Anyone have an HP printer?

[George K]

I have two HP printers.

One is a fairly straightforward laser printer. I like it because it does duplex printing, and has a single-feed paper path as well. I find the former useful for sheet music and the latter (was) useful for printing checks. I've had it for about 15 years (!) and it's still going strong.

The other is an AIO inkjet. It's fine for what it does, but my color printing needs are simple. The multi-sheet scanner is a nice feature, especially when used with some good software. My previous color printer was a Canon Pixma - heads got unclean-ably clogged.

For both of these, I use 3rd party toner/ink.

But, now, HP is getting to be strict about what inks you can use.

HP has found an exciting new way to DRM your printer!

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Amazon’s No. 1 bestselling printer is the HP Deskjet 2755e. It’s not hard to see why. For just $85, you get a wireless color printer, scanner, and six months of free ink. It also comes with HP Plus, one of the most dastardly schemes Big Inkjet has ever unleashed.

I’m not talking about how printers quietly waste their own ink, or pretend cartridges are empty when they’re not, or lock out official cartridges from other regions. Heck, I’m not even talking about “Dynamic Security,” the delightful feature where new HP firmware updates secretly contain malware that blocks batches of third-party cartridges while pretending to harden your printhead against hacks.

No, the genius of HP’s latest scheme is that it’s hiding in plain sight, daring you to unwittingly sign away your rights. Take the free ink, and HP controls your printer for life.

First introduced in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, HP Plus was built around FOMO right from the start. You get just seven days to claim your free ink, starting the moment you plug a new printer into the wall. Act now, and it’ll also extend your warranty a full year, give you an “Advanced HP Smart app,” and plant trees on your behalf. Because why wouldn’t you want to save the forest?

Here’s one reason, as detailed in a new complaint by the International Imaging Technology Council (IITC) that might turn into a false advertising fight: HP Plus comes with a firmware update that utterly removes your printer’s ability to accept third-party ink. You have to buy “genuine” HP ink as long as you use the printer.

Not all of HP’s fine print is this obvious.

It’s not clear exactly how HP has managed to fully block third-party cartridges, but it appears to be true. My own local CompAndSave, which distributes ink cartridges from some of the biggest third-party manufacturers in the world, tells me those vendors have not yet found a way to get their aftermarket carts (or even user-refilled “genuine HP” cartridges) working with an HP Plus printer.

It’d be one thing if you could cancel HP Plus and start using your printer normally again, but nope! Even though HP claims you can “change or cancel anytime,” there’s no way to deactivate the firmware, HP’s own tech support told the IITC. (A Verge source corroborates this as well.)

“In fact, the only way a customer can get rid of HP+ once activated is to buy a new printer,” the IITC writes. HP didn’t answer our questions about the firmware update, including why it isn’t prominently disclosed that there’s no way to uninstall it.

The IITC, a group that represents ink cartridge remanufacturers, isn’t suing the world’s leading printer company just yet. The complaint instead seeks to push back on HP’s environmental credentials by petitioning a nonprofit organization, the Global Electronics Council (GEC), which maintains an “EPEAT” registry of environmentally sound products.

Would you like to see the crux of that argument? I went full Blinking White Guy when I saw: HP, the company that repeatedly admits it blocks third-party cartridges for your own good, is telling an environmental group it doesn’t do that at all.

[Doctor Phibes]

I may be in the minority here, but this kind of thing annoys me a lot more than having some trans woman on a beer can.

[mark]

Fuck HP.

[Mik]

We have two HP 8610s but only because MFR's company bought us two of them by mistake. They last about three years. The bloatware is awful.

I've tried to convince her to just go to B&W laser, but for some reason she insists we need color. Our LaserJet 4L from 1994 lasted up until just a few years ago, flawlessly.

[LuFins Dad]

@Doctor-Phibes said in Anyone have an HP printer?:

I may be in the minority here, but this kind of thing annoys me a lot more than having some trans woman on a beer can.

It annoys me, too. But at least HP isn’t insulting women and encouraging children to take steps that will only make their psychological problems worse and increase their chances for suicide while sterilizing them.

[89th]

@Mik said in Anyone have an HP printer?:

I've tried to convince her to just go to B&W laser, but for some reason she insists we need color.

I put up and fought with inkjet for many years before finally seeing the light 2 years ago and setting up my new home office….went with an HP laser b/w. I never need color and the laser cartridge lasts forever (ok at least 2 years and counting). Our model is the HP LaserJet Pro M29w Wireless, it has been very reliable which is refreshing from inkjet models that always seemed to lose connectivity and or ink from evaporation.

Anyway back to the thread, yeah that is shady. Then again, and hopefully my smugness doesn’t backfire, but I’d never go into a HP Plus or subscription. Just give me my printer, and I’ll buy my (laser) ink.