"smiling in disbelief that we all seem to happily pay their ridiculous prices and drink their kool-aid."
There seems to be plenty of competition and economies in printer manufacturing. As opposed to cable companies for example.
If I remember correctly the initial Apple Laserwriter or HP Laserjet cost about $8000 in today's dollars.
As others have mentioned I don't think the prices are outrageous at all. Additionally you can get a great used 65 page per minute HP printer that takes the high volume cartridges on ebay for < $350. (With postscript). (HP 4350
a great volume machine). The ink costs much less per page with the high volume machines and the used ones if properly vetted work great.
This is really ridiculous with respect to the cartridges:
"They do this purely to make money. The fact that they do this is clear evidence that they’re ripping you off."
> "They do this purely to make money. The fact that they do this is clear evidence that they’re ripping you off."
It sounds pretty ironclad to me. I think it's even been established in court cases that manufacturers put chips in toner cartridges to create planned obsolescence and prevent recycling. Are you trying to invent some hairsplitting distinction between "create planned obsolescence and prevent recycling" and "ripping you off"?
There seems to be plenty of competition and economies in printer manufacturing. As opposed to cable companies for example.
If I remember correctly the initial Apple Laserwriter or HP Laserjet cost about $8000 in today's dollars.
As others have mentioned I don't think the prices are outrageous at all. Additionally you can get a great used 65 page per minute HP printer that takes the high volume cartridges on ebay for < $350. (With postscript). (HP 4350 a great volume machine). The ink costs much less per page with the high volume machines and the used ones if properly vetted work great.
This is really ridiculous with respect to the cartridges:
"They do this purely to make money. The fact that they do this is clear evidence that they’re ripping you off."