I have almost exclusively owned HP printers over the last 15 years because they were the most consistant in print quality and they used to have a good reputation. I've owned at least 4 Macs and one PC in the last 20 years. The PC is my children's tho. It too has had only HP printers connected to them.
I agree that HP is crap on support issues. My main beef is HP does not provide new drivers/firmware updates soon enough, forcing people to call in and charge them for support they should already have out on their website. I've also found that the fixes don't always work. I read somewhere on this site from someone who said they like to put all the blame on Apple and Microsoft, so I'm not surprised.
I once had an Epson printer many years back. Hated it. It was so loud and slow, and terrible on ink cost too. I had to get rid of it. That's when I bought my first HP. However, I now own an HP OfficeJet 6110 all-in-one that has been nothing but trouble since 3 days after the warranty went out on it. And even before that, it was a pain. Sure it prints beautifully, when it works, but keeping it working is another matter. It's not too bad on ink tho. I only replace them when I know they are really low (you can tell by the quality of the print, when it starts to look lighter than normal), not when the dialog box claims them to be so. That lies so you buy more when they are really only half empty. I only buy knock off cartridges, not HPs, to save $$. Target and Office Depot both offer cheaper versions. I'll buy HPs when they are on sale only.
However, as bad as HP's support has been lately, I may never buy another one.
I hate built-in obsolescence more than anything. We live on a planet full of junk and waste that has polluted everything. So many things are built to be thrown away in a year or two now. This makes me very sad and angry. Many things built to be recycled are really just junk in disguise, things built to milk us of the hard earned money we have. It just isn't good.
