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Doug's Mailbag: HP Printer Quality

Readers share their thoughts on the state of HP and its printers:

HP has sucked ever since Hurd decided to go big-game hunting and screw the cash cow printer business. I took my last, nearly new HP printer to the dumps because its software didn't work correctly, and HP tech support said, tough sh#*. I wouldn't use an HP printer if you gave it to me for free.

I now have a simple little Epson Stylus NS515 ink jet that works flawlessly.
-Anonymous

HP printers have gone down in quality, and their drivers have gotten more and more intrusive and flaky. When it takes 30 minutes or longer to install drivers for a printer, you know there is something wrong.

For light printer usage, I now recommend to my clients to get Brother Printers. With light usage, they last quite a while and are cheap enough that you almost don't mind ditching them when they eventually break down.

With heavy usage, I now recommend Dell Printers. They work well for the most part, although there are some security rights issues when using them with a Terminal Server.

Xerox Phaser printers are very good, but expensive and can't be laminated.

Gone are the days of buying an HP laser printer and using it for 10 to 15 years.
-Westley

Just this week I found the same lack of HP LaserJet 1012 driver support for Windows 7 when setting up a new PC for a customer. I was not pleased, but at least the customer had a HP LaserJet p1606 available. The HP LaserJet 1010, 1012, 1015, 1018, 1020 and 1022 are all out of production, but like most HP LaserJet products I've worked with going all the way back to the HP LaserJet II, they seem to outlive the computers they are connected to. This particular HP LaserJet series was cheap, reliable, reasonably fast and used an affordable 12A cartridge. I run a 1018 and 1020 in my office, and they have been working for almost four years.

I agree with your comment regarding the laziness of HP in not offering support on older printer models that are still likely to be in service. I think the HP we all used to know and love (or at least like a lot) has been gone for quite a while. I'm sure Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard would be shocked to see what a mess HP has become in recent years. 
-Tim

Share your thoughts with the editors of this newsletter! Write to dbarney@redmondmag.com. Letters printed in this newsletter may be edited for length and clarity, and will be credited by first name only (we do NOT print last names or e-mail addresses).  

Posted by Doug Barney on 04/13/2011 at 9:08 AM


Reader Comments:

Fri, Apr 15, 2011 Howlermunkey Redmond

I used to work for a medium sized IT company that sold printers among other things. Once we encountered a strange problem with several HP's we had currently installed. The printed page was black backgroung with white letters. After a little reaearch it turns out HP had a faulty driver on their download page. (trust me, it was the driver). We contacted them and customer support said it was a known issue, to download an older version. Several years later, I encountered the same problem, and to my surprise, the faulty driver was still on the page.

Fri, Apr 15, 2011 Macgvr

It used to be that I would only buy HP printers but our last HP started having problems early on and finally died with an un-fixable electronics problem. The previous HP printers were all rock solid and, the the most part, needed only maintenance. We went with a Xerox printer this time and we'll see if this was a good choice or not.

Thu, Apr 14, 2011 Bob Houston

Used to love HP printers. Still have a laserjet 1006, which works with win 7, but complains. A year ago bought a wireless HP printer for my wife. It was on sale (which should have alerted me). Quality is OK, but the driver and wireless setup takes forever, is anythign but intuitive, and it sucks ink. I'll stick with Epson from now on. I find they generate far better photo quality and are much easier to use. (and they stay current with operating systems)

Thu, Apr 14, 2011 D Farmington Hills, MI

As far as I am concerned the last great printer HP made was the HP4. You could install that printer, with minimal drivers, and except for toner replacement, feed rollers and occasional fuser kit that printer would work with everything from DOS to Novell to Windows programs and run FOREVER. But since business is always about the bottom line - What sense did it make for HP to produce a printer that functioned that well for that long? Dollar wise - none. So they took us down the road of limited lifespan and printers that they don't even try to service. Just throw it away and buy a new one. Cheap is great on the front end if you have tunnel vision. But you always get what you pay for when you go cheap.

Wed, Apr 13, 2011 Chris Seattle

The last straw with HP for me was with an HP OfficeJet 7850 for a client. Worst customer service, ever. Had to replace the unit twice under warranty. Spent over 8 hours on the phone and blew through $150.00 in ink on the "test pages" before letting her return it. I had to argue with them to replace the print heads (which was the problem), but they wouldn't send any ink to replace what they wasted on their "test pages". Customer service manager told me to write the HP president a letter if I had a problem, but wouldn't give me the address (told me to google it). I didn't charge the client for my time. But since then I have talked my clients out of HP products and will never recommend HP again, ever.

Wed, Apr 13, 2011 Dr. John Knoxville

I stopped using HP products over a decade ago, for the same reasons others have noted. Switched to Brother for lasers, and haven't looked back. Now using the Kodak's for all-in-one color ink, and the Samsung's for color laser.

Wed, Apr 13, 2011

Hurd only cared about cutting costs and not employees,customers or customer service. Let's hope the new guy can restore the good name of a (previously) great company

Wed, Apr 13, 2011 Mark

We used to be "HP only" when it came to printers. Now, I can't get rid of them fast enough! I do get excited when I realize that a new driver won't work - that's called "justification" - out the door!

Wed, Apr 13, 2011 ChicagoIT Chicago

I stopped recommeding HP printers a long time ago when XP cam out and my client's printers were not support with new drivers. That and the bloatware HP printers come with that in my opinion 'eat' the PC whole. I have recommended Brother Printers for a very long time and receive no calls about printer issues.Too bad Hp lost it's way but I found a good partner with Brother.

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