HP Updates Firmware, Blocks Its Printers From Using Cheaper Ink Cartridges from Rivals (telegraph.co.uk) 212
Hewlett-Packward printers recently got a firmware update that "blocks customers from using cheaper, non-HP ink cartridges," reports the Telegraph:
Customers' devices were remotely updated in line with new terms which mean their printers will not work unless they are fitted with approved ink cartridges. It prevents customers from using any cartridges other than those fitted with an HP chip, which are often more expensive. If the customer tries to use a non-HP ink cartridge, the printer will refuse to print.
HP printers used to display a warning when a "third-party" ink cartridge was inserted, but now printers will simply refuse to print altogether.
The printer company said it issued the update to reduce the risk of malware attacks, saying "third-party cartridges that use non-HP chips or circuitry can pose risks to the hardware performance, print quality, and security." It also said it used regular updates to improve its services, such as introducing alerts for some customers telling them when their ink is running low. However, according to HP's website, the company also blocks the use of rival cartridges in order to "maintain the integrity of our printing systems, and protect our intellectual property".
Outraged customers have flooded social media with complaints, saying they felt "cheated" by the update. HP ink cartridges can cost more than double the price of third-party offerings... Some customers can choose to disable HP's cartridge-blocking feature in the printer's settings, HP said, but it depends on the printer model. Others will be stuck with a printer that only works if they commit to spending more on ink cartridges approved by HP.
HP printers used to display a warning when a "third-party" ink cartridge was inserted, but now printers will simply refuse to print altogether.
The printer company said it issued the update to reduce the risk of malware attacks, saying "third-party cartridges that use non-HP chips or circuitry can pose risks to the hardware performance, print quality, and security." It also said it used regular updates to improve its services, such as introducing alerts for some customers telling them when their ink is running low. However, according to HP's website, the company also blocks the use of rival cartridges in order to "maintain the integrity of our printing systems, and protect our intellectual property".
Outraged customers have flooded social media with complaints, saying they felt "cheated" by the update. HP ink cartridges can cost more than double the price of third-party offerings... Some customers can choose to disable HP's cartridge-blocking feature in the printer's settings, HP said, but it depends on the printer model. Others will be stuck with a printer that only works if they commit to spending more on ink cartridges approved by HP.
business (Score:5, Insightful)
HP used to be a place where talented people made very high quality technology products. HP is now a place where MBAs attempt to make very high profit garbage products. But they'll sell more cartridges this quarter and some MBA will make that a resume bullet point and move on to a higher paying job to do it again somewhere else.
Re:business (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: business (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: business (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: business (Score:5, Insightful)
Can't say that about my Brother printer. Takes any kind of toner that even remotely fits into its cradle and while it makes assumptions about when it's empty, it believes me when I tell it it's not.
Re: business (Score:2)
Re: business (Score:4, Informative)
The only bad thing I can say about third party toners with Brother is that they may require color calibration because they ain't 100% on par. If you're not concerned about the red being the JUST correct kind of red because the marketing department goes into hives because of corporate identity being broken, you'll be fine, though.
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Re: business (Score:2)
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Epson seem to have missed the memo. They've produced a printer (example: L3250) which costs more to buy (the thing which happens once) but then printing (the thing that happens often) is cheap.
https://www.epson.eu/en_EU/pro... [epson.eu]
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
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Never ever recommend an HP printer. If someone really needs an inkjet, recommend an Ecotank, otherwise recommend a Brother Laser printer.
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All the companies are doing it.
Not they aren't. This isn't Demolition Man. Every restaurant isn't Taco bell, and every printer isn't HP. Precisely zero printers I've ever owned or currently own block the use of 3rd party toner or ink. Heck printer companies will actively sell you printers with external refillable tanks for ink that you literally pour new ink into, and I don't think even HP has figured out how to put chips in actual liquid drops, though I'm sure their R&D team is hard at work.
Don't normalise this shitty behavi
Re: business (Score:3)
That's because the initial cartridges only are partially filled.
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I have an HP Laserjet 4L which still works perfectly. It's about 30 years old.
Added a Centronics to Ethernet adapter and it's happy.
Cartridges are cheap (about $10).
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I recently discovered that my local supermarket has an "own brand" electric toothbrush head replacement that is just as good quality as Braun but costs half as much. It's a major supermarket chain so I'm sure that Braun Gmbh are aware of it.
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Re: business (Score:4, Insightful)
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You realize you've probably voided your warranty by using that, right?
