Friends don’t let their friends buy HP.
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The subscription, like HP’s recent ad campaign promoting its printers as “made to be less hated,” trades on the idea that printers are frustrating commodities. The company’s configurator page mentions bonuses like “continuous printer coverage” and “next-business-day printer replacement,”
Our printers are unreliable pieces of absolute shit guys. But if you do the subscription we’ll replace your shitty broken rental printer next day. Never worry that you can’t print when you need to print. Mindblowing.
Just make reliable printers that work, dumbasses.
Just make reliable printers that work, dumbasses.
Again, you mean. My LJ4 was sold at 20 years old, more due to toner scarcity than any real problem.
Nailed it. I currently have an HP Laserjet 2100 for home printing and it is around 20 years old and going strong. Now you’ve made me think I should maybe order some toner ahead…
“made to be less hated,”
They still want to be hated, just less.
Who’s the halfwit that came up with that line lmao
Yup. That slogan is the end result of a long line of bad company decisions.
Just 6 months ago replaced my 1996 IBM Laser printer.
And it probably still works, keeps saying “paper jam” though I’ve cleaned it out. Probably a bad sensor/switch. I’ll fix it some time.
If they made reliable printers that worked, they wouldn’t have a business because everyone would have a reliable printer that worked and hp would have no one left to sell printers to. The problem has always been the shortcomings of shareholder capitalism.
Dont buy hp?
I think it’s time for an open source 2d printer project, we have open source 3d printers and the technology is much more complex than 2d. Time to put HP to sleep
I would argue that 2D printing is a lot more complicated than 3D, and it’s not even close
I see this said every time this comes up.
Are there any efforts starting or even attempting this? Or even taking an existing printer and replacing it’s main board?
As it stands now printhead technology for quality prints needs microscopic precision and materials like precisely perforated foils that are just not easy to make outside of a specialized fabrication shop, and even then it won’t scale.
Patents are prohibiting anyone from developing something like that.
When do the patents expire? Seems like 2D printers are relatively old technology by this point.
For example, a very important patent for any inkjet is the one where heads self clean, basically maintenance. Without that, an inkjet printer would be a pain to have.
I’m sure there would be workaounds to that, also I’m not selling anything, just sharing a project and list of components. i’m not a lawyer but i’m pretty sure there’s nothing they can do to stop me
I have a brother laser printer that I love. I just fill up a tub with generic toner and it keeps printing for almost a decade now. I’m old and like to print things. I think it’s much easier to read on paper and I’m happier to print out a 150 page book than read it on a Kindle lol. I’ve also broken multiple ereaders commuting on trains but still have all the papers I saved in binders I printed and really enjoyed reading and will last nearly forever.
There are relatively recent refurbished Brother laser printers on NewEgg for under $200.
You can get a used older model on eBay for under $200.
And the chances that used older model will work just fine for you for years to come is high.
My Brother is between 15 and 20 years old, only on its second toner cartridge, and still working like a charm.
There are a lot of options to do color printing for cheap if you only need it very occasionally like most people. The local public library may even offer free color printing.
Man, I thought for a moment you were saying you had a teenage sibling that had was on his second cartridge.
Bruh
the amount of engineering and programming hours spent to make their products worse is just a symptom of how stupid, wasteful decisions are made when there is not enough competition in these industries.
When HP requires HP Smart account to print, the brand was already dead to me
Also any recommendation for printers?
EDIT: damn, I think I am going to get a Brother Laser Printer in the future
Never had a problem with Brother printers
I mean, they’re printers. So…
But yes, Brother is definitely one of the better options on the market.
Everyone loves Brother for good reason.
I’ve had a decent experience with my Xerox too.
I love my Canons, especially the canon laser printer
Brother are good but I got a Kyocera about 6yrs ago and have never had to change the toner. I’ve been through about 2 blocks of paper in that time. Prints great.
Plug & Play on Windows and Linux
God forbid I recommended you to buy an HP ever, but it feels like they’ve been awful only in the ink jet section. At least my HP laser printer (283 something) doesn’t require me to have a(n) HP Smart account (I don’t even know how/where to set up one), I’ve had it for ~3-4 years now, and it’s been reliable and trusty ever since. I can imagine they started pulling the same shady shit with the new laser printers, but this one seems to be working as of now. Fingers crossed.
EDIT: Still buy a Brother, I have only heard amazing things about them; just saying it’s not happening everywhere - yet.
HP is in the extortion business now…
Which printer you get depends on the plan you choose. They start at $6.99 per month for 20 pages’ worth of prints and whatever the current HP Envy model is, and go all the way up to a $35.99-a-month affair that gets you an OfficeJet Pro and 700 pages. If you go over your page allotment, HP will add more for a dollar per block of 10–15 pages.
This is 100% a trap for elderly people who reflexively print everything they see on the computer.
I can see it being an option for some people. If you print low volume but regularly every month. And you need a printer that always just works. The problem is the monthly limits! The base package is 20 pages per month, just printing out a pdf manual or something would eat that up in a minute. I would want unused prints to be added to next month.
Otherwise it is very similar to how it works for businesses having larger office printers.
And it’s still more expensive than a brother printer after a year and a half, and one of those will last decades.
Brother FTW 🐐
Canon tho!
Canon is better than HP for sure, but not as reliable, compatible, or unobtrusive as Brother. I bought a higher-end Canon photo printer that just would not work well outside of Windows, and my main drivers are Linux and Android. Brother has never failed me there.
I’m 2.5y into testing that claim, with a MFC-J6930DW. So far, no issues at all.
I’ve deployed half a dozen in the last dozen years. All still going.
I have a brother color laser, only had to change toner. My mom has a brother laser, haven’t changed toner. These things run like trucks.
