Gawdzilla wrote:I've own several HP PSC, and used them roughly. Other than that software conflict I've had few problems with them.
I've had one HP laptop, which died after three years of fairly calm use. But it was actually a Compag, just had an HP logo stickered on it.
Since 1980 when I bought my first home machine, a DEC PDP-11, I've run just about every brand of printer one can name and right now I'm running an HP F-380 All-in-One that's serving me in good stead. Not that I print all that much, probably a thousand pages or so a year. Its copy function is handy and never fails. Ditto scanning, although its resolution isn't anything to write home about it works in a home office for general use and has satisfied my personal needs.
Many different brands of printers are all made in the same factories in Singapore or Taiwan or South Korea (and some now in China probably). Printers are like cars, Ford, Cheve, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai = Canon, HP, Lexmark, TI, Xerox, Epson, Toshiba, albeit not in that order.
On the whole printers all work about the same and fail about the same and give a user as much trouble one to the next. Some of the issues printer's suffer arise from minor technical differences between different PC's.
Price is a general indicator of quality but you can still encounter operating issues, especially in the interface.
Much of the low priced spread printer product is aimed at student and youth markets, light and cheap and not very durable unless you set them in one place and never move them, and service them and don't bump them ot spill coffee on them.
When I buy a printer it's almost like walking into a shop, closing my eyes, pointing with my finger and spinning myself round until I stop, and buy the one I'm pointing at. Or closing my eyes whilst perusing a catalogue and just randomly pointing at a machine.
Well, not quite, but one might as well do it that way becauise at bottom and over the longer haul there's so little difference between them. The higher end of brand product lines are obviously a better choice for those who's printing needs are heavy; the middle of the product line works for home office or small business use; the low priced spread is for youth and students and adults who only diddle with printing.
At the moment I'm quite satisfied with this little HP F-380 I'm using. Ink cartrides run $25 here but I buy refills or $10. The only issue I've encountered with it is it will sometimes take itself OFF LINE without me knowing it or being advised of it, until I go to Control Panel, select "Printers & Faxes" and see that its status is OFF LINE. In XP I have to reboot to get it back ON LINE when this happens.
Printer on!
