After 14 long years of service, I finally retired my HP LaserJet 4L printer. As far as electronics go, a device that lasts 14 years is amazing. This printer just worked. The only time it required any effort was an occasional paper jam and of course replacement toner. Even recently it was always fairly easy to find toner to purchase, and the prices always seemed reasonable, at least relative to ink. Unfortunately the print quality finally started degrading. I suspect it may have been fixable, but the desire for a color printer forced the retirement.
The 4L was replaced by a shiny new Dell 1320c color laser printer. I also added the network adapter, allowing the printer to be shared by all computers without requiring a computer or other device to share the printer.
There is no other computer device that I've owned that has come anywhere near a 14 year useful span, and I doubt any future device will either.
* Photo inspired by this
Strobist post. Unfortunately I have only one SB-800 and the printer was significantly larger than the SB-800 photographed in the post.
