Sunday, April 8, 2012

#atozchallenge - HP Printers

I'm irritated with HP lately.

Once upon a time, say four or five years ago, I swore by HP when recommending printers. Their printers were by and large the best. They weren't bullet proof, obviously, but as far as printers went, they were the best of the bunch, in my opinion.

Enter Windows 7 and the 64-bit architecture.

Many of the older printers, and lots of the new ones too, don't seem to have drivers that are specifically designed for Windows 7, 64-bit. In some cases there are Vista drivers that work, but in other cases, you're expected to use a "Universal driver", which typically has less features, and is really kind of hit or miss.

It's like they got tired of writing new drivers for each release of Windows, which in fairness I get. I'm sick of re-learning how to do the same old shit with new commands and what not, but... C'mon!

Another favorite is when you go to download drivers for SOME HP printers now, on a machine with Windows 7, the HP website tells you that you have to get the driver from Windows Update. Like... seriously? You can't host your own drivers? I mean, presumably you wrote them, and then... gave them to windows for distribution, and deleted your copy?

Do you have an HP printer that's disappointed you recently? I've had many...

9 comments:

  1. I do! I got a free HP Printer when I purchased my laptop and was super excited but it turned out to be so disappointing. I had to replace it with another one, and guess what I got- HP again lol. Salesguy was really convinving. But this one's alright.

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  2. I've got an HP laptop but the HP wireless mouse I bought at the same time was crap. I reverted to an old one with a wire and I'm much happier. We have a Lexmark printer and it's very good.

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  3. Hi...I'm hopping over from the A to Z challenge. Good luck with the challenge.

    Donna L Martin
    www.donasdays.blogspot.com

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  4. We've been an HP household for a while (but are starting to transition out of it now) so I do have an HP printer. So far, it seems to be holding up very well.

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  5. This is discouraging. I need a new printer for my Windows 7. Which way do I go???

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  6. Ah, we had one, our very first, and it was fab. Then we got an Epson - don't get me started. then we got Canon, and at first, BRILL as they are good and the ink was the cheapest. Sadly that interlude is now over and with our newest, not only do i have to buy GREY ink as well as all the others, it's in smaller amounts and it is very expensive. Thanks, Canon. Oh - and we are on a mac and not all the processes of the printer are written well - I have to go a very roundabout route to scan anything. PAH. Why, Grumpy IT man, you have made me grumpy too, how worrying...

    in case you should want to see my blog, and you probably won't it's not at ll grumpy, at least, until now, I'm leaving you my A-Z link as blogger
    always identifies me as my shared blog with other authors - my A-Z is this one: http://www.lizbrownleepoet.com

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  7. I just purchased the 7500 A wide format for my project managers...it falls off line every five minutes even though it is wired not wireless...my guys yell for me every single time. grrr...I get what you are saying!

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  8. I had an old desk jet that one day turned itself into a paper shredder.

    I still have an HP printer, it's about 4-5 years old, but it still works fine.

    I am trying to read all the A to Z blogs, but coming back to the ones I really like.
    Looking forward to seeing what you do all month!

    Tim
    The Other Side
    The Freedom of Nonbelief

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  9. I've sworn by HP for years. I still agonized when HP stopped making cartridges for LaserJet 4s. They were the backbone of the US Government (or, at least, the US Air Force), and we all HATED recycled print cartridges because They. Did. Not. Work.

    I have three Color LaserJets at home and an OfficeJet. But I'm not so sure about what will be available to replace them when they die. I use a Mac, and my husband is still using Windows Vista and XP (I left the Windows realm when XP went by the wayside).

    (Visiting for A-Z, and my A-Z blog is here: http://jeanschara.com)

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