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> printers, which used to be a good business Good business as in earning money or as producing customer satisfaction? I don't know about the former, but I do k

> printers, which used to be a good business Good business as in earning money or as producing customer satisfaction? I don't know about the former, but I do know that HP printers are a horrible user experience these days. The printer is connected via USB, but it cannot be used without an internet connection to their data collection and ink selling cloud nonsense. I will never by anything from that brand again. (I used to be a HP fan since the 1980s.)

toast0 3y ago
I have nothing but good feelings about LaserJet I-6 and the 4000s era circa 1998. I've heard newer models aren't quite as tanks. Lots of good/reasonable experience with Deskjet 660 and 720C. Although the driver situation for 64-bit windows got real terrible (microsoft had a working driver for server 2003, but insisted on shipping a broken driver for vista/7, so you had to dig up the old one. I think Windows 10 changed the driver model, but I had abanonded the printer for something worse by then. HP support forums could tell you how, but couldn't get it fixed in windows update)
- zyberzero 3y ago
  My 4000N from october -98 is still running strong. It only has around 140K impressions so far, so I guess I’ll die before the printer :)
woleium 3y ago
Never buy a consumer print device. The enterprise kit from HP is still good.
- ThatMedicIsASpy 3y ago
  I'll just never buy a printer without an ink tank again.
  - outworlder 3y ago
    Ink tanks are better but still not great. If the cartridge had the print head, at least you will replace both if there's a problem anywhere in the cartridge. If it doesn't, such as in all eco tanks, it can clog, especially if not used in a while. Laser printers are just better. I can't think of a reason for inkjets anymore that's not niche.
    - supportengineer 3y ago
      Inkjets can print photos
- midasz 3y ago
  I almost never have to print and in the rare exception I do I go to the library.
- dpkirchner 3y ago
  IMO you're best off avoiding products from any company that sells garbage at any tier, whenever possible. They're taking advantage of people and creating large amounts of e-waste.
- jillesvangurp 3y ago
  I have a 16 year old usb printer from them that I bought for 120 euro or so at the time. Still works great. Good value. I buy some toner for it every five years or so and that's about it. It doesn't get used a lot. Basically, don't buy an inkjet printer (of any type) unless you really need one for photos or graphics work. And then only buy one if that's a regular thing. Otherwise, outsource to professional print shops in your area. It will be better and cheaper. For normal office stuff, a laser printer is just easier. The toner lasts for ages, doesn't dry out. And if, like me, you rarely need a printer, it's nice when it still works after just sitting there for half a year of not being used at all.
- usr1106 3y ago
  I print well below 100 pages a year. What would be the price per page using an enterprise grade printer?
  - vel0city 3y ago
    I'll share my example. I bought a Brother DCP-L2540DW (networked, full-duplex B&W laser, scanning with ADF) in 2015 for ~$120 after tax. I've gone through one toner cartridge for ~$50, so total cost excluding electricity is ~$170 for me. I've printed ~3,700 pages so far, so average price per page for the printer has been ~$0.046. I get paper for ~$0.03/page, so total price all in was probably ~0.076/page. This will continue to go down, the printer's current drum life is still >8,000 pages and should last me at least several more years. With ~100 pages/year that would have been ~900 pages so far. At 900 pages, that probably would have been fine with the included toner, so toner costs don't count. Assuming you turn it off when not printing so energy costs are negligible. That brings it to ~$0.16/page (with my ~$0.03/page paper) printed. Printing at the FedEx shop is ~$0.23/page for B&W. The public library nearby has B&W printing for $0.15/page. So with ~100 pages/year its cheaper than a chain office shop but more than the library at this point. A few more years will shift that closer and eventually beat the library price. I've just given up on the economics of photo printing at home. It seems to me you really need to print a lot of photos to compete with the ease of photo printing at most photo stores in the US. You'd need a really good photo printer to match most of the quality of online stores, so you'd need a pretty good printer with nice ink and paper. In-store pickup at a number of places usually means like an hour turn around or so. Note though that overall my value for my printer is higher than just the printing. As mentioned, it is also a scanner I've scanned ~1,000 items with it.
  - bombcar 3y ago
    If you get a used one, might not be that bad. But a consumer Brother is probably the way to go. Always search the model number and see what people say.
    - briffle 3y ago
      My $100 brother laser printer I bought 6 months ago has printed everything I asked (dozens and dozens of pages) from Windows, Linux (well supported linux drivers!) and our families mix of apple and android phones.
- bayindirh 3y ago
  HP has two tiers of consumer print devices. Bottom of the barrel & "Home, Home Office and SoHo". Second category is good. First one wears down fast.
AlbertCory 3y ago
> Good business as in earning money in the late 80's, when Desktop Publishing was a thing.

