This also gives them an excuse to make them even lower quality so they DO fail after two years.
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HP wants more of your money
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Sort of, I am expecting we are in for a few years of lower-quality components flooding the markets because the good ones are going to be getting expensive. Remember when they phased out lead and mercury in components and the formulas sucked and we were lucky to get 2 years on them before they popped? I am expecting a few years of that.
Good luck to them, if you do not print a lot, high monthly fee do not sound interesting, if you print a lot for work, even a good printer of that type upfront payment and the maintenance is not a big enough deal to not simply pay upfront (unlike the really big office model where it would make sense, specially for people not sure if they will still be in business in 3 years).
Seem quite niche the $9 a month to rent a home printer, print enough to be interested in the auto-refill but not enough to buy in bulk
Seem quite niche the $9 a month to rent a home printer, print enough to be interested in the auto-refill but not enough to buy in bulk
Looking at the HP site they have 5 plans ranging from 10 pages a month for $2 to 700 pages for $33, 700 pages a month at $33 bucks a month is less than what you could potentially be spending on HP ink in that time frame, also they have their toner plans which are cheaper.
https://instantink.hpconnected.com/ca/en/l/
If I look over my existing contracts with Ricoh, the Business packages aren't that different than what I am paying for my small form factor printers, so it comes down to what HP charges for the printers initially.
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This could be the plan, photo printings grandparents will soon not have youth IT support, could be tempted to pay for a full included support experience.
MavericK
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I had to help install drivers for a home HP printer for a remote user recently. Apparently, you now have to use the HP Smart app, which is meh at best, and you have to make an HP account for the printer to allow you to scan locally. That's, of course, on top of the ink DRM chip lockdown.
I'd never recommend someone buy an HP printer at this point.
I'd never recommend someone buy an HP printer at this point.
sfsuphysics
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That why you dont throw away your old containers, you buy the replacement online for cheap and pull out the DRM chip out of the old container
jbltecnicspro
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I mean yeah, that's where it's all going. Technology that could be made to better the lives of all will eventually be used by those who would, to enslave.
You can still get the raw drivers then install them manually by adding the printer and choosing to use a disk then point to the extracted files.
Recently obtained canon usb scanner and brother network printer. Installation went so smoothly on both my significant other's windows and my linux system that I don't even recall whether I had to install drivers for either of them. I never saw the point of a combined device which often takes up more space than the two of them.
On a side note: how long until hp starts limiting the scans and charging extra for them?
No weird shit with the printer so far. It's even possible to override its "toner too low"-error and recycled drum+toner cartridge work flawlessly. Still blocking its internets access, though.
On a side note: how long until hp starts limiting the scans and charging extra for them?
No weird shit with the printer so far. It's even possible to override its "toner too low"-error and recycled drum+toner cartridge work flawlessly. Still blocking its internets access, though.
By that time it's going to be the grandparents who are going to be giving IT support ^_^
Lots of inkjet printers become effectively broken when the heads get clogged when they're used infrequently. Pushing that cost onto HP is great! If they replace the printer every two years, now they have a mountain of the old printers and maybe they'll figure out how to make the mountain smaller.
Red Falcon
[H]ard DCOTM December 2023
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Printing as a service, I never thought I would see the day.
You will own nothing and be happy.
You will own nothing and be happy.
I would agree, but printers are the devil and at this point I will laugh but not be surprised if Faxing outlives printing…Printing as a service, I never thought I would see the day.
You will own nothing and be happy.
It’s easy to spend that much a year with a printing service like Staples or Kinkos (are they still a thing) also if you do own an ink based printer but only print a few pages every other month you will easily blow past the ~$30 a year with a single replacement cartridge when the one you didn’t use for 2 months drys up.
Red Falcon
[H]ard DCOTM December 2023
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If individuals want to be taken advantage of by HP's predatory practices with their low-cost e series printers, and be nickel and dime'd to death, that is their choice.
Maybe the math works out for some individuals who won't be taken advantage of, but I get the feeling HP will eventually dissolve their non-subscription printers (outside of top-end enterprise models) and will soon only be selling these subscription models, and this is the alpha/beta testing phase of the market.
Kind of a class war on printers, and a bit of a tongue and cheek analogy to real life...
This is the dark cyberpunk future of HP printers:
High-class - Enterprise printers with full user control for a one-time purchase fee which is cost prohibitive to all except the elite, corporations, and government agencies.
Middle-class - Consumer printers with full user control at a moderate one-time purchase fee; obsolete and dissolved.
Low-class - Printing as a service with no user control and never ending monthly subscription fees.
DukenukemX
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I really doubt anyone would buy into this HP subscription fee. Unless all other printer manufacturers go this route, which would absolutely bring into question of collaboration. I've long since found a method to make printing dirt cheap, but that also means I won't ever upgrade my printer. It's so bad that 3D printing is cheaper than printing onto a piece of paper.
I recently had a problem with a Brother laser printer because the cartridge wasn't detected. The reason was because the battery in the cartridge had died. There are so many mechanisms to let you know that the cartridge is expired. Not out of toner, just the toner is now considered bad. Laser printers are funky as hell to get working properly, though you can refill the toner if you know what you're doing. I think the printing industry needs to be regulated because ink shouldn't cost a fortune and you shouldn't need to tell me if my toner is expired.
Prince Valiant
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I'll stick to knockoff ink and toner .
.I've had ink sitting way longer than a couple months and not had it dry out.
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Mr. Bluntman
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Fuck hp with a rusty spork. First it was software... Now it's peripherals. Next it'll be hardware. You won't own your nVIDIA GPU or Intel CPU, you will merely lease it.
They already are. I saw a story last week about someone who spent two days trying to figure out why their printer refused to print before contacting HP, who told them the debit card they were paying their ink subscription expired. HP disables the printer and doesn't tell you why until you contact them.
A couple of years ago, I bought an HP laserjet pro m118dw, because I needed an actual HP printer for work, because I needed something with a functional PCL5 driver for a legacy app. It works fine, no games with the toner so far, although it did want to install that stupid HP Smarrt app or whatever it's called. But outside of work I probably print about 5 pages a year, and two of those are my auto insurance card. Not sure if I'll ever need to buy another printer, but of course it won't be HP.
pututu
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I recently replaced my 14-year old Canon inkjet printer which drank ink like a fish with HP laserjet MFP which were on sale. Overall HP printer is not all that bad other than the expensive ink and I personally would stay away from this type of printer subscription. Over the past 25 years, I have only own 3 printers including this new one, so really not an item that you regularly replaced when compare to PC hardware and accessories. This should last me for another 10+ years.
So for $5/month more my instant ink comes with a printer? It's not tooooo outrageous
Tengis
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My last HP printer did an over the air update and bricked itself from using non-genuine ink cartridges. I had a Brother printer that did something similar after I updated it... at least there was a tool to roll back the firmware and it let me print issue-free until my new basic laser printer showed up.
This happened to my MIL. She had reported her credit card stolen (I think related to a purchase she actually made but forgot about, but you know), HP had been sending her email for some time because the card failed to charge (but of course, she doesn't read her email), and at some point the printer starts flashing the unlabeled instant ink light. Whatever API Chrome OS uses to print doesn't include popping up notitications about the printer contract not being paid; or she "just clicked the x on that without reading it" like all other messages that would tell her useful information if she read them.
I guess they should really just print a message that says ha-ha, you can't print cause you didn't pay. "If you're reading this message, your ink cartridge is not authorized, please call xxx-yyy-zzzz to figure it out". Once she did call, they were able to get it authorized, but the head was clogged or something, and wanted to print something before a trip, so no time for a new cartridge to get mailed.
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DukenukemX
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I'm pretty sure I worked for the company that started this trend (at least with printers). In the late 90's a company called Printelligent started the service contracts for printing. So many cents per page black and white or more for color. They would service the printers and keep them in working order.
When I first worked for them I was repairing inkjet printers. The quality of those printers was just bad. There was one specific inkjet model where the used ink reservoir was so badly designed that the company would get paid $60 for warranty fixes. My friend and I would disassemble the printer open the reservoir area cut out a inch cube of sponge and reassemble it. About 8-10 minutes each. The waste ink tube would get plugged up because directly touched the sponge material. So many bad design decisions on those inkjet printers.
My second stint of working for them I was rebuilding/refilling toner cartridges. They realized that if they invested in refilling toner cartridges instead of buying new ones for their contracts they could save a ton of money. A few years after I left the company HP realized just how profitable this could be and bought the entire company. It just took them a few decades to realize that they could be milking everyone who uses their printers.
When I first worked for them I was repairing inkjet printers. The quality of those printers was just bad. There was one specific inkjet model where the used ink reservoir was so badly designed that the company would get paid $60 for warranty fixes. My friend and I would disassemble the printer open the reservoir area cut out a inch cube of sponge and reassemble it. About 8-10 minutes each. The waste ink tube would get plugged up because directly touched the sponge material. So many bad design decisions on those inkjet printers.
My second stint of working for them I was rebuilding/refilling toner cartridges. They realized that if they invested in refilling toner cartridges instead of buying new ones for their contracts they could save a ton of money. A few years after I left the company HP realized just how profitable this could be and bought the entire company. It just took them a few decades to realize that they could be milking everyone who uses their printers.
IF I didn't have a local rodent issue I would build one of those outdoor underground cold rooms.
I still might.
I remember one of those at grandpa's cottage. It was simply a long bucket with a cover dug into the ground, worked lol.
Shotglass01
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For sure on companies going this direction and passive public, but there's no guarantee that this will be profitable or picked up by enough consumers to succeed. The more subscriptions models there are, the more some will fail. At some point economic realities will pinch some of these subscriptions.
I have always found this move to subscription models to be just offensive. I don't care if they want to offer it as an option, but please give me the choice.
I like owning my things in life as much as possible. Sure I get big expenses every now and then, but long run I save a lot and retain control.
Seems the world has forgotten the joys of ownership. Everything seems to be on payments or subscriptions these days.
I'll give it a rest, I know I'm a dying breed. And all because I have some patience.
I like owning my things in life as much as possible. Sure I get big expenses every now and then, but long run I save a lot and retain control.
Seems the world has forgotten the joys of ownership. Everything seems to be on payments or subscriptions these days.
I'll give it a rest, I know I'm a dying breed. And all because I have some patience.
DukenukemX
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I really doubt many people would happily pay a monthly fee to just put ink on a piece of paper. Either people avoid buying these printers or they find methods to circumvent these printers.
I like to think so....but yet we've seen things equally as stupid
Darunion
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HP has had ink subscription services for a long time now for consumer. I know a good amount that have utilized it. I know one that when his daughters were using it a lot for school it would auto ship ink so that it arrived before your current cartridge was empty as it kept track online.
So i really dont think it's much of a stretch to lump the printer in too.
Same... until two of the family EcoTanks developed bad print heads and feeder gears and I was quoted over $100 each for replacements.
Then we gave up and went to Brother laser printers... not a failure since (5 years+)
ManofGod
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Or just buy a laser printer and have zero concerns about your ink drying up or expiring.
ManofGod
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The only subscription I have is XBox Game pass Ultimate, that is it. I also live minimalist and in regards to a printer, I have an HP Laser printer that has worked for years and with the original toner cartridge.