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HP is extremely worthy of all the hate they ever get.
You say this, but the proportion of the population that is vocal about stuff like this is tiny.
My normie cousin pays for an HP subscription and likes that he doesn’t have to worry about running out of ink and that he’s never got to worry about his kids telling him about homework printing the night before it is due. He was unconvinced about getting a Brother laser printer.
The world is insane because the masses accept the insanity. Some even support it.
Personally I’ve been burned by them twice. Once on a printer and once on a laptop. Won’t buy anything from them again. I know the sort of person you’re talking about though. I know some “techy people” who think the convenience of corporations reaching into your pocket every month is neat and bizarrely don’t notice the heads need realigning every few weeks or that their wifi is spottier than Disney’s dalmatians combined.
That’s why you support projects like this: https://www.crowdsupply.com/open-tools/open-printer
and never ever buy a hp product.
That is really cool. I’ve subbed, hope it comes out one day.
Also that site in general is great. Thanks for sharing.
Finally!
I got rid of my printer years ago and just go to my local library to print things now. $0.10 per page is not a great deal in the grand scheme of things, but it goes to a place I want to have more money, so I still call it a win.
The number of times I needed something urgent printed in the evening when all the shops are closed has made my laser printer one of the most valuable rarely used devices in my house. That and the fact that printing is just a 30 seconds job instead of a whole routine of hoops lasting at least an hour just to get to the local printing shop.
My printer has the same network blocks on it as my smart tvs. None are allowed access to the internet.
Oh that brings back a memory I had damn near repressed. I had a printer/scanner combination (Canon in this case) and I was coming up on a deadline to scan a butt load of important documents.
That’s the exact moment the printhead on the printer part of the printer/scanner decided to crap out.
Well thankfully I didn’t need that part to work if I just needed to use the scanner, right? Wrong.
I hate that Apple stopped making printers. I think they realised printers are inherently shit, so they stopped trying. Then again, their standards on the iPhone have fallen so far (and while I still like the Mac, and I don’t hate Liquid Ass… er, Glass, I think what it did to Finder (our file manager) is absolutely atrocious), they might as well start making printers again.
Also, there’s this:
Note that The Verge recently started paywalling all of its articles. This one appears free. I think there are a few that they don’t paywall because they know they get shared on social media. It’s still a shit site and source, but I love the snark in this article.
Also note, it’s likely you’ve seen the same article with a better name. It used to be called something like “Stop looking for printers and buy the Brother printer everyone else is buying and stop worrying” or something like that. Guess someone told them it was too snarky. But yeah, $120 laser printer, it costs more than an inkjet but you’re not trapped in endless subscriptions until the thing falls apart.
Lastly IMO, HP’s subscription service is probably a good deal for home users who rarely print, if it still covers free shipping of new ink and free replacement of the printer itself when it goes out. I have no printer. My Mac mini sits where my printer would go, and it’s surrounded by a bunch of anime figures. I’ve thought about print-by-mail options, but the truth is, I can put something on Proton Drive, download it at work, print on the laser printers there, and carry it home. You’re not supposed to but no one really cares, people waste paper and toner left and right. The amount of forms I see with half the page straight up black… like bro, why? Why not just use the line fill in Excel? They say nothing should be written there. Okay so you’re gonna use 50 pages’ worth of toner on one sheet, but fuck it, company pays for it? Then no, no one cares if I print a three page letter among the 200-400 pages I print a day. …but anyway, if you need more than a few sheets printed here and there, you should just pony up for a laser printer already, and fuck The Verge, do your own research. They give you the model number. Search that on your ethical search engine (or Google it, IDGAF) and see what other people say about that printer. But I don’t have it, so I can only point to what others say.
@cerebralhawks @Deceptichum I can’t believe they can have done anything to Finder to make it worse, surely?
Not functionally. The Liquid Glass visuals clash though. Like they raise elements that don’t need to be raised. It looked better before. Functionally it’s the same (to my use case).
I bought a Brother off craigslist for $60 and it’s been solid.
I see them at Goodwill all the time but I’m in a bigger city.
I have had two brother printers since 2018, one at home, and one at work. I have always used official brother toner, but last year when all the fuss about not being able to use whatever toner in brothers came up, i got some after market toner to try it out. Works just fine.
