Printer Ink Cartridges & Print Quality

I was grateful to have been able to purchase a reasonably inexpensive laser printer when I bought the Laserjet MFP M29w.
However I have been plagued by the nuisance of reconfiguring (re-choosing) the printer whenever I need to print anything. Seems that whenever the firmware senses some dubious need to beg for another toner purchase, it makes it difficult to print anything with the remaining (paid for) toner.
What would it cost me to have an HP b&w laser printer that would allow me to actually SEE that the toner cartridge could no longer adequately print a page and needs replacement - rather than the manufacturer making it harder for me to print unless I installed a not yet needed replacement cartridge?  Please treat this query seriously.  I would be grateful to know if there is any HP b&w laser printer available that is not programmed to de-configure when it guesses that "toner is low".  We all would be happy to have a printer that did not try to substitute for our eyes in determining when to buy a replacement toner cartridge.

I have a HP CF248A cartidge sitting on the shelf waiting for the current cartridge to run out, but am made to reconfigure the printer before each use because of HP's mis-guided marketing ploy.   Stop the madness.
R K Hoke
Kingston, NJ

(Of course, I imagine your response to my hack is to realize that you should never have allowed the printer to be reconfigured in this spurious "low toner" mode.  Guess the software guys missed the boat on that one.  I'm sure you'll  soon have a soft/firm ware update to shut the whole printer down completely until a new cartridge is inserted, no matter how many pages could still be printed with the "low" cartridge.)