Printers cost less than buying replacement ink. No one gives a shit about warranties.
Buy Brother printers instead. (Score:5, Informative)
I have had excellent luck with this [amazon.com] printer model. Brother is a company based in Japan and their focus is more for office use than home use, but their printers are still top quality.
This printer "just worked" on Ubuntu, absolutely nothing to install. Of course it worked on Windows too, and there was a bit of a fussy driver installation process to get it working, but it ran beautifully after that.
Unlike HP printers, this does NOT require a phone app to set up and use. It has support for an optional one. Also it does not require an internet connection, ever (again optional if you want to update firmware). So, if you don't want your data harvested, this printer has got you covered.
Sorry for being a shill. I don't work for Brother, I just really hate HP and so I am happy to push knowledge of viable competitors whenever I can.
Re: Buy Brother printers instead. (Score:5, Informative)
I'll second this.
We switched both our printers to Brother brand (one b/w laser, one color multifunction later) and they just work. No issues with third party ink, no driver issues, wifi printing works well, really can't complain.
Also, I don't work for brother either
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I'll third this.
I was looking for a good replacement for an HP CP2025dn laser printer. I wanted just a color laser with a real manual load tray (not a slot) with no multi-function, for under $500. I was just looking at HP and Canon, didn't even think of Brother (all I knew of Brother were word processing systems from like 30 years ago). Canon seems to mainly have MF at this point, and HP's that looked decent were well above my price range. I ultimately went with a Brother color laser and couldn't be hap
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My Brother HL3170CDW has been a true workhorse for many years. Reliable, cheap to operate, multi-OS compatibility etc. Would highly recommend it except I don't think they make this model anymore.
Re: Buy Brother printers instead. (Score:2)
Re: Buy Brother printers instead. (Score:4, Insightful)
Canon is the worst for DRM on cartridges. You can't even use a Canon cartridge for the same model printer sold in a different region. I worked for a company that closed its Netherlands office and moved a Canon MFC to Australia. It wouldn't work with Australian toner cartridges. The only option was to import cartridges from Europe. As far as I'm aware, Canon is the only company with region-locked toner cartridges.
Re: Buy Brother printers instead. (Score:3)
Re:Buy Brother or whatever in your market (Score:2)
I agree with the sentiment about Brother, but they are not present in all markets with consumables, spares, services and warranty, so, if you are not in the USoA, W-EU, UK, OZ, JP, KR or some other developed markets, check the brands available in your market and go from there.
For all their ills, warts, and all, HP is a global brand, which means spares, consumables, services from HP or third parties, and warranties from HP, and there are so many hackers trying to defeat HP silliness that this will be a non-i
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Agreed. And the problem with this approach is that when Hp decide you need to buy another printer they just discontinue the ink cartridges. And a year ago, even inserting an off-brand replacement bricked the printer. So we got a Brother laser... and it just worked. The unsolved problem this left me is how to print my colour and monochrome art images. Am ignoring it for now. Never got rid of my wet process materials... maybe.
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Another very satisfied Brother customer here. I have a monochrome laser version that is entirely fuss free.
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My only problem with Brother is their support is TOO good. A few years ago I bought an MFC-L2710 and a month after I bought it (like two days after the in-store return period) a circuit board inside it died. This was a common problem apparently as forums were full of people complaining about the same symptom I had. So I sent an email to Brother's warranty or support dept (I can't really remember) asking if they could send me a replacement board since this was a common problem with this specific model (I
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Although I have an HP multifunction, it is now relegated to being a scanner only.
For printing, I have a Brother laser printer, and also from Xubuntu.
The model is HL-2270DW.
Got it from a recycling center for $20, connected its Ethernet, and it works.
The driver that work is "Brother HL-2250DN - CUPS+Gutenprint v5.3.3".
Re:business (Score:4, Insightful)
You have to a sucker if you're still using ink these days.
Get a laser.
Re: business (Score:2)
Some recommendations (Score:4, Insightful)
You have to a sucker if you're still using ink these days.
Get a laser.
When you get your laser, purchase a couple of extra ink drums and stick them in a closet somewhere. A typical ink drum will last for 5,000 pages (more or less, check the specs), which might be 2 years of usage, at which time you may find that drums are no longer available. This depends on your individual usage, but for many home office applications it'll save you a lot of headache.
