HP Printers Upgraded Chips

Some of the latest HP printers that take the HP932/933 or HP934/935 or HP950/951 cartridges have a new trick up their sleeve to keep you using genuine cartridges.  HP release a series of chip upgrades that are supposedly there to improve your printing results, but have another purpose and that is to make the compatible cartridges you are using no longer functional.

The upgrade path is known in advance by HP, but our manufacturer only knows about the changes once they happen.  This means that each time there is an update we have to get a new set of cartridges with the latest chips.

There are two ways this plays out, either later model printers will require a cartridge with a new chip or an upgrade on the printer will mean that the cartridges you are using will suddenly stop working.  This second one happens when you have subscribed to automatic updates or installed an update from the manufacturer.

The end result is a frustrating series of cartridge replacements and updates, that are designed to compel you to buy very expensive Genuine HP cartridges.

There is a good reason that one of our two rules when buying a new printer is do not buy HP printers.