I properly got a genuine HP printer and cartridge combo for what seemed like a good deal ($70) in Singapore. It worked fine for about 6 months until when the cartridges had run out of ink. So, I went to a store and bought a pair of genuine HP ink which was crazy expensive (combined with black and white, it almost amounted to 80% of the printer cost for the XL size at the time). Still, I wanted to be a genuine user and I paid for it.

When I replaced the new cartridges in the tray, the printer insisted that I connect to the internet and I refused to connect it because it wasn't necessary I thought. It wouldn't let me even print a single paper despite the tray being fully loaded.

So, fine with it, I connected the damn thing to the internet. Suddenly, I got a notice saying the ink cartridges aren't genuine. I was puzzled, went back and fought with the store manager and got a replacement and they made sure it was 100% genuine this time.

So, I went back, set it up and nope. Still the same issue. The cartridges were full and brand new, and I really wanted to print some flyers for a business convention, which is why I was willing to invest the money because of the shortage of time I had.

The printer absolutely refused to print anything at all. HP support left me running around in circles like a headless chicken. I had to take a lot of heat because of this stupid printer for no fault of mine, simply because it was "smart" and needed an internet connection to do an offline job.

I was so mad that day that the first thing I did after I came from the business convention was took the damn thing apart and remove all the parts for arduino projects (motors, rollers, display, PSU, etc) and threw everything else away. I wrote a very rude note to their unhelpful customer support and went back and even apologized to the store manager who replaced my genuine cartridges.

It was an expensive lesson for me to learn not to trust any printing company, especially HP that relies on the internet to do an offline job. I follow this rule of thumb for coffee makers and every other hardware that shouldn't be "smart" and should be dumb. I'm even ready to pay the premium these days for the dumb version of a product offering simply because..it is so much simpler.