As many people pointed out, inkjet ink is wildly expensive and the ink tends to dry in the inkjet head and clog up the inkjet holes. Which is not a problem if you are printing every day, but if you print infrequently it will happen, the "clean the print heads" option *might* work (it's iffy), and the cleaning process uses a fuckton of ink in that process. You can *maybe* clean the print head manually (check YouTube videos for how to do this), but it's a PITA and not guaranteed to work. (I got gifted a very nice $500 inkjet printer with clogged heads, and couldn't free the clogs by forcing IPA through the head with a syringe. It's now a very expensive scanner/fax machine.)
If your printer has an embedded scanner (many do) and you print infrequently, keep the printer turned off between prints. Many scanners have a special bulb that needs to warm up for proper color balance, the bulb has a limited lifetime, and warming the bulb up every time you boot your computer will rapidly eat up that lifetime. Keep the unit (and scanner) turned off unless you actually need to scan or print something and it will last a lot longer.
Of course, lock your printer down so that it can only send and receive to IP addresses on your home network (and not, for example, to or from the internet at large). If the printer works there is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON to get a firmware upgrade, unless you are one of the few people who encounter whichever bug was fixed, and in that case you can evaluate as needed.
Really. Did you *actually* need the update that fixes the problem with certain tagalog characters? Firmware upgrade is a gable each time you get it.
Epson printers are well known for simply refusing to print after a certain time. Epson printers have a sponge to wipe the heads and to receive the "clean print head" extra ink, and when the unit believes that sponge is full it will simply refuse to print any more. Go get a new printer - no fix, no repair. Literally. Check YouTube channels for Epson satisfied customers taking a sledge-hammer to their really expensive (like - $4,000) printers once they've finally had enough of Epson.
Per several recommendations here, I've had good luck with Brother printers. They work, and the only reason I got a new one (recently) is because the one I had was simply too old - driver problems and cartridge no longer made.
(*) I used to work in that industry making the firmware that goes into laser printers.
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(10 cts per borderless A4 colour photo). Please tell me which laser comes close.
LOL! Even the paper costs more than that.
Re: business (Score:2)
Why would a laser printer be immune to this sort of business practice?
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You have to a sucker if you're still using ink these days.
Don't be stupid. Ink vs laser is a question of application. If you spend all day printing text and graphics, you'd be right, get a laser. That doesn't mean there aren't many applications where inkjets are more appropriate.
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HP used to be a place where talented people made very high quality technology products. HP is now a place where MBAs attempt to make very high profit garbage products. But they'll sell more cartridges this quarter and some MBA will make that a resume bullet point and move on to a higher paying job to do it again somewhere else.
The HP of today Is not the HP of yore.
The people doing meassurement instruments and calculators departed by the spinoff of agilent.
HP Globbed Compaq which not long before Globbed Digital Equ Corp and Tandem computers.
HP Globed Cray as well.
HP then Split into HPE (servers, storage, networking, HPC and enterprise Stuff) and HP Ink (pun intended) purveyors of Crappy PCs and Printers for consumers. (as well as great printers for enterprises and Pros).
Many supper smart people still work at HPE. Guys from the PA-
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Hewlett
Re: business (Score:3)
Holding my printer hostage, for PROFIT (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: Holding my printer hostage, for PROFIT (Score:2)
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Why a lawsuit? Why isn't the local sheriff marching these people out of their offices in handcuffs? If I ran around and broke a few hundred thousand printers, I don't think I'd survive my prison sentence.
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Re:Holding my printer hostage, for PROFIT (Score:5, Informative)
Can you return your printer?
In many European countries you probably could, depending on how long since you bought it. Changing the fundamental deal that the product offers to something you wouldn't have purchased, with a mandatory firmware update, is grounds for a return.
As an example, people got refunds on their Playstation 2s when Sony removed Linux support.
Usually the retailer picks up the bill for that, but that's okay because it will encourage them not to stock HP products. Even if HP judge that the profit exceeds the cost, retailers with thin margins are much less likely to come to the same conclusion.
Why does anyone still buy their printers? (Score:3)
A long trail of doing this sort of thing. But people keep buying printers from them?
Re:Why does anyone still buy their printers? (Score:5, Insightful)
> A long trail of doing this sort of thing. But people keep buying printers from them?
People don't generally research such purchases.
They go to Staples, look at the cheapest price tag with a demo print that looks acceptable and buy that.
The cost is hidden on the back end.
This shit again? (Score:2)
Why would you ever update a working printer? (Score:3)
Is your printer working? Don't update. It's an appliance.
