John Carlsen 🇺🇸🇳🇱🇪🇺

Recently I heard part of a podcast in which the host (I think #CoryDoctorow ) mentioned that the cost (by volume) of ink for inkjet printers is more than the semen of winning racehorses.

Though my opinion of inkjet printers has been poor from their start, about 35 years ago I bought a small Epson model for practically nothing at a surplus store (HSC Electronics, then probably still called Halted Specialties Company, after its founders Hal and Ted). I found that I could fill the reservoir in its print head with fountain pen ink via a syringe with a hypodermic needle. I recall sometimes carrying it in a bag and at my university printing letters that I had written using my #AtariPortfolio palmtop computer. (It also fit in my jacket pocket, ran code that I could write and compile on a PC with Borland software, and ran on 3 AA batteries!)

Jun 19, 2025 at 3:05pmWeb
Show threadJohn Carlsen 🇺🇸🇳🇱🇪🇺Jun 19, 2025

Just over 25 years ago, at a Fry's Electronics store, while shopping for a few other small things I found a sales associate so unusually helpful that (knowing they earned commissions on sales) I bought my first laser printer (HP 4MP) for ~$800. (I later added maybe $400 to upgrade its memory, etc.) I got a lot of use out of that thing, and even occasionally used its IrDA port to print from my next palmtop computer, an HP 660LX.

Maybe about 20 years ago, I saw Samsung offered two good laser printers for about $400: a B&W with a duplexer (to print 2 sides) and a color model (no duplexer). When their prices came down to about $130, I bought one of each.

About 15 years ago, also at a Fry's Electronics store, I bought my cheapest new laser printer, a small Samsung for about $50.

I think Samsung had joined the razors-and-razor-blade game of selling the devices cheap to make more money on the toner cartridges.

Since then, I heard that HP bought Samsung's printer division to keep us from getting such bargains.