Printing out a draft this morning of a rather lengthy document I’d written and edited gave me pause for thought about my printer.
My default printer is a Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4L. Black and white, a basic laser printer. I bought it on 17 November 1994 (I can recall the precise date because there’s a little sticker on the side on which I’d written that date when I bought it).
It’s a good printer, works faultlessly and has served me well during the past 10 years.
What gave me the pause for thought was this: the printer is still printing with the same original HP toner cartridge I installed in March 1999. That’s over six years ago.
During this time, I’ve taken the cartridge out and given it the gentle shaking you do when toner is getting low, indicated by printouts beginning to look a little faint. I’ve done this just once, about three weeks ago.
So I started thinking about buying a new printer. The 4L is a bit long in the tooth, slow (about 4 pages a minute) compared to some of the latest models on the market and only 300dpi. Plus cartridges tend to be a bit pricey. Indeed, a replacement HP toner cartridge advertised on Reprint.nl costs nearly €90, about $108!
I could buy a new printer for that price!
Yet, I’m resisting the idea. I also have an Epson colour inkjet (connected to my wife’s PC) that is on my network, so I can print better quality and in colour if I need to. So why buy a replacement for my trusty 4L when it’s still going strong after all these years?
Printer manufacturers probably woud hate it if every product they made was so reliable. It really messes up the razor-and-blades business model.
All I can say as a very satisfied user of this HP product – the printer and the toner cartridge – is, thanks, HP, you made a good printer in the 4L (a few other people also think so).
However, the toner cartridge surely cannot last much longer. So I guess I may well be looking for a new printer soon…