What issues exist on a working printer that an update would be needed? Is there something that won't print that an update would fix? Does anyone actually need a better low ink warning? Are you worried about hackers driving by to print out some documents, then knocking on your door to collect them?
Other than security updates on computers/tablets/phones, updating a device (printer/TV/whatever) that works just fine for you is asking for problems.
Re: Why would you ever update a working printer? (Score:3)
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The printers update automatically because people connect them via wifi.
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If you want a network printer the only other option is USB and a server that can share it. Not really ideal.
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If it's just a printer that's fine, it works easily and you can buy a print server that's little more than a dongle rather than a whole actual server.
If it's a MFC then that probably won't work, and you would need an actual server. You won't be able to scan at all through a minimalist print server, let alone get the "Scan to" button functionality to work.
I have a somewhat older Brother MFC and that stuff is kind of iffy anyway, but with some udev rules mangling it does work... on my desktop.
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Is your printer working? Don't update. It's an appliance.
But... security, and viruses! An unprotected printer could infect your entire house!!
Plus it'll probably print better afterwards, right? Who turns down a free upgrade!!!
buy a laser printer from their competitor (Score:2)
Re: buy a laser printer from their competitor (Score:2)
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Yea I rarely print and often print only in b/w yet magically my yellow or cyan will run out of ink and the damn thing refuses to print.
Your yellow runs low, and the printer refuses to print when there is no yellow, because in the mid '80s, to avoid liability in cases of counterfeiting, manufacturers devised a scheme in which color printers print some small yellow dots (invisible to the naked eye) which allow law enforcement to track info about which printer printed what.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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And this why I don't but from HPB (Score:2)
"HPB?" you ask.
Hewlett Packard-Bell.
Well crap... (Score:3)
There goes my next week...
As a lone IT supporter for thousands of printers, holy hell I'm going to be busy trying to stop people from updating drivers, oh god, as if I didn't have enough to do already.
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Ink printers (Score:4, Interesting)
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Samsung lasers are good.
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Modern inkjets are not nearly as prone to clogging if left unattended as they used to be. I had to print a photo a few months ago, so I fired up an inkjet that had been idle for over a year (maybe as long as 2 years). It printed just fine - no cleaning needed beyond the normal stuff that happens at the start of a printing cycle. Result was perfect.
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Re: Ink printers (Score:3)
Brother. We got an MFC-L3770CDW a couple years ago (4-5?) and it has been an absolutely effortless machine. They have cheaper ones (a couple people have the mini color laser multifunctional in their offices) as well.
Sadly, this is as old as the hills (Score:2)
In the Razorblade market something similar happens.
Gillette debits the Mach3 behind a wall of patents and copyrights defended by an army of lawyers, so that smaller companies (not shick, shick does exactly the same) can not make cartridges until long after the patents and copyrights expire.
Then they release Fussion, again behind a wall of patents and copyrights, defended by an army of lawyers.
Just 2 weeks ago I saw my first non-gillette Mach3 cartridge (but I am certain they existed a while before), while I
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Those umpty-ump blade razors are crap anyway. I went back to el cheapo two blades and I have fewer ingrown beard hairs. I can't reasonably use an electric because my facial hair is too coarse, I dull the blades almost immediately.
At this point, you deserve it (Score:2)
They' showed their true colours with the HP/Compaq merger. I haven't given them a dime in over twenty years.
Anyone still buying HP anything at this stage of the game should not be surprised by this sort of behaviour.
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They' showed their true colours with the HP/Compaq merger. I haven't given them a dime in over twenty years.
Anyone still buying HP anything at this stage of the game should not be surprised by this sort of behaviour.
Agreed. I actively avoid anything HP, both as a home consumer and an IT professional. They are not the company they used to be, years ago.
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Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
You sound like the IT guy that get's laid off the second business slows down and then blames his boss and peers for not liking him.
Brother Brother Brother (Score:3)
I abandoned inkjets a long time ago and never looked back. I've had 2 laser printers in the past 15 years, both Brothers and have been extremely happy with their quality, durability, and the fact they don't pull this crap with cartridges.
Printers were sent from hell... (Score:3)
Blocked (Score:2)
Thanks for the article. There is one inherited HP printer here (we buy Brother by default) that got missed on a network re-IP a while ago. It's once again blocked from talking to devices outside of 10. .
Generally all printers are blocked but this one is on a special-project network and a human did the stupid. Fortunately it's been off for several weeks.
