HP has found a new way to add ink cartridge DRM to your printer

[m3tavision]

"I bought a Brother color Laser 8 years ago.... whats an ink cartridge..?"
An inkjet printer is much smaller than a laser printer and costs a fraction of the price. For most home users laser models, particularly those with a colour option, are not an attractive purchase. It’s annoying but inkjets still make sense.

Inkjets cost less, until you have to spend another $70 ... then another $70... then another $70.... then another $70..... then another $70.

Just to equal the amount of pages a Laser printer can print.

 

[Ad47uk]

If You buy printer from manufacturer with known DRM cartridges, in 21 century, You totally deserves to pay extra.
Like literally, if You research for few minutes online, You will find a brand that doesn't have cartridges, but You just fill up a tank with ink.

The problem with these is you pay a fair bit for a basic printer. when you buy a printer normally they are cheap because the money is made from the ink.
I have a Brother LED colour printer, great printer, I did think about buying one of these tank inkjets just for photos, but they are too basic for the price, you are looking at about £150 for a mono Epson Ecotank and £180 for a colour one.

 

[p51d007]

I've been in the copier business 40 + years. When color came along, it's a giant scam.
Black sells for one price, cyan, magenta, yellow sell for 2,3,4 times the price. It's THE SAME!
Only the color is different. In copiers, most use a two part system of toner & carrier. Carrier is
mixed with toner, which is called developer.
In troubleshooting, we will sometimes swap drums from one color to another to see if the image
quality problem goes with the drum, or stays with the developer unit. If the toner/developer was
different, the drums would be different.
Also, if you are 2+ hours from the office, need a color developer, but have the wrong one, you can
simply put the wrong color in, run enough copies to work out the wrong color, and it will refresh with
the correct color. Oh, of course they charge one price for black, but 2,3,4 times the price for the color
developer too.
It's another razor/razor blades scam.

 

[MasterMace]

HP has long been a clown company, thinking people should pay monthly for the privilege of their brand existing

 

[m3tavision]

HP has long been a clown company, thinking people should pay monthly for the privilege of their brand existing

You feel severely hindered by inkjets... you are always consciously worried about ink and can't easily print 15 odd vacation pictures or a news story or just printing in general, without worrying about ink and feeling guilty.

Where as with laser, you can fill it with a 2 reams of 500 sheets of paper (1k), before worrying about it...

 

[Ben Myers]

There's an easy answer to all of this. Don't ever, ever, ever by an HP inkjet printer. Spread the word. If people don't buy their brain-damaged printers, either HP will stop manufacturing them or it will change its practices.

 

[Skygod]

Typical HP ! They loaded a Bios update into my pc which stops it from using non HP SSD's.
And after the shenanigans of the printer cartridges, I will NEVER buy an HP product again.

 

[b1k3rdude]

"I bought a Brother color Laser 8 years ago.... whats an ink cartridge..?"
An inkjet printer is much smaller than a laser printer and costs a fraction of the price. For most home users laser models, particularly those with a colour option, are not an attractive purchase. It’s annoying but inkjets still make sense.

He/she was being sarcastic. IJ might be smaller, but as evidenced by this comments thread, they are NOT cheaper.

I paid £189 for my brother mfc-2710dw a few years ago and its still on its original starter toner cartridge. So a new IJ plus it's cartridges and needing to replace the whole unit after a year when the heads get blocked to start thr cycle all over again, its ends up costing more to your wallet and the environment in the long run.

 

[bazz2004]

The way inkjet printers are being designed is the main problem and lack of regulation of the products. They are not intended to last and manufacturers own ink cartridges are often priced to maximise profits. What's needed is the ready availability of sensibly priced spare parts. Printer manufacturers should not be allowed to block the installation of third party ink cartridges.

 

[m3tavision]

The way inkjet printers are being designed is the main problem and lack of regulation of the products. They are not intended to last and manufacturers own ink cartridges are often priced to maximise profits. What's needed is the ready availability of sensibly priced spare parts. Printer manufacturers should not be allowed to block the installation of third party ink cartridges.

The point is.... if you do not buy an ink jet, then you do not have to worry about it. Other less costly options are available. It's a problem for all those who are stuck believing that HP Ink Jets are a good option and/or afraid to move to a laser jet...

 

[bazz2004]

There are no good options with printers whether inkjet or laser. Printers aren't built to last plus we are seen as cash cows when it comes to buying the inks to run them. That's the reason HP want to stop us using cheaper third party refills and inks. Customers are being taken for a ride and landfill is bulging with printers which should be repairable. I'm not out to promote inkjet or laser. Fear has nothing to do with it.

 

[StupidPeopleSuk]

I remember back in the days BEFORE all this DRM crap started, and inkjets were a pretty good option back then and carts were reasonably priced, since they did not include the chips that allow this nonsense....I had several from HP, Brother & Epson that served me well, but then uber-greed took over and that was that

I bought a Brother AIO Laser machine (print/copy.scan/fax) over 4 years ago and have been extremely happy with it, not only from a build/print quality standpoint, but also the costs... It took over 1.5 years to empty the so-called "starter" toners, and that was with frequent large print jobs...

Yes the machine cost me $350 up front, and the 1st set of 4 replacement toners was ~$200, but guess what...I'm still using those replacements 2 years later and I still have plenty left....

I am completely certain that over 4 years, I would have spent WAY more than that for new ink carts, seeins how they are about ~$100 per set and don't last but maybe 3-6 months, either by using up all the ink, or by clogging/drying up, which consumes not only ink but paper & time too, to run thru the cleaning/alignment/testing/verification process.

Laser replacement: remove old toner(s), drop in new one(s), wait about 2 mins for it to initialize, and BOOM, ready to print, no muss, no fuss

 

[bazz2004]

The same problem will emerge with the laser toner replacement cartridges. Legislation is worth consideration.