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HP fails to derail claims that it bricks scanners on printers when ink runs low

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Re: HP fails to derail claims that it bricks scanners on printers when ink runs low

#21

Post by somehnguy »

esel2k wrote: post #8
bgirard wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I followed this advice and it's been great. I have a $350 laser Brother printer, my iPhone can find the printer without fiddling with drivers, it wakes up, print, goes back to sleep. Works fine even if I go months without printing. After my last 'free ink forever' HP inkjet that never worked, a working printer is a blessing.

Which brother do you have / recommend? I have been quiet happy with my OKI but the phone connection is the only letdown so far and I might change for a brother in the future.

Not a Brother printer but I would like to recommend the Canon MF240. I bought it at Walmart for $99 - and it feels like I practically stole it with how good it's been to me. Has both Wifi & ethernet, automatically wakes when sent a print job, scanner works great, etc. Works perfect with generic toner cartridges from Amazon, no funny business with DRM.

Canon in general have been good printers in my experience. I recently bought one of their low end inkjets because I needed to print some photos. That printer also works great & has a highly customizable web interface built in - I didn't expect it to be that feature complete for $45.

I've had 2 brother printers over the years & they were fine - for whatever reason though one of them would refuse to print from a Chromebook. Every other printer I've used in the last 10 years has essentially 'just worked' with any device capable of speaking to it except this Brother. Known issue & they never released a firmware update to fix it.

Re: HP fails to derail claims that it bricks scanners on printers when ink runs low

#22

Post by bitwize »

seanhunter wrote: post #12

As I sit here I look at my HP-35S and HP-12C calculators that I have on my desk. My 12-C in particular is about 15 years old and still on its original battery. I remember fondly the HP-85a that I learned programming on when I was 8 years old or so. HP used to make amazingly great hardware. The first HP laserjet printers were an absolute marvel. It makes me so sad what has happened to HP.

Back in the days when HP was a scientific-equipment company, everything they made was built like a tank. Still have fond memories of the HP-7475A plotter.

Re: HP fails to derail claims that it bricks scanners on printers when ink runs low

#24

Post by ajb »

Because of this kind of thing I haven't actually replaced my printer, since it broke, and have been actively looking for ways to avoid doing so.

- In the UK, Royal mail will now print the label for you, when you order a collection. DPD claims to do so when you drop off but the shops often turn out not to have a printer

- Libraries print more cheaply than shops, neither are suitable for printing where confidentiality is required (your doc is likely to hang round on some random insecure PC)

- They don't advertise it, but some print-to-mail companies (eg CFH docmail) will do print runs down to a single copy. This is considerably cheaper than your local shop, for more than a couple of sheets at least, but has a latency of 5 days. It's suitable for confidential prints (for most plausible threat models), due to their scale. Also, if you intended to mail the doc anyway, you can send it direct from them.

Re: HP fails to derail claims that it bricks scanners on printers when ink runs low

#25

Post by djaychela »

sacnoradhq wrote: post #2

Even if you only print things once a month, a laser printer is far less wasteful in time, money, and bullshit than ink that's perpetually dry or consumed. Rather than an entry-level laser printer that cannot be economically repaired, a used mid-level enterprise printer is often the cheapest option long term and saves useful electronics from becoming e-waste. Office furniture rental/repo places and secondary markets l…

Absolutely. I have a laserjet 4000 I've had since I was given it in 2002 at an office clearance. It's printed about 10000 pages while I've had it,and in that time I've had to change the toner once. And I was given two original HP cartridges with the printer,and installed the first one a full 17 years after getting it.

Worked perfectly,and is still in there.

Works with windows, mac os, chromebooks without issue, all over the network. I even got a duplexer from gumtree a few years ago as it was going for nothing. One day it will die and then I'll have to deal with all the current printer grief!

