It’s a well-known secret that inkjet ink is being kept at artificially high prices, which is why many opt to forego ‘genuine’ manufacturer cartridges and get third-party ones inst…
    • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      9 months ago

      Quite honestly, back in the 90s I thought it was essential to have a printer. Back then I used to buy a binder, and a bunch of those plastic paper holding sleeves. And I’d print out entire gamefaqs which were sometimes 300 pages.

      Then ink started to get expensive. So I stopped. Then now these new printers have DRM. So I just never bought a printer since the 90s.

      And I feel I’m not alone. I bet there are millions of people who would be printer customers if printer ink weren’t the most artificially expensive substance on the planet.

      If I could go out and buy a printer replacement ink pack for $5.00 and have it last a few months, I’d just buy them regularly. Instead I haven’t paid one dime in close to 25 years. Gee, guess that financial decision paid off for them…

      • Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
        2·
        9 months ago

        You might want to look at laser printers. If you’re just doing black and white documents, whatever the latest Brother printer is will do a good job, do it fast, and not screech at you about your cyan running out.

        It’s a few hundred bucks up front, but the toner cartridges print a ton of pages and don’t dry out if you don’t use them. I can’t recommend it enough if you have even a passing desire to make hard copies of documents.

  • Noerttipertti@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    1·
    9 months ago

    Not that HP isn’t aware or not ticked off about this, mind. Recently they threatened to brick HP printers that use third-party cartridges if detected

    Try that in EU.
    I dare you. I double dare you.
    <Jules Winnfield>What does ECCN look like?</Jules Winnfield>

  • ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.worldEnglish
    01·
    9 months ago

    If you buy whatever Brother laser printer, the ink doesn’t dry up and you never have to print anything anyway. It’s like $100 and the cartridge lasts forever.

    And also; don’t print. If you’re a developer, put in the css that says:

    @media print { body,html {display:none;} }

    That might not completely do it because it’s a joke but slap !important or whatever wherever you want.