I spent way longer than I ever hoped to primarily selling printers. This is the answer. I’d wager a solid 80% of people would be better off buying a cheap brother laser and just going to walgreens/office depot/where ever the 2 times a year they need to print in color
Yea I definitely fall into the 20 pages or less a month category. Hell I probably fall into the 20 pages or less a year category. But I’d never add a subscription for something I can just buy out.
It’s not just a subscription, it’s a two year contract with a large early cancellation fee.
I know it’s not necessarily an option for everyone, but the printer at the library always works and costs way less or is free.
Or a copycenter.
Printing shops have existed as long as there have been printers. People rarely need to print anything anyway but most will convince themselves against it because they think it’s a hassle or that they will print a lot more than they actually do.
Many people I know end up replacing their ink cartridges almost every time they have to print because it’s been so long that the ink has dried up…
And it doesn’t take up space. Like seriously, I haven’t really printed at home since college
Those who see this as an option are not well. They are neglected by the tech literates who could help them do better and the people who understand the value of ownership that could help them be better.
I don’t know what are you talking about. I have a Canon printer is being 10 years since I bought it and its working like new. This is the reason why HP can get away with this idiotic move.
A laser printer always just works.
My 1996 laser just got replaced 6 months ago. I replaced the toner once or twice… Because I’m a low volume printer.
Low volume is probably also just B/W. But even a color laser isn’t that much. Canon has a line of office color that aren’t awfully expensive, and not large.
Why would I pay for a lease that over it’s contract term is as much as a Canon color laser that will:
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Run longer on it’s starter toners
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Never clog
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Probably run for 10 years or more
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If you are over the initial pages, then it is $1 per 10-15 pages. Which is much cheaper than the original $6.99 for first 20 pages. $1 per 15 pages probably costs the same if you own HP printer and buy HP ink.
The subscription, like HP’s recent ad campaign promoting its printers as “made to be less hated,”
Literally “cause a problem, sell them the solution” 🤣
I bought a Canon laser printer 10 years ago. The only thing I’ve needed since then was a single new set of toner. (And a bunch of paper, obviously.)
Even back then it was pretty obvious that ink jets are waste of money and everyone that I knew who had ink jets were just constantly complaining about them.
FWIW we have dumb business owners to thank for that.
They’ve been doing this with the Indigo’s for 8+ years that I’m aware of, so probably much longer. And ofc businesses fell for it because just like most cloud shit, nobody can be bothered to calculate actual costs, just fudge stuff and get your bonus/pay rise for pretending to have done something beneficial.
I appreciate the context you added but I think it is important to underline that ultimately we still have hp to thank for this. They didn’t have to be an awful company.
Oh, I’m not denying that they are greedy assholes. But at the same time I feel like we’re in that comic, they saw an terrible opportunity, implemented this shit and were like “no way anyone is going to fall for that”, and “we” allowed them to like “we” seem to do with many other terrible things in this world, and here we are with them laughing away at “our” stupidity.
There seem to be just enough dumb people around to enable assholes like this to exist, which I find sad and disturbing. It’s almost like there is a reason certain groups want people to stay dumb and ban books, ban those who are different from learning etc
Couple of other things about the print stuff; I seriously doubt this even needs to profitable for them in the short term (it likely is), so unless it’s dead on arrival, the longer it keeps going, the more chances this will be the only available solution…perhaps a last ditch effort to milk us dry before printing dies?
And for anyone who comes across this in the future, at best you’re paying 10x per page compared to what medium size business did many years ago, and no you’re not even getting a real service.
There seem to be just enough dumb people around to enable assholes like this to exist
sigh yup! Always was, always will be, it is maddening isn’t it.
We can do this even with all the idiots though, they will fall in line behind good ideas for the same stupid reasons they will fall behind bad ideas.
I guess hp won’t care but, while I have bought hp computers for years, this last time I went looking at other brands because of this printer nonsense.
I am sorry some sort of dark curse forced you to only buy hp computers for years, that sounds rough
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The company debuted a subscription service today — just like CEO Enrique Lores said it would last month — called the HP All-In Plan.
So if you decide HP All-In isn’t for you after all, you’ll have to return the printer and go back to rubbing elbows with everyone else at FedEx whenever the need to print arises.
That way, if a firmware upgrade blue-screens your printer, at least you have some recourse that doesn’t involve driving to a store to buy a whole new one.
And receiving ink before you run out is great if you are, like me, the kind of person who ignores the “low ink” warning all the way until I’m fully out and am actually printing something critical, rather than coloring pages for your kid, for once.
But those are mostly functions of the fact that I don’t really print that often and rarely encounter the annoyances of printer ownership.
One is HP’s plan, which appeals to the frustration of user-hostile experiences like scanners that don’t work because you bought third-party ink and printers that become unusable without some serious effort because you moved overseas.
The original article contains 451 words, the summary contains 190 words. Saved 58%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Has always been meme
We have around 250 HP Laserjet 1320 printers in our company and while they are generally quite reliable, their age is slowly taking the toll. Each one prints 50-200 pages a week and their guts are becoming a bit loose. So number of paper jams, mispicking, and other breakings increases every month… In near future we’ll be probably forced to replace them, but with what?
These were pretty cheap printers back then, aftermarket toners are dirt cheap and it is still possible to buy parts for self repairing online. Bosses won’t allow the replacement to be some fancy expensive printers or cheap ones that turn to shit in months. These HPs are running for maybe ~10 years? What is the brand/model I should check nowadays? Bearing in mind we’ll have to run hundreds of those? I’ll appreciate any input you might have.
PS: located in EU
At home I have a Brother, but our IT uses Kyocera. We print a lot in manufacturing and they are reliable.