Re: HP fails to derail claims that it bricks scanners on printers when ink runs low

#26

Post by Retric »

Tepix wrote: post #20
sacnoradhq wrote: post #2

Even if you only print things once a month, a laser printer is far less wasteful in time, money, and bullshit than ink that's perpetually dry or consumed. Rather than an entry-level laser printer that cannot be economically repaired, a used mid-level enterprise printer is often the cheapest option long term and saves useful electronics from becoming e-waste. Office furniture rental/repo places and secondary markets l…

Nowadays there are inkjet printers that are cheaper (cost per page) than laser printers. I would only get one if i were to print regularly, however. And never again HP of course.

Examples?

My research showed some inexpensive inkjets had reasonable cost per pages, but when you’re talking 10+k pages per month lasers easily win. They also win at the ultra low, 1 page per month side of things.

Re: HP fails to derail claims that it bricks scanners on printers when ink runs low

#27

Post by PopePompus »

bitwize wrote: post #22
seanhunter wrote: post #12

As I sit here I look at my HP-35S and HP-12C calculators that I have on my desk. My 12-C in particular is about 15 years old and still on its original battery. I remember fondly the HP-85a that I learned programming on when I was 8 years old or so. HP used to make amazingly great hardware. The first HP laserjet printers were an absolute marvel. It makes me so sad what has happened to HP.

Back in the days when HP was a scientific-equipment company, everything they made was built like a tank. Still have fond memories of the HP-7475A plotter.

There is no sadder story in American capitalism than the decline of HP from a wonderful equipment engineering company to a racket for selling tiny little tubs of overpriced ink. Think a young Steve Jobs would be excited to get a job there now?

Re: HP fails to derail claims that it bricks scanners on printers when ink runs low

#28

Post by kibwen »

ajb wrote: post #24

Because of this kind of thing I haven't actually replaced my printer, since it broke, and have been actively looking for ways to avoid doing so. - In the UK, Royal mail will now print the label for you, when you order a collection. DPD claims to do so when you drop off but the shops often turn out not to have a printer - Libraries print more cheaply than shops, neither are suitable for printing where confidentiality…

> Libraries print more cheaply than shops

Highlighting this. My local library lets you print 100 pages per month for free (color printing counts for three pages), which is more than enough for my needs these days.

Re: HP fails to derail claims that it bricks scanners on printers when ink runs low

#29

Post by r00fus »

sacnoradhq wrote: post #2

Even if you only print things once a month, a laser printer is far less wasteful in time, money, and bullshit than ink that's perpetually dry or consumed. Rather than an entry-level laser printer that cannot be economically repaired, a used mid-level enterprise printer is often the cheapest option long term and saves useful electronics from becoming e-waste. Office furniture rental/repo places and secondary markets l…

Most inexpensive (ie, $200 or less) AirPrint (or google/MS equivalent) enabled BW laser printers are good solutions. I have a Canon that's lasted me several years of moderate printing (I hardly print but my kids love to print stuff out).

Every year I buy a 2-pack of off-brand toner from Amazon for $30. When the printer complains, before replacing toner, I just pull out the existing toner, shake it, and get probably 10-50 more (faded but usable) prints.

Re: HP fails to derail claims that it bricks scanners on printers when ink runs low

#30

Post by vel0city »

esel2k wrote: post #8
bgirard wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I followed this advice and it's been great. I have a $350 laser Brother printer, my iPhone can find the printer without fiddling with drivers, it wakes up, print, goes back to sleep. Works fine even if I go months without printing. After my last 'free ink forever' HP inkjet that never worked, a working printer is a blessing.

Which brother do you have / recommend? I have been quiet happy with my OKI but the phone connection is the only letdown so far and I might change for a brother in the future.

I've got a Brother DCP-L2540DW. The only feature I wish it had was duplex scanning from the auto document feeder. Otherwise its been an immensely solid printer.

I gave up doing photo printing at home. These days I'll just order prints online. If I want it quick or save on postage I'll just pick it up at a convenience store close by. The break even on a new high end photo printer is after thousands of photos by comparison, and even then its only marginally cheaper per print. Once my last photo printer had some assembly fall apart inside from brittle plastic cracking I moved on to this Brother.

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