Has HP printers always been this bad?
Has HP printers always been this bad?
So my mother recently bought an ET-2800, By HP we had an HP printer before and we got a new one because the old one would not work with my sister's Windows 11 Laptop. So I had to set it up for my mother, the manual said you can use it without the app. But there was no way to physically do that. Anyway, I downloaded the app on my phone (android) and the app would not connect to the printer. So I used my mother's iPhone and it would connect. The setup process was stupid proof. And after I got it all full of ink, it was very painless. However, this is where the H in HP should stand for HELL. Because a few months go by and my sister and my mother need some papers printed. No problem. I thought to myself, so my sister tried to print it wirelessly. Couldn't find the printer, I said ok maybe it's a dumb driver, USB didn't work either. I asked my sister to send it to me, so I can print it on my w540 running rocky 9. Rocky picked up that I needed drivers and installed them. Wireless didn't work but wired showed up, I thought sweet I can just print the paper and get back to what I was doing. However, when I clicked print, the printer would grab the paper and run it though but not put ink on the paper. My mother asks me to forward the email to her to try to print it on her phone. I send it, and it prints, and the paper come out how it should with ink and the paper is finally printed.
After this experience with this printer, it makes me rather aggravated at this purchase, and no longer want to buy from HP. I have looked at Brother printers and there are no Proprietary ink cartage, and or laser printers. I purely wanted to talk about my experience with HP printers and would like to know what others have for a printer for recommendations, for when eventually HP kills support and makes it a paper weight, I've read many negative experiences with HP printer, specially from Lois Ross man and their anti consumer products.
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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 out of the box, and without having to install additional drivers or 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.
OK, I know this post is pretty anti-HP which is totally fair, but honestly just stop buying the cheap inkjet printers.
^ 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.
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? It could just as easily be a "batteries are really expensive so we have to remove them from your loud toy" scenario) 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 a bad idea, it is something I think about.