Recently HP stopped including full starter cartridges with its 2600 series color laser printer. They joined Canon, Brother, and Epson in the sense that each of these companies only include starter or “half full” cartridges. They say this increases sales of cartridges, a cash cow for any ink or toner company. Looking over HP’s specifications on newer color laser printers, it appears only the lower end of the printers (1600 and 2600 series) only include starter cartridges.Word to the wise. It was common practice that resellers would purchase these color laser printers and strip out the toner to sell though online auction sites. Be care if you think the price of a printer with no toner is too good to be true. Purchasing 4 color toner cartridges can be costly and possibly more than just purchasing a new machine.
I’ve received many complaints from a few customers about toner they recently purchased on an online auction site. The auction showed a picture of genuine HP toner sealed in the box. The contents of the auction description showed no indication that this wasn’t OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) cartridges for sale. A few days later when the toner arrived, the seller of this auction sent remanufactured cartridges. Although I don’t condemn using remanufactured cartridges, if you pay for OEM cartridges, you should get them. To make sure this doesn’t happen to you, be sure to do the following:
- Make sure you communicate with the seller of the auction before you purchase or commit to buy them.
- Check the feedback rating of the seller
- Ask other buyers from this seller if possible
- Read the fine print of the auction, if you don’t see it, ask the seller what the fine print is
- If it’s too good of price to be true, it is.
I’ve just posted a tutorial on PrinterHacks.com on how to easily connect your JetDirect network based printer up to a home network. Of course, there are many different configurations and setups out there, but I did my best to tackle all the bases and at least cover the concepts. In the future, I plan to provide Microsoft Windows Vista screen shots.
Tutorial: How to Setup an HP LaserJet Printer with the Built-In JetDirect Network Card
I recently was asked about a deal at Provantage.com. It appears there was a pricing mistake and most of their HP LaserJet printers had a price tag with the rebate already taken off. The customer could then submit the original rebate and get a deal of the century (nearly free after rebate). So are these rebates valid? Has anyone received a rebate back from HP in a timely manner? Most people I know don’t mess with the rebates, but some go through the fun process of getting the UPC labels, forms, and praying that HP receives the rebate and processes it immediately. Just a note to those individuals seeking to find that HP LaserJet “free” after rebate, it hasn’t happened yet, and probably won’t anytime soon. Prices are, however, falling quickly, so cross your fingers.