Auto Set To Waste Ink and Force You To Buy New HP Cartridges

The function of the machine is just fine. I have no problems with how it works. HP has a nasty habit of programming their printers to force you to buy HP refills and pay for customer support.

1) The printer will automatically print a test page every time you turn it if you do not do it perfect the first time. This wastes ink, and color ink at that. You can get around it but it is time consuming and you have to pay customer service for the advice...or search internet forums. You literally have to turn it off, disconnect the printer from the computer, turn it back on and run a test alignment page, turn the printer off, reconnect the USB and then turn it on again. If you don't it will print a color alignment page every single time you turn it on. This is expensive given the settings they have when you try and use a refilled cartridge (see below).

2) Each HP cartridge has an ID number. The printer has an internal memory that keeps track of your printer cartridge. If you use a refill the printer will warn you the ink is low every single time you print. It remembers 3 cartridge numbers. This means you need to have 4 different cartridges and rotate them through the printer to reset the memory...or BUY A NEW ONE...which is what they want.

3) Spooling is another big problem. If for some reason your document does not print properly and your printer freezes it is nearly impossible to clear the spool. This means the printer freezes and your document is stuck in memory. You have no choice but to restart the computer to get the document to restart. It simply refuses to allow you to cancel a document in print about 50% of the time.

ACCORDING TO MY HP CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE THERE IS NO WAY TO CHANGE PREFERENCES OR SETTINGS TO AVOID THESE PROBLEMS.

It functions well but their thirst for after sale profits have made this and MOST HP Printers inconvenient if you do not keep buying their new cartridges.