Comment on Has HP printers always been this bad?
danielfalk@lemmy.world 1 year ago
OK, I know this post is pretty anti-HP which is totally fair, but honestly just stop buying the cheap inkjet printers. I discovered ink tank printers and they are a game changer.
In all seriousness, you might want to try out the HP Smart Tank printers. Almost exactly 2 years ago I bought a HP Smart Tank 7000. It is awesome, and not at all like you describe.
I wanted to be done with junk printers for good, so I set out to buy a laser jet. I can’t remember how I found out about these ink tank printers, but they have pretty much the same benefits of laser printers. They print reliably and quickly, the ink lasts forever, and is not only cheap to replace, but you can use 3rd party ink (sold by the bottle. No cartridge means no chip!). My wife is a teacher and prints stuff all the time, including in color. 3 kids use it for homework assignments. I literally refilled the tanks 4 days ago for the very first time. (And only 2 of the 4 tanks at that–black and yellow were down to about a quarter tank.)
I use Linux exclusively and the printer works in Ubuntu and Pop OS without having to install some proprietary app that runs in the tray all the time.
Only downside for me is that sometimes it will go to sleep and my computers don’t see it and I have to go over and turn it on/off again. It’s pretty rare, and I don’t know if it’s actually a printer issue as much as a Linux issue.
I liked the printer so much, I bought one for my Mom this year in May. She’s got Windows, and I told her I’d come over and help her set it up some time because she is not at all good with computers. Turns out I didn’t need to because she set it up herself! (I did help her with the Android app though later on).
I can’t help but gush about this thing. Kind of dumb, I know, since in 2023 you’d think all printers should be able to work like this at a minimum.
A Laser printer isn’t an automatic fix. My mom got an HP laserjet from her work and it requires the full suite of HP spyware to run. My girlfriend bought a different HP laserjet and it just randomly decided it doesn’t want to print anymore, and we suspect it’s software related.
I have a Ricoh laser printer and it’s amazing though. The driver from Windows Update just works.
A big issue is that we all learned that ink is super expensive. So rather than buy overpriced ink cartridges, you buy the super cheap printer on sale.
But ink is nowhere near as expensive as it used to be (I think?) and third party solutions work with the vast majority of printers. So you are stuck with a cheap printer with no protection to keep the cartridges from drying out and hate everything.
The latest “meta” is that everyone should buy a laser/toner printer. And those can be awesome and the toner brick will outlive you. But there are a LOT of air quality concerns with those and it still ignores the real issue:
How often do you print? A few documents a month? That is pretty much perfect for a mid-tier inkjet printer. You’ll keep it going often enough that the rollers don’t get dusty and the cartridges don’t dry out.
A few times a year? Just get a library card and a flash drive. It comes out a LOT cheaper.
Personally? I probably should go the library route, but I already have a room that is basically designated to cancer and microplastics with my 3d printer and so forth. And I am old enough that I like to have a paper checklist when I am grinding in a video game or whatever. So I love my laser printer and it always “just works”. But… I am still an idiot who should have just stuck to heading into town for some chicken nuggies and a dollar worth of printing at the library.
I have a very similar story, but I’m 6 months or so into having mine. I went to buy a laser printer, and the salesperson redirected me to the ecotank for upfront savings and similar performance. I hope mine continues to work as well as yours does for you.
I’ve also had numerous struggles with expensive HP products, both laptop ( no sound for intermittent months on end) and printers refusing to pair with certain devices. While signing a document requiring a pint of my blood type to proclaim that I will never buy HP again, is generally thought as stupid and abad idea, it is something I think about.
ninekeysdown@lemmy.world 1 year ago
^ THIS!! SOOOO MUCH THIS ^
Inktank or Laser is the way to go!
If you want something that will last forever get an inexpensive laser printer off of ebay.
Even if it’s only USB most routers/NAS offer some way of sharing it.
Hell, if you’re running a Linux NAS you can give it AirPrint via CUPS and then everything else will “just work” with it.