Alternatives (Score:5, Informative)
"Others will be stuck with a printer that only works if they commit to spending more on ink cartridges approved by HP"
Or, go with a different manufacturer.
I haven't purchased a printer in years (I switched to a color laser printer and suddenly all my issues with dye cartridges just went away) but I remember a time where the printer itself, which came with cartridges, was on par with the cost of replacement cartridges. This made practical buying a new printer (watching for sales) after the old printer ran out of ink, and just throwing the old printer away.
I do IT for friends and family members, and in one use case an elderly woman needed to occasionally make color prints, but infrequent enough that the head was always clogged and the ink dried up, making the cost per page huge for the dye based printer. Not to mention having to replace cartridges and clean the head every time she needed to use it.
I replaced her printer with one of the smaller color laser printers, and all her print problems went away. She could print some photos of her grandkids off Facebook, then two months later print something else, and the printer just worked. As printers should. (Laser printers have dry powdered toner that isn't affected by long down periods.)
Consumer dye based printers are a scam, to lock you into buying cartridge that'll just dry out between usages.
When I need a high resolution print on glossy or poster board, it turns out that the local supermarkets and the local drug stores have industrial dye based printers, and (I checked), they all use the same model Epson or HP that the professional shop downtown uses. AND, maintenance of said printer is their problem, not mine.
So for home printing, invest in color laser. It has a higher cost up front but will save you hugely in ink costs. For high resolution or special paper, do printing as a service. Submit online or carry a thumb drive, and get your prints along with your groceries.
Just my opinion.
I use HP, but... (Score:2)
I use HP printers because of their great compatibility with linux, but...
I disable anything resembling an "online service" from their setup menu.
I disabe automated firmware upgrades.
On Windows, I don't install the bloatware-filled crap they propose, but download the driver-only installer from the HP site, and then don't go for the "install all" option, but carefully pick what you want to install.
My OfficeJet 6950 happily works with compatible cartridges, it just gives me a warning when I replace one, click
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I couldn't find any other all-in-one printer+scanner with wifi connection and solid linux support
Brother has a bunch of them. I am using one on Devuan right now and I have everything working. It is older so I had to munge the udev rules file before scanning by button would work. The behavior comes down to shell scripts so you can make them do whatever, which is nice. I didn't need any drivers to print, only the PPD, because it speaks standards. I did have to install a scanner driver, it works with libSANE just fine. Mine is a HL-L2395DW but I would buy a newer model than this, I bought it a while ago a
Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
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HP press release translated (Score:2)
"security risk" for chips in inks (Score:2)
HP grifting themselves out of the printer biz (Score:5, Interesting)
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You would need to setup the printer with a temporary internet connection
That's probably enough for HP to push this printer cartridge firmware.
Blocked (Score:2)
I blocked my non-HP printer from internet access a while back. It currently works, I don't need new firmware to be compatible with the new Windows 38, nor having it bricked with the new code. Furthermore, I don't need a new path for malware to get into my local network.
home appliances from hell (Score:2)
I'm just glad HP desn't make a refrigerator. ... (spits out kimchi) unacceptable ... (limp green things spat wall)... HP no like kale.
Fridge: I have just updated my firmware. Stand by.
processing - processing... Door opens and items fly out.
Fridge: unacceptable
Doors begin shuddering open and closed, theme from 'The Exorcist' plays.
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HP no like kale.
Suddenly, I like HP a lot more.
You should always prepare kale with a little bit of butter.
It makes it easier to scrape your plate off into the garbage.
Soooo..... (Score:2)
Business as usual? Haven't they (and some other printer companies) been doing this since they started chipping carts in the first place?
Demand a refund ? (Score:2)
Updates (Score:2)
As a firmware engineer who has been trained in dev (Score:2)
Re: Get An Epson EcoTank (Score:2)
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I recently got a Canon Pixma G1220 specifically for photo printing (I have family that still hasn't made it into the digital age and demand paper photos) which is pretty much the Canon equivalent of Epson's EcoTank. Has refillable tanks instead of cartridges. You can use 3rd party ink in it as well, with no downsides or artificial obstacles. It has printed so far several hundred pictures, and the tanks aren't close to half-empty. No issues. The main downside of this particular model is that it's USB-only, n
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I believe Brother printers also don't have chip cartridges. If you're buying an HP printer at this point with the expectation that you might ever want to utilize a non-OEM cartridge, you must be on drugs.
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Brother scanners do not scan the entire sheet. Roughly a 1/8" margin is not scanned at all edges. Learned this the hard way.