We keep a printer here at the house along with a desktop computer. I don’t know people enjoy a laptop or ipad. I love the desktop best. I think it’s what I go used to when I started using a computer and when it comes to things like electronics, I’m an old dog and don’t like new tricks, at all!
I have had the WORST problems with printers since moving to this house. We’ve been here four years. I came here with a printer. It was working.
We had a garage sale the first fall we were there in 2016. One of my childcare families put a couple things on the garage sale including a printer. I bought it from her for a back up for $20 and it came with a couple cartridges. Shortly after that our printer died and I started using the garage sale one. That lasted quite awhile…16 months or so.
Then to Walmart and I bought a printer. It was terrible. I went back about four months later and bought another. I HATED IT. HATED. SERIOUSLY HATED it. I quit printing things for the childcare kids as it was so much work to get it to work. I can’t begin to explain the frustration. Sometimes it would take 10 minutes to get the printer up and going before it might try to print anything.
I felt too guilty to buy another one. I have already bought two printers in just over 6 months with neither working!! AHHH!
Then at the beginning of December Kelli, Hubby and I were in the vehicle together driving to Lucy’s birthday party. Kelli and were talking about something and I ended up getting quiet. It was about a pattern that needed to be printed. I, unknowing how upsetting the computer printer actually was to me, found myself upset. Kelli said, “Do you not work on that because of the problems with the computer printer?” I don’t know if I was over emotional or what that day but it was the straw that broke the camel’s back and before I knew it I was crying over my computer frustrations.
Then Hubby not knowing, but with good intentions, said, “Why don’t you just buy a new one?”
Well that made it all worse. I was crying even more because I had no idea what to buy? I had bought a Cannon and an HP, both were terrible….and now they found me out…I was stressed out over a DUMB computer printer.
So…when Buck was home just after Christmas he brought a printer with him. Hubby had told him to have Lora get one for me. She works at Best Buy and knows what is returned the most and what isn’t. She knows what people complain about and what they don’t. They ended up getting me a HP Office Jet 5255
I am in love. The printer is wireless and the wireless works. The others were suppose to be wireless and they didn’t work. I can print from my phone or other devices.
There was no real “learning curve” to it. It was easy to run right away. It took Buck about 15 minutes to entirely set the printer up. He also set up program for me called HP Instant Ink. It is a wonderful program.
Print quite a lot because of childcare. I print coloring pages and projects for the kids and I print things for me that are personal, quilting and business related. Sometimes I can’t keep up with it all and run out of ink.
Well this program sent me a color and black and white cartridge. Then it keeps track of how many copies I make. Then it sends me new cartridges as I need them. I pay a flat fee per month. There is 50 copies for $2.99 a month or 100 copies for $4.99 a month or for busy people 300 pages for $9.99 a month. I don’t pay extra for the ink. It’s just a flat fee. I signed up for the 100 copies. If I go over it’s 10 cents a copy more.
Personally I think it’s a wonderful idea. I guessed I likely bought at least 4 ink cartridges a year at the minimum. At $25, or so, each that’s $100. Now I am paying $60 a year….and I don’t have the hassle of remembering to buy cartridges. Plus I got 4 months free. I automatically got 2 free months and then Buck found an online coupon that gave me two additional months.
So far, I’m SUPER impressed with the printer and the HP Instant Ink program. Even if you don’t have my printer, you can sign up for the Instant Ink program by following THIS LINK. Best yet, you get a free month if you join.
So…I’m a happy girl now. I have not cried over my printer since the day it arrived. That’s awesome and totally worth it. Ah…one less worry in my life.
Awww – I am glad you found a printer that works! It is important.
Printers are from the devil. Some will work, some won’t. Hubby brought a used one from work that was going to be tossed as it only printed black and white. Our color printer was on it’s last legs so it was a no brainer. 4 years later the darn thing will not die even though I would like to have a color printer so I hate to get one. I got a new laptop for Christmas and half the time it enlarges the copy I want to make. No rhyme or reason but my IT husband cannot figure out what is going on. So until I get too frustrated with it, we keep it.
I can relate to being ‘an old dog that doesn’t like new tricks’. If I’m having trouble with something new, I tend to talk to it and explain my problem. it’s not like it hears or understands me, but it helps me to do that. From one old dog to another, thanks for sharing.
