No More HP Printers For Me

[calliopes_pen]

Thanks to a firmware update from HP that was pushed yesterday, I believe I can safely cross off HP printers from my list of potential printer purchases.

Basically, the update blocks all non-HP ink from functioning correctly. There weren’t that many from HP that I had included on my list just yet, thanks to everybody's recommendations and advice (thank you for it, by the way) along the lines of Canon, Epson, and Brother.

This merely narrows the field a little more for me.

Comments

[cloudsinvenice]

I saw you mentioned Brother - can pass on someone else's rec, for what that's worth: their printers were suggested to me when I was asking what would work well with a Mac...

Our last printer was an HP, and was itself a replacement for R's former one which went pearshaped... I've indeed not had much call to view their stuff with confidence.

I never did get around to buying one back when I was soliciting recs, so I'll have to start that journey soon myself. *pulls out hair*

[calliopes_pen]

The first HP printer I had was great (aside from a temporary leak of ink at some point at least a decade ago, which still stains the table) and lasted me 15 years. The second HP printer I had came for free with Dad's laptop from QVC. When the first one finally died, we finally set up the second and discovered...it was rather terrible at even doing its basic job. Perhaps that was why it was free.

I never did get around to buying one back when I was soliciting recs, so I'll have to start that journey soon myself. *pulls out hair*

Oh, you definitely have my sympathies there.

[cloudsinvenice]

Oh wow. Really shows how built-in obsolescence has become a thing, doesn't it?

The sad part is that I'd done the research, and I suspect the reason I didn't buy the thing was that I had some other expense/hadn't time, and of course now the one I'd bookmarked on Argos to compare with other printers is coming up as "we can't find that page". So that's going to be a return to the drawing board...

[calliopes_pen]

The free one never could see the paper that was in the tray, I know that much. Is it entirely full? Nope, sorry, out of paper. Put more in to the point that it's overflowing and insane? Well, it saw one sheet of it. Occasionally, just to be random, two.

Just put in the ink? Nope, sorry, out of ink. Or you would get one good line, and then the rest of it was odd. It was just the top half of every word, even when it was aligned correctly. (And I checked so many times.) Finally, one day, it wouldn't even do that much, and just shot blank sheets of paper at me. Even if I switched to a newer cartridge. I gave up on it.

All these months later, into the trash heap it went. It was a long time coming for the thing.

...and of course now the one I'd bookmarked on Argos to compare with other printers is coming up as "we can't find that page". So that's going to be a return to the drawing board...

I've hit a few printer recommendation pages like that as I search, too. Either long out of date, or the page is no longer there.

[frenchroast]

I found out which laser printer I have! It's a Brother HL L2340 DW and currently it's $109 on Amazon, but my husband said he's seen it as low as $69.99, and that the price fluctuates a lot, so if you wait, you can probably get it for around $80.

It is awesome, and I seriously recommend it. Even his tech-illiterate parents have had no problems with it, and they have problems with almost anything computer-related (we bought them one last year).

[calliopes_pen]

Thank you! That very model was actually one of those I had been considering, based on where I see it on my list.