<< i have a 600 series HP printer that lasted 2.5 years before it died, then the 612c i got died within 6 months. >>
Was it still under warrantee or was it only 3 months? I would hope that you get it replaced if it was still covered.
<< i'm having lots of problems with my 930c, usb freezes, more constant paper jams, ink problems even with new non-refurb in cartridges. my next printer will NOT be an HP... (unless its free after rebate) >>
I haven't had nearly that many problems with my 930. I get occasional jams, but they mainly seem to happen when I reload paper while it's being fed (ie paper had run out). The 930C paper mechanism is not as good as it should be. It's meant to be cheap, and it is. Back when we had the free postage, I tried printing envelopes. At one point, something got jammed and I ended up finding some broken pieces in the paper area, it was as if something in the envelope feed had broken off. I haven't tried to print an envelope since then since I have no real need for it, anyway. And yeah, I probably should have had it taken care of since it was under warrantee. I think my double warrantee is about to run out.
I had some problems getting the 930C to work with USB originally, but it seemed to be due to a failed driver upgrade. I installed stuff, started fresh, and it has worked fine. One strange thing I see is that if I get a printer error (out of paper, etc), my Orinoco wireless USB adapter gets disabled. But I think that is more likely to be an Orinoco driver issue than HP.
<< my dads 648c works fine, but the quality is awful, and its so slow. i wonder how long before it dies out >>
I guess you've had some success with the 600 series, but I wouldn't expect great things from them, and certainly am not surprised that it's slow.
Bill