HP Plus prevents printer from using non-OEM ink for the life of the printer | Hacker News Reader

HP Plus prevents printer from using non-OEM ink for the life of the printer

theverge.com

40 pointsbmo-at24 comments

I hope that Brother doesn't succumb to the same forces that drove HP (and everyone else) to these decisions. In the short term it makes sense for HP because

1. At first the printer works well. This causes reviewers, who only use the printer a few times when it's new, to write a good review.

2. It lets them keep the up-front price of their printers low. Most people only consider up-front cost and not total cost of ownership. It also helps with getting a good review.

3. They get some recurring revenue from customers who don't want to deal non-name-brand ink. They just want their printer to work and they're willing to pay.

Brother, on the other hand, is slightly more expensive but is better built and works with off-brand ink. We have a brother laser printer and it's great. The ink doesn't dry out like an inkjet, we can buy ink from wherever, and it doesn't break down every few months.

I just hope that brother understands that going HP-mode would probably give a short-term bump but hurt their name in the long run.

> I hope that Brother doesn't succumb to the same forces that drove HP (and everyone else) to these decisions.

I have bad news for you: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31860131

It's incredible how HP is destroying its brand. At this point I will never buy an HP printer again, not just because of the terrible practices, but (mostly) because of uncertainty: I definitely do not need printer drama in my life.

It's sad really, my old 4000 series laserjet was a tank.

Same. Best thing I did was switch to a laser Brother. Fuck HP really

Just stick with laser printers and you're fine, even with HP.

The problems all seem to be on the inkjet side. Aside from needing to print photos... laser printers are cheaper, more reliable, have higher quality output, and don't need special drivers. (And for the special case of photos, dedicated 4x6 dye sublimation printers are better than inkjet anyway.)

Laser printers are not necessarily cheaper. Business class ink printers have a lower cost/page in many cases.

The second hand market has enough printers that I would just buy whatever second hand laser you can get - the savings from it being used would offset whatever cost-per-page difference there is anyway.

That's what I have been doing for years — but using Brother. Most boring printers ever. They just sit there and print when you need them to. From a Mac, from an iPhone, doesn't matter, they just do the job. No drama.

My color hp laser has chips on the toner carts and refuses to use refilled generic toner.

I had to actually transfer the chips from hp toner to the generic ones. And now it still complains that they're "empty" but at least it's possible to print.

My Samsung color laser before that did the same.

Out of curiosity, which model do you have? I have a current generation HP M454 Color LaserJet, and there's an option in the menu ("Cartridge Policy") to allow use of third-party toner cartridges.

According to the manual, it defaults to allowing third-party cartridges - you have to go out of your way to turn the authenticity check on.

mfp m281fdw

There is a nice option on a settings screen labelled "protect cartridges" which has a nice looking "off" setting, which does nothing in reality.

I once calculated that it is cheaper to buy ten printers each year during Black Friday, and throw them away when the cartridges are empty. New printers often come with free cartridges, and are heavily subsidised as most money is made on the ink

A few years ago they started only including "starter" cartridges that are only part full.

That's not new. The entire printer industry has been doing that for well over a decade, at least with laser printers.

Free cartridges in new printers are usually not full (just enough ink to print some pages).

I am sure there are some good HP products out there but I refuse to buy any of their products just because of how bad their reputation is nowadays

Buy a thermal printer!

It just burns the paper and is usually good enough for majority of your needs.

Keep a cheap ink based printer handy because the world hasn't moved on yet

Don't they use special paper? And fade after a few years?

Yes and yes, actually it will fade even quicker - and of course don't think to keep them in sunlight. So it's okay to carry along a minuscule printer (you can get thermals the size of a stick) to update your handouts before a meeting, but that's about it.

Yes, and the special thermal paper sheds BPA when you handle it.

I hope this practice is never extended to their more expensive (i.e. a few hundred euros/dollars) laser printers. I would not touch a cheap consumer-grade HP printer if you paid me, but have generally found that their more expensive printers are still a sane choice for someone who needs to do a lot of printing.

Wonder the security level is on these things.

I can't believe it's come to this but are team Xecutor busy?

They went to prison over console chips so I don't think anyone will be rushing to be sued by HP.

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