The crew at Savings.com has a new giveaway, one I can definitely get behind: $500 worth of HP gift cards, in conjunction with HP’s Warehouse Sale. Although I use a MacBook Air computer, I’ve never owned any other printer than an HP.

The first one was given to me in 2005 or so, by a friend whose mom had died. Upon hearing I was back in college in midlife, she gave me her mother’s HP printer. I had no idea how old the machine was, and kept praying, “Please just get me through college.” And it did, letting me print out all my papers and presentations.

After completing my degree in December 2009, I figured the printer didn’t owe me a thing; after all, I’d used it pretty hard for four years and, again, I had no idea how old it was. But it wasn’t until July 2015 that the printer finally turned up its toes and died.

 

 

Its replacement, an HP OfficeJet Pro 8610, was a big step up: I now owned a printer-scanner-copier. The scanning function has come in really handy, since some freelance writing clients require me to scan and e-mail documents. The copying is useful, too. But where this puppy really shines is the printing. Thus far it has seen me through two books and DF through three.

 

Yep, we’re old-school: We print out manuscripts for some hard-copy editing, and also for proofreading. (Not that we’re infallible; see “Major proofreading fail” for a hilarious example of a missed mistake.)

Browsing through the warehouse sale catalog to see what the 8610 costs now, I was sad to learn that the model has been discontinued. Originally I paid $79.99, which is pretty astonishing given how much work we’ve gotten out of that little machine. Imagine how much it would have cost to print that stuff out at Office Depot or somewhere, especially since we’re still using paper that I got for free after rebate* in Seattle, and since we buy our ink cartridges with coupons when they’re on sale (and often with a cash-back shopping rebate).

So I kept browsing to find out what I’d choose if the 8610 quit working. Given how much we ask of it, that could happen at any time.

Pretty sure I would order the HP OfficeJet Pro 6968 All-in-One Printer, because it does what my current one does – but faster and with options like “mobile printing.” Not that I’d be likely to use that particular function, since I work at home and I am fairly low-tech in general.

Heck, I’m still tickled that I’ve got access to a printer and a copier without leaving the house. I’m old enough to remember when photocopiers were large, complicated machines. No one ever thought about having equipment like that at home.

Now a desktop model can give me copies, print out articles, and scan and send documents.

It will also fax, but no one seems to ask for that sort of thing these days.

 

 

More ways to save

 

Five giveaway winners will each get a $100 HP gift card, which is a nice head start on new electronics. But that’s not the only way to save.

That warehouse sale features discounts of up to $800 on HP personal computers, plus lower prices on other items as well. If you’ve been looking to upgrade, or to buy your first PC or printer, now would be a good time to compare prices.

Another benefit: Rebates of up to $200 are being offered through Savings.com. In order to apply you must shop through an eligible Savings.com HP deal link, either through an affiliate (like me!) or via the Savings.com website. Other conditions apply; visit the rebate page to learn more.

The HP Warehouse Sale runs through May 1. The $500 HP gift card giveaway continues until 11:59 p.m. PDT on Tuesday, April 30. If you win, please come back and brag a little.

*Multiple reams. I was pretty ruthless about the free stuff.