at least once per week they have a really excellent and in-depth article about a variety of topics.

Re: How to change the region on an HP OfficeJet printer in 57 easy steps

#155

Post by YuriNiyazov »

criddell wrote: post #86
Spooky23 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never get why people get so angry about this. I’m a stupid consumer with printers. I have a HP office jet and pay like $5/month for their ink subscription. I print 30-80 pages a month. The economics work. I have a cheap capable inkjet MFP in the same cost envelope of a bigger, lower toner cost laser. The printer talks PCL and works with anything I’ve tried including Linux.

It works for you because you print a lot (1-3 pages per day!). OP prints fewer than 10 pages per year .

There’s a $1/month subscription. You get 10 pages a month.

The author would pay $12/year for 10 pages per year, without the cost of the cartridge. You need 20 years before you reach the cost of a $240 cartridge. The cartridge would’ve dried out before then.

This entire article is an exercise in “I can’t do math”

Re: How to change the region on an HP OfficeJet printer in 57 easy steps

#156

Post by crazygringo »

JohnBooty wrote: post #121
robswc wrote: post #113

I actually have no idea how printers (things that have been around for ever) are _still_ just so bad. I do get cheap printers tbf... but sometimes they just flat out do not work or can't connect or get jobs stuck in the queue, etc. I never experience this when buying other "cheap" peripherals, yet, printers just seem to consistently suck in almost every way.

I thought this too! Then I saw the light. Get the cheap Brother laser printer "that everybody has" in the article that is linked from the linked article (the linked linked article?) https://www.theverge.com/23642073/best-printer-2023-brother-... Seriously. It's so stupid simple. It rules. It juuuuuust prints. No DRM, no nothing. No apps to install. (I think it has apps, but you don't need them. I certainly didn't ins…

Yup I've been using mine for years and years.

But honestly, I don't understand it in the context of capitalism.

Why does just this one good printer exist? Why doesn't it have competitors? Or if competitors aren't economical to exist, why does this one still exist?

I'm thankful it's here. But I can't think of any other product category at all where there's only one really good one and then everything else is overpriced crap.

Re: How to change the region on an HP OfficeJet printer in 57 easy steps

#157

Post by jasonmp85 »

teddyh wrote: post #149
ProllyInfamous wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

⁂ Are you using this to indicate sarcasm? Just asking cause I saw that given as an example of the tri-star symbol, and I'm just a confused Tennessean!

No, just as a section break.

It’s not, though

Re: How to change the region on an HP OfficeJet printer in 57 easy steps

#158

Post by atVelocet »

Get a used HP LaserJet from their professional line. They lack wifi, are way bigger then your normal printer but they work for years without problems and have cheap replacement parts and cartidges.

One general advice is to look for recommended devices in the medical/law/military area. There is nothing special about those printers but their recommondation for such institutions makes them a safe bet and never failed me or one of my clients (even 10+ years later).

Re: How to change the region on an HP OfficeJet printer in 57 easy steps

#159

Post by ricardobeat »

AshamedCaptain wrote: post #110
benjamoon wrote: post #70

I bought a Brother monochrome laser printer (with built in scanner) for £250 and it was bundled with 6 spare toner cartridges. That was two years ago, we’re still on the first cartridge. The printer before that was also a monochrome laser printer and that lasted nearly a decade (only got rid of it because it didn’t support wireless and I couldn’t be bothered running cables anymore). Basically, I think monochrome lase…

A friend of mine also bought a monochrome laser Brother. It was about half of what you paid; but it came with one toner, and it was only half-capacity. Already a bad start. The stock toner only lasted for a year or about 200 pages. A replacement toner costs 50€, more than a single black ink cartridge would cost, and the toner is rated for 1k pages only while the 44€ ink cartridge is rated for 2.2k. (!) In fact, for e…

Owner of a color Samsung C430W laser printer here. Have changed the black and yellow toner once in 3-4 years. Both still at > 80%. Never worried about 'dry cartridges'. Works seamlessly on Mac, Windows and mobile phones, no driver installs (should be totally possible on inkjets too, but never is).

There is absolutely zero chance you'll ever get 2k+ prints from an inkjet cartridge unless you're printing a small emoji on the center of the page. The most I think I've seen is ~500 pages of text.

Re: How to change the region on an HP OfficeJet printer in 57 easy steps

#160

Post by robotnikman »

benjamoon wrote: post #70

I bought a Brother monochrome laser printer (with built in scanner) for £250 and it was bundled with 6 spare toner cartridges. That was two years ago, we’re still on the first cartridge. The printer before that was also a monochrome laser printer and that lasted nearly a decade (only got rid of it because it didn’t support wireless and I couldn’t be bothered running cables anymore). Basically, I think monochrome lase…

Thats what I got for my parents since they like to print a lot of things. It has worked great so far.
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