toast0 3y ago

I have nothing but good feelings about LaserJet I-6 and the 4000s era circa 1998. I've heard newer models aren't quite as tanks. Lots of good/reasonable experience with Deskjet 660 and 720C. Although the driver situation for 64-bit windows got real terrible (microsoft had a working driver for server 2003, but insisted on shipping a broken driver for vista/7, so you had to dig up the old one. I think Windows 10 changed the driver model, but I had abanonded the printer for something worse by then. HP support forums could tell you how, but couldn't get it fixed in windows update)

zyberzero 3y ago
My 4000N from october -98 is still running strong. It only has around 140K impressions so far, so I guess I’ll die before the printer :)

woleium 3y ago

Never buy a consumer print device. The enterprise kit from HP is still good.

ThatMedicIsASpy 3y ago
I'll just never buy a printer without an ink tank again.
- outworlder 3y ago
  Ink tanks are better but still not great. If the cartridge had the print head, at least you will replace both if there's a problem anywhere in the cartridge. If it doesn't, such as in all eco tanks, it can clog, especially if not used in a while. Laser printers are just better. I can't think of a reason for inkjets anymore that's not niche.
  - supportengineer 3y ago
    Inkjets can print photos
midasz 3y ago
I almost never have to print and in the rare exception I do I go to the library.
dpkirchner 3y ago
IMO you're best off avoiding products from any company that sells garbage at any tier, whenever possible. They're taking advantage of people and creating large amounts of e-waste.
jillesvangurp 3y ago
I have a 16 year old usb printer from them that I bought for 120 euro or so at the time. Still works great. Good value. I buy some toner for it every five years or so and that's about it. It doesn't get used a lot. Basically, don't buy an inkjet printer (of any type) unless you really need one for photos or graphics work. And then only buy one if that's a regular thing. Otherwise, outsource to professional print shops in your area. It will be better and cheaper. For normal office stuff, a laser printer is just easier. The toner lasts for ages, doesn't dry out. And if, like me, you rarely need a printer, it's nice when it still works after just sitting there for half a year of not being used at all.
usr1106 3y ago
I print well below 100 pages a year. What would be the price per page using an enterprise grade printer?
- vel0city 3y ago
  I'll share my example. I bought a Brother DCP-L2540DW (networked, full-duplex B&W laser, scanning with ADF) in 2015 for ~$120 after tax. I've gone through one toner cartridge for ~$50, so total cost excluding electricity is ~$170 for me. I've printed ~3,700 pages so far, so average price per page for the printer has been ~$0.046. I get paper for ~$0.03/page, so total price all in was probably ~0.076/page. This will continue to go down, the printer's current drum life is still >8,000 pages and should last me at least several more years. With ~100 pages/year that would have been ~900 pages so far. At 900 pages, that probably would have been fine with the included toner, so toner costs don't count. Assuming you turn it off when not printing so energy costs are negligible. That brings it to ~$0.16/page (with my ~$0.03/page paper) printed. Printing at the FedEx shop is ~$0.23/page for B&W. The public library nearby has B&W printing for $0.15/page. So with ~100 pages/year its cheaper than a chain office shop but more than the library at this point. A few more years will shift that closer and eventually beat the library price. I've just given up on the economics of photo printing at home. It seems to me you really need to print a lot of photos to compete with the ease of photo printing at most photo stores in the US. You'd need a really good photo printer to match most of the quality of online stores, so you'd need a pretty good printer with nice ink and paper. In-store pickup at a number of places usually means like an hour turn around or so. Note though that overall my value for my printer is higher than just the printing. As mentioned, it is also a scanner I've scanned ~1,000 items with it.
- bombcar 3y ago
  If you get a used one, might not be that bad. But a consumer Brother is probably the way to go. Always search the model number and see what people say.
  - briffle 3y ago
    My $100 brother laser printer I bought 6 months ago has printed everything I asked (dozens and dozens of pages) from Windows, Linux (well supported linux drivers!) and our families mix of apple and android phones.
bayindirh 3y ago
HP has two tiers of consumer print devices. Bottom of the barrel & "Home, Home Office and SoHo". Second category is good. First one wears down fast.

AlbertCory 3y ago

> Good business as in earning money in the late 80's, when Desktop Publishing was a thing.