Why I hate HP

I sometimes don't mind a stylish, considerate rip-off. My shaving foils are like that. They are eye-wateringly expensive for what they are, but I put up with them because they do actually shave reasonably well, and the product doesn't go out of its way to point out how much I am being gouged.

My HP printer on the other hand, is an irritating rip-off. The print quality isn't great. The printer looks cheaply made. But what really gets my goat is the great cartridge racket. Probably the most expensive part of the printer is the system designed to ensure you can only use HP cartridges. Every time it starts up it checks to see that it has the 'right' cartridges and that they are full enough. After all, HP wouldn't want to miss an opportunity to sell you another over-priced piece of plastic, would they? And it's all too obviously about selling more ink. Apparently IT industry slang for an inkjet printer is 'cartridge vending machine'. So now I'm going to throw my vending machine away and buy a black and white laser printer which I can buy cheap toner for. And it won't be an HP. Nothing I ever buy again will be an HP.