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HP executive boasts that its controversial ink subscription model is "locking" in customers
(www.techspot.com)
this post was submitted on 05 Dec 2023
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Thing is, I've never has a problem with this - it works out at £35.88 (£2.99 x 12) per year for my HP Envy 5032. I don't use their paper and have only once in 3 years run over allowance. I print about 2 or 3 times per week, sometimes more. I don't change the ink as soon as warning comes on, I'll wait until prints start deteriorating. Like I say - it's not a problem. Just under £36 per year for ink isn't a deal breaker for me. Having the right cartridge available without trying to find a shop selling them is.
Edit. Just to point out I've used printers from most of them. Colour/black and white lasers. Multifunction printers, photo, label printers and all.
Samsung colour laser was the best, but can't justify the price now.
If I want photos, I get them done by a photo service. They will always have a better printer than me, and can afford the overheads.
If HP ever stiff the firmware and I can't get CUPS to run it I'll bin it.
Until then, it stays on my shelf and prints every few days. For £2.99 a month.
There's actually a fairly large sweet spot where the sub makes a lot of sense (ignoring the fact that subscriptions inherently suck, of course). If you print infrequently enough that your cartridges are likely to dry out, it's generally quite a bit cheaper.
Of course the correct answer for most people is to just buy a laser printer and go to CVS or something the couple timed you need photo quality prints. Don't have to worry about toner drying out
One of the obstacles in this is if your printer only takes a single brand of ink.
I usually just order ink, but it's not too hard to find ones compatible with my brother in a store if I need one immediately.
Yeah if it works for you. For myself I just couldn't agree to subscription and had an old canon with large black ink tank around $29-$34, but I would wait for the Amazon sale whem they would drop it to $8. That woud last me all year. But after 10 years it was finally was time to move on, so Canon again.