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Technology

Why do I seem to have to pay more for less tech?

(29 Posts)
Savvy Thu 08-Apr-21 20:44:32

Over the weekend, my printer broke. It was an older one and had been used and abused.

Trying to find a new one has been a nightmare! The computer I need to attach it to is not connected to the internet, nor will it ever be as I use my tablet for that, I don't have wifi, or broadband, or a landlines, or even live television in my house.

However, every printer I looked at was wireless. Finally found one that connects through a cable for about £40, it's a 3 in one, but when it arrived I found I had to have the internet to download the driver. That printer is going back and a full refund will be made.

Following a lot of telephone calls I was told that the only printer that would fit my requirements was £90. It's a standard black and white, no frills, bog standard printer. So why is it more than double the price of the one with the bells and whistles, just because it's not wireless?

I can't help thinking that, regardless of the way the world is working now, we are being pushed into buying things we don't need, having to upgrade tech for the sake of it, and priced out of what we really need.

Savvy Sat 10-Apr-21 01:54:35

Hetty58 Because the tablet doesn't connect to the pc. The software is incompatible. They operate as two separate systems. The pc is windows 10, the tablet is android which uses chrome.

AmberSpyglass The tech isn't out of date, any printer will connect to the pc, the new printer is the latest model, the only difference is how the driver is delivered to the pc.

Twirl49 Sat 08-May-21 19:13:58

I need a new Microsoft office licence for my HP laptop where is the cheapest place to buy one and is it easy to install

Pittcity Sat 08-May-21 21:54:19

Twirl, I use Libre office, which you can download free. It's compatible with and almost identical to Microsoft Office.