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Happy 10th birthday to my everyday printer

kranky

kranky

Elite Member
Bought 10 years ago when the online vendors were practically giving stuff away. I got this HP 812C inkjet printer with a $100 off $150 coupon, net cost to me $52 and change delivered to my home.

Never imagined it would last 10 years, there's no Windows 7 driver, but it still prints fine using a more generic printer driver.

Too bad HP has apparently cheapened their low-end printers to where so many people can't get 2-3 years out of one.
 
I paid $70 for my Lexmark AIO (print-scan-copy-fax) desktop printer in 2004. I discovered in 2006 that Lexmark makes super capacity ink cartridges for my model. I bought three packs and haven't needed ink since, they last about a year and some change. I don't do a ton of printing but probably more than most.

If you try to buy ink in a retail store you might as well just buy a new printer because you'll spend $60 for them. Yeeshe.
 
One thing that's out of control with HP is their drivers. Installing printer drivers should not take as long as loading an OS! :thumbsdown:
 
Their drivers are bloatware... so are Lexmarks. Thankfully if you can upack the driver files and just get what you need without installing the bloatware it makes things a lot better.
 
The newer HP printers use some sort of ink cartridge chip that actually expires. Not so good if you don't print very much.
 
I started buying cheap 25-30 dollar printers at Walmart using them till the ink ran up. Since the only thing I really print is shipping labels the ink lasts about a year. I donate it to goodwill and buy a new one.
 
My PSC1210 will have to die before I give it up. Replaced an Epson 850 that I gave to a friend that is still chugging along with daily use.
 
In the CPA office where I work, we have an HP Laser Jet4 that was made in 1993...still gets used every day, although mostly for printing checks-hand feed. (every payroll check, every A/P check we print for the firm and all our clients is printed on this printer. We have a fancy-schmancy copier/printer/scanner for normal use.
The HP is slow as hell, but it does a good job.
 
conehead433 said:
The newer HP printers use some sort of ink cartridge chip that actually expires. Not so good if you don't print very much.
Click to expand...

Not only do they expire, they come in only half filled. The only thing filled to the brim in a HP printer box is the amount of useless stuff and bloatware on their installation CD. If a printer driver has a footprint as large as Windows XP when you download it off the internet, then you know something is wrong.
 
My HP LaserJet 4000 was purchased here on Anandtech's For Sale / Trade forum for $150 shipped back in 2004 and has served me so well I am in sheer extasy just thinking about it. Here was the original thread: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=1272398&highlight

4000-LaserJet.jpg
 
kranky said:
Bought 10 years ago when the online vendors were practically giving stuff away. I got this HP 812C inkjet printer with a $100 off $150 coupon, net cost to me $52 and change delivered to my home.

Never imagined it would last 10 years, there's no Windows 7 driver, but it still prints fine using a more generic printer driver.

Too bad HP has apparently cheapened their low-end printers to where so many people can't get 2-3 years out of one.
Click to expand...

my everyday printer is the HP 930c circa 1997. (13yrs 😱)
It was free for signing up for something. yeah internet boom!

i did spend $15 for the duplex add-on a couple of months later.

Major advantage: I can still print in Black if the color cartridge is out of ink! (All HP's i've seen wont let you print at all if your color cartridge is out of ink! 😡 )
 
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I still have my HP Laser Jet 1000 that I got in December of 2000. Still works fine. However I finally had to get a new printer last year because I got a new computer and loaded Windows 64-bit on it. There is no HP Laser Jet 1000 64-bit drivers and the HP Universal Drivers don't work with the Laser Jet 1000 because it uses USB to attach to the computer. However the HP Laser Jet 1000 is now in use on my childrens computer since they are using a 32-bit OS and works fine. I would never buy a inkjet. I did buy a HP Laser Jet 2055dn for my new computer and it works great. However it doesn't feel as solid as the 1000. I guess HP doesn't want there printers lasting to long. 🙂
 
FelixDeKat said:
My HP LaserJet 4000 was purchased here on Anandtech's For Sale / Trade forum for $150 shipped back in 2004 and has served me so well I am in sheer extasy just thinking about it. Here was the original thread: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=1272398&highlight

4000-LaserJet.jpg
Click to expand...

Haha we still have a few similar models in production. You can't kill those things!


And yeah I do agree with bloated drivers, it's not just HP I find everybody is doing it now, it sucks. A driver should not be 300MB!
 
BoomerD said:
In the CPA office where I work, we have an HP Laser Jet4 that was made in 1993...still gets used every day, although mostly for printing checks-hand feed. (every payroll check, every A/P check we print for the firm and all our clients is printed on this printer. We have a fancy-schmancy copier/printer/scanner for normal use.
The HP is slow as hell, but it does a good job.
Click to expand...

I've had my HP LaserJet 4L for 15 years.
 
Rubycon said:
One thing that's out of control with HP is their drivers. Installing printer drivers should not take as long as loading an OS! :thumbsdown:
Click to expand...

WinPrinters...similar in concept to WinModems.

But ya, takes longer to install their garbageware than it takes to install most OSes.
 
Tsavo said:
WinPrinters...similar in concept to WinModems.

But ya, takes longer to install their garbageware than it takes to install most OSes.
Click to expand...

The *only* driver package from HP that I like is their HP Universal Print Driver (for network printers). Their device-specific drivers suck just as much for non-host-based as they do for host-based (IMO).

For consumer-grade inkjet printers, I recommend Canon, and nobody else. For laser of any grade, HP or Oki.
 
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