I think computer printers are the scourge of the earth and mine kept coming up unprogrammed. I asked a server company what would be a good computer printer with no frills…no color…no cartridges. He had me buy a Brother with a big cartridge that makes 3,000 copies. I don’t have the model number and it doesn’t work with wireless or print off my iPad, but anything you can send to me email always works. It’s been awesome. I can totally relate to you tearing up about a computer printer.
I’ve worn out a couple HP printers and liked them just fine. That’s mostly what we had at the library too. After my last HP died a well earned death I got an EPSON all in one because my scanner wouldn’t work with anything newer than Windows XP. That printer was great and I really like the scanner & scanning program. It worked great with the cheaper compatible ink until EPSON sent out an update that locked the whole thing up unless you bought their really expensive ink cartridges. $75 for the five little cartridges. I refuse to be gouged like that so bought a nice little Canon all in one that cost less than the set of EPSON cartridges & works fine with the compatible ink. The last set was $10.99. I still liked the EPSON scanner better, but you can’t have everything, I guess.
I feel your pain. I’ve had great HP printers and I’ve had lousy ones with expensive ink. I researched and bought an Epson which started off really good but when we changed WiFi coverage, it went bananas and would not accept the new WiFi carrier so it had to be hard wired, OK problem solved but now I couldn’t sent stuff from my iPad. Then it started jamming every time I printed, good grief. It was replaced about 6 months ago with an HP 3800 series and I also signed up for the automatic ink program. It’s working great and I don’t have to worry about remembering which ink cartridge to buy or the price. I don’t care, I just pay my monthly little fee. Life is good again!
I really like my desktop – not sure why…but so much more than a laptop.
Not a fan of our printer either. It’s a Canon. It’s wireless which is nice but it’s temperamental. And we don’t use half the stuff on it. It was on sale so dh bought it. It’s amazing how much ink costs, isn’t it?
Yours sounds perfect!
I can relate to your former printer woes. We’ve had Canon, Epson, Okidata, and HPs. I too would have trouble at various times and could never understand why something that was supposed to be simple wouldn’t work. Then several years ago my sister won a HP Office Jet Pro at work and gave it to us. I tried to convince her to keep it since it was a super nice one but she and her husband didn’t want to upset their system as it was working just fine. Well…I just love it! I love the fact that it’s wireless and we can all use it, even my son whose bedroom is in the basement.
I have an HP laser printer that I used in my business. It is at least 15 years old, maybe more. The ink cartridges are super expensive but it keeps on going and printing so until it quits, it will do. Your printer looks intriguing.
GOOD to know. People think I am weird bc we don’t have a printer. I rarely use it, no kids at home DH doesn’t use one. If we need one I go to the library for 10¢ a page. or email to one of my DD’s to print. I was sick of the cartridges going dry and the dang thing just not working!!!!
Oh my goodness — I feel your frustration. There are days that I just want to trash our printer — and always have to replace the ink cartridges for too much money. I will have to look into this. Thank you for sharing — so many other things to do than fight with a “printer”:)
I totally agree with your printer stress. It seems I have to buy a new one every 2 years and the cartridges are outrageous. This post was so helpful to me-thanks.
Glad you found one you like! Thankfully, my son picks out printers for us to use and I don’t have to worry about it. He used to work at Best Buy in the Geek Squad.
HP printers are the best, in my opinion. I’ve had a lot of different ones and helped friends with a lot of different ones, but I still go back to HP. Now, I’ve had a not-so-great one of those, too, but for the most part, success!
So glad it’s working for you. Those small things that add up to huge frustration are just not worth it.
It takes.me a half hour hour + to print anything these days…to the point I am ready to throwi the printer out the window…ha..
Thanks for the review on the HP…
Funny how it’s the small things that break the camel’s back. Everything is under tight control and such a mundane frustration brings on the tears.
I, too, have had love/hate relationship with printers over the years. Before I finally broke down and bought our current printer, I used the library’s computer and printer. I would email to myself documents or links to what I wanted to print. Then set up a Print at Library folder in my email so I could quickly find them. It was quick and slick. As I drive past the library a couple of times a week, it kinda felt like a really splurge to get a home printer. But only for